Rajesh Chandra

Markets face headwinds from many areas - Weaker growth in China and Europe. Weaker corporate spending. Raising core interest rates. Geopolitical instability in Middle East and Russia. Aging bull markets since 2009. There are some positive developments which can propel further momentum - Falling crude oil prices will boost GDP in oil importing nations. Improving labor markets in US and increasing growth (even though slow). Keeping this mind: (1) Low gasoline prices is likely boost spending by low end wage earners: XLP is the top pick which is very safe way to play low gasoline prices (2)Health Care will remain in focus in 2015. Small cap index is likely to be very volatile but the gains could be substantial given that health care related spending will increase exponentially in coming years. PSCH is a small cap ETF (3) Exposure to emerging markets is a must. India seems on upward growth ladder, thanks to a dynamic new government which is bringing economic reforms. World Ba...

‘Global Warming’ has been a buzzword in political circles in this decade. The western world continues to churn out ‘doomsday prophecies’ of the world coming to an end if nothing is done to contain the greenhouse gases in atmosphere. Most of the western media claims of a consensus among climate scientists that the earth is heating up due to increase in carbon emissions caused by human activity. According to them rising temperatures of our planet will lead to dramatic rise in sea levels, floods, wide spread droughts, intense heat waves, powerful storms, etc. The very concept of ‘warming earth’ is flawed since genuine data suggests that earth temperatures are falling rather than rising. Greenhouse gases are composed of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and CFCs. Water vapor has more than 70 % contribution to greenhouse gases. The world is currently focused on carbon dioxide with actually constitutes less than 10 % and out of that less than 2 % is due to man-made causes. The ...

Three decades old military conflict precipitated on May 16, 2009 when the exuberant Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared unanimous victory over the LTTE rebels. After the civil war officially ended this day, the status quo in Northern Sri Lanka continues to be quite disturbing with thousands of Tamil civilians being driven shelter less and forced to survive in filthy conditions. A ruthless secessionist campaign led by the elusive warrior Velupillai Prabhakaran will leave indelible stories in the pages of history of island nation of Sri Lanka . LTTE was a saga of longest armed resistance thriving since 1976 against a democratic nation in entire Asia . The Tamil community in Sri Lanka is suffering from discrimination in all aspects from the majority Sinhalese since ages. The majority Buddhist population of Sri Lanka never acknowledged ‘Tamil’ identity. Sinhalese schools do not teach Tamil and Sri Lanka recognizes only Sinhala as their official language in spite of...

Barack Obama’s phenomenal and seminal victory in US presidential elections created ripples all over the world. A man of color and a person far less tried than many of his elders in his party but far more gifted politically had triumphed on the night of November 4, 2008. He is a political whiz-kid who radiates a gracious charm and is capable of inspiring rhetoric. Obama’s minority identity and his approach to transcend identity politics leave deep impression among Indian communities. Left-Liberals back in India had a celebration marked by unrestrained revelry unwary of the potential impediments for India. Obama’s message of ‘change’ is a cabinet full of ex-Clinton administration hawks. Old liberals from the old school are back and desperate to solve all world problems. The new administration has already set its imperial aims to win Afghanistan and to do so it needs Pakistan’s Army to co-operate. In one of the interviews Obama said “We should probably try to facilitate a better understan...

“Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America , but it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all”. These lines created waves in the political world and in mainstream America. Sarah Palin, a new face of GOP has redefined the rules of this neck and neck race. Sarah has been serving as the first female Governor of Alaska since December 2006 and before that she was the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for about 6 years. Nobody had inkling that John McCain would pick an average hockey mom, mother of five children, former beauty queen, life member of national rifle association and a moose hunter to be his running mate! Sarah, also known as “Xena” or “Sarah Barracuda” injects fresh blood in this Obama skewed presidential race. Her strength and determination to fight the odds stems from her strong sense of leadership qualities ingrained in her. Her career in politics kicked in 1996 with the race for...

Jerusalem ’s downtown Zion Square was inundated with people celebrating and dancing on the night of 14 th May, 2008. It is a day on which millions of Jews found a ‘home’. It was the day when the great nation of ISRAEL took birth after Great Britian terminated its mandate over Palestine . It took lot of blood to create this nation. Jews single handedly triumphed in 1948 against the Arab army comprising of Egypt , Syria , Jordan , Yemen , Saudi Arabia , Iraq & Lebanon . Destitute Jews pouring into newly created Israel from North Africa, Europe and other Arab nations were successfully absorbed and integrated into Israel which went on to evolve as an economic and military superpower in Middle-Eastern region. As of this year, democratic and sovereign Israel completes 60 years of independence or existence. Fortitude and perseverance of Israelites to exist and thrive after centuries of virulent animosity and fanaticism from anti-Semitic people astounds me. The threat to this...

Foreign students have always been instrumental in spurring a cultural and technological revolution in the US . International students not only bring ‘hopes’ and ‘dreams’ but also a major economic boost to the US . According to a report from the Institute of International Education , foreign students brought in a total of $14.7 billion to the US economy from their home countries to pay for tuition fees and living expenses in the year 2006-07. The US continues to attract lot of hopefuls from hundreds of countries. The number of students enrolling in US universities is soaring every year. The largest numbers of students to the US are from India followed by China . The procedure to fly to the US for graduate studies is quite tedious and cumbersome. A 4-year degree is usually required to pursue a graduate degree in US. The first and foremost step is to appear for GRE ( www.gre.org ) and TOEFL ( www.toefl.org ) since most US universities require applicants to have taken both the t...