A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
The Business Insider story "Traders are betting billions that the hottest stocks of 2017 will get crushed" sounds like one thing when it's really a lesson in "be careful what you read."
The report shows that short interest in Apple Inc. stock has increased by $3.1- billion (U.S.) during 2017, which implies the market is extremely bearish on the stock.
But Apple is a gargantuan company and $3.1-billion turns out to be a pittance. The total short position as a percentage of the total float of stock stands at a mere 1.1 per cent, according to Bloomberg, well below levels of, for instance, the Canadian banks.
"Traders are betting billions that the hottest stocks of 2017 will get crushed" – Business Insider
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Video game stories are no longer just fodder for the Diversion section of this column.
As an investment theme, gaming has been among the most successful strategies in recent years with stocks like Activision Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., and Take- Two Interactive Software Inc. doubling and tripling in value.
Nintendo Co. Ltd., thanks to the new Switch console, has been among the world's top performing large cap stocks in the latter half of 2017.
"The ten best video games of 2017" – The Economist
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China's bad debt and credit excesses are a very dark cloud on the investment horizon that never seems to move closer.
The scale of this multi-trillion dollar time bomb means that any crack in Chinese debt markets in 2018 should be taken very, very seriously by Canadian investors, not least because the country is the source of demand for about half of the world's commodity production,
"Inside and outside China, alarms are now sounding about mounting debt. Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, has openly warned that authorities need to curb financial risks that might lead to a "Minsky Moment" - a sudden collapse of asset prices, sparked by debt or currency pressures, after a long period of growth. Zhou said corporate debt levels were relatively high and household debt was rising fast, in remarks in October on the sidelines of the Communist Party's 19th congress in Beijing. "We should focus on preventing a dramatic adjustment," he said."
"China's leaders fret over debts lurking in shadow banking system" – Reuters
"China's debt burden: John Authers asks if China can contain its spirraling debt problems in 2018" – Financial Times
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Tweet of the Day: "@PolemicTMM WTI through $60. Oil can go up longer than you can point at record hedge fund longs as a reason for it to fall." – Twitter
Diversion: It was an Alexa Christmas at the extended Barlow holiday get-together.
Bloomberg discusses the privacy issues surrounding the devices that led sales at Amazon.com through the holiday shopping season,
"Is Alexa really eavesdropping on you?" – Bloomberg
Scott Barlow