Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Apologies for last night. Not for the rant itself, which I stand by (and given how much I had drunk, was remarkably lucid) - but for my spelling.
"A good rant is always beneficial for the sole". Obviously that should be "soul". For someone who takes pride in their diction (and contrary to modern ideology, yes - it DOES matter) - that is somewhat embarrassing. I can only apologise unreservedly, and try to do better going forward.
DON'T DRINK AND POST.
PS -£1.60 by weeks end?
Or £1.40?
Fordm - cheers bruv, always good to hear from you. Yes, a good rant is always beneficial for the sole. I think my blood pressure/pulse rate has just dropped below 300. I may yet live to see tomorrow. Just not sure if I want to.
Yo - CK - how goes it? Haven't heard much from you lately, which is a shame, because you are one of the better pollsters here, and I for one look forward to your contributions.
We seem to be stuck in a never-ending loop here - always anticipating the next set of results, which will see us 'take off', in between the the next inevitable drop, which is the thousandth opportunity to 'top up' at a bargain price. No offence to anybody, because I'm sure we have all mirrored those thoughts at some point.
Most analysts seem to agree that we are under-valued, and it's certainly difficult to understand why we were comfortably over £2 (post RI) in the depths of covid, but are now way below that , despite posting record quarterly profits, and comfortably getting on top of the debt.
Of course, wider macro events contribute, and the aviation industry is particularly susceptible to those.
The last decade or so has been particularly volatile - the last time I can remember any sense of calm, or stability, is probably prior to the financial crash - so about 2006/2007. Since then we have had the fallout from that global banking crisis - ie. bankers waltzing off into the sunset with bucket-loads of cash, while the rest of squared up to a decade of completely useless austerity. What kind of austerity triples the national debt? Sorry - I digress.
Anyway, after that we had Brexit - I didn't vote, but the vote was taken, and should have been respected - instead of which there was 3 years of political squabbling by people who disagreed with the mandate. So much time was taken up by that, which meant other things were neglected, and we are seeing the consequences of some of that inertia now.
Anyway, just as that seemed to be taken care of, we were hit by covid. Now covid is one thing, but the lunacy of (completely pointless) lockdowns is another, and yet one more thing which we are now suffering the consequences of. Then (unbelievably), just as we were emerging from that, Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to a surge in energy prices, which pushed us over the edge in terms of inflation/cost of living crisis, and led to a big jump in interest rates. Although don't let yourself be fooled into thinking it was the sole cause - if you spend a decade printing trillions of dollars/pounds at 0% interest, you shouldn't really be surprised if you get inflation.
Where was I? Oh right - covid/russia/ Ukraine etc. Moving up to recently, we now have the appalling crisis in the middle east, and the wider implications of that. (I feel guilty at even mentioning that on a share price forum. Thousands of children dead/maimed. Words fail me.
That's before we get to other issues, such as climate change, political upheaval, mass migration, political instability, etc. etc..
Anyway, it was so long ago, that I can no longer remember what my original intention for this post was, so I apologise for my rambling That said, for someone who is fairly pi**ed, I think I have done quite well.
"I know the market will go into overdrive if any suggestion of that dead war coming to an end". Unfortunately, even if that should happen (and I'm not optimistic), we have a nice shiny new war in the Middle East ready to take it's place.
fordm - I sense the cynicism is high in you today. Excellent.
wistler - thanks for that link - it's an interesting (and encouraging) article. That bit at the end about the billionaire/millionaire thing made me chuckle, and also brought to mind my favourite album title of all time - 'Seasick Steve' ; "I started out with nothin', and I've still got most of it left".
Hi fordm - you are right -"short man syndrome" is a real thing. It's only ever been little blokes that have caused me an issue. It's why you get less trouble at rugby matches than at football. And it's not just a physical thing (although there is that) - whether it's intellect, women, power, money, or whatever - if you are secure in your own situation, you don't feel the need to try and constantly prove it. Unlike those who aren't.
'Volatility' - "liability to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse". Those last 4 words are particularly relevant here. I was about to post about the volatility, but now realise that word does not come close to fully reflecting events here (and elsewhere). Nitroglycerine is volatile - we are way past that.
Time to find a different word, or possibly invent a new one. I'm working on it.
What a minefield! EZJ reported excellent (record Q4) results, but has not just slipped, but positively plunged since. You would think that the intention to reinstate the dividend would be welcomed, but I guess that the return was less than might have been hoped for, so why buy EZJ shares when you can now (thanks to higher interest rates) get a greater return from other (less risky) investments? Same with IAG - unless you anticipate the share price rising for a bigger capital return, which - given other macro factors-- might be considered unlikely,( or at least , as I just mentioned, risky). Also means that every minimal rise in the share price is sold off for a small, short-term profit.
So - given what else is going on in the world right now - I'm not sure Friday's results will actually make much material difference in the short term. Can't see a substantial rise, but hoping we don't have an EZJ style collapse either.
I know I mentioned roulette the other day, but I am also thinking of a return to playing "pitch n' toss" with my mates to scrape a living. Or even just putting my cash into my Teletubbies piggybank under my bed. Laugh if you want, but over the last 4 years it has (substantially) out-performed my stock investments. Not that that's saying much - wiping my a**e with £50 notes would have been more profitable. Not that I'm bitter or anything...