Category: Stock market

Keynes Biography and Engines That Move Markets 

 As I am still in hospital I have had the opportunity to continue with my reading. The first book I tackled was a biography of John Maynard Keynes a very famous economist and stock market investor. He helped to found the IMF and the current international banking system. The book was highly recommended by Barton Biggs as I mentioned in a previous blog post and was written by Robert Skidelsky, It’s a biography of a famous person that nobody has ever heard of to quote my wife. But he really was important in influencing government financial policy after the Second World War.

At 1020 pages it’s quite a heavyweight and that’s just the “abridged” version. But I gave up on it after 200 pages. It’s way too long and too tedious. Not recommended.

The next book I am reading is “Engines that move markets” by Alasdair Nairn. This is no lightweight tome either at 545 pages. It’s a historic review of technology investing from railroads to the internet. The authors object is to teach us when to get in and out of tech stocks and how to avoid ones that are likely to fail after the typical market euphoria for a new technology,

It makes for an interesting read but is too long and could have done with some aggressive editing. But it may be of interest to tech investors.

I shall persevere with it as I have time on my hands.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address in the box below when you will be notified of new posts.

© Copyright. Disclaimer: Read the About page before relying on any information in this post.

Barton Biggs and Hedge Hogging, plus NHS Dysfunction

I managed to finish reading the book Hedge Hogging last week during my 7 days in hospital. Here is a longer review.

The author Barton Biggs spent 30 years at Morgan Stanley building up their investment management business. In 2003 he formed his own hedge fund named Traxis Partners which was wound up after his death in 2012. But this is no out of date history of past financial events as much of what it covers is topical and relevant to today’s stock markets.

It’s partly a journal of events in his life but with extensive diversions into the big issues most investors face particularly the psychological difficulties that you can face. Topics such as short-selling, private equity, emerging markets, market bubbles and investment cycles are covered – we certainly seem to be in a down cycle at present rather than a temporary correction. As an investment strategist over 30 years he obviously experienced a variety of market conditions. He covers the two main investment approaches – based on growth and value but in essence was agnostic.

He has some interesting comments on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher – the latter he met more than once. He explains the success of the Yale Endowment Fund under David Swensen and explains to an audience of tech stock fanatics that “the human emotions of fear and greed that drive the stock market to excess have not changed over the course of human history and remain as valid today as in the past. Busts are busts, booms are still booms, and bubbles always burst, but this was boring stuff, and the crowd stirred restlessly. The glitterati understandably had no interest in hearing about busts or bursting bubbles. On to the next IPO and salacious stock idea”.

A good paragraph that gives you an impression of his writing style is the following: “If you hang around the investment business long enough eventually you experience some mysterious, almost supernatural events because the stock market is a capricious beast, almost a force of nature like the sea or the arctic. It can be bountiful and loving in its embrace but also hard and cruel and sadistic. Making your living from the stock market is a strange, hazardous, yet beguiling occupation. It’s a little like being a ship’s captain back in the time of wind and sail. As the master of a whaler out of Nantucket in those days of yore, in good fair, you blissfully rode the ocean’s friendly currents. Then suddenly without warning, the sea would turn and you would find yourself driven helplessly toward some distant rocky shore by one of its fierce, irrational storms. Men and women who live at the mercy of the whims of the sea and weather are a superstitious lot”.

He ends with a review of the biography of John Maynard Keynes by Robert Skidelsky which I have lined up as my next book to read. In all Hedge Hogging is a fascinating look at the world of hedge funds but there are many lessons to be learned from it for ordinary investors.

Lastly let me say about a few words about my stay in an NHS hospital, which was not for the first time. The popularity of the NHS is falling and quite rightly. It is a dysfunctional organisation that does not compare well with the systems in other countries (bar the USA).

I cannot complain about the treatment I had but the big problem is the culture. Treating patients as children to be organised and disciplined, not as people. It was also very wasteful, keeping me in bed when I was only “walking wounded” as the army might say when I could have been treated at home for most of the time at less cost. How do you reform the culture of an organisation? With great difficulty is the answer. Easier to start from scratch.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

FT Article on the NHS

There is a very good article in the Financial Times today concerned with the panic over privatising the NHS. I added this comment on-line: ” I write this from my NHS hospital bed. There can be wonderful service from the NHS but it can also be very bad – waiting lists for surgery or cancer treatments are examples. I would hate to have to rely on the NHS solely for medical treatment as most people do. Over 30 years I have learned that the NHS is slow to reform and adopt new technology. It’s a bureaucracy and not run like a business with customers. The NHS still treats you in what they consider is best and most efficient for them. There is little response to customer demands or views. That is what needs changing with more financial incentives”.

