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Contents Click on the links below to get to the stuff you really really want. USA – Tech stocks down, traditional stocks up; Small business sentiment improved before election and vaccine news (#USA) UK – Vaccine news continued to reverberate; Oil prices up; Jobs data disappointed (#UK) Continental Europe – Oil and finance did well; Mood supported by looming €1.8tn EU budget (#Europe) Elsewhere – Mixed fortunes across the region; Chinese tech down on Beijing “anti-monopolistic practices” actions. Irony appears to be lost on them (#Elsewhere) WTF – Zoiks (#WTF) Links (#Useful) Numbers (#Numbers) Ts & Cs (#Ts+Cs)
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USA
The vaccine-led rally ran out of steam in the US yesterday. All of the vaccine-rumour rallies have been short-lived, but this one was downright spectacular, so it’s no surprise that it hit the buffers. The one vestige left was a movement out of tech stocks, which have done well during the lockdowns, and into more traditional stocks, which had been left behind. As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank by 1.4% while the traditional old Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.9% on the day.
In macro-economic news, the sentiment among small businesses came in slightly higher than expected based on pre-election and pre-vaccine data. And some jobs data came in that showed a shuffling about of numbers, but nothing to get excited about.
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UK
In the UK, the vaccine news continued to reverberate, sending the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 up by 1.8% and 0.9% respectively. The value of the pound rose reflecting the improved outlook for the UK economy but, such was the level of enthusiasm, this didn’t prevent the export-heavy FTSE 100 from posting its solid gain.
Oil prices continued to rise following expectations of higher demand from a return to higher industrial activity. That pushed oil producers’ shares up, and they were followed by stocks from a fairly broad range of industrial sectors.
Meanwhile, the latest jobs data disappointed; unemployment rose and redundancies hit a record high of 314,000 for the third quarter of 2020. So there’s still a way to go before we get back to normal, vaccine or no vaccine.
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Continental Europe
Stocks also rose across the continent with the Euro Stoxx 50 and German DAX adding 1.0% and 0.5% respectively on the day. Oil and finance did well, with banks such as Santander, ING and BNP adding between 7.6% and 8.6% on the day. Technology stocks were out of favour, led downwards by microchip manufacturer, ASML, which dropped by 4.0%.
The positive mood was supported by the EU closing in on its €1.8 trillion budget which would go some way to supporting struggling industries and countries.
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Elsewhere
The Asia Pacific region has delivered mixed fortunes so far today. Australian and Japanese stocks closed higher as the prospects of a return to normality and demand for exported goods grew larger.
But Chinese mainland stocks were pulled down by the country’s technology sector. It suffered as Beijing continued with its crackdown on the internet and related companies. The Communist Party revealed regulations to combat monopolistic practices in the tech industry. What that means in reality remains to be seen, but it doesn’t bode well for the likes of Alibaba and Tencent.
The irony is that the so-called People’s Liberation Army (the national armed forces) owns huge swathes of Chinese industry, much of which is only kept going because of its connections in the politburo which provide cheap funding that would be better used supporting real businessmen in the country.
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WTF (What’s The Fact?)
Zoiks!
Ken Spears, the last of the two co-creaters of Scooby Doo, has died at the age of 82. There were only two series of the original cartoon, and they were produced 50 years ago.
Using the same annoying tricks employed by Agatha Christie, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise and the like (not sharing clues with the audience, introducing new characters late on, providing nonsensical explanations of how the crime was committed, sharing the concluding explanation between several characters), Scooby Doo was a bane to old caretakers of haunted fairgrounds the world over.
Unfortunately, the TV folk thought it would be a good idea to introduce Scrappy Doo, and that gave rise to a whole bunch of the Dream Machine suddenly reversing just as the little pile of Doo was going around the back of the van. Never quite took care of him though.
Interesting factoid: the voice of Shaggy was done by none other than bleached-teeth shorty, Casey Casum who used to introduce “America’s Top Ten” on Star TV and elsewhere in the 1990s.
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Links
Investopedia (www.investopedia.com/dictionary/) – Loads of free explanations of financial terms including some helpful videos. Not 100% accurate, but a good starting point Guffipedia (ig.ft.com/sites/guffipedia/) – Lucy Kellaway of the FT has collected some painful examples of corporate people disappearing up their own analogies Guardian (www.theguardian.com) – Free to access website with a couple of decent columnists (e.g. Nils Pratley and Larry Elliott) Times of India (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) – Why use five words when 37 will do? Daily Mail (www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-war-on-stupid-people/485618) – Click it. I dare you.
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———————————————————— IMPORTANT This is my opinion. Yes I read a lot and share what I’ve read with you, but this content remains my opinion. It’s NOT advice. If you take my advice – don’t take my advice. Any decisions you make about investments, your hairstyle or whether or not to eat marzipan are entirely at your own behest. If you’re unable to recognise the devil’s ear wax when you see it, then you’re on your own.
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