The stock investor should be like the solitary reaper. Doing your own thing as your mind tells you. Oblivious of the world. Tuning up `numbers’ of a different kind. Totally focused on your work. Waiting for the day when your wait will end. Accepting that the D-day may be anytime-near…
Quick edit: The war on inflation seems headed nowhere. After several interest rate hikes, food inflation shows little signs of easing. Fuel price hikes are not helping matters one bit. The perverse argument that freeing diesel prices is a sure shot way of curbing long term inflation clearly shows the…
Don’t do this. Nobody likes to be told so. Yet, there are times in History when we accept the calling and apply ourselves. Not doing something is not merely a form of dissent. It could also be a way of changing our destiny. Remember the swadeshi movement. It served as…
Hi , I invest in stocks . I study businesses and scout around for good ones to put my money on’. The moment I am introduced I can see different reactions in people. Somehow, the stock market has this unique ability to make people reactive. In 1990, when I chose…
Watching business TV now is like taking a walk in the Park of Gloom. Nobody seems to see the brighter side of the future. There are strategists of global repute who have made a living predicting gloom and doom. They appear on business channels with unfailing regularity and reinforce…
Stock markets love growth. When economies grow, the stock prices stay up. As much as markets love growth, the lack of growth gives the jitters to markets. The current worries in the developed markets in USA and Europe are centered around the lack of growth in their economies. Growth needs…
The news flows flowing out of Europe continue to worry. Everyone seems to fear the worst in Europe. The crisis seems to be spreading across Nations with little signs of any solution in sight. Just what is this crisis about ? When 27 countries joined to form the European…
Quick edit: The skeptics rarely get the market direction right and the habitual ones mostly go wrong. The European crisis was threatening to collapse the global stock markets. The agreement on debt waiver reached by European Nations was greeted by the markets with a euphoric rise. Investors waiting in the…
Quick edit: Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on Euphoria. So, where are we now? Let us think this through to an answer. Pessimism is not a routine monthly or quarterly phenomenon. The extreme negativity due to the financial woes of banks…
Quick edit: The battle against inflation waged by the Government translates into a battle with interest rates for the consumer. Home loans have ensured that inflation pinches every pocket and distorts disposable incomes severely. Those with more than one loan are really in a squeeze as their EMI’s are not…
Stock prices always discount future earnings. A company’s stock trades in multiples of its future earnings per share. This multiple which is referred to as the PE ratio is gradually coming down in the Indian stock markets. What we pay for future earnings is coming down. The PE multiple typically…
Quick edit: The ratings of Nations and banks are an indicator of their financial strength. In theory, these ratings indicate their soundness and stability. If the Rating agencies see deterioration in fundamentals, a downgrade should be effected. But downgrades of sovereigns seldom happen as swiftly as fundamentals change and often…