2008 July » Investment Postcards from Cape Town

Archive for July, 2008

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Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Jeremy Grantham: Meltdown – “I’m officially scared!”

This post deals with a rather sceptical outlook.The bearer of the bad tidings is well-respected money manager Jeremy Grantham who has just published the July edition of his quarterly newsletter entitled “Meltdown! The Global Competence Crisis”. In terms of strategy, Grantham summarizes his view in what he believes should be investors’ motto: “Don’t be brave, run away. Live to fight another day.”

5 Comments » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

SA credit growth remains high

By Kevin Lings
In June 2008, SA growth in broad money supply (M3) was recorded at 20.28% y/y, down fractionally from 20.9% y/y in May. The market was expecting growth of 20.14% y/y. In June, claims on the private sector rose by a substantial R38.2bn. Overall, M3 growth remains high, although there is some evidence to […]

No Comments » - Posted in South Africa by Prieur du Plessis

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Time To Be Optimistc, Says Pring

When I first started working in investments in 1984, a standard item on my reading list was Martin Pring’s InterMarket Review, which served an extremely useful function with its prescient analysis. Almost 25 years later, I’m still paying close attention to Martin’s views, especially when he argues a bullish case for equities – a scenario not often heard of in these difficult times.

6 Comments » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Words from the (investment) wise for the week that was (July 21 – 27, 2008)

Financial markets witnessed another roller-coaster week as renewed concerns about the global economy and the health of the financial sector surfaced, resulting in a mixed week for world stock and bond markets, an improved US dollar and continued weakness in oil and commodities. Read all about this in my weekly review, highlighting some thought-provoking news items and quotes from market commentators during the past week.

1 Comment » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Friday, July 25th, 2008

Stock Market Returns – The Wonder of Compounding

Albert Einstein described compound growth as the eighth wonder of the world. Although he may have passed away in 1955, the concept of compounding remains the single most important principle governing investment. This post provides the empirical evidence.

4 Comments » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Friday, July 25th, 2008

Anyone for a 100 billion dollars?

Full marks for eBay entrepreneurs for stepping in where forex traders have lost count of the zeros being added to the Zim dollar every few days. How about paying US$83 for the new Z$100 billion bank note! Although the novelty value of the Zim note is surging, the sad truth is that the note is not worth enough to buy a loaf of bread.

1 Comment » - Posted in Money, Markets, Currencies by Prieur du Plessis

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Video Interview: Roubini – More pain, but not Armageddon

Nouriel Roubini, professor at New York University and chairman of RGE Monitor, is renowned for his bearish stance on the US economy and stock markets. Henry Blodget and Aaron Task have just conducted a three-part video interview on behalf of Yahoo Finance with Roubini on a variety of topical issues. This is the subject of this blog post.

1 Comment » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Louise Yamada: Bearing Up

This post features an interview by Kate Welling with Louise Yamada, top-ranked “Institutional Investor” technical analyst. Louise’s track record is just too good to be ignored, especially when she concludes the interview by saying: “I’d rather be out of the market wishing I were in, than in the market wishing I were out.”

7 Comments » - Posted in Money, Markets, Investment by Prieur du Plessis

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

It’s the stupid economy

Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) rightfully gets confused with the various utterances about the economic outlook, and in so doing brings laughter to an otherwise serious matter.

Source: Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, July 16, 2008.

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No Comments » - Posted in Humor by Prieur du Plessis

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Strength, weakness, recession, depression

By Cees Bruggemans
You may have heard the expression. When your neighbour looses his job, it is a recession. When you loose yours, it is a depression.
Especially people in protected employment often show little understanding as to what it is to be unprotected.
There are a fair number of protected, as many as half the formal […]