Haphazard Linkages

The following charts are useful in appreciating the previous bull market in India. Improving interest coverage ratios and uptick in growth in the first half of the previous decade created a favourable environment for assuming a long equities posture. The acceleration in equities post 2005 coincided with a down tick in debt service capacity. This is in tune with behavioural characteristic of investor attention reacting belatedly to fundamentals. Cut to the present, coverage ratio is at 12-year lows and yet the equity index is at levels similar to 2007, when coverage ratios and economic growth were vastly better.  Improving balance sheet health also reflected in a down tick in interest expenses relative to revenue until 2006. Post 2006, this metric has evolved on a deteriorating trend, and bank gross NPAs have grown at an accelerated pace. Both are at 12-year highs. The broad economic slowdown is partly to blame; however, blame ought to be apportioned to bull ma...

The previous post was squeezed in-between trades (to have a standing record of my thoughts-in-motion). I spared myself a rather longish exposition on history and behaviour. Now that the gyrations have played out (somewhat; and I have unwound my panic trades ), I have time for a breather. The US debt downgrade was greeted with knee-jerk reactions followed by various voices crying hoarse, expressing solidarity in Uncle Sam’s debt. The Risk switch snapped from ‘On’ to ‘Off’ and capital duly forsake equities, fleeing into US Treasuries, Gold and CHF (Swiss Franc). The flight into Gold was understandable, given its current-flavour-of-the-season status as a safe-haven. The CHF and US Treasuries' behaviour were queer, to say the least.  Crisis moments in history always provide good food for the curious brain. 1987 stock market crash The 1987 stock market crash triggered a bout of risk-aversion. Panicking investors pulled out of equities to seek refuge in Treasury bonds. Gold was s...

Old habits die hard . So the adage goes. As the Greece bailout drama unfolds, the curious mind began prodding, ' M aybe its in their history?'. The questioning mind always seems to find a way to some provisional answers. Till more questions goad it on to continue the journey.  5th century BC Greece's economic history, interestingly, provides some thought-worthy parallels to Greece's present-day problems.  History The discovery of gold and silver mines at Siphnos provided Greece access to easy revenues. As was the flavour of the day, once the Gods took their share the rest of the profits from the mines were distributed among the subjects. The Greek citizens abhorred direct taxes but approved taxing foreigners, taxing property and indirect taxes. The easy prosperity somewhat fuelled imperial ambitions and marked the beginning of a sense of entitlement among the subjects.  While rulers in Asia managed to impose a direct tax on their subjects, Greece ...

Today is the 77th anniversary of the global Bank Shuttering that was initiated by President Roosevelt in reaction to the crisis that engulfed the system at that time. I thought today was an appropriate day to look back at events surrounding those dark days of 1933 for parallels today. What I see resonates eerily. The Great Depression in 1929 triggered a series of events that had unintended global secondary and tertiary consequences. As always, the invisible hands of Haphazard Linkages and Reflexivity ensure that seemingly harmless stimuli set off a chain of rippling consequences that spread out rapidly. While circumstances, market characteristics and regimes shift over time, there is an element of temporal neutrality to man-made economic and financial disasters. Often, I have found practical lessons in economics, markets and human behavior residing in the treasure trove of history. I turn first to similarities between the build-up of events through the 1920s and the 2000s d...