Next Weeks At A Glance

This story features RIO TINTO LIMITED. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: RIO

The company is included in ASX20, ASX50, ASX100, ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArena

Let's start with the good news: most of you are already on holidays (I can tell by the many emails returning this morning) and the share market is trying its best to put a positive end to what has been an extra-ordinary year, in my view. For the second time in a row most experts have been forced to eat humble pie as the index is likely to finish the year some 1200 points lower than where it was supposed to be on the basis of last year's predictions.

Just to rub it in: that's a miss of more than 1000 points for the second year in a row.

One of the better things we've done here at FNArena is to put question marks next to those forecasts from the moment they were made public. Remember the calculation we did on the basis of stockbrokers price targets for ASX200 companies? Turned out, they didn't even come close to those official index projections.

I personally also questioned whether one should have BHP Billiton ((BHP)), Rio Tinto ((RIO)) and Woodside ((WPL)) shares in one's long term investment portfolio, as about every advisor, stockbroker and market commentator was telling investors, not only prior to this year, but whole the way through it.

FNArena was well ahead with its emphasis on solid, sustainable dividends. When I gave a presentation at the ASX Investment Hour around mid-year (dressed up as an alien) my central theme of "market beating dividend stocks" was still regarded as a bit of a left-field oddity. Not anymore today.

I was proud as a turkey when subscribers approached me at the Trading and Investing Expo in Melbourne to tell me their portfolios were still in positive territory, despite the overall market being down this year. I just accepted an invitation to present at the Expo in Perth in March next year. My title is "Don't become a dinosaur. Adapt to the (investment) climate change".

That's going to be the message FNArena will try to get across in 2012 as well.

First we still have one more week of 2011 on the calendar, with the next week only commencing on Wednesday for investors in Australia, as both Monday and Tuesday have been declared official holidays. For those among you who refuse to have a break in between festivities, I suspect you will be part of a small minority this year. Hey, I am not even in the country while typing this story!

In terms of scheduled economic data, the US sees new data releases on Tuesday on house prices, consumer confidence and factory indices from reginal Feds in Dallas and Richmond on the day.  Thursday will see more weighty releases with the weekly jobless claims (on a roll this month) alongside the Chicago PMI for December.

On Friday, HSBC will publish its final PMI assessment for China this month. Investors will wait until early January when the official release is due. Monday January 2, after another holiday, will see PMIs released across various countries around the world. Australia will follow-up on Wednesday.

The same week will see a repeat of the exercise for services PMIs. In my final Weekly Insights for the year, I referred to the OECD Leading Indicator and global profit estimates as two very important, leading indicators. Global PMI Surveys are of course another one to pay close attention to.

This will be the final story for calendar 2011. FNArena will return on Monday, 19th January 2012. In the meantime, we keep all data and services up to date so your research and analysis doesn't have to stop in the meantime.

Best Wishes to you all from the team here at FNArena.

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