Thoughts

Wow, $220bn is a massive number!

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The size of Bank of America, orTwo Caterpillars, orDeere + American Expresses, orFedex + Heineken + Colgate Palmolive + Yum Brands Sorry, what is? $220bn – the increase in value of Nvidia’s market cap after hours The increase, not the entire value of the next Trillionaire Yes, but it’s because of AI – that’s been … Read on

Fund Consultant, can I ask you a few questions?

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What would you like me to do when a holding hits fair value? Sell of course And what do you expect our win/loss ratio to be? Well, the data shows that if you win 50% & don’t lose much on the other 50% you’ll pump alpha Agree And when we get it wrong, what should … Read on

I’m so excited, Apple “beat the estimates”

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Fantastic news, tell me about the results Revenue declined 3% Hang on, inflation is +5% so that’s -8% real Yes, but in “constant currency” terms they grew by 2% That’s nonsense – this is a global business and currencies aren’t constant Imagine a bank reporting “constant interest rates” or an oil company reporting “constant oil … Read on

*EURO STOXX 50 INDEX SET FOR HIGHEST CLOSE SINCE DECEMBER 2007

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Screamed my Bloomberg newsfeed in red a few minutes ago But:1)     Isn’t the war still going on?2)     Don’t most people think Europe is a “basket case”?3)     And didn’t the September 2022 Bank of America survey find that, “ Fund managers were the most UNDERWEIGHT on European equities EVER”, to quote the Forbes article on the report? YesYes andYes So … Read on

“At the centre of this investigation are greedy Swiss bankers & catnapping government regulators …. to help ultra-wealthy US citizens to evade taxes & rip off their fellow Americans”

said Senate Finance Committee Chair, Senator Ron Wyden about Credit Suisse’s alleged violation of their 2014 plea deal over “secret accounts” Now I know they don’t use kettles in the US, but if there was ever a case of, “the pot calling the coffee machine black”, this takes the biscuit (or cookie) Because if you’re on the … Read on

I’m no movie buff, but if you search for the worst movie sequels of all time, you’ll see some that you never knew existed like:

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Basic Instinct II (seriously…)Superbabies: Baby geniusesWall Street – Money never SleepsJaws II – The RevengeThe Sting IIThe Hangover IIDumb & DumbererPolice Academy Well, there’s a new one more, that hit the theatres last Friday, “European Financial Crisis II – Ghost Protocol” Genre: Fantasy In this movie it appears that: Some “Baby Geniuses” set out to … Read on

SVB – the narrative and the numbers

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Any guess who said this? “It’s important to note we have a high-quality very liquid balance sheet, which I know there will be lots of questions about; strong capital levels; a seasoned management team, which we experienced navigating challenging markets and adding a lot of new people with deep experience as well; and a consistent focus on our long-term business strategy. So when you … Read on