Month: April 2020

These two simple blockchain projects would revolutionize life at grass-roots level….

Thursday, 30th April 2020

These two simple blockchain projects would revolutionize life at grass-roots level….

The ‘experts’ tell us blockchain technology will change the world….

It hasn’t happened yet. That’s not to say that it won’t. Just that we’re still waiting….

There are some really ambitious plans for blockchain. Perhaps that’s the problem. Ideas can be so big and so complex it takes a lot of time to get them over the line….

Meantime – without sacrificing big and necessary ideas – it might be worthwhile focusing attention and resources on some small and possibly unnecessary ideas….

Perhaps we can revolutionize the world at grass roots level first?

At any rate, I have a couple of small ideas – ideas that would benefit us all and that I’d like to see some blockchain whizz kids bring to fruition….

More shortly. First, a quick flip through what’s going on….

  • What’s going on….

It doesn’t matter where you look – the data is down….

Global GDP; global business activity;  consumer confidence; household finance; manufacturing sector optimism; employment rate; retail sales; business confidence; global air cargo volumes; durable goods orders. They’re all at record lows. Or close to….

Oil prices are generally a good indicator of upcoming economic activity.… Click here to read more

The ‘key worker’ of the future will look very different – and he’ll be back on the agenda shortly….

Thursday, 16th April 2020

The ‘key worker’ of the future will look very different – and he’ll be back on the agenda shortly….

There is little good news….

The IMF warns that the world faces the worst recession since the Great Depression. It expects the global economy to contract 3.3%….

That doesn’t sound like much. But the effect will be cataclysmic…. unprecedented…. ‘a crisis like no other’….

The IMF chief says global living standards will plummet. The advice to government? Spend. Keep on spending. Then spend more….

Here, the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the economy to shrink by a third this quarter…. for jobless figures to hit 10%…. and for the government deficit to rise beyond £200 billion….

Is there a glimmer of hope in the latest monthly survey of investors conducted by Bank of America?

It says 93% of leading fund managers expect the world economy to contract this year. That leaves 7% who don’t believe it….

I’d like to meet that 7%. I don’t know if they’re eternal optimists, drunks, comedians or fruitcakes, but they sound like fun. That said,  some contrarian bets you just don’t make….

  • This bear didn’t hit bottom….

Stock markets have bounced back from low points reached during earlier stages of the coronavirus crisis….… Click here to read more

Where I am right now – and it isn’t in stocks….

Thursday, 2nd April 2020

Where I am right now – and it isn’t in stocks….

It’s carnage out there….

The FTSE 100 just posted its worst Q1 performance since 1987 – down 24.8%. It was down 14% in March alone….

The FTSE 250 fared even worse. The ‘domestic’ index – more UK focused than the FTSE 100 – lost 31%. That’s the worst quarter on record….

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial – the 30 biggest blue-chip stocks – booked its worst quarter in 124-years. It was down 23.2%. The S&P 500 recorded its worst Q1 results in history – down 20%….

The Stoxx 600 includes the largest companies across Europe. That sank by just 23% January through March….

Asia-Pacific markets logged the worst Q1 results since the last financial crisis….

Did I say carnage? What I mean to say was bloodbath….

  • Unprecedented financial disaster….

Of course, the coronavirus has played a large part in all this evil….

But existing fragilities in global economic and market systems have played a part too….

The cracks were in place. Coronavirus is the black swan event that has exposed and widened them….

Now the world is on lockdown. Businesses aren’t doing business.… Click here to read more