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Category: Reflexion

From Russia with (more) Courage.

13 months ago we wrote a article in which we told you about the enormous value that existed in the Russian stock market.. In it we cited some companies that were trading at extraordinarily low earnings multiples, whose businesses were very stable and therefore had a dizzying potential for revaluation. Well, the geopolitical circumstances, i.e. the botched EU/US attempt to foment a pro-European revolution in a Ukraine at least half of which is pro-Russian, have caused the semi-war conflict to affect Moscow's stock market with sharp falls, adding even more value to some of its companies.

We should not lose sight of the fact that the conflict does not directly affect Russian territory or its economy. Or at least not as much as it does the EU itself, which is as recklessly dependent on Russian oil and gas supplies as a diver is on his oxygen tank. You will get a clearer idea of what I mean by looking at the graph at the end of this article. this Gurusblog article.

It is clear, then, that it is not Russia that has the most to lose in this conflict, but the EU. And yet the Western (US-EU) strategy, in its eagerness to incorporate Ukraine into NATO and thus advance the allied military border to the very line between Ukraine and Russia, has upset the fragile balance of the government in Kiev. A once pro-Russian government, but governing a single state, and now non-existent, unrecognised by the east and southeast (Russian-speaking) and financially bankrupt. Thus the secession of Ukraine into two antagonistic camps, pro-Russian and pro-Western, seems unstoppable. (more…)

It is not a quarter or a year. It is an entire Investment Life.

Los maestros de la inversión como Warren Buffett lo tienen grabado a sangre y fuego en su ADN: Invertir es como jugar a cualquier deporte centrándonos en el desarrollo del juego, mientras que hacerlo centrándonos en el marcador es pura especulación. Los partidos, los campeonatos y las glorias merecidísimas se las llevan quienes se concentran en el terreno de juego, en el desarrollo de una constante mejora de estrategia y habilidad competitiva a la hora de seleccionar empresas en las que invertir, y no en la especulación absurda de administrar un dígito reflejado en un luminoso, que por otra parte es tan volátil como nuestra propia incompetencia.

Buffet -como el resto de primeras espadas multimillonarias del mundo de la inversión- no se cansa de repetirlo una y otra vez, por activa y por pasiva, como en su última carta anual, donde además comenta sus escasas inversiones inmobiliarias realizadas a lo largo de su vida. Bueno, escasas si no tenemos en cuenta que todo inversor, cuando compra acciones de una empresa, a la vez está adquiriendo partes proporcionales de los activos inmobiliarios que ésta posee, claro. (more…)

Beware of Developed Markets

La fiesta sigue. Después de los rallys de bolsas americanas y europeas -especialmente la española- parece que la mayoría de inversores va a volver a tropezar con la piedra de siempre. Cuándo? No se puede precisar, pero lo que es seguro es que la piedra está ahí y los inversores, ebrios de tanta subida, corren alocados como pollos sin cabeza. ¿Y cuál es la piedra en la que van a tropezar muchos? Pues lógicamente unas valoraciones de bolsas desarrolladas que para nada son ya baratas, por no decir que empiezan a estar ya caras. Sobre todo si tenemos en cuenta que los beneficios empresariales están en máximos y los tipos de interés en mínimos, lo cual inevitablemente nos acerca a su fin e inicio del ciclo inverso.

Además debemos distinguir entre bolsa desarrollada europea y americana: El mercado europeo se enfrenta a una deflación persistente, quizá con recorrido mayor si el BCE se ve obligado a tomar medidas extraordinarias al estilo de las tomadas por la FED en estos últimos semestres. Pero con nubarrones de solvencia y de recesión en la periferia que no le van a sentar nada bien a sus bolsas. Es cierto que la bolsa alemana cotiza a precios más razonables que la española, pero a pesar de sus esfuerzos para blindarse, no debemos olvidar que todavía vamos en el mismo barco, centroeuropeos, norteuropeos y periféricos del sur. Y eso puede ser una fuente de contagio de conflictos en las bolsas europeas, aunque lógicamente la peor parte se la llevarán las del sur, por estar en el epicentro de los problemas financieros por ende cotizando a casi 20 años de beneficios. (more…)

A one-off wealth levy.

It has been almost a year since we had already warned that the council of German experts advising Chancellor Merkel recommended that the leaders of southern Europe confiscate a portion of the value of property from owners in the EU’s periphery in order to prevent the collapse of the peripheral financial system. At that time, this body – known as the «five wise men» – argued that whenever a bailout of banks or southern European states was necessary, it should be carried out internally (a «bail-in»), that is, using money from the citizens themselves living in the countries in distress. And that confiscating a proportion of the value of property was the easiest, most practical and simplest way to obtain the money needed to prevent the collapse of peripheral states and the financial system. This was because doing it the Cypriot way – by confiscating a portion of bank accounts – caused greater public alarm, and it was also easier for ‘the targets’ to avoid confiscation by transferring the money out of the country (as the better-advised Cypriots did). Property, on the other hand, is tied up; it cannot be transferred overnight to Luxembourg, Switzerland or Germany, and at the same time it is viewed more favourably to steal to confiscate property from property owners – who are presumed to have greater wealth – rather than from savers or investors who live in rented accommodation. (more…)

Resolving the dilemma of whether or not to go against the market.

«If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the years, it’s that you shouldn’t go against the market«That is the blunt remark made a few days ago by a senior executive at a national bank to one of our clients. In fact, it is a phrase we have heard on many other occasions from various bank employees, and even from some savers, over the nearly three decades that we have been investing our money and that of our clients.

The question we are going to try to settle once and for all is whether it is true that, in the long run, we must stand up to Mr Market, or whether, on the contrary, we should let our investments ride out the ups and downs of the markets. And the answer may come as a surprise to more than a few: It depends on whether we are bankers or investors. Let us explain. (more…)

If you win the Christmas Lottery jackpot…

Estamos en épocas en las que millones de personas sueñan en la posibilidad de que la Lotería de Navidad les haga ricos. La creencia habitual es que una vez sucedido el milagro, los problemas les desaparecerán para siempre, y la felicidad será la norma hasta el fin de sus días. Pero todo dependerá de la actitud y las decisiones que tomen los agraciados a partir del momento en el que los Niños de San Ildefonso canten sus números. No tanto de la cantidad de dinero que suponga el premio, sino de la forma en la que decidan gestionar esa riqueza súbita.

Hace ya 5 años que publicamos un artículo titulado «Jurassic Park«, también por estas fechas navideñas, que «la coexistencia de una escasa capacidad para generar riqueza y una fortuna súbita, será en casi todos los casos una unión contranatura que buscará su reequilibrio». Es decir, que la unión de un montón de dinero caído del cielo, con personas que no han sido capaces de generarlo con su esfuerzo, suele durar pocos años, lamentablemente.

(more…)

The Age of Central Banks

It seems that the pieces of the ‘New Normal’ jigsaw are starting to fall into place. But, as is to be expected given that this is a ‘New Normal’, the way these pieces fit together is currently far less stable and orderly than in the ‘Old Normal’. And what may seem today like a completed part of the jigsaw may, by tomorrow, once again prove to be a state of great uncertainty and chaos.

The key difference between this new era and the previous one is, of course, the size of the balance sheets of all the central banks in developed economies: the Fed, the BoE, the BoJ and, to a lesser extent so far, the ECB. The headlong rush that quantitative easing (QE) represents is driving up the market prices of virtually all assets and directly related markets. And this reality is as striking as it is fleeting, since the mass printing of money has as much influence on asset prices as it is unsustainable, given that the tap on QE will inevitably have to be turned off at some point in the not-too-distant future. (more…)

Financial Repression: A lifeline for debtors and a death sentence for investors.

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Many people will already be familiar with the term ‘financial repression’, but for most it will still be something unfamiliar – just another technical term in these times when we have learnt to talk quite naturally about subprime mortgages, deleveraging, the ‘new normal’ or the now overused term ‘stagflation’. The scenario in which we find ourselves – and in which we will continue to operate over the coming years – is one of ‘financial repression’. And this has been agreed upon by those who once dominated the economy but are now desperately trying not to drown in their own vomit – that is to say, their almost infinite debt: Europe, the USA and Japan. (more…)

La Caixa's pressures on its customers: shall we talk?

Hoy os traemos un caso real que ha llegado a nuestras manos recientemente, y que desde aquí queremos denunciar públicamente. Es una muestra de la presión que ejercen en general los empleados de banca, y en particular esta directora de oficina de La Caixa, hacia sus Clientes, para retenerlos en la entidad a toda costa. Como veréis en este correo que la directora envía a su Cliente, ella utiliza la política del miedo y la manipulación para convencer al inversor de que está cometiendo una locura, y de paso desprestigiar nada menos que los planes de pensiones de Bestinver… Probablemente su correo es el mejor ejemplo del manual de venta agresiva e inmoral de la entidad. Y los superiores de esta directora, seguramente no dudarían en felicitarla por sus (malas) artes comerciales, destinadas a engordar los maltrechos balances de la banca. No es una excepción, lamentablemente así actúan nuestros bancos, anteponiendo su interés comercial al más elemental comportamiento ético en favor de sus Clientes, a quienes -conviene no olvidarlo- presumiblemente se deben y asesoran. (more…)

Spain, recovery or lies?

We cannot ignore articles such as the one just published by Roberto Centeno in ElConