Sunday, October 19, 2014

Change in market context

Thought for the day
”In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."
-          Leo Tolstoy (Russian, 1828-1910)
Word for the day
Bel-esprit (n)
A person of great wit or intellect.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
I am a young political aspirant.
Please give me two good reasons why should I join the Congress Party.

Change in market context

The domestic political events and global market movement last week highlight a change in short term market context.
The reverses suffered by the Congress Party in recent Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections have further strengthened the ruling BJP. The government is now in an even better position to pursue its socio-economic agenda of inclusive growth. The results are also a serious setback for the practices of "crony capitalism" and "crony socialism", traditionally followed by ruling political parties and political coalitions.
The short term negative could be deeper acrimony at personal level leading to internecine political non-cooperation prejudicial to common good.
The reduced propensity of "crony capitalism" could also cause pain to a lot of enterprises traditionally dependent on political patronage. Financial markets and investors will not remain untouched by this pain. DLF might be only be a small indicator of this trend.
Much awaited reforms in administrative pricing mechanism of diesel and gas prices, material administrative reform in employment regulations have certainly strengthened the optimism over agenda of the new government.
Globally, the markets got impregnated with the hope of a new round of monetary stimulus.
US monetary authorities are visibly perturbed at the prospect of EU slipping into deep recession and Euro taking a massive plunge. Many are already talking about a reversal of "tapering" and beginning of a fresh round of QE.
ECB is under pressure to enlarge the scope of its monetary stimulus and increase the extent of monetary support.
The bond market rally has surprised many economists and investors. The underlying theme seems to be total disbelief in fiscal stability that is claimed to have been achieved post 2009 collapse.
The "crash" in commodities, from energy to metals to food, has exacerbated the imbalance in the global economy. The producers are facing a serious fiscal and economic challenge at a time when most large consumers are witnessing slowdown in consumption.
These event confirm my long standing belief, viz., For next five years at least, the upside triggers in Indian equities  would mostly be domestic, e.g., improvement in macro fundamentals, improved political environment post 2014 election, inflation peaking out next year on high base effect, peaking of rates, improvement in external trade, and pick up in investment cycle.
Whereas The downside risk to the market would mostly be due to external factors. Historically, large FII flows in a short period of time have caused huge volatility in Indian equity markets. A reversal of USD carry trade, if and when US Fed decides to moderate liquidity conditions in US, will certainly cause this event.
I do not believe that these events require any immediate change in investment strategy. Nevertheless, this does warrants a review..........to continue

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