Kuwait University’s Finance Club in cooperation with KAMCO  introduce KAMCO Stock Simulator for the first time.

Join and compete by trading stocks, analyzing, and managing your own portfolio. Participating helps improve your cv and work experience!

The competition will last for a month starting May 16th.

Investors will be ranked by the highest portfolio return.
- First place winner: 200KD
- Second place winner: 150KD
- Third place winner: 100KD

If you are willing to compete please send the following to admin@alphadinar.com, the deadline for sign up is on May 15th.

1) Your full name
2) Your E-mail
3) Your Civil I.D.
4) Your Mobile No.

* The Finance Club will charge KD5 as an entrance fee.

It was this time last year and things were darastically different when we posted our first article on 1/27/2009. The rising tide lifted all ships in the GCC, but soon the subprime crisis wreaked havoc and as Warren Buffet once said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.” We had a vision for reform based on solid grounds of a more ethical GCC financial industry. Establishing the blog was our first step. We realized that there wasn’t an English-speaking finance blog focused on seeking to simply “Talk GCC finance.”

During the past year, Alpha Dinar reached important milesontes. We began with two full-time writers, but now have four authors who have full-time jobs in distinct fields: emerging market equities, hedge-fund investments, GCC equities and fixed income, and private equity. A few readers used to visit us, but now hundreds flock to our website. We began with a standard blog, but we transformed it into a sophisticated GCC-finance destination. Several of our articles were posted on Seeking Alpha and one of our articles titled “Agility Logistics  Fraud Case Implications” was translated and published in the economic section of Kuwaiti Awan arabic daily newspaper. All current authors are from Kuwait,  but we envision at least a regular author from each of the GCC countries in the near future. This coupled with more article contributions from our visitors.

I may have gotten carried away with the word “we”, but rest-assured that it was ultimately your support (the readers) that led to our constant evolution. Thank you all!

Source: Businessweek

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is chairman of Kingdom Holding Co., a Saudi firm with billions invested around the globe. He is ranked among the 25 wealthiest people in the world and is the largest single investor in embattled Citigroup (C), which just posted a $7.6 billion net loss for the fourth quarter. It is said that his displeasure with another Prince, Chuck Prince, contributed to the ouster of the Citi CEO in late 2007. The economic crisis has taken a toll on Prince Alwaleed’s holdings, and he recently injected nearly $600 million of his personal wealth into his firm after a year of steep losses. He is a nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and one of the most outspoken members of the royal family.

CHARLIE ROSE

How do you see the global economic recovery?

PRINCE ALWALEED BIN TALAL

The decline has stopped. The question now is, will there be an L-shaped or V-shaped recovery? I hope that the L will be at least a U.

You just saw Vikram Pandit and Richard Parsons, and you’re confident that Citigroup is back on the road…to what?

We had a very healthy discussion about the past two years and what Vikram inherited from the previous management. If you follow what he has been doing, he has been extremely meticulous, and he has been delivering on all his promises. But I’m telling him, you have to deliver in 2010.

What’s your reaction to President Obama’s plan to impose a tax on banks?

I’m against that. The banks, with a few exceptions, have gone through major crises. So while these banks are just coming out of the ICU, you bang them with another tax? I believe it’s premature and unwarranted…and more of a vendetta against those banks that are still giving extravagant bonuses to their management.

You’re a huge investor in News Corp. (NWS) Are you confident about its future?

I’m the second-biggest shareholder there. I was with Mr. Murdoch yesterday and have a very close relationship with Mr. James Murdoch. James is now managing Europe and Asia. I would be the first one to nominate him to be the successor of Mr. Rupert Murdoch, God forbid something happens. I have full trust in him. He is really a Rupert Murdoch in the making, and he’s almost there. And I told that to Mr. Murdoch.

Have you seen the Fox movie Avatar?

I had to see it before I met Mr. Murdoch. If I didn’t, he would be upset.

Did you like it?

Well, it was the first time I’ve seen a science fiction movie. What I like is the fact that people like it and it will gross more than $2 billion and could possibly add $400 million to the bottom line of News Corp. Imagine that. Whether I like it or not I will keep between me and Mr. Murdoch.

What do you think of America and our future?

America is down but not out. You know, you are in a mess in the United States. I have to be honest with you because I love the United States.

And you are heavily invested here.

Yes, sir. You know, the United States is going to be the leader of the world for many years to come. But when you have a country that has $14 trillion of cumulative debt, that’s not good.

So what should happen?

I’m not the U.S. President…but taxes have to be raised across the board.

It’s a hard political sell in America.

I understand, very dangerous. I see no way out, though. You’re going to have to pay the debt, eventually.

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.

The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day the farmer drove up and said, “Sorry Chuck, but I have some bad news. The donkey died.’”

Chuck replied, “Well then, just give me my money back.”

The farmer said,” ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”

Chuck said, “OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.”

The farmer asked, “What ya gonna do with a dead donkey?”

Chuck said, “I’m going to raffle him off.”

The farmer said, “You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!”

Chuck said, “Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.”

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, “What happened with that dead donkey?”

Chuck said, “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.00.”

The farmer said, “Didn’t anyone complain?”

Chuck said, “Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.”

Chuck now works for Morgan Stanley.

Note: This is a forwarded email that we received.

I guess a lot of people wished they were Ghanians in 2008 as the Ghanian stock market surged 58% in 2008! For sure no one wanted to be an Icelander in 2008 as the Icelandic stock market collapsed 94.43%!

Edwin Lefevre
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

I’m always happy when the market goes down. Then I feel pretty good about the stocks I didn’t buy with the money I don’t have.

I had this cartoon saved since July waiting for this day to post it. It’s a relief now that I can delete it from my desktop!

Quote of the Week:

“When the facts change, I change my mind.  What do you do sir?”

- John Maynard Keynes

As the US dollar tanks, it seems even BEGGARS stopped accepting US dollars.