It's tongue in cheek but some do take the fung shui index seriously
It's that time of the year again when stockbroker CLSA rolls out its fung shui index and studies the stock market prospects for the year ahead in fung shui terms. For something that started as a jokey New Year greetings card, the product has done well and is now into its 18th year. It was stopped after 12 years but brought back due to popular demand from clients after a hiatus of four years, and is accompanied every year with presentation lunches for clients in Hong Kong. It is even celebrated in London, Sydney and New York.
You get the sense that CLSA is slightly concerned that some people are taking it more seriously than intended, as it stresses at several points in the report that it's a tongue-in-cheek exercise. Fung shui master for the day Paul Chow admits that since October he has had at least one call a week from clients wondering 'what the Year of the Dragon is looking like'. Others suggest maybe he could devise a property index based on fung shui.
He may be worried his day job as a transport analyst might be converted to something more esoteric. Last year he did the job solo but this year was flanked by two apprentices, one of whom was Emily Lam - the daughter of Lai Sun Development chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok - who is a dead ringer for Angelina Jolie. She wowed us with her fung shui-based stock picks.
Former Cantor employees sued
To the Court of First Instance where finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald is suing four former senior employees - Jason Boyer for HK$12.4 million, Bradford Ainslie for HK$15.02 million, Brett McGonegal for HK$7.6 million and Uwe Henke Von Parpart for an unspecified amount. According to legal sources, the suit relates to the departure of the four from Cantor Fitzgerald's Hong Kong office to a firm called Mansion House that subsequently became known as Reorient. The trial before Mr Justice Anselmo Reyes is expected to last five days.