All Activity

I should have kept my EWY short - KOSPI high of 9385 should have been deemed close enuff to 10k to hold regrets, i've had a few...

Appreciate the response but still don't see how a TRS counterparty is the same as a bank when the counterparty owns the same number of shares as its TRS exposure. If it owns less shares than its exposure that provides leverage but also creates risk. Otherwise, still trying to figure out why a counterparty would settle for a risk-free 3% +/- return.

As a part of the Free Trade discussion between Vietnam and Canada, it looks like Fairfax will have the ability to sell some new insurance products in Vietnam. There were no details on what this entails. https://itpc.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/web/en/-/vietnam-eyes-greater-canadian-investment-as-fta-talks-progress He noted that Canadian companies continue to increase their presence in Vietnam, highlighting Fairfax Financial's long-term investments in the insurance sector. He added that the MoF (Ministry of Finance) has instructed relevant agencies to facilitate the approval of new products proposed by Fairfax Financial in accordance with Vietnamese regulations.

Another banger from Irrational Analysis. H/T to @gfp for unearthing this guy. https://irrationalanalysis.substack.com/p/the-king-bleeds-long-live-the-king

Charlie [ @Charlie ], Please see here.

I just went back to this topic to see it, and this one by @Xerxes is just killing me!

Hynix down ~16% today. I guess the Degens in Korea have been playing again. I do find some dirt cheap stocks that I am interested in but it takes some time to do the work here with notebookLM. Korea doesn’t strike me as a terrible efficient market.

Posted by Charlie [ @Charlie ] in the 'Is Europe becomming uninvestable?' topic about going to Vrist, Jutland, Denmark for three weeks vacation : Charlie [ @Charlie ], The West Coast of Jutland [ in Danish called 'Vestkysten'] is to me an awesome place with a very special nature, shaped by location in the prevailing wind direction from the North Sea to the West. Here, the aerea also goes by 'The Summer Land' [in Danish 'Sommerlandet'], because it's popular area for summer vacation, with many areas with recreational houses, a share of them up for rent via bureaus. We have heatvawes here, too, but at the West Coast of Jutland is certainly not as bad as almost elsewhere here, the sea has it's own fuction as a heat pump, both ways, so to say. Bring clothes for all, so that any weather condition isen't in any way a showstopper for doing something together, going out. [Right now, we in period where the regalar warnings of cloudbursts. Go to the beach and enjoy the beach and the sea every day - all of you [I recall from your posts that you have kids]! Thyborøn is close by to the North! - go find a place to buy fresh fish at or near the harbour there! If possible, almost every day! Fresh grilled [BBQ] fish with salads and lots of veggies is fantastic food! The native population in the area has always been very accomodating towards visitors and tourists. - - - o 0 o - - - The West Coast of Jutland is a good place to get rid of stress, decouple from the dailyday at home, and to have a good time with kids and spouse. - - - o 0 o - - - It's now some many years past since I was there the last time, so I'm not actually updated about how it is today. When I was younger [late university years and the working years just after, I had typically a week each year in the area [ motorcycle, GF, tent, money, passport, condoms! ], later, that simply became impossible because of work, so the autumn became my prior vacation period, where I went to the area to decompress from an absolute awfull and stressfull worklife, typically in North Face gear with boots. Later in life with no kid[s] around any longer, vacations have somewhat swithced to short visits to European cities. - - - o 0 o - - - If you have more specific questions, please shoot me a PM, Charlie [ @Charlie ], and I'll see what I can do for you.

Ahh I guess da KOSPI isn't going to hit 10k too bad, so sad, better luck next time, etc...

assuming you make 15% on your active stock picks: 15% * 50% = 7% + 2% cash interest = 9% 15% * 95% = 14.25% - 2% drag for puts = 12.25% + better downside protection in bear markets With higher interest rates it might look different.

I once had a brilliant but kind advisor. When I was way, way off, she would say, "You're not even wrong."

