A down day for Asian stocks

A poor day for Asian equities as profit-taking activity was the reason most alluded to for the drop after the Nikkei also touched a one-month high yesterday, not to mention the slump in Chinese equities as well.
A poor day for Asian equities as profit-taking activity was the reason most alluded to for the drop after the Nikkei also touched a one-month high yesterday, not to mention the slump in Chinese equities as well.
The late surge by US stocks overnight is helping to give Asian equities a decent lift in trading today, though Chinese and Hong Kong stocks are weighed down by US-China tensions after Trump removed Hong Kong’s special status earlier in the day.
It has been a solid session for Asian equities, with the Nikkei closing at a one-month high while we are also seeing the Hang Seng post 1.1% gains and the Shanghai Composite also seen higher by 1.9% currently.
Fears surrounding the coronavirus outbreak continue to reverberate across markets and risk trades are largely suffering as a result. The fact that Facebook earnings wasn’t good enough – slower growth and profits guidance – only adds oil to the risk-off fire today.
My points to consider:
1. If you have an investment that is not working, or one that is beating you with heavy fees, then you have made a choice. If you don’t want that–stop. If you don’t stop you can always watch a video like this, blame someone else, and refuse to take any personal responsibility. Ignorance is no excuse. It’s your life. Take control.
2. Passive investing (i.e. indexes, buy and hold, etc.) might appear as an option, but how would you feel if you have been buying and holding the Japanese Nikkei 225 since 1989? Not very good is my bet.
3. I teach trend following. The trend following traders in my work illustrate trend following success, but my work is not an advertisement for anyone except me. Can trend following funds charge fees? Yes. However, in their defense the trend following performance numbers in all of my books are ‘after fees’.
4. Brokers are bullshit. If you like bullshit then you get what you want out of life by listening to brokers.
5. This video promotes the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH). Academics promote EMH like there is no tomorrow. Two big reasons? Many of these academics have rock solid tenure at the best universities and also make millions selling EMH text books. Everyone has a motivation, but I will hold my books up against this video every day of the week.