More About This Blog's Sponsor

The blog was started in 2007 and I have loathed having advertisers or sponsors for my blog. I now have a proper site sponsor because I believe in the product and have consumed it myself. I find that it mirrors the claims it expounds and is effective to treat andropause.

Blog sponsor: Andropause Succor

https://andropausesuccor.com/

THE MAKING OF ANDROPAUSE SUCCOR

We recognize that andropause was a serious issue among men above the age of 40 but not much attention has been paid to address the issue when compared to say, menopause and its remedies.


Presently, a lot of people take testosterone booster and/or artificial testosterone injections (gels and creams included), which we believe has its limitations. They attempt to address the symptoms rather than the cause. It is like taking Viagra but not addressing why poor erections happen in the first place.

We wanted a holistic remedy to andropause and would stay herbal and organic as much as possible in the formulation. The platform which we build our formulation rest on being anti-inflammatory and better heart health.

Not a week goes by that I am not asked about testosterone levels. Especially one of the following questions:

—”How can I raise my testosterone?”

—”Can supplements actually boost testosterone?”

—”How do I know if I have low testosterone?”

The questions are endless. Testosterone is a hot marketing area for men, that strikes at the core of machismo and male health. Attach testosterone to any product with some hyperbole, and you can market it effectively.

But truth be told, testosterone levels are critical for male health. Low testosterone causes:

Low energy
Low sex drive
Low strength
Anxiety, depression, and general lethargy
There are no advantages to having low testosterone. Zero. Nada. In fact, hypogonadism (which is when your body is not producing enough testosterone) is linked to:

Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia
Cardiovascular disease
Recent research even points to low testosterone being a precipitating factor for prostate cancer.

With all this in mind, it’s concerning that testosterone levels have been dropping in men worldwide for decades.

The reasons for this are legion:

Environmental endocrine disruptors, plastics, contaminants; lack of sunlight and solar radiation; lack of key micronutrients, skewed diets; lack of exercise, lack of sleep, increased stress; the list is long.

And this drop in testosterone is not only seen in humans, but animals as well. Across the world, environmental pollutants are affecting animal life and disrupting sex hormones.

The pragmatic reality is this:

Our environments and lifestyles do affect our bodies. And many men are slowly castrating themselves through their lifestyles.

Increasing your testosterone levels, and thus your general vitality, should be of paramount focus for all men.

High testosterone levels are a representation of overall good health.

You have everything to lose and nothing to gain by ignoring your hormone levels.

What Can You Expect

1-2 weeks:  Better quality erections (hardness and ability to stay up longer)
                  More energetic and positive
                  Higher libido (sex drive)
                  Heightened metabolism
                  Less irritability and mood swings
                  Better quality sleep
                  More motivated and focused

Longer Term:   Stops hair loss
                      Less visceral fats
                      Retention of muscle mass
                      Better joints strength
                      Reduction in bone loss and danger of having osteoporosis
                      Elevated testosterone
                      Higher sperm count
                      Less lethargy and better temperament


Tongkat Ali (extra potency)

We required Longjack (Eurycoma longifolia), a confirmed libido booster. Longjack, also known as Tongkat ali and pasak bumi, is a shrub hailing from Southeast Asia purporting to improve libido. It’s gaining traction in the scientific community for potentially increasing testosterone levels, and researchers at South Africa’s University of the Western Cape found that longjack improved testosterone levels and muscular strength in physically active seniors (a population with typically low testosterone).

The bulk of what is presently available is non-descript. Our manufacturing facility has patented a new way of extraction, using nano tech and sonification to extract up to 5x better - the process is already being patented.

What is TRT?

Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) uses artificial androgens (think synthetic steroids) to try and raise testosterone levels. As the Mayo Clinic notes, they’re still being evaluated for safety and effectiveness, but it’s an option to discuss with your doctor.

Other researchers at the National University of Malaysia have gone so far as suggesting that, after further study, longjack could be used as an alternative approach to testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).

That said, a group of researchers at the National University of Malaysia did a systemic literature review of longjack, looking for clinical research that demonstrated a relationship between the shrub and testosterone levels. 

