Welcome to the first of my weekly Friday commentaries looking back over the previous week, the stories that have caught the attention of Three Counties and any issues relating to our line of work; namely finance and investments. And without further ado…
The first week of the year has opened without much of a fanfare; that is if you ignore The Don’s schoolyard banter with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Whether he was a tad bored after the end of the year festivities, D-Dog tweeted that his own nuclear button, “is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works!”
Trump can’t reach his own “button” pic.twitter.com/NXrnyhlcD3
— SarahCA (@SarahBCalif) January 5, 2018
Assuming this was not an analogy for something of a more personal level, it was an absolutely stunning tweet given the stakes of Nuclear war and annihilation – then again, entirely predictable from the man who has an obsession about the size of things. Remember he claimed to have had the biggest inauguration crowd ever (no he didn’t), or how he owned the tallest building in downtown Manhattan, after the World Trade Centre attacks (yes, he actually did say that).
And then, after all of this, North Korea has reopened a long dormant phone line between themselves and their South Korean neighbours. Maybe Donald has played a blinder, although it’s more likely Kim wants free tickets to the Winter Olympics, hosted in Seoul during February.
Naturally, you would expect that this nuclear brinksmanship by two unhinged man-child’s would have knock on effects with global investment markets; sending investors fleeing for safe havens as the end of the world draws nigh in a fiery apocalypse.
Welcome to 2018 – nothing is taking this train off the tracks!
Global markets look like a Chieftain tank, knocking aside everything in their path in the continuous climb to new records and all-time highs. Emerging Market stocks and currencies had a strong start to the year on the back of solid fundamental growth figures combined with a weakened dollar, resulting in the benchmark MSCI Emerging Market index taking weekly gains to 3.4%, the best New Year start since 2006.
Flipping that coin over, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 25,000 for the first time in its history, pushing a surge in cap makers to furiously embroider new logo’s, with some rather bullish sewing machinist going for the fabled “Dow 30,000” number. And although this time of year is notorious for market predictions, those that use technical signals are in agreement with those that use more mundane means for analysis (read: dartboard).
Bob Lang, founder of ExplosiveOptions.net has highlighted significant momentum showing in both the Dow and the S&P indices, indicating a significant strength in institutional buyers and until there is signs of selling en masse, 2018 looks like another positive year for equities; and by positive he is taking double digit. Again. From a momentum perspective volume trends are positive and the money flow remains strong. Genuinely what is not to like?
But we obviously do not want to get too euphoric; we certainly do not want to get complacent. Most importantly it’s a big mistake to get too cynical. Just enjoy some good news at the start of the year.
And a final piece of good news. Many of you will be aware that one of our advisers, Hannah Witty has been expecting her second child. On 30th December, Nolan Robert Witty was brought into the world at a healthy 11lb 4oz; both are doing fantastically well and I am sure you join all of us at Three Counties at wishing them all the very best.
See you next week.
Congratulations! You have made it through another week, especially as the easterly wind blows in and already, social media is throwing around the #snowvember hashtag. So reward yourself with a cuppa, perhaps even a Hobnob or two and enjoy this week’s News, Views and Truths.
Hello dear readers; I hope that I find you well this Friday and equally hope that you enjoy this week’s News, Views and Truths.
Here we go again – Friday. That shining beacon of hope at the end of the working week. And quite the week too. So as per usual, please allow me to furnish you with our own particular News, Views and Truths.
The sun is out, the sky is blue. There’s not a cloud to spoil the view. And it’s Friday; welcome to News, Views and Truths.
Good afternoon to you all; in fact great afternoon to you all. It’s cold out there and it’s only going to get colder. So my suggestion to you is to sit back, and enjoy this week’s News, Views and Truths.
Here we go again; Friday. The most glorious of days, announcing the weekend and the potential that those two days contain. And to deliver the “sprinkles”, welcome to this week’s News, Views and Truths.
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Good afternoon to you all, I hope this week’s News, Views and Truths finds you all well.
Why hello there all you wonderful people! How are you? I am fine, thanks. It’s Friday (it’s also the first day of Houghton Feast, but that’s another thing) and welcome to this week’s News, Views and Truths.
Here we go again. Friday; the day of days. The day we look forward to the most for so many reasons, one hopefully being the release of this publication. Even if that is not your main happiness driver today, I hope you enjoy this week’s News, Views and Truths.
