TACO

 

Barely one day after threatening tariffs, Trump walks back his tariff threats. At least I bought VUSD and some Lion Global All Seasons fund.

Finally a Dip in the market

 

It took more threats by Trump of Greenland-related Tariffs to cause a market dip which is of course a buying opportunity. I bought VUSD last night and will continue buying throughout the week. Hopefully the market doesn't reverse too quickly.

This is obviously a "TACO" trade (Trump Always Chickens Out) and I'm not sure he has a sound basis for imposing tariffs (they will of course make something up). 

3010: Benefiting from the Chip Rally

 

Since you need chips and memory for AI, it is perhaps no surprise that chip stocks have been rallying (including Intel, which I had exited some time back). One beneficiary of this rally has been the ishares Asia ETF (3010.HK) which I have been buying every month via RSP and fortuitously have been deploying my excess HK$ dividends into this counter as well (create a separate RSP which deducts from my HK$ in addition to the RSP which deducts from my S$ account).

The reason why I have been favouring 3010 had actually nothing to do with chip stocks but with the fact that it had a sizeable India component (18%) and I thought I had better get some more exposure to India just in case India becomes a beneficiary of tariff wars at China's expense. I viewed TSMC's weightage at 13.43% of the whole ETF as a negative thing (overconcentration in ETFs is not good)  that I could live with but as it turns out, TSMC prices has moved up by a lot for a megacap.

My plan is to continue monthly RSP because it provides geographical diversification with exposure to India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

ActiveSG credits for Body Fat check

 

Singaporeans have been given $100 of ActiveSG credits which expire on 31 Dec 2026. If you make a transaction, the credits will be rolled over to 2027. Browsing the things you can spend ActiveSG credits on, I noticed that you could do a Body Composition test with the Inbody 770. As I recently purchased an Omron Body Composition scale, I thought it would be useful to get a reference reading from the Inbody. The procedure is quite simple, just go to the ActiveSG website to signup with Singpass and the $7 is auto-deducted from your ActiveSG credits. You get an A4 printout of your results to take home.

Based on the Inbody report, I have a body fat of 15.9% and correspondingly low visceral fat which is good. Searching the internet for a "good" body fat percentage, the American Council for Exercise chart says that this is within the "fitness" range. For reference, the Omron reports 17.7% so its off by 1.8%, which I guess is an error one can live with for a $125 consumer product.

The DEXA scan, which is a series of low powered X-rays, is the gold standard for body fat analysis but it costs a few hundred dollars, whereas the Inbody scan I don't have to pay any cash. I plan to do it again in 6 months.