Cordyceps (tung-chung-chou in Cantonese)

Animal and lab studies suggest Cordyceps have the potential to improve heart health and fight inflammation, cancer, diabetes and aging. Again, we try to come up with a formulation that does not just deal with the symptoms. For example, Viagra is used to help people who have trouble maintaining a strong erection or have trouble lasting sufficiently long enough to complete the act. That does not address why/what caused the poor erections in the first place.

We believe in raising testosterone naturally. We wanted the other complementary body functions to be revitalised as well when generating more testosterone. Hence anti-inflammation and better heart health is a platform which we stand on.


Pomegranate

Pomegranate is a potent antioxidant. This fruit is rich in flavonoids, anthocyanins, punicic acid, ellagitannins, alkaloids, fructose, sucrose, glucose, simple organic acids, and other components and has antiatherogenic, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory properties. Pomegranate can be used in the prevention and treatment of several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases. In addition, it improves wound healing and is beneficial to the reproductive system. 

Zinc

We wanted the best testosterone booster to contain Zinc — an important mineral for fertility. Zinc is little more of a nice-to-have ingredient than a must-have. It’s on our radar as an ingredient that possibly boosts testosterone levels, and while we couldn’t find enough supporting evidence that taking zinc would increase natural testosterone, low zinc levels have been connected to infertility. 

A low zinc level is also possibly a sign of hypogonadism. The closest support we found is in a study which found that people recovered from nutritional deficiency-related problems more quickly if they took a zinc supplement than those who did not. Zinc is available in many foods, such as oysters, fortified breakfast cereals, and red meat.

Zinc also has an upper limit. The NIH recommends that adults should not take more than 40mg of zinc per day, and notes that even moderately high zinc intake levels can be harmful. Hence our dosage has been kept safe within the limits set.

Every vitamin, mineral, and ingredient that affects the human body can be taken in enough quantities that they are harmful, or toxic, even the ones that — at lower levels — are beneficial or necessary. Unfortunately, testosterone boosters contain a lot of ingredients that are not well understood. This means in addition to not being able to confirm whether certain ingredients increase testosterone, the scientific and medical communities also don’t know at what levels many ingredients become toxic. 


Last Words

As with any supplements we are careful with the claims we make. We stopped short of saying it is an anti-aging remedy. However as you can read from the above treatise, it is very much a remedy to help us age better. Informal trials among tested subjects indicate that. We hope you will too benefit from it.

Post Virus Rally

Local players have managed to surprise and scare themselves at the same time when we kept recording massive volumes for a few days. The super charging train was stopped dead in the tracks when the profit taking set it. Even so, judging from the depth and breadth of players, the profit taking was well absorbed.

True, most of the activity entered on smaller caps, but it did switched to larger caps as well. The rotational play will continue way into Raya period when we come back from holidays.

If small caps are too risky for you, have a look into the High Speed Rail play. It was reported in the May 18024 edition of The Edge, that the HSR will be revived soon. The key partner should be Japan.

The timing could be key here as there was a DEADLINE set in September 2018, that by the end of May 2020, a proper announcement will be made. The cost which started at RM100bn, has since been whittled down to RM40bn-RM72bn. The scaled down project will involve stops at Bandar Malaysia, Sepang-Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka, Muar, Batu Pahat, Iskandar Puter and Jurong East.


MRCB and Gamuda had received and accepted a 50-50 jv from My HSR Corp as project delivery partner from Bandar Malaysia-Melaka stations. SP YTL-TH Properties was supposed to do the southern 200km link. There should be 60 civi works packages, which should result in 5,000 sub contract packages.

However there are indications that Putrajaya wants to do away with the PDP structure, hence the players may change or the terms altered.

Owing to the pandemic, there isn't a better to to start the project immediately. It makes economic and and will jumpstart sufficient activity to provide a much needed lifeline for the small firms.

Senior Minister for International Trade & Industry Azmin Ali, has said that the government will announce a 6-month short term recovery plan by the end of May 2020. After which, a medium-term revitalisation plan under Budget 2021 will be tabled in November 2020.

