Do it yourself

UK has allowed the administration of vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 virus (commonly known as Covid-19) developed by Pfizer. Russia and Chinese authorities have also confirmed approval of separate vaccines. In India also couple of developers has expressed confidence that an effective vaccine will soon be available for Indian population. This is certainly a matter of relief for the distressed mankind living in fear since outbreak of the pandemic. However, for the investors in stock markets wider availability of vaccine could be a matter of slight concern. So far the investors in equity have had a decent run in 2020, regardless of the severe correction in the early days of the pandemic. In my view, a large part of the price gains in equity stocks could be attributed to the accommodative monetary policy adopted by the central bankers world over. In past 9 months, a significant part of the cheap and abundant money may have actually flown to the financial assets (mostly equities) as (i) the re...

 With each report announcing further success in the endeavors of developing an effective vaccine for SRAS-CoV-2 (previously termed Covid-19) infection, the level of anxiety amongst the stock market traders and investors is rising disproportionately. Most of them appear anxious to find the best trade for the “normalization”. The fact that in past two years, the returns on investment for most of the investors and traders have been sub optimal, is further fuelling the anxiety. Most of them appear to believe that first mover will make extra ordinary gains, while the slow movers will miss this once in a decade opportunity. Recent discussion with market participants in India, US and Singapore, indicates that they are exploring a variety of ideas that could give extra ordinary return in next one year. Some of the common ideas include technology, healthcare and reflation. Logistics also appears to be fast emerging as one of the favored ideas. The following are the arguments I have hear...

  Some of the readers have found my yesterday’s post ( The best place to watch this Opera ), unnecessarily alarming and extremely hypothetical. I respect their opinion, though I may not necessarily agree with their comments. I had faced similar kind of criticism, when I found that a symmetrical fall in the market due to outbreak of pandemic may be unwarranted. I expected that the impact of COVID-19 lockdown over various sectors and businesses may be asymmetric and therefore the precipitous fall in the entire market is a big opportunity to buy the businesses that are likely to be less affected or positively impacted. ( Time to Take Big Call ) My decision to go tactically overweight on equity did not go well with many readers at that time; though I have no regrets. Moreover, I corrected my tactical equity overweight stance in late August ( Preparing for chaos – 4 ). Presently, I am maintaining my standard asset allocation of 60% Equity; 30% Debt and 10% Cash; and as stated in yeste...