Local businesses are expecting more opportunities to open up for export in the near future as several free trade agreements (FTA) between Vietnam and other countries are being negotiated.

In mid-October, the first session of a multi-national working party representing Vietnam, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan took place in Hanoi to prepare for the first researches on the impact of a free trade area between Vietnam and the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs alliance.

According to Dang Hoang Hai, Head of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), if a FTA is established, Vietnamese businesses will have more opportunity to trade in the Eastern European market as they do not face direct competition. In particular, agricultural products – a Vietnamese strongpoint – will get a better foothold in this market.

Also this month, the third round of negotiations on the trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was held in Brunei with eight countries taking part, including Singapore, Brunei, Australia, the US, New Zealand, Chile, Peru and Vietnam. The TPP is expected to stimulate growth for businesses that operate in the Asian-Pacific region, which is seen as one of the world’s most dynamic markets.

According to the President of the Vietnam Garments and Textiles Group (Vinatex) Le Quoc An, if Vietnam becomes a TPP member, garments manufacturers will have an enormous opportunity, especially in the US and South American markets. “Therefore, businesses are waiting expectantly for this agreement to be signed,” he said.

In addition, Vietnam is also actively preparing for FTA negotiations with Chile .

However, Vietnamese businesses are still weak in taking advantage of tariff preferences from FTA. They have failed to form alliances with regional businesses to make the most of tariff preferences and access to new technologies.

It is difficult for Vietnam to establish a new export market or find markets with large consumer demands, say experts, who emphasised the importance of taking advantage of tariff preferences in large markets such as Eastern Europe, the EU, the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and India, who Vietnam will establish FTAs with.

They recommended that Vietnamese businesses should keep a close watch on FTA negotiations between Vietnam and the aforementioned partners to prepare to take advantage of these markets.

According to the MoIT, Vietnam, together with ASEAN, has to date signed and implemented FTAs with six major partners in East Asia, including the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), the ASEAN-RoK Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA), the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP); the ASEAN-Indian Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).

These agreements were valued as essential for Vietnam to increase its export turnover.

Source: http://www.vietnamnews.us/markets/vietnam-expects-more-promising-export-markets/

Vietnamese shares are undervalued and becoming attractive to foreign investors. It’s the good time to buy Vietnamese shares, the local newspaper Vietnamnews reported on October 28, citing Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital as saying at its 2010 Investor Conference today

The foreign investors in Vietnam’s stock markets tend to be institutional investors while the stock markets are mainly dominated by retail or small-scale investors, accounting for 80% of market trading. The way these groups invest is different. While Vietnamese investors are sitting in the sidelines right now, overseas institutional investors look at Vietnam and see low valuation and great long-term prospects and this is the right time to buy shares. VinaCapital is a long-term investor in Vietnam, and the foreign investors we partner with are also interested in Vietnam’s long-term prospects. Don shared.

Don expected that the country’s gross domestic product(GDP) will reach a very good result of 6.8% this year while its inflation is estimated to stand at 9% for the year.

“Vietnam is making the right investment to improve the quantity and quality of its exports. There is a negative psychology that results from this-people see the currency under pressure. We’d like more investors, both domestic and foreign, to understand that the currency is not as weak as some observers think.” Don added.

Don also shared that VinaCapital does not have the habit of chasing “hot sectors”. The investment the company recommend today are the same as it ‘s interested in the past- the past opportunities in Vietnam relate to the growth of domestic economy and the long-term trend of urbanization and rising middle-class incomes.

The CEO recommended to invest in sectors including residential housing, consumer goods and retail, healthcare, education, financial services-these are all sectors that show solid long-term growth prospects. VinaCapital looks for companies with good management and strong business models in each of these sectors.

Don Lam is CEO of VinaCapital Group, established in 2003 and now Vietnam’s leading investment management group, with$1.8 billion in assets under management. Don has over 15 years business and investment experience in Vietnam.