Maybe its a slow week for news, but TheEdge had another article in the May 25-31 edition, saying that the HSR may cost RM68bn.

At the end of the day, the top beneficiaries will be Ekovest and IW City.

You will notice from both charts of IW City and Ekovest that they were readying to surge a few days back but were caught up in the massive profit taking after 3 straight days of huge volume activity. From the above analysis, it is highly likely that both will resume its uptrend. Initial target levels of 80 sen and 70 sen for IW City and Ekovest look like attainable.

Major Asset Class Returns

This has to be the most revealing look at how each asset class has been performing following the drastic 2-month volatile shakedown owing to the pandemic. The returns were at the end of April 2020.

The one-month figures should show the asset class that regained ground the most. The broader Russell 3000 showed the best rebound, probably because the companies were smaller, hence they got whacked a lot more on the downswing. Could the same be said for emerging markets? Yes, and no. I think as the pandemic wore on, its the emerging markets (in particular Asia and Asia-Pacific) which showed better containment and had more effective measures imposed. Coupled with the fact that most of Latin America have yet to be hit then (currently it is starting to look bad for South America).

The recovery of US REITs was a surprise to me. REITs should be in for a severe two year period. I think we are minimising the repercussions if we think REITs should have things normalised within a year. Many businesses are barely hanging on and most will not be able to see out the year. Occupancy won't be filled till at least two years down the road.

Commodities, in general, have continued its losses. Even prior to the pandemic, things have not looked rosy at all for commodities. Its 6 and 12-month performance were nearly -30%. It is still not time to do any bottom fishing here. Maybe two years down the track.

US Investment Grade Bonds, TIPs, and Foreign Developed Markets Bonds have held up the best over this crisis. This chart further amplifies what "real protection" in investment looks like. Both have managed to eke out minor gains on a 1 month, 4 months, 12 months or 3 year period. As a cautionary stance, I am bearish on USD for the next 5-10 years, and that will impact on your actual returns if you continue to invest in the first two categories. Hence Foreign Developed Market Bonds are the way to go if you are a mid to long term investor.

I would have to stress that the worst kind of asset class you can touch will be US High Yield Bonds. These are rated below BBB- and pays much higher coupon rates. Can expect a deluge of bombshells as the year drags on. Avoid this with all your might.

If you look at US stocks alone, the Russell 3000, the annualised returns over a 3 year period stood at a respectable 8%. This would indicate to me there is still froth in the US equity markets. The S&P 500 figure was even better at 9%.

As for gold, I am not a gold person. I think it is a useless metal and should have no play in the financial macro policies. Though it has done well over the crisis period, it has not done exceptionally well. Looking at their returns, I'd rather go for "real protection" instruments mentioned earlier.

I generally think that most governments have thrown out way too much cash to rescue their economies over the pandemic. I think we will see a huge surge into equities for the remainder of the year. Why? We are nowhere near the factors necessary for The Great Depression nor The Asian Financial Crisis. Last check, some people may lose their jobs, some industries may be devastated, but the majority still have cash in the bank, the majority still have equity in their properties - that is not the recipe for any great depression. Now start counting the monies thrown at the problem.


https://www.investopedia.com/government-stimulus-efforts-to-fight-the-covid-19-crisis-4799723

Between Jan. 1 and May 10, there were 1,465 funding activities announced, committing $15.9 trillion to the fight against COVID-19. Investments of $31.6 billion have been made via 112 program announcements, and 245 grants have supported $685 million worth of investment. Moreover, 213 tenders have seen $2 billion invested through program delivery and service partners, according to an analysis of Devex funding data supporting coronavirus efforts this year.

Since May 2, $85.5 billion in funding announcements for COVID-19 has been added to Devex’s funding database, and $7.2 billion in programs, grants, tenders, and open opportunities have been announced.Below is a snippet of the funds. 

The Pandemic Rally

This infographic was well done. However, it does not reflect a buy or sell call or any of the counters. Each company's actual exposure may be minimal or substantial. Please do your own research.