It looks like I may be here some time but I expect they will keep me alive as they have done for the last 30 years (I am a kidney transplant patient). It does enable me to finish reading Barton Biggs book Hedge Hogging which I mentioned in a previous blog post. This is a really good book that everyone involved in the financial world should read. I’ll try to do a more expansive review at a later date as it’s not easy to use a laptop in bed. It’s not just relevant to hedge fund managers!

Glad to see the market is in soporific mode with no big movements in my holdings. Trading from your sick bed is never a good idea as treatments can affect your brain or your emotions.

Roger Lawson

Hedge Funds Scale Back Big Bets

An interesting article published over the weekend was one in the Financial Times headlined “Hedge funds scale back big bets”. It said “Hedge funds focused on US equities are pulling back sharply on their bets after the longest stretch of sustained selling in more than a decade left many managers nursing stiff losses”. It also reported that “Long-short equity funds, which pitch themselves on the ability to protect client money in down markets, have lost 18.3 per cent for the year up to and including Wednesday, according to Goldman Sachs estimates”.

The opaque and murky world of hedge funds is well described in a book I am currently reading entitled “Hedge Hogging”. This is by Barton Biggs a former hedge fund manager and contains lots of interesting stories about his experiences. For example, he covers going short on oil stocks based on fundamental analysis when the market started going in the other direction and he was in danger of clients taking their money out of the fund.

But it’s a book that any investor can learn from. Just looking at some of the chapter titles gives you some flavour of the content: The Odyssey of Starting a Hedge Fund: A Desperate Frantic Adventure; The Violence of Secular Market Cycles; Nature’s Mysticism and Groupthink Stinks; The Internet Bubble; Great Investment Managers are Intense, Disciplined Maniacs; Three Investment Religions – Growth, Value and Agnostic; Bubbles and the True Believer; Divine Intervention or Inside Information – a Tale That Will Make Your Blood Run Cold.

It makes it clear that the hedge funds world shows the natural survival of the fittest in the extreme. Those who make big bets and win are the survivors but those who make big bets and lose disappear and are soon forgotten as investors move their money elsewhere. Whether there is clear out performance in the long term by anyone is not clear but the high fees charged mean it can be very lucrative for the fund managers who can stay in business.

In summary it covers a wide range of topics including the dangers of shorting stocks if anyone has an urge to dabble in that as the market falls.

Ideal summer reading on your holidays.

FT article is here: https://www.ft.com/content/8495545c-74e1-4150-8207-4855c66c9750

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

Stock Market Musings – Are You an Ostrich or a Trend Follower?

It’s Friday morning after another week of stock market volatility on top of a persistent trend downwards. In such an environment the investment community tends to fall into two camps – the value investors who hold on to stocks regardless (the ostriches of the market who allegedly bury their heads in the sand in the face of danger); and the momentum traders or trend followers.

The former say that if you have purchased a sound company based on good fundamentals you should stick with it, i.e. you should ignore the noise created by the frantic crowd. The latter say that that you need to sell to avoid worse losses or to retain what unrealised profits do exist in your portfolio.

I suggested in a previous blog post that this might be a good year to sell in May and go away. That was simply because I suspect this is not a short-term market correction from excessive exuberance but a realisation that the economic prospects are in fundamental decline. Higher inflation and higher interest rates to try and bring it under control are never good for the economy.

Technology stocks listed on Nasdaq have been particularly hard hit. The Nasdaq index is down by 17% in the last month with stocks such as Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and Netflix down substantially. This probably reflects the fact many new investors were pulled into the market in the last couple of years when it seemed impossible to lose money on such stocks. They are now pulling out and liquidating to protect their profits.

The short-term speculators are being hit hard and this is particularly obvious in the cryptocurrency markets which are down substantially as holders panic. It’s like a run on a bank where panic feeds on mania as holders choose to take their money and run. There was a good article in the Telegraph yesterday on that subject.

