Populism is a massive threat to markets. Inflation, tax-hikes, petrol costs, poverty, political mismanagement and a host of other failings could further destabilise the West, while markets seem determined to stay euphoric whatever the evidence to the contrary.
Markets and Politicians share many common traits – they over enthuse on the upside and fail to grasp hidden costs and dangers. The Morning Porridge is resolutely in favour of climate change mitigation, but the current headlong plunge into renewable energies and lithium batteries has the potential to end up an environmental and market disaster.
The immediate financial market outlook is risk-off driven by Ukraine, followed by rising fears and concerns about inflation policy mistakes, wondering when to pick the bottom in the tech cycle to buy great ideas, why Boeing should be in jail, and longer-term concerns about where we are going in terms of transition.
A bounce back rally is underway – but its reactive, based on the hopes of “buy-the-dippers”, and the fundamentals haven’t changed. Many weakening Tech stocks are seeing their foundations exposed as built on sand.
Tech stocks have taken a thumping this year – a well-timed reality check or a threat to bring down the whole market? Probably time for a clean out of all the speculative, improbable and fantastical perpetual motion machines that beguiled IPO and SPAC investors during the easy money era. Reality bites and it’s time to get real..
Markets are welcoming victory versus COVID, but the next crisis is upon us: Energy instability. The consequences could be dramatic..
Tesla’s rise into the $1 trillion club is extraordinary - proving that listening to what the momentum crowd is buying, while suspending disbelief and fundamental analysis is one road to success. Hertz is a lesson in seizing the moment – its stock gains and free publicity from its new EV fleet will likely exceed the cost of the cars!
Elon Musk’s robot left us all giggling over the weekend, but may just prove to be the stunt that breaks Tesla. The suspension of disbelief that’s fuelled unicorn tech valuations in the face of reality these past many years feels like its breaking-down as reality bites.
Yesterday’s events across Tech served to remind us it’s a fluid sector where what we believe one day may be false the next, but deep down there is bedrock. Crypto currencies saw a last-chance bubble pop, while Tesla genuinely surprised me by producing solid results – which don’t for one moment change my perspective its fatally overvalued. Meanwhile, the latest China clampdown on listed stocks shocked markets, but reminds us we need to think differently about the wakening Dragon.
Football, the beautiful game, is anything but pretty this morning. Could the mass-revulsion trigger something fundamental in terms of the shift towards stakeholder capitalism? Meanwhile, markets remain on highs, but there as signs the madness has gone too far. Do cracks in cryptos and over-priced stocks mean a wobble is coming? And, as the Shanghai Motor Show gets headlines – how deep is Tesla’s Moat? Not very…
