The following is a short article written for the Australian Financial Review summing up the current situation in markets.

Leaving the quixotic and authoritarian world of the Hong Kong Zero Covidians ahead of schedule on account of (correctly) anticipating the rational response of most western aircrew to the latest prospect of 21 days in Penny’s bay solitary confinement (see below) which is, quite literally, akin to prison, i.e they all call in sick and the flights are cancelled, I was able to briefly enjoy a relatively ‘normal’ period in the UK.

he second half of the year saw accumulated fragility within markets, as a Fear of Missing Out dragged in more retail investors and day traders, many of whom used Lots of Leverage via short dated options to exploit a Lack of Liquidity in mid cap meme stocks.

The Pre-Thanksgiving Profit taking is hitting a lot of digital stocks this week, with some of the themes we follow like Digitalisation and Digital Health in particular getting hard hit, while it is also worth noting that the three Tech stocks likely to become Financial stocks that we mentioned last week (Paypal, Mastercard and Visa) all continue to be falling heavily out of favour.

Sometimes it is annoying/alarming to be right. As we noted in Trojan Horses and slippery slopes, the takeover of private sector savings to serve public sector policies is continuing apace.