Our live Investing Matters Podcast Special which took place at the Master Investor Show discussing 'How undervalued is the UK stock market?', has just been released. Listen here.
The US Fed meeting on Weds will be interesting. US inflation is going back up. But Biden has an election coming up and wants rates brought down. A push-me-pull-me dilemma. If the Fed gets it wrong, Wall Street will drop, and drag the FTSE down with it.
Think a lot of folks got a bit starstruck by the Beckham factor for CBX and overpaid.
Anyways, CBX is the past. CLAI is the future. And the global beauty tech (BT) market is forecasted to quadruple
from roughly $50b in 2020 to $200b by 2030. CLAI is playing here in an ultra-high-growth AI sector.
We live today in the modern 21st century of beauty tech and wellness. Not everyone is stuck in the 1970s! Read up on the L'Oréal / Modiface merger.
There are (at least) 23 facial features and 16 skin types and 7 skin textures and 6 skin tones. Not to mention (at least) 25 common skin conditions. Do the maths. Thousands and thousands of variations. Picking the right skin cream is actually (much) harder than it looks. For example, choosing a heavyweight moisturiser for some might cause an acne rash. AI can step in and, within seconds, recommend a lightweight oil-free moisturiser that does not cause an acne rash. AI can personalize / individualize skincare and help the customer look better, healthier or younger. For retailers, it can increase basket size, average spend, loyalty and revenue. AI can recommend a £10 moisturiser ahead of a £5 one.
CLAI need to get their AI wellness message out there. Let the market see what they got 👍
If you look at what happened to similar companies -- such as Modiface / L'Oreal (France) or Meitu (China) -- you can see the possibilities open up here. The AI beauty and "virtual makeup" industries are only just getting started.
To be fair, CBX was a 5-bagger in 2021. It was one of the best-performing stocks of all time. There were plenty of opportunities for investors to make and take profit.
AI (the future) is a whole different ballgame to tubs of skincream. AI software and apps can scale up massively, in a flash, and deliver enormous gains. CLAI need to get their AI story out there, and let the market decide.
The real story on that Article homepage is that Commonwealth Day took place this week -- and pretty much everyone in the UK ignored it.
The Commonwealth is 52 countries, 3b people, and 35% of the entire planet. The largest institution in the whole world. Way way bigger than the fading EU. And far more important for the next century, and the next billion consumers.
Cel AI need to start getting the AI word out. Spread their AI message.
Oracle popped a huge $30b of extra marcap today on Wall Street, simply by throwing AI into its earnings release. The AI trade is red-hot.
Gold is soaring. Billionaires are bailing out of stocks. Wall Street starting to wobble.
Discuss...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13180433/billionaires-Jeff-Bezos-Leon-Black-Mark-Zuckerberg-sell-stocks.html?ico=related-replace
Somebody bought ~£60k of shares yesterday and made ~£20k overnight. Pure luck and coincidence, no doubt.
LTI,
You're on the wrong side of history, mate. The FTSE100 rocketed +400% between 1984 and 1997, an average gain of roughly +30% per every single year. Gordon Brown raided pensions in 1997 and taxed dividends to death -- the FTSE100 has barely moved a pathetic +50% between 1997 and 2024, an average "gain" of roughly +2% every single year. Dividend tax obliterated FTSE100 growth overnight by -90% (and everyone's related pensions or savings or assets). It has destroyed the London stockmarket as a credible worldwide player. Some estimates suggest the Brown tax raid has cost $1-2T in lost money, enough on its own to put the FTSE100 up at 10-15k today. Finally, as someone posted on here the other day -- removing stamp duty would immediately deliver capital gains of £100b, some 5-20 times more than today's silly ISA gimmick.
It's also worth noting that any (small) tax gains from a UK ISA are going to be completely wiped out by the massive +5% council tax rises coming in April 2024, and the neverending fiscal drag on unchanged income-tax thresholds.
Hunt and Rishi had one job today... And they blew it.
LTI,
If Hunt were serious about juicing up the UK stockmarket, he'd signal the abolishment of the pernicious dividend tax, the abolishment of uncompetitive stamp duty, the reversal of pension-govt-bond regulations that funnel cash away from shares, and the creation of a Norway-like $1T state-investment fund. That lot would take the FTSE100 to 20,000 by 2030.
Instead, we get a gimmicky ISA that probably less than 10% of the UK population will ever properly use. Don't be surprised if most people just buy a US S&P500 ETF listed in London! What's more, the FTSE100 has barely moved today on the UK ISA news -- even the market knows it's a pre-election gimmick.
UK ISA is a gimmick -- designed to placate Tory City chums and excite middle-class voters nationwide just before the next election.
Let's assume (very generously) that 1/3 of the 12m adults with ISAs decide to buy into a UK ISA with the full £5k... That gives £20b to invest in the £2.6T UK stockmarket... Equivalent to an insignificant 0.8% gain... This is going to move the needle less than 1%... It’s an election gimmick.
It should be 5-10p off income tax. And a raising of the starting thresholds by +5%. People are tired of overpaying tax, and then watching it get swallowed up by the bottomless pit of comrades who run the state apparatus.