Month: February 2018

Wednesday 28th February 2018

The calm after one storm – and before the next….

Markets appear to be recovering from the tremor that shook them earlier this month….

The FTSE 100 is 200+ points ahead of its February 9th low….

The FTSE 250 has recovered 700 points over the same period….

In the US, the Dow Jones Index, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have each made-up lost ground in similar fashion….

Jangled nerves appear to have settled. Hands have stopped shaking. Heart-rates and blood pressure readings have returned to levels closer to pre-tremor norms….

Market confidence is gradually rediscovering its legs – it is no longer to be found whimpering in the corner, curled up in the fetal position….

The white- knuckle ride has levelled out into something more familiar and much less unsettling. The worst appears to be over….

• VIX reflects renewed sense of well-being….

We see this renewed sense of well-being reflected in the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX chart….

Some people call it the Fear Index. You might also think of it as the Complacency Index….

You might recall that the Index measures how volatile investors expect the market to be across the next 30-day-period.… Click here to read more

Tuesday 20th February 2018

Land of confusion….

What we just witnessed in the global stock markets was not a replay of Black Monday 1987….

The global stock market crash on 19th October 1987 represented a rout….

By the end of that month UK stocks had dropped 26.4%. The US S&P 500 index had lost 30%. In Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, losses amounted to 45.5%, 41.8% and 60%….

Yes, the recent correction in global stocks – a correction equates to a 10%+ drop in value from recent highs – wiped trillions off global values….

But it did not register 1987-standard readings on the financial Richter scale….

Events of the last fortnight were more akin to a big warning tremor than a massive quake….

But, don’t worry. It is only February, after all. The year is yet young – hardly out of nappies. Give 2018 more time to mature and wreak its destruction….

The big shifts in the markets’ tectonic plates are yet to come. The big cracks still lie ahead. That’s what we believe at Money Truths. But ours is just one opinion among many….

• Truth that can’t be told….

In a crisis, no institution is more confused than the mass media….… Click here to read more

Tuesday, 13th February 2018

This chin is going to be tested….

Bitcoin dropped below $6000 last week but hardly anybody seemed to notice….

All the attention was focused on the drama in the stock markets – with $4 trillion wiped off the value of the equities worldwide….

Bitcoin has recovered a little since. So too stocks. But the worst is not over. Here at Money Truths, we believe recent events are just a foretaste of bigger shocks to come….

But we must leave the analysis there – for this week at least. Dave can’t be with us. He’s attending to some family business….

But there’s no harm in keeping our powder dry. It’s good to let the dust settle a little before trying to figure out what might happen next – and why….

In the meantime, here’s a reminder of the Money Truths position on the stock markets – originally published in November….

What happened last week will prove to be the start of what we’re talking about here….

Over to Dave….

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The stock market appears to have an iron chin….

Over the last decade the FTSE has done nothing but rise….

No blow has been sufficiently hefty to wobble it, wind it or retard its progress – let alone threaten to take its legs and put it on the canvas….… Click here to read more