Source:Right time to buy Vietnamese shares: VinaCapital

By EILEEN AJ CONNELLY, AP Business Writer Eileen Aj Connelly, Ap Business Writer – Wed Oct 27, 7:18 pm ET

NEW YORK – Visa Inc. on Wednesday said that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 51 percent, as consumers carrying cards with its brand used them more, and it collected more fees for processing transactions.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the San Francisco-based payments processing network posted net income of $774 million, or $1.06 per share, compared with $514 million, or 69 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted for a $79 million charge related to the revaluation of an option held by Visa Europe to sell its business back to Visa Inc., adjusted earnings came to 95 cents per share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, were expecting profit of 94 cents per share. Analyst estimates typically do not include one-time charges or gains.

Visa said revenue rose 13 percent to $2.12 billion, from $1.88 billion last year.

Analysts projected revenue of $2.09 billion.

“We count on Visa to deliver, and they delivered solid results this quarter,” said Edward Jones analyst Andy Miedler.

Total processed transactions rose 16 percent to 12.1 billion in the quarter. On a dollar basis, payments volume rose 14 percent to $802 billion. Cross-border volume grew 16 percent.

In the U.S., growth in debit card use continued to outpace credit use, but credit did have its second straight quarter of growth after stumbling last year.

Visa’s Chief Financial Officer Bryon H. Pollitt, during a conference call to discuss the results, said card use and spending so far in October continued to be positive. UBS analyst Jason Kupferberg said that was encouraging news.

Service revenue, the fees merchants pay for transaction processing, rose 13 percent to $912 million. Data processing revenue rose 15 percent to $840 million. International transaction revenue spiked 22 percent to $619 million.
Larger version

For the full fiscal year, Visa posted net income of $2.97 billion, or $4.03 per share, up from $2.35 billion, or $3.10 per share, in the prior year. Revenue rose to $8.07 billion, from $6.91 billion last year.

For its fiscal 2011, Visa said it still expects better-than-20 percent earnings per share growth, implying earnings of at least $4.84 per share. Wall Street was expecting, on average, $4.73 per share, with estimates ranging from $4.52 to $5.

Visa forecast revenue growth between 11 and 15 percent for the new fiscal year, implying guidance ranging between $8.95 billion and $9.11 billion. Analysts project $8.03 billion, with estimates ranging from $7.89 billion to $8.12 billion.

Executives speaking on the conference call declined to offer guidance for more than a year, in part because of the pending federal rules related to limits on debit card transaction fees paid by merchants.

In aftermarket electronic trading, Visa shares slipped $2.03, or 2.5 percent, to $77.89. The stock closed Wednesday’s regular session at $79.92.

Mayank Tandon, an analyst with Signal Hill Capital Group, said the stock dip reflected slight disappointment with both results and guidance. “Expectations were a little high, waiting for a stronger beat,” he said. He added that Visa tends to offer conservative guidance.

The company said its board approved a new $1 billion share-buyback plan.

By Julie Haviv Julie Haviv – Tue Oct 26, 8:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Data on Tuesday underscored the fragility of the economic recovery, with consumer confidence rising but still weak and home prices falling again after gaining earlier in the year.

The reports reinforced the belief the Federal Reserve will embark on another round of monetary policy stimulus to support the economic recovery, possibly as soon as next week.

Consumer confidence rose slightly in October but remained near historically low levels as concerns about the labor market persisted.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 50.2 in October from a revised 48.6 in September.

The Federal Reserve, which has already injected $1.7 trillion into the economy by purchasing mortgage-related and government bonds, meets on November 2-3.

Another round of quantitative easing, dubbed ‘QE2′, is expected to focus on Treasury debt.

The labor sector — U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6 percent — is one of the primary reasons the housing market remains fragile.

President Barack Obama could lose control of Congress in U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday due to voter anxiety over the jobs market and housing sector.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell for a second month in August, hovering around recent lows after the expiration of popular homebuyer tax credits, according to a Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report on Tuesday.

The price drop is largely a payback from the tax credits, which induced gains earlier this year.

“At this point the big factor out there is the foreclosure situation and it certainly doesn’t look very good. We have a lot of excess supply to work through, a lot of potential foreclosures and what appears to be an increasing legal mess,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, told Reuters Insider. “It’s going to take quite a while to get housing back on its feet.”

The housing market has been struggling since home buyer tax credits expired earlier this year. To take advantage of the tax credits, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30. Contracts originally had to close by June 30, but that was extended by three months.

U.S. stocks were lower, with soft commodity prices and disappointing results from the steel sector weighing on materials stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 0.25 percent

U.S. Treasury debt fell in price after a two-year note auction, while the U.S. dollar extended gains versus the euro.

Another report on Tuesday showed home price gains in August [ID:nWBT014211]. The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency home price index is calculated using purchase prices of houses financed by Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

Home prices in August reflected conditions before banks temporarily halted foreclosures due to questionable documentation. Home prices may benefit from fewer foreclosures in the mix, but any rise should prove to be temporary.

The housing market, however, remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and most economists believe a recovery will be elusive until the labor market improves.

FED EASING NOT A DONE DEAL

Some hope for the U.S. economy came by way of several major U.S. companies on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and accelerated plans to cut debt and borrowing costs to bring the automaker closer to an investment-grade credit rating.

DuPont (DD.N), the world’s fourth-largest chemical maker by revenue, reported a higher-than-forecast quarterly profit and boosted its 2010 earnings forecast above Wall Street’s expectations.

Additionally, three U.S. industrial companies posted better-than-expected profits on Tuesday and provided generally upbeat assessments of the global economic recovery, suggesting Europe and North America may finally be stabilizing.

The upbeat outlooks could serve to fuel arguments that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not need to pump more money into the financial system next week and might wait longer.

“I think it’s still possible that QE2 is not a done deal for November, even though the market has been trading as if it is,” said Brian Dolan, chief economist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey,

“This is one of the last bullets the Fed has in its gun and it’s going to be very reluctant to fire it unless circumstances are really dire,” he said. “It might be put off until the first quarter. I think the market has started to consider that this week.”

Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of economists still see the need for economic stimulus and expect clarification next week.

(Additional Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou, Ernest Scheyder and Steven Johnson in New York, Bernie Woodall and David Bailey in Detroit and James B. Kelleher in Chicago; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By Julie Haviv Julie Haviv – Tue Oct 26, 8:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Data on Tuesday underscored the fragility of the economic recovery, with consumer confidence rising but still weak and home prices falling again after gaining earlier in the year.

The reports reinforced the belief the Federal Reserve will embark on another round of monetary policy stimulus to support the economic recovery, possibly as soon as next week.

Consumer confidence rose slightly in October but remained near historically low levels as concerns about the labor market persisted.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 50.2 in October from a revised 48.6 in September.

The Federal Reserve, which has already injected $1.7 trillion into the economy by purchasing mortgage-related and government bonds, meets on November 2-3.

Another round of quantitative easing, dubbed ‘QE2′, is expected to focus on Treasury debt.

The labor sector — U.S. unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6 percent — is one of the primary reasons the housing market remains fragile.

President Barack Obama could lose control of Congress in U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday due to voter anxiety over the jobs market and housing sector.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell for a second month in August, hovering around recent lows after the expiration of popular homebuyer tax credits, according to a Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report on Tuesday.

The price drop is largely a payback from the tax credits, which induced gains earlier this year.

“At this point the big factor out there is the foreclosure situation and it certainly doesn’t look very good. We have a lot of excess supply to work through, a lot of potential foreclosures and what appears to be an increasing legal mess,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, told Reuters Insider. “It’s going to take quite a while to get housing back on its feet.”
Larger version

The housing market has been struggling since home buyer tax credits expired earlier this year. To take advantage of the tax credits, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30. Contracts originally had to close by June 30, but that was extended by three months.

U.S. stocks were lower, with soft commodity prices and disappointing results from the steel sector weighing on materials stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 0.25 percent

U.S. Treasury debt fell in price after a two-year note auction, while the U.S. dollar extended gains versus the euro.

Another report on Tuesday showed home price gains in August [ID:nWBT014211]. The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency home price index is calculated using purchase prices of houses financed by Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

Home prices in August reflected conditions before banks temporarily halted foreclosures due to questionable documentation. Home prices may benefit from fewer foreclosures in the mix, but any rise should prove to be temporary.

The housing market, however, remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and most economists believe a recovery will be elusive until the labor market improves.

FED EASING NOT A DONE DEAL

Some hope for the U.S. economy came by way of several major U.S. companies on Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and accelerated plans to cut debt and borrowing costs to bring the automaker closer to an investment-grade credit rating.

DuPont (DD.N), the world’s fourth-largest chemical maker by revenue, reported a higher-than-forecast quarterly profit and boosted its 2010 earnings forecast above Wall Street’s expectations.

Additionally, three U.S. industrial companies posted better-than-expected profits on Tuesday and provided generally upbeat assessments of the global economic recovery, suggesting Europe and North America may finally be stabilizing.

The upbeat outlooks could serve to fuel arguments that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not need to pump more money into the financial system next week and might wait longer.

“I think it’s still possible that QE2 is not a done deal for November, even though the market has been trading as if it is,” said Brian Dolan, chief economist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey,

“This is one of the last bullets the Fed has in its gun and it’s going to be very reluctant to fire it unless circumstances are really dire,” he said. “It might be put off until the first quarter. I think the market has started to consider that this week.”

Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of economists still see the need for economic stimulus and expect clarification next week.

(Additional Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou, Ernest Scheyder and Steven Johnson in New York, Bernie Woodall and David Bailey in Detroit and James B. Kelleher in Chicago; Editing by Andrew Hay)

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – 1 hr 49 mins ago

NEW YORK – Chip-maker Texas Instruments Inc. said Monday that third-quarter income soared 60 percent as it continued to satisfy pent-up demand after the recession, but the company expects things to cool down for the rest of the year, as consumer demand is tepid.

The forecast echoes that of other chip-makers including Intel Corp., which are also expecting sales to moderate in the fourth quarter.

TI, whose chips go into everything from cell phones to cars, said it earned $859 million, or 71 cents per share, in the July to September period. That topped the average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters by 2 cents.

In the same period last year, the Dallas-based company earned $538 million, or 42 cents per share.

Revenue rose 30 percent to $3.74 billion, beating the analyst forecast of $3.69 billion. A year ago, revenue was $2.88 billion.

“Demand from industrial markets was especially strong, while consumer demand cooled, impacting markets such as computing and televisions,” said TI CEO Rich Templeton.

TI chips regulate and convert electric power in TVs and PCs and handle other tasks such as communication with hard drives.

Fourth quarter revenue already tends to be lower because manufacturers have already stocked up parts for the holiday season. Templeton also expects weakness this quarter because of “continued soft demand in computing and consumer markets, and slowing growth in the industrial market.”

For the fourth quarter, TI forecast net income of 59 cents to 67 cents per share, and revenue of $3.36 billion to $3.64 billion. Analysts had been expecting 63 cents per share in earnings and $3.51 billion in revenue.

TI shares were down 32 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $28.66 in extended trading, after the release of the results. In the regular session, shares closed up 32 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $28.98.

TI went on a shopping spree during the recession, snapping up chip factories from manufacturers that had fallen on hard times. It opened its first factory in China during the quarter, and bought another one in Japan.

On a conference call with analysts, CFO Kevin March said the company now has enough capacity for what it believes will be the next wave of demand, but it might buy more plants if it finds them at rock-bottom prices, like it has recently.

As usual, TI’s best sellers were analog chips, which are used in phones and other electronics to regulate power and convert sound into electric pulses. Revenue from that division was up 35 percent from a year ago to $1.581 billion. Sales of embedded processors, used in communications networks, car electronics and many other applications, grew 47 percent to $579 million. TI is winding down what was once an important business of making “baseband” chips for cell phones, which handle communications with cell towers. Its wireless business now focuses on chips that handle functions like GPS navigation, Wi-Fi connections and running programs. That business saw an 11 percent revenue increase, to $767 million.