Is a rise in this niche borrowing a red-flag indicator for the stock market? City Talk “There can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance.” John Kenneth Galbraith On The Value Perspective blog, we have a folder of what we call ‘red-flag market indicators’. It has started to bulge as investor confidence, a decade into an equity bull market, continues [...]
Who killed Toys ‘R’ Us? City Talk Toys ‘R’ Us, the $6.9bn (£5bn) toy-store chain, became one of US retail’s biggest-ever bankruptcies when it filed for so-called ‘Chapter 11 protection’ last September. Market watchers were quick to point the finger of suspicion at Amazon. But is that right? In the spirit of Agatha Christie, we ask: who killed Toys ‘R’ Us? In [...]
FTSE 100 predictions, share tips… forget it all and consider the 2018 anti-forecast City Talk The start of January traditionally sees many investors trying to fill the blank slate the new year represents with forecasts of what the coming months will bring. Ever the contrarians, including us on The Value Perspective, a blog with value investing ideas, a more recent tradition has seen us offering up our own new year [...]
The investment lesson from Nike’s humble start – and the ‘$35’ swoosh logo December 13, 2017 Most books about successful businesses or entrepreneur’s autobiographies follow a pattern. There will be stumbles along the way but there is almost always a sense of inevitability, the feeling that everything is going to turn out fine. Read Shoe Dog, however, and you will be continually amazed that, most days, entrepreneur Phil Knight was able [...]
The greater a market’s valuation, the smaller the likely future returns November 15, 2017 The growing willingness for investors to pay higher and higher prices for stocks is a real cause for concern. For instance, US index, the S&P 500, has only ever been more expensive on two previous occasions – just before the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 and in the build-up to the Great Crash of 1929 [...]
If bitcoin isn’t a bubble, it’s a spookily good impression October 24, 2017 “Proper excited about Mobile Cryptocurrency! I’m in, get involved!” So tweeted Harry Redknapp last week about a ‘mobile cryptocurrency’ called electroneum. On reading it, we could not help but think of the song famously associated with one of the serial football manager’s former clubs, West Ham United. All together now: “I’m forever blowing bubbles …” [...]
How tobacco stocks could now be damaging to your wealth September 4, 2017 A month has now passed since tobacco businesses – and their share prices – were sent reeling by a US regulatory announcement. So what was the news that, for example, wiped out all the gains British American Tobacco had made in the first half of this year? Was it perhaps about to become illegal to [...]
Bitcoin: mouth-watering investment prospect or eye-watering valuation? June 21, 2017 For a system of currency to be worth anything, people need to believe in it – and at present there is no shortage of belief in so-called ‘cryptocurrencies’. Bitcoin may be the one most people will have heard of but there are now around 100 cryptocurrencies in existence and, earlier this month, their combined worth [...]
The calmest markets in 20 years – and why that should make you nervous May 18, 2017 There are very few times in history where markets have been more calm. Andrew Williams, author on The Value Perspective blog, highlights why this should leave investors deeply concerned. It may have become a cliché to describe the world as an uncertain place – especially over the last year or so – but clichés are [...]
Following the crowd: Good for survival – bad for investment April 27, 2017 The instincts that helped to keep our ancestors alive tens of thousands of years ago can be a positive disadvantage when it comes to modern-day investing, says Andrew Williams of The Value Perspective blog… “Where all think alike, no-one thinks very much.” – Walter Lippman, The Stakes of Diplomacy Stopping at a red light is [...]
