Casting the Oracle Bones

Recent news about extreme weather conditions in China, has left me pondering the coming year, especially as we are almost on the cusp of Spring Festival: it seems a rather baleful and ill-tempered Nian is casting a bone-biting chill around this once, warm-hearted and friendly city.

Coupled with news from abroad of collapsing global retail, real estate, & financial markets; increases of 50% - 100% in the cost of local consumables and domestic commodities; and the shortages in fresh produce in Hong Kong, makes for some interesting speculation.

It wasn't all that long ago that some would look at such an alignment of events, especially on the cusp of an impending new year and start shaking their heads, whispering about portents and omens of dark days ahead. In some ways, modern efforts to forecast trends in the weather and the market place, is still considered borderline 'black magic.'

Looking to the coming year, I guess there are some things we need to consider, not the least is the weather and it's impact on travel options. One such thing though is food availability and shortages of basic commodities. Next would be infrastructure risks particularly in the area of global communications. Following this, I guess would be financial security and availability of ready cash. It's not without foundation that when economies go sour and markets collapse, the people say, 'cash talks.' Lastly, looking for opportunities to capitalize on, where all others see only difficulties may be the only thing that allows us to keep trading, long into the oncoming fiscal period.

Just a few thoughts.

Over to you.