It is a telco, a money transfer service and an internet service provider. It has been or will be number one in every segment it participates in. It's management is top class. It is one of the most widely held stocks thereby one with intense emotional tags. It is a cornerstone to any portfolio.

Purchase it on price dips.

"Mobile service provider Safaricom has announced that it hopes to rake in Sh13 billion in revenues from its data business over the next 20 months as it renews its assault on the internet market.

Continuing a hunt for new revenue streams as the profit margins on its voice services drop due to increased competition in the industry, the mobile firm is hoping the up tick in demand for Internet services will drive earnings.

“According to our latest financial results, data, including M-pesa, accounted for about 17 per cent of our revenues. We intend to double this performance in the next two years,” said Mr Michael Joseph, the Safaricom CEO, in an interview with Business Daily..."

Read more:

http://www.businessdaily...0/-/quf7gf/-/index.html

Markets to watch during the spat between the two Principals and affiliated parties are the currency and treasury debt markets. Continued uncertainty could push the shilling to the dollar above 80 which is a "line in the sand" as analysed in March 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/ybe5ueq). However, the stock market could become an attractive port of safety for capital that flees the treasury debt market. This would signal a preference of private sector over public sector assets.

"The gradual recovery of the key sectors that are the source of dollar inflows is expected to hold the Kenya shilling steady despite recent political developments that have rattled the local currency.

The shilling on Tuesday touched an eight-month low against the US dollar but later recouped some losses, sparking concerns that unfolding events in the political arena could lead to a repeat of the wild currency swings last seen in early 2008...."

Read more:

http://www.businessdaily...0/-/6buenq/-/index.html

Please review the gold chart here: http://tinyurl.com/yd9hg58 .I have utilised technical analysis to provide price targets.

Yesterday saw a new all time high in gold in Euro terms as investors seek safety from the destabilisation in the European states of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

The Euro lacks a mechanism which would allow a member nation to devalue its currency or adjust interest rates. Greece would have easily devalued the Drachma in the pre-Euro days, forcing debt investors to take a haircut on their holdings whilst easing their treasury's payment commitments. One spoilt apple in the Euro Area has the ability to upset the entire apple cart.

"Gold should continue to consolidate over the next few weeks but, the next big move is likely to be up.

This is the view of Sprott Asset Management's chief investment strategist John Embry, who says he is looking for the price of the yellow metal to hit around $1,350 to $1,400 by late spring.

Speaking on the inaugural Mineweb Gold Weekly Podcast, Embry says the recent downward trend seen in the gold price is nothing more than a healthy correction...."

Read more:

http://www.mineweb.co.za...amp;sn=Detail&pid=1

kk. Do you follow oil? Stumbled on a few articles on Investors Daily Edge.

Check them out below:

http://www.investorsdailyedge.com/
http://www.investorsdail...eak-oil-is-a-crock.html
http://www.investorsdail...he-truth-about-oil.html

Do you know people who have opinions on how these scenarios will unfold?

Thanks dude, although are we certain crude oil will be priced in dollars for the foreseeable future? But it's interesting you actually invest in exploration companies...wow...yeah they'd have to be pretty good cos that sounds kinda risky. Question kk, does oil drilling cause earthquakes? A friend of mine told me that. I'll be sure to bookmark those links. I definately need to read up more on this issue. Thanks again.

"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled-dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates." - Matt Taibbi.

Goldman is reported to have assisted Greece mask its public debt using complex debt swaps inorder stay within the E.U.'s requirements. These over the counter derivatives were the crux of the global financial crisis.

"And so the tragicomic becomes surreal. Yesterday's news about the departure of the head of the debt management agency, Spyros Papanicolaou, was somewhat of a yawner, until we realized that his replacement would be none other than Petros Christodoulou, who until today was head of Private Banking and Group Treasury at the National Bank of Greece (reporting directly to the CEO of the NBG Tamvakakis), as can be seen on the org chart below. Yet was is oddest, is that Mr. Christodoulou worked not only as head of derivatives at JP Morgan but also held comparable posts at Credit Suisse, and... wait for it, Goldman Sachs... Uh, say what?....."

Read more:

http://www.zerohedge.com...ldman-investment-banker

islamic financing is not that different... See the problems with sukuk bonds in Dubai...

Watching international news feeds on the Greek riots, one cannot help but wonder what the situation will degenerate to if the following story is true. Those that assisted European nations to hide their debt will certainly seek to profit from the decline in the Euro and sovereign debt.

When nations begin blaming each other for their woes, a vicious cycle is set in motion. A citizenry baying for the blood of politicians may result in the institution of draconian (first legislator of Ancient Greece) measures to protect the state as in the case of Iran. Further civil unrest due to deteriorating economic conditions increases the probability of contagion to other nations and war.

Refer to the currency crisis of 1931 whereby most of Europe defaulted on its debt, by 1939 the continent was engulfed in a fog of war.

"LONDON (Reuters) - Italy did more than Greece to mask the state of its finances to secure euro zone entry, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos said, adding that Germany's history made it ill-placed to criticise his country.

The European Union has asked Greece to explain reports that it engaged in derivatives trades with U.S. investment banks that may have allowed it to mask the size of its debt and deficit from EU authorities ahead of its entry into the euro zone.

"You simply put some amounts of money in the next year ... it is what everybody did and Greece did it to a lesser extent than Italy for example," Pangalos said in an interview with BBC World Service radio broadcast on Wednesday...."

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/r...galos.html?_r=2&dbk

In the wake of declining house property prices and rising unemployment, the coffers of former high flying U.S. states are facing exhaustion. Austerity measures, bitter medicine for political concerns in this election year are an absolute must. Greece is a litmus test of the backlash that may be forthcoming from the citizenry.

"In Arizona, a cash-pinched legislature put the Capitol building up for sale, proposing to lease it back for state use. In the small Colorado town of Colorado Springs, officials shut off half the street lamps and one-third of the traffic lights, told residents who wanted short grass in public parks to bring their own lawnmowers, and auctioned off a police helicopter on eBay. Around the country, libraries have been shuttered, after-school programmes have been curtailed, mental health services have been decimated.

In Los Angeles, the nation's second largest metropolis, the Democratic mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, addressed a full session of the city council on 9 February to detail just how grim the city's finances had become. Miguel Santana, the city administrative officer (the CAO is the mayor and council's chief financial adviser) had recently informed the mayor's office that LA was facing a $200m shortfall through the end of this financial year and another half billion dollar-plus shortfall in the years to come if it didn't radically, and rapidly, restructure its budget. Santana didn't mince words. His nearly 300-page report (pdf) opened with this stark warning...."

Read more:

http://www.guardian.co.u...ancial-crisis-useconomy

I hope we find something shiny and valuable so that we can show off to Uganda with all their oil talk.

kk check out this article on China.

http://www.commodityonli...ay-go-up-26034-3-1.html

You have an opinion on this?