UK

Merry Christmas!

I do not think I really have any great insights, since lately I do not follow UMG so closely. I bought it in second half of 2022 as one (actually it was the first) of 'long duration' plays, which all went down a lot at the time, but then sold it quite quickly, at the start of 2023, without any big reason, just to reduce leverage I used in 2022 and in favor of keeping more of other ideas from same period (mainly META, GOOGL, AMZN), because it just seemed to me least attractive at the time. It does not seem to me something wrong happened with the business since, but it did not also over performed the expectations much. And since valuation in 2022 was still quite high, even after some 30+ drop, share price did not produced wonders either. Looking back it is obvious I was wrong on UMG vs SPOT though:). Interestingly, I did not invest in either in the end, but I almost did similar mistake with Nike and Adidas (thought Nike was better pick at the time). Or planed to buy only GOOGL from GOOGL vs META peer at first, but later also bought META, not without some help from Sanjeev:). As for the UMG and SPOT future, what do I really know:), but I still would not be comfortable owning SPOT, so if I had to, I would again choose UMG, but I do not own any currently.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/12/22/just-how-frothy-is-americas-stockmarket

+1

Besides my equities I currenty have 20+ cash position:)

BRKB, FFH, META, JOE, ERF, RTO and a few smaller positions.

https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/12/02/how-ukraine-uses-cheap-ai-guided-drones-to-deadly-effect-against-russia

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/exclusiverussia-approves-320-million-sale-of-carlsberg-assets-to-local-businessmen-document-shows-3750593 Some compensation I guess...rule of law:))

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful:)

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-12-02/the-wrong-oil-price-is-truthfully-a-problem-for-opec?srnd=homepage-europe

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-01/bulgari-ceo-eyes-india-for-growth-as-china-luxury-demand-weakens Babin downplayed the luxury industry’s slowdown, saying this year’s relative weakness is due in part to comparisons against an unusually strong 2023, when demand was fueled by consumer savings built up during the Covid-19 lockdown years.

Oh boy:))

True, and 'vodka' is diminutive of voda or ‘water’.

IB. Reliable, low cost, safe. I think it currently pays higher interest on my cash balance than 12 month term deposit at my local bank:), currency conversion is also basically free vs like 1-2 percent at bank. The only better option perhaps would be to have an account at IBUS instead of IBIE, but I am not sure it is possible to do from Europe, at least using IB directly.