Donald Trump's Art of the Deal- Using Lies To De-escalate the US-Iran War.

Trump says Iran and US ‘want to make a deal’ but Tehran says claims of talks are ‘fake news’. To be honest, we have to give credit to Donald Trump for making such bold statement of "good talk with Iran" which buys global stock markets and energy prices time from persistent unfavourable pricing movement. Also, by postponing attacks on Iran's energy infrastructure, Trump can then extend another postponement of attacks on Iran which then gradually transit to total freeze of military action. This also saves his face....so I guess this is a smart move. We have seen him using such techniques in his tariff war against many countries previously. 

So guess the essence to the Donald Trump "Art of the Deal" is to make statements that are false in order to serve one's own agenda and self-interest? Not all world leaders have such thick skin to practice the Art of the Deal. 

Asian stock markets should rally today but the volatility is not over. So be careful folks! 

Donald Trump Blackmailing Iran With Opening of the Straits of Hormuz Or A Strike On Its Power Plants.

I am not sure whether Donald Trump is in the right frame of mind over his latest ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Straits of Hormuz within 48 hours or to face direct air strike of its power plants. I guess Iran will just simply fired ballistics missiles in retaliation at the power plant of all neighbouring gulf countries. What ever happened to the potential candidate for Nobel Prize for World Peace? With macho ego at stake, it looks like the Iran-US war is going to drag on for quite some time. 

Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT Market Price Collapse- Retail Investors Beware!

I know that there is the US Iran War which is creating chaos in global stock markets. But the sudden collapse of Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT ("KORE") from US$0.235 per unit a month ago to US$0.182 per unit as of 19 March 2026 is more than the overall correction in REITs market pricing. The sudden huge decline of <-23%> over the past 1 month is appalling. There seems to be a lack of information with regard to the sudden decline and I could not find any useful announcement released by KORE on SGX.

Online search for recent news relating to KORE that may have an adverse impact on its market price.

A quick search online unveiled the following event that may explain the rationale for the substantial decline in market pricing:

(i) Potential sale by a major unitholder. This is the most important factor right now. A substantial unitholder — Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT (around 6.1% stake) — is planning to liquidate its assets, which includes its KORE units due to excessive high borrowings that need to be repaid to bankers.

(ii) The management of Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT has explicitly said they expect a “substantial – if not complete – sale” of these units

(iii) Even if the sale hasn’t fully happened yet, market seems to be pricing in the expected surge in supply of units being put up for sales in the open market. This stake is likely to be sold via block trades or market sales, creating an “overhang” on price. In addition, traders seems to be front-run the selling thus creating persistent downward pressure

Parting Thoughts

It has been very painful holding on to KORE especially for many existing retail investors like myself. While the market price is way below the Net Asset Value per unit, the question is how reliable is the valuation of the current fair value by valuers of KORE with regard to its investment properties. Are there any other skeleton in the closet that retail investors are unaware of? 

For folks still holding on to KORE, what are your thoughts? Will you all hold on to your existing units or buy more with units with the dip? Or is KORE dying and time to bite the bullet?

The Donald Trump Madness- Attack Iran And Now Wants Allies and Other Nations To Clean His Backside.

What a mess the US war on Iran has become. Donald Trump attacked Iran without consulting its European and Asia Pacific Allies but now demand its allies to send warships to keep the Straits of Hormuz open to oil tankers and container ships. Trump is now furious with allies who rebuffed his call for help to secure the Straits of Hormuz. Personally, I thought it is strange that the mighty US seems to have miscalculated on Iran's willingness to weaponize the Straits of Hormuz. Perhaps US thought that by destroying the Navy of Iran, it would effectively remove the Iranian hold over the Straits of Hormuz. 

Donald Trump has now pulled in its allies into its never-ending war. The Europeans may have no choice but to help US clean up its backside lest Donald Trump threaten to end the defence pact under NATO. 

Let's hope the middle east conflict de-escalate soon before the whole world sank into global economic recession. It will interesting to see whether Singapore property market crash. 

