Benjamin Graham, the teacher and mentor of Warren Buffett, wrote two seminal tomes on value investing called Security Analysis in 1934 and The Intelligent Investor in 1949. I was reading The Intelligent Investor at a time when the bear market following the dot com bubble was in full swing and I remember thinking to myself that some of what Mr. Graham mentions in his book may no longer hold true as even at that point  it was almost impossible to find stocks that met his criteria such as a Price/Book ratio of less than 1.5, a P/E < 15, uninterrupted dividends for last 20 years and an adequate margin of safety. If you like bargain hunting for things, you are probably aware that there is an intrinsic value to things and unless the seller is in distress it is very difficult to ...

Investors have watched Asian markets this week as they continued to tumble. An article yesterday from Forbes.com entitled: ”Asia Stocks To Twist With U.S. Earnings” describes the 3 day selling spree in emerging markets: “Nikkei 225 average dropped 8% to 8,693.82, at one point nearing a five-year low touched the week before. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 10.8% to 14,554.21, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped 7% to 1,930.65.”

This was all on fears of weak 3rd quarter reports, continued US troubles, and general fears of slowing worldwide growth. However, stocks rallied sharply yesterday - almost across the whole of Asia. The Emerginvest Heat map shows it quite well graphically:

Hong Kong was up

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“The Asian rally is under way,” says Yiannis Moustrous, editor of The Silk Road Investor. Here, he looks at a favored pair of NYSE-listed banks; one in India, the other in South Korea.

“The latest rally started from depressed levels, particularly in comparison to other regions of the world.

“Further, the current oil price weakness–if sustained–will act as a positive catalyst for Asian economies that are net oil importers.

“Extreme selling conditions usually set the stage for a rally, which can be rather substantial when a lot of cash is on the sidelines, a lot of short positions need to be covered and marginally positive news emerges. These conditions are currently in place in Asia.

“The previous selloff is giving us the opportunity to add one more position to our India holdings:ICICI Bank. I’ve recommended this company before, and I view it as one of the stronger private banks in India.

“It also offers decent insurance exposure, a sector that has

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Chrysler Building Sold to Abu Dhabi; 2,500 Employees Depart From Northwest; Icici Bank on the Prowl; OPEC Revenue to Jump 86%; Steve & Barry’s Bankruptcy; Bear Market S&P; Busch to Shareholders: Just Say No; Bank of America Chief Sees Mid-Year Recovery New York’s Chrysler Building, the an iconic piece of the city’s skyline and the world’s tallest building until 1931, was bought by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Tuesday. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council paid Abu Dhabi Investment Council acquired the Chrysler Building from a fund managed by Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU). Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) said yesterday (Wednesday) that it will cut 2,500 jobs because of high oil prices, and start charging $15 to check a single piece of luggage and as much as $100 to redeem a frequent-flier award ticket, the Associated Press reported. The ...