Do it yourself

In past few days many market experts have highlighted that the recent fall in crude prices is a major positive for Indian economy. Through my interactions with some investors I learned that many investors do take the publically expressed random opinions of these experts quite seriously and actually base their decisions on these. Besides, small investors are also usually seen following the actions large celebrity investors. Even in recent past, there have been many instances where small investors have emulated the actions of large investor buying a meaningful stake in a stressed asset. From the regulatory standpoint there is no violation in both these cases. The market experts are free to publically express their opinions and views about the market trends and events. The companies, stock exchanges and investors are in fact obligated to make public disclosure of large secondary market deals. But there could be an ethical lacuna in these practices. For example, on...

Since I shared my investment strategy for 2020 and beyond on 24th December 2019 ( see here ), few critical developments have occurred which warranted a review of the strategy. The following three of these factors are important from investment strategy view point. 1.     Outbreak of coronavirus in China is threatening to become a global pandemic causing massive disruption in global trade and commerce. The virus has spread to many Asian and European countries. From the assessment of various agencies like IMF, WHO and ADB etc., I assume that the outbreak may materially impact the global economy. Consequently, the deflationary pressure in the global markets has increased leading to higher demand for safe haven assets like USD, US Treasuries, Gold etc. Most global central bankers had already begun to moderate their policy stance in 2019 itself. This event may prompt them to further enhance the monetary stimulus. 2.     The RBI has im...