The investors' commitments set the stage for what would be Singapore's second-biggest IPO this year, amid a hot start to 2013 for Southeast Asian markets and deals.

WSJ: Taiwan Pay-TV Operator Lines Up IPO Investors

But in speeches and talks to wide-eyed Asian listeners, I reply that I am hot for "application companies, " those that create a corporate use from some ingenious software someone else invented.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: It Still Isn't Very There Here

For a country that went through a notorious currency collapse in 1997, baht movements have special significance, although the fundamentals of the Thai economy seem more solid now than during the hot money flow that preceded the Asian financial crisis.

FORBES: A Mightier Baht

Then, in July 1997, the Asian Crisis hit, and everyone looked on in horror as hot money from global hedge funds, fueled by the steroid of high leverage, brought the economies of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to their knees, first creating asset bubbles when it flowed in, and then causing the local currencies to collapse when it was suddenly withdrawn.

FORBES: A Convertible Redback

The hot cups of Chinese brew are part of Metrobank's Asian style.

CNN: The Asiaweek Financial 500

Are European and Asian stocks a better buy? (And is Mark Cuban still full of hot air?) Post your thoughts below.

FORBES: Are Stocks Still A Buy?

Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad appeared to get away with a form of it during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s when he divorced his currency from the capital markets. ("Hot money" is a particular bane of contemporary go-it-aloners.) Now Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra is getting credited, even in sophisticated circles, with galvanizing his country's recovery through internal demand.

FORBES: Autarky Is In