Should stock market investors choose to hold and ignore the panics or bail out? It is a dangerous approach in my view to take one extreme or the other – and particularly to switch from one to the other midway during a bust. If you choose to sell out completely on the premise that one can buy stocks back at the bottom you are likely to have two difficulties. One is that it’s impossible to identify where the bottom is and secondly the bounce back can be so rapid that one can miss out and incur high trading costs. That’s apart from the psychological difficulty of going back into a stock on which you have lost money.

But following the trend downwards does protect your portfolio from a massacre and will ensure you will never go totally bust. The trend does tell you what other investors think about the attractiveness of stocks in the stock market beauty parade, i.e. tells you the views of other investors who hold the stock.

It’s best to look at individual stocks when managing a portfolio and not to move in and out in a wholesale fashion. Sometimes the valuations put on individual stocks by Mr Market can appear irrational and in that case it can be better to hold them rather than sell. That particularly applies to small cap stocks where illiquidity can magnify panics. But it’s important to manage your overall exposure to the market and not to ignore major trends.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

Ideagen Offer and Inspiration Healthcare Webinar

I mentioned a possible offer for Ideagen (IDEA) in a previous blog post (see https://roliscon.blog/2022/04/15/possible-offer-for-ideagen/ ). Today one was announced – a cash offer of 350p per share from HG which is a massive premium to the last listed price of 243p. The directors are recommending it so at such a premium I think it is likely to be a done deal. I will be accepting for my shares.

That should at least offset the losses today from the rest of my portfolio as the market heads south. We are surely in a bear market now. Perhaps folks read my previous blog post which suggested it was a good idea to sell in May and go away.

This morning I attended a preliminary results webinar by Inspiration Healthcare (IHC) in which I have a very small holding. The company sells neonatal products for premature babies. The share price has been drifting down like many technology companies. But revenue and EBITDA were up. Margins were also up as they concentrated more on their “own brand” products which is something I always like to hear. Distributing products from other companies is never very profitable in the long run.

The company has been investing in facilities, R&D and IT systems. But there have been logistic challenges as many other companies are facing. With purchased items increasing in cost also and they are changing suppliers in some cases.

Only 4% of revenues are from the Americas so there is big potential there if they can get regulatory approval and develop their marketing.

The company is cash generative and has no borrowing.

Project Wave is aimed a developing a new product and was delayed by the Covid pandemic but is now progressing – it’s now in clinical trial with possible commercialisation next year.

There was interesting discussion of ESG initiatives and staff support. Some 40% of staff are now working from home and one third of staff on a 4 day week (4 days at 8.00 to 6.00). They are using the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) to distribute donations to charities – an organisation I seem to be coming across more frequently of late and worth knowing about if you make charitable donations.

There were a couple of questions from the audience. One on the increased costs of EU regulation for medical products. The second question was on a possible share buy-back. The answer was that it was not a benefit and “not on the cards”. It was suggested that it is important to maintain a strong balance sheet and to invest the capital. I cannot but agree as I almost always vote against them except in investment companies.

This webinar was on the Investor Meet Company platform and it was a helpful one. I recommend you watch the recording if you have an interest in small tech companies.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

Sell In May and Go Away?

Rhododendron Odee Wright now in flower

An old saying in the stock market is “Sell in May and Go Away”. This is because historically the market tends to fall during the summer months for reasons that are not altogether clear. Bearing in mind the transaction and tax costs involved in selling shares and buying them back later in the year, and the fact that like all supposedly reliable investment rules, it tends to be traded away by the anticipation of knowledgeable investors, I do not normally take any notice of this theory.

But I feel this year it might be a good idea to follow. Inflation is forecast to rise to over 10% and GDP forecasts are falling so we might even enter a recession later his year. There is doom and gloom all around with the war in Ukraine not helping and commodity prices rapidly rising impacting both businesses and consumers.

A good example of the concerns of many companies was evident in the announcement by 4imprint Group (FOUR) this morning. Their trading statement said: “The Board is conscious that only four months of the year have elapsed and that current geo-political and broad economic factors may well affect the Group’s performance during the balance of the year. In particular, we are cognisant of potential issues relating to possible further COVID variants, supply chain disruption, inventory availability, increasing cost of product, availability and cost of labour, the effect of inflation on our customers’ budgets and the general threat of economic recession”. They are talking about the USA which is their major market but they could just as well have been discussing the UK.