Purchases During Recent Market Turmoil in Midst Of Donald Trump's War Against Iran.

Hi Folks, this post is more for my personal update & tracking of my own investment during the recent oil crisis sparked off by Donald Trump's war against Iran. Some said that Trump's war against Iran is more of a diversion tactic from his own domestic home base away from the Epstein fiasco and his involvement. From Trump's perspective, he is waging a righteous war to prevent Iran from further enrichment of uranium for building a nuclear bomb that will mean the end of the world. Nevertheless, no matter what is the rationale for igniting the fire of war, it has lead to global devastating consequences with oil price shooting through the roof by almost 100% relative to pre-war oil prices.

1. Investments and Accumulation (Cash + CPF deployment)

During the past week of market turmoil, I have executed the following purchases:

(i) Alibaba (HK 9988)- AI fallout and also fear of intensifying e-Commerce competition led to Alibaba stocks falling from over HKD185 per share in October 2025 to under HKD130 per share which is a close to 30% decline in its share price. I remain optimistic in Alibaba's fast growing cloud business. Bought more Alibaba shares at HKD130 per share and around S$6.5K;

(ii) Lendlease Global Commercial REIT (SGX-JYEU)- Unfortunately, prices did not drop further with substantial discount price to its rights issuance exercise of S$0.558 per unit. It continued to hover around S$0.555 to S$0.560 per unit. Since most of my investments are not held under discount broker like Tiger/Moo Moo, I decided to just save on the brokerage cost by subscribing for the rights under my Maybank Margin account. Have cut down on the excess subscription for sake of rounding up the numbers to at least 100 tranche. Around S$7K for S$0.0558 per unit of Lendlease Global Commercial REIT ("LREIT"). Additionally, end of today I will further subscribe to another S$3.3K worth of LREIT @S$0.558  under my CDP account. I believe that the transformation to Singapore focused retail REIT model and the better aggregate leverage ratio has completed and LREIT's financial performance should stabilise going forward (provided its Management does not do anymore hostile & anti-shareholders stance such as massive diluting existing unit-holders from capital raising exercise via offering rights issuance to only new external shareholders).

(iii) Amova STC Asia REIT ETF (SGX-CFA)- Decided to pump in from my CPF OA account amount of S$10K at price of S$0.801 per unit during the REIT pricing correction and fear of inflation coming back with financing cost spiralling upwards again. 

(iv) Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX-MIT)- Interestingly, price of MIT has slid to below S$2.00 per unit level again and this represented a high dividend yield of more than 6.5%. From my CPF OA investment account, went on to accumulate another 2,000 units of MIT at price of S$1.97 per unit for S$3,940. 

Total accumulation over the past week: S$16.8K in cash top up and another S$14K from CPF OA. 

2. Parting Thoughts

At this juncture, I don't think anyone is certain of when exactly the war waged by US and the closure of the Straits of Hormuz by Iran will end. So take note that the stock markets might crash even further. Hang in there folks and hope that the senseless war will end soon and the global stock markets will eventually recover. Who dares wins!

Boustead REIT Opened 8.5% Lower Upon Listing From IPO Price of S$0.88 Per Unit.

Boustead REIT opened for trading this afternoon as of 12 March 2026 and tragedy struck immediately. Retail investors who subscribed for units @S$0.88 per unit during its recent IPO made an immediate loss with opening price of S$0.805 per unit which is a grave <8.5%> decline. I believed that the banker's stabilising manager have stepped in to keep up the price and thus trading in range of S$0.805-S$0.820 per unit. At its current price, dividend yield will be close to an impressive 8% per annum. Nevertheless, my personal thoughts is be careful that Boustead may just be a dividend trap. 

Please see my review of Boustead REIT during its IPO here:

Boustead REIT IPO- 3 Reasons Retail Investors Need To Stay Far Far Away.

Lendlease REIT Upcoming Rights Issuance Becoming A Nightmare With No Takers- Subscribe Only On Last Day to See Market Price.

Please see Video here.