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Contents Click on the links below to get to the stuff you really really want. USA – Investors moved gently back towards tech stocks (#USA) UK – Not much of note as investors wait and see (#UK) Continental Europe – Contagion numbers falling; ECB noted financial risks ahead (#Europe) Elsewhere – Major losses across most regions (#Elsewhere) WTF – Holy Grail (#WTF) Links (#Useful) Numbers (#Numbers) Ts & Cs (#Ts+Cs)
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USA
Much like a car running out of petrol, a president running out of unsubstantiated vote-fraud claims or a victim of gastric ‘flu running out of everything, the stock rally and subsequent pull-back both kinda ground to a halt on Friday.
There was a muted shift towards technology stocks by the end of the week, but it had all the energy of a darts player leaning towards the remote control after downing three kebabs and a vat of stout.
Economic data are mixed, virus cases are rising and there’s a push-pull between the short-term pain and the medium-term recovery. More stimulus is going to be necessary and, with Jerome Powell at the Fed and his predecessor as the new Treasury Secretary, there’ll be a pincer movement towards financial stimulus next year (inasmuch as Biden can persuade slack-jaw McConnell to play ball).
As for Friday, the rise in tech stocks took the Nasdaq Composite up by 0.9% while the more mixed S&P 500 only managed to add 0.2% on the day.
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UK
If you haven’t read the US section then do, because that’s where I set out the general global economic context. And I was in fairly grumpy mood when I wrote Friday’s US section, so it’s moderately interesting for all the wrong reasons.
Now that you’ve digested that pearl of cliché-dom, I can shower other financey gifts over your heaving bosom/ biceps/ beer-gut* (*delete as applicable): stocks waddled around the living room of investments bumping into the coffee table of currency movements and almost tripping over curled up corner of the rug of despondency before settling down in the armchair of who gives a f…
Yep, dull, dull, dull. But probably no bad thing after the year we’ve had. The FTSE 100 ended 0.1% higher on the day, while the FTSE 250 left a slightly longer slime-trail of 3% growth.
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Continental Europe
Stocks across the continent had a better day than their Anglo Saxon counterparts. Contagion numbers appear to be falling as lockdown measures work, who would have guessed? So the Euro Stoxx 50 and German DAX closed the day around 0.4% higher.
The slightly higher movement of stocks was helped by the latest selection of opaque mental wanderings released by the European Central Bank (equivalent to the Bank of England, but less posh). The ECB noted the general financial risks ahead. Some observers took this statement of the bleedin’ obvious to indicate that more stimulus would be on the way. What and when? You’re guess is as good as mine.
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Elsewhere
Stocks have kicked off this week on a downer across the Asia Pacific region. Substantial losses have been posted in the majority of major indices from Australia to Hong Kong. The stocks that did well in November (i.e. the ones that did badly during the lockdowns) are doing badly again. Nothing that I haven’t covered loads elsewhere, so I won’t bore you with any more.
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WTF (What’s The Fact?)
Holy grail
Cynics have been intimating that the folk involved in the Oxford Uni/ AstraZeneca vaccine trial have been talking out of their Astras now that erroneous numbers were not revealed toot sweet.
AstraZeneca’s boss, Pascal Soriot, was last seen standing on the company’s parapet, dismissing analysts who want to know if he’s got the holy grail of vaccines: one that can be kept in storage at -6 degrees and still have a success rate of 90%. Soriot claimed, “yes, we’ve already got one. Now go away you smelly man” before catapulting an intern in their general direction.
The vaccine has created a unique opportunity for pharmaceutical companies: a virus that affects everyone, including all the people with money, none of your malaria or river blindness stuff that only affects poor people. Pah. This one has profit written all over it. Hence the speed at which Pascal and his pals are trying to keep up with his competitors in the US and elsewhere.
Chinese President, Xi Jinping, has a simpler solution: blockade the place where contagion is taking place and anyone who survives can go back to work. Immediately.
Lockdown restrictions getting to me? Nah.
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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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