Despite the fact that revenue so far this year has been up 27% over the last normal year of 2019, the company is clearly worried about the future. There have been similar statements from many other companies.

Another good example of the problems faced by many companies was a comment by Up Global Sourcing (UPGS) in a webinar yesterday. Everybody might be back in the office but the impact of higher shipping costs is having an adverse impact of 4% on their gross margin. They are looking for automation to reduce man hours and hence other costs.

We might currently have full employment but that is not going to last I suggest.

I think this might be one year to exit stock market holdings which will at least enable you to avoid monitoring your market holdings while you are on your summer holidays. Or at least move to holding shares that may be less volatile or less impacted by current economic trends.  

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

Strategic Investment Review

As it is a new Tax Year when one can put another £20,000 in one’s ISA I have reviewed my investment portfolio and tax position. To become an ISA millionaire and maximise the tax advantages of saving via ISAs you need to put the maximum in each year if possible and the sooner during the year the better.

One thing that has occurred to me is that with my portfolio showing good returns in the last few years I need to increase the amount in my will that I give to charity so as to reduce my IHT bill. The rate of Inheritance Tax is reduced by 10% — from 40% to 36% — where at least 10% of the net estate is left to charity. So I shall add a codicil to my will to amend the figure I give to Leicester University who are doing some good work on kidney disease.

In the short term we are also donating to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal – see https://www.dec.org.uk/ . I recommend it because it looks like the war will continue for some time and the need for basic support such as food and shelter is urgent.

As regards investment strategy, with inflation rising I think property companies are good bets. They often have indexed linked rent reviews and some sectors of the commercial property market such as warehouses and self-storage companies have been doing well. I expect those trends will continue and property is a defensive investment in the current uncertain financial environment. But I will avoid retail property investments unlike my local Bromley Council who I have just discovered are overweight in them in an investment fund. It seems like other Councils they saw investment in property as a way to increase income at little risk – Croydon came seriously unstuck with this strategy and effectively went bankrupt as a result eighteen months ago.

Another area which is surely worth adding to is the renewable energy sector following the publication of the Government’s energy strategy. The AIC have published an interesting note on this subject which gives the performance of Alternative Energy Trusts over the last few years. Most have done well over the last 5 years and have good yields. I own several of the companies listed in the AIC note and am likely to increase my holdings in them.

The comments of some of the fund managers on nuclear energy are unfortunate. It is a relatively safe technology and one of the few alternatives that can supply a good base load while wind and solar are so intermittent which batteries can only help with to a degree. But the Government is moving much too slowly in building new nuclear plants.

The AIC press release is here: https://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/press-releases/must-do-better

Am I giving up on technology stocks? No because many of them have pricing power that can protect their profits against inflation. Software companies for example are not affected by inflation in commodity prices and should have no supply chain difficulties although staff costs can rise. I will simply be selective about new investments in technology companies.

A good example of the defensive quality of some technology companies was given by a trading statement from Diploma (DPLM) this morning. They said “The Group’s trading performance so far this year has been strong, with double digit underlying growth in Q2 (consistent with Q1) driven by our organic revenue initiatives, market share gains and robust demand”. The share price is up over 10% at the time of writing and there is a positive “outlook statement”. But the share price is still less than it was last year when technology stocks were all the rage.

Having lived through the 1970s I do not fear inflation. But it’s clear that it is best to invest in assets even by borrowing to do so as inflation will wipe out your debts. But I won’t be borrowing to invest in the stock market which can be called “gambling with other people’s money”. This is not the time to gear up a portfolio in my view. Maybe I should buy a new car?  Average rates on car loans are still low.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

An Exciting Week for Investors

Last week was certainly an exciting week for stock market investors. The FTSE 100 index fell sharply on Thursday but recovered to rise almost 4% on Friday. The US S&P 500 showed a similar pattern. This was no doubt from the initial reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine with an initial panic followed by a more considered response.

Sanctions against Russia might have some impacts particularly on oil/gas prices but Russia is not the only producer.

