Stock-markets are falling. Does this mean that the nine-year bull market has come to an end, that shares are finally adjusting to some uncomfortable realities, as their extreme valuations have long suggested they would? [Read more…]
Shares: Should You Panic?
February 6, 2018 By
Planning Your Portfolio
October 1, 2014 By
Planning Your Portfolio – All successful investors use heuristics to shape their strategic decisions, but it’s wrong to assume they are always correct. [Read more…]
A Boom Out East
February 27, 2013 By
Real-Estate Markets
“A flood of cash into Asian investments has pushed stocks, currencies and real-estate markets sharply higher, leaving governments struggling to stem the inflows for fear they will fuel inflation,” Fiona Law reports in The Wall Street Journal. [Read more…]
Profligate money creation in Europe
February 19, 2013 By
European Central Bank – Mario Draghi
Japan’s central bank is under pressure from the newly-elected government to step up its easy-money policies. [Read more…]
Multi-asset strategies essential
February 11, 2013 By
Multi-asset strategies essential as volatility continues, say Barings
– Barings’ annual study of best and worst performing asset classes shows sharp swings in performance
– While European equities top the 2012 list, the class was one of the worst performing in 2011 and 2010
Annual research from Baring Asset Management (“Barings”) into the best and worst performing asset classes over the past five years has revealed that sharp swings in performance for mainstream investment sectors continued in 2012, underscoring the benefits of a multi-asset approach to investing. While European equities lead the way in terms of 2012 performance, returning 17.8%, the asset class was one of the worst performing in 2011 as well 2010 and 2008 (see table below). [Read more…]
Gold Readies for Another Upsurge
February 6, 2013 By
The gold price seems to have been slowly but relentlessly sliding since it peaked at $1,920 in September 2011. This has been the strongest of the four corrections in the soaring bull market that began 12 years ago, with a fall of about 13 per cent. [Read more…]
Prepare for a Mania
December 21, 2012 By
American commentator John Dizard
Gold: Earlybirds Prepare for a Mania
The continuing avalanche of digitally-created money and nearly-free credit provided to the megabanks “means that a hyperbolic, 1979-1980 style blow-off in the gold market is becoming more likely,” says the FT’s well-known American commentator John Dizard. [Read more…]
Desalination is expensive
October 15, 2012 By
Desalination Plant
Desalination is a very expensive answer
- Water problems will increase to a point where gains from increased irrigation will be offset by loss of underground water and salination of the soil.
As with some other resource problems, there is an easy enough solution – desalination. But it comes with a dreadful drawback – ultra high cost. [Read more…]
Worse than the Thirties
May 16, 2012 By
It’s even worse than the Thirties
Fiscal Deficit
Two years down the track, where do things stand?
Lots of pain is being experienced, without much gain. Inflation – largely a consequence of a 25 per cent fall in sterling’s exchange rate in the global financial crisis – has soared. [Read more…]
Indonesia, emerging Asian giant
May 1, 2012 By
Another Emerging Asian Giant
Indonesia Stock Exchange
Indonesia’s stock-market has once again been a global leader on the upside, and the best performer in Asia since the end of 2010 – but how many of us have invested there? [Read more…]