September 8, 2020 - Page 2 of 3 - Financial Occultist

Asian equities fare better on the day

Japanese stocks saw a modest rebound in trading today, recovering yesterday’s losses while the Hang Seng is up 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite is up by 0.9% currently.

All eyes will be on how US stocks will perform later today following the long weekend, and futures are pointing towards a better return with S&P 500 futures up 0.6% while Nasdaq futures erased earlier losses to flat levels now.

Major currencies are still keeping more mixed and tepid, and are likely to stay that way until we get firmer risk direction from US trading later today.

French statistics agency says economic activity seen at 95% of pre-virus levels in Q3

08-Sep-20 11:13 am

Anirudh Sethi

INSEE weighs in with their assessment of French economic activity

Economic activity ran at 81% of pre-virus levels in Q2
Economic activity seen at 95% of pre-virus levels in Q3
Economic activity seen at 96% of pre-virus levels in Q4
Confirms previous forecast of a 9% decline in French GDP this year

That puts a bit of perspective to the recovery in the economy, but 95% is certainly rather stunning considering the fact that international travel – at least outside of Europe – is very much dead and the French economy isn’t able to benefit from that as well.

Of course, these are just estimates so we’ll see in time how the recovery progresses but amid labour market concerns as well, it may not play out too smoothly.

New Japan PM to be selected September 14 – here are the front runners

08-Sep-20 10:09 am

Analysis

Anirudh Sethi

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga

Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida
Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba

Are all in the running to replace retiring Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Suga is the hot favourite.

There is some suggestion that whoever is Japan’s next prime minister could call a snap general election shortly after taking office.

The ruling party (LDP) will elect a new leader on September 14. The lower house of Parliament is expected to convene on September 16 to choose a new prime minister (which will be the LDP president elected on September 14).

Ray Dalio on Focus

08-Sep-20 07:19 am

Anirudh Sethi

You can have virtually anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.
Life is like a giant smorgasbord of more delicious alternatives than you can ever hope to taste. So you have to reject having some things you want in order to get other things you want more.
Some people fail at this point, afraid to reject a good alternative for fear that the loss will deprive them of some essential ingredient to their personal happiness. As a result, they pursue too many goals at the same time, achieving few or none of them.
In other words, you can have an enormous amount: much, much more than what you need to have for a happy life. So don’t get discouraged by not being able to have everything you want, and for God’s sake, don’t be paralyzed by the choices. That’s nonsensical and unproductive. Get on with making your choices.

Jesse Livermore on Being Clear on the Trade-offs to Reach Your Goals

08-Sep-20 07:07 am

Anirudh Sethi

An earnest young newsman went up to Jesse Livermore one day and asked if he felt it was worthwhile to become a millionaire, considering all the strife and struggle one had to go through to get there. Livermore responded that he liked money a lot, so it was certainly worthwhile to him. But aren’t there nights when a stock trader can’t sleep? the reporter pursued. Is life worth living when you’re worried all the time?
“Well now, kid, I’ll tell you,” Livermore said. “Every occupation has its aches and pains. If you keep bees, you get stung. Me, I get worried. It’s either that or stay poor. If I’ve got a choice between worried and poor, I’ll take worried anytime.”
Livermore admitted that he worried about his speculations all the time, even in his sleep. But hen he said that was all right by him. “It’s the way I want it,” he said. “I don’t think I’d enjoy life half as much if I always knew how rich I was going to be tomorrow.”