I thought it interesting to look at the Ukrainian and Russian stock markets. Yes Ukraine has more than one but all trading was suspended by their regulator on Thursday. Moscow’s stock market was hit by a big collapse with the RTS index falling by 38% on Thursday and the rouble plunged to a low against the dollar. But there was a significant recovery on Friday. The bounce back on Friday in the markets seems to be based on some relief than sanctions were not as extreme as feared.

But there is a call to exclude Russians from the Swift international payment network. I recall reading a note some years ago that explained how interbank settlements still took place during the Second World War between the combatants. It would seem unwise to block access to Swift which would be damaging not just to Russia particularly as there are alternative payment networks that are already in place or could soon be created.

There is a book that was recommended by Jonathan Davis at a Mello event last week entitled “Wealth, War and Wisdom” by Barton Biggs which covers how the turning points of World War II intersected with market performance. I have ordered a copy to read and may write a review of it later. In my experience big political events have a big short-term impact as investors hunker down and cease buying or selling until the picture is clearer. With no trading prices rapidly fall. But markets can soon recover as soon as the long-term picture is clearer. It is best not to take hurried decisions about your shareholdings in such circumstances.

As it stands the Ukrainian army is apparently putting up a better fight than was expected although the fog of war is clouding the picture with reporting of military activity being mainly anecdotal. I recall looking at the comparative armed forces numbers of Russia and Ukraine a week ago and the 190,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine did not seem enough to ensure a quick victory even if Russia had more heavy equipment to hand. Russia does not seem to have captured the main communication centres, the TV and Radio stations or the heads of Government which is the typical prerequisite for a coup d’état. Even if Russia manages to install a puppet government it could be a long-drawn out conflict and Ukraine is a big country. As Russia and the US learned in Afghanistan, it’s easier to get into a country than to get out. Establishing long-term regime change is very difficult when most of the population opposes you. That is particularly so when there are lots of weapons in the hands of the population which is apparently now so in the Ukraine with many volunteers willing to fight. They may be short of ammunition in due course so the question to ask is how they might get resupplied? We may simply end up with another proxy war with Russia and the West fighting a guerrilla war in Ukraine by supporting local militias with very negative impacts on the local civilian population.

The outlook is bleak unless there is some desire for a political settlement that meets the aspirations of both Russia and Ukraine which does not seem impossible to me.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.

Are We in a Bear Market?

There are a number of ways of defining a bear market. One is that it describes a condition in which securities prices fall by 20% or more from recent highs amid widespread pessimism and negative investor sentiment. In my stock market portfolio we have not quite reached that level and the FTSE All-Share index has certainly not declined that much mainly because it’s full of big oil and mining companies where commodity prices have been rising. But I certainly have a feeling that many investors who have been pulled into technology stocks or small cap companies in the last couple of years have been running for the hills.

The economic and political news is bad with rising inflation and rising taxes, and potentially a war in Ukraine. Any sanctions against Russia will have negative economic consequences both for us and Russia.

It is this combination of factors that are likely to create the conditions for a declining stock market particularly if liquidity is taken out of the market by rising interest rates.

One hates to predict where the market is headed as unpredictable events can have as much influence as human emotions, but trends are certainly worth following.  As a result I had been moving more into cash over the past few months and if I have bought any shares it’s in high-yielding stocks and short duration bond funds. Holding cash is of course a good hedge against stock market volatility or declines, but there is a limit as to how much cash you should hold in a portfolio and for how long. Most very successful investors seem to remain fairly fully invested and with inflation rising it would be a mistake to be holding too much cash whose value is eroded by inflation.  

I am not yet convinced that it is time to move back into more speculative stocks in a big way – they still don’t seem cheap enough to me. But here’s a good tip from Chris Dillow in last week’s Investor’s Chronicle: “In the long run, there is no correlation across countries between growth and returns”. In other words, don’t bet on making money by investing in apparently high-growth economies or sectors. He says “in the past 10 years, for example, China’s fast-growing economy has delivered worse returns for equity investors than the slow-growing economies of many European countries such as France, Switzerland or the Netherlands”.

That is one lesson I learned many years ago. It’s a simplistic approach to investment to back the obvious growth economies but it simply does not work.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added.