Parsad, What rights did Graham tear away from the LGBTQ community?

Think of the RE as a $1M 'package' of land (750K) + building (250K). The lawyer severs the package into land + a 'X' years lease on the building, titles of both put on a secure blockchain. As only the dwelling 'lease' is transferring .... not the land itself, taxes and commission will only be paid on the 250K, not the full $1M. Game changer (and UK common practice). RE bro's have incentive to consolidate all local (less 'trustworthy') RE block chains, into a single 'Google USA RE' where a trusted title search is now simply a query of the immutable data blocks (blockchain property). Lawyers now paid primarily to put the new transaction onto the block chain, and not for a redundant title search. 'Google USA RE', now a monopoly way more effective than a Standard Oil Trust ever was .... and much harder to break-up. Game changers. 'Trustworthy' is what the public perceives (social licence), not the blockchain mechanics (tech creation) that create the immutable record. More public trust in a bigger/ubiquitous Google versus dinky blockchain startup (hence consolidation). Social licence more easily granted to a governmental institution vs a Google (hence private/public partnerships). But if there no social licence .... all this amazing ability strands (hence the agency attack). This is what artificial intelligence actually is .... the other side of the blockchain coin, We're not going to see it for a while as established agency controls have strong incentive to kill it, but it's coming. Anything where a record (digital) documents a change in the physical world, done much faster, and more reliably by tech vs human. Doesn't affect the welder welding steel together (physical world), but does affect his/her time-sheet (digital world). Not the story being sold. SD

If memory prices stay up for 2 years and then crash back to earth, the memory chip stocks are not worth their current valuations. The value depends on how high memory prices go , how long it lasts and how far they mean revert. I actually think NVDA has some resilience in terms of margins and it’s the better bet here, if you even want to make one. I think for token usage to explode from here, the tokens need to get cheaper which is the way technology works anyways.

Trumps crack has a vacancy now.

It was not just the Opium War that ended China’ Golden Age but also the deep corruption at the very top of Chinese ruling class as the ailing emperor gradually lost control to his deeply corrupt grand minister.

The growing tea trade …. And the growing trade deficit as silver moved from west to east.

Thanks John! Cheers!

I am reading this book alongside “Return of the King” by William Dalrymple, who is the host of “Empire” podcast and author of many history books on India Both books that I am reading in parallel are set in the 1840s, the Return of King covers East India Company attempt to install an exiled monarch named Shuja as Shah in Afghanistan. That triggers the Anglo-Afghan Wars that ends with the annihilation of East India Company armies. Twenty years later, the Company itself is gone. The other book set in the same timeframe, covers British attempt to “open up” China under the then rule of Manchu emperors. The trade through Canton was too little for British taste, who wanted more. While the Anglo-Afghan Wars were disastrous, the Opium Wars was anything but. I would highly recommend this book I am a quarter way through it. Here are some excerpts:

100%! He cost his team the game by diving like that. The Swiss were stifling Argentina defensively when they were a man down, and dominating the play when they were even. It might have been a totally different outcome if the Swiss played the whole game intact. Cheers!

Not celebrating it...but I certainly don't feel any tinge of sadness either. Not like when McCain passed, who was one of Graham's close friends, and Trump said the nastiest shit about a real war hero and lifetime statesman. Unlike McCain, Graham would do anything, ANYTHING, to get his agenda passed. As a gay man himself, he tore away rights from LGBTQ...yes, everyone knows Graham is/was gay. I applaud his support for Ukraine...but the man was a walking, talking hypocrite on most other issues! Cheers!

My guess is that if FFH wants to exit without buying the block it will be based on some sort of VWAP so it’s not done all at once and the bank is never at risk. You are correct that those shares would have to be absorbed by the market.

100%

What a great story - and to think that only General Eisenhower and Grandma could dress down the good General !

I agree on 1 and 2. I'm not sure about 3 though.