Business
Finance: Leading tech stocks emerge

PHUKET: As of mid September, the overall market appeared to be in a volatile choppy transition phase. Some individual stocks are doing well while others are continuing to be punished. Certain indices such as the S&P 500 aren’t exactly performing that well either.
However, there are leadership stocks forming, consolidating and blasting higher, with technology stocks doing particularly well.
This means money is flowing back into individual stocks that have superb sales and earnings. Technology stocks tend to lead bull markets and that is what I am seeing as we enter the 4th quarter.
For example, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) added nearly US$80 billion in market cap in just one mid-September week and I (along with my clients) have been taking positions in the stock for several weeks now for a few key reasons:
Firstly, in 2009, at the bottom of the financial crisis, Apple was at the US$15-20 level, before blasting higher, until a 2013 correction that ended in a further lift-off.
As with the S&P 500, Apple had been in correction mode, or just in a volatile downtrend, since around 2014. However, that downtrend line on the technical charts was broken about six week ago – a clear sign to get back into shares.
Secondly, Apple has also broken through a ceiling or ‘neckline’ on its technical chart, formed by a couple of recent highs with shares now heading back towards a second neckline formed by a previous all-time high. If shares can reach that second neckline, a healthy base will form on the technical chart with shares having the potential to move much higher.
Thirdly, recent Apple trading volume has been huge with big institutional investors stepping back in to buy up more shares.
Overall, Apple has a very healthy and bullish looking technical chart right now, and we should give the shares some room to run even higher.
On the other hand, Apple falling back to break through the US$110 level would serve as a warning sign to investors that shares could plunge even further. Should Apple shares fall below the U$103-104 level for a 10 per cent decline, investors will probably start cashing out of their positions to prevent more serious losses.
Another tech stock I have been watching for some time is small cap Gigamon Inc (NYSE: GIMO). The company provides active visibility into physical and virtual network traffic, allowing for stronger security and superior performance. Understanding what it does is not so important for investors right now though as its technical chart tells us almost everything we need to know.
Gigamon’s chart from 2013 until earlier this year shows one giant bottoming formation, before shares began blasting off from the US$30 level at the beginning of summer to a new high around the US$34 mark – and then a second high at around the US$37 level.
I recently took a position at the US$48 level, because shares still have the potential to move up to the $60 level. Likewise, there is always the chance for shares to fluctuate and further consolidate sideways for the next few months, or even pull back, especially if the entire market takes a hit.
If shares pull back to below the US$44 level, I will probably be forced to exit my position to avoid the risk of more losses.
Despite the considerable uncertainty surrounding the US presidential elections – along with the fallout from Brexit and the threat of terrorism – the goal for investors right now should be to identify and hold the shares in strong leadership stocks like those of Apple and Gigamon and keep them for months or years to come; as long as their price action supports holding on to them. The old buy-and-hold tactic has not been easy lately, due to the recent volatility, but I am watching more individual stocks slowly starting to hold onto their gains.
Is there room in your portfolio for Apple, Gigamon or other leadership stocks that are starting to break out?
Don Freeman, BSME is president of Freeman Capital Management, a Registered Investment Advisor with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), based in Phuket. He has over 15 years experience working with expatriates, specializing in portfolio management, US tax preparation, and financial planning. Call for a free portfolio review. Don can be reached at 089-970 5795 or email: freemancapital@gmail.com.
— Don Freeman
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Thailand
Facebook removes “information-influencing” pages linked to Thai military

Facebook has confirmed the removal of 185 accounts run by the Thai military and allegedly involved in information-influencing. The social media giant says the accounts were deleted for engaging in what it calls, “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. In total, 77 accounts, 72 pages, and 18 groups have been removed from the platform, in addition to 18 Instagram accounts. It’s the first time Facebook has taken such action against accounts linked to the Thai government.
The accounts were associated with the Thai military and were targeting people in the southern provinces, Facebook said its regular report on coordinated inauthentic behavior. The south of the country has been the scene of decades-long conflict, with insurgent groups in the majority-Muslim, Malay-speaking region calling for independence. To date, around 7,000 people have died in the ongoing struggle.
Facebook says the deleted accounts were most active last year and used both fake and real accounts to manage pages and groups, both openly military pages and pages that hid their links to the military. Some of the fake profiles pretended to be people from the southern provinces.
The report mentioned a post by the now-removed account named “comprehending the operation” in Thai. The page posted the logo for Amnesty International Thailand and wrote “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role in society. Normal people are not famous. Any case is not big news. They are not worth the investment of foreigners so they will not do anything to help. This is why we don’t see anything from the NGO.”

Image overlay translates to “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role nor money.”
On another now-removed account, named “truth about my home Pattani” in Thai, a post said “Muslim leader declares southern border is a peace zone. The southern separatists started a movement by spreading the idea that Thailand is under control by different believers so that people would come and fight for their religion. This was declared that the action clearly violates Islam faith.”

Image overlay translates to “Southern border is not Jihad zone.”
When contacted by Reuters, the military had no comment on the removal of the Facebook accounts, with a spokesman saying the organisation does not comment outside of official press conferences.
The head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher, has confirmed the reasons behind the platform’s decision.
“This is the first time that we’ve attributed one of our takedowns to links to the Thai military. We found clear links between this operation and the Internal Security Operations Command. We can see that all of these accounts and groups are tied together as part of this operation.”
He adds that the accounts had spent around US$350 on advertising on both Facebook and Instagram. One or more of the pages had about 700,000 followers and at least one of the groups had 100,000 members. Gleicher says the accounts were removed because of their misleading behaviour and not because of the content being posted. The content included support for the military and the monarchy, with allegations of violence and criticism of insurgent groups in the south.
It’s not the first time accounts linked to the Thai military have been removed by a social media platform. In October, Twitter removed 926 accounts it says had links to the army and posted pro-military and pro-government content. The Thai army has denied any involvement with the accounts in question. In November, Twitter also suspended an account posting pro-monarchy content that was found to have links to the palace and to thousands of other accounts posting similar content.
To read the February 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report, click HERE.
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Central Thailand
Airline executive arrested for failure to pay wages of 150 workers

An airline executive has been arrested in the central province of Samut Songkhram, after complaints from150 employees that they had not been paid. Chawengsak Noiprasan, who had a court warrant issued against him in October, was taken to Don Muang police station from a property in the Bang Khan Take sub-district. He is a board member of Siam Air Transport.
The airline began operations in October 2014 with services out of Don Mueang to Hong Kong, using 2 Boeing 737-300s. 2 Boeing 737-800s were added to its fleet in late 2015. It expanded by adding Zhengzhou and Guangzhou in China to its network in early 2015. In late 2015, the airline launched flights to Macau and Singapore. In 2017, the airline ceased all operations.
But according to an article in the Bangkok Post, the carrier operates a number of scheduled and charter flights from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. The Post reports that, as Chawengsak signs the company’s legal paperwork, all legal matters concerning the airline fall to him.
The Metropolitan Police Bureau says the executive has admitted to ignoring a 30 day notice issued by the labour inspector and ordering the payment of wages to 150 workers. It’s understood he is also wanted in relation to 7 other cases.
The authorities sought Chawengsak’s arrest following complaints from employees who say they haven’t received their wages for 2 months. It’s understood the airline had previously deferred salary payments for over 8 months. 150 workers filed an official complaint with Don Mueang police and also approached media outlets, asking them to pressure the airline into paying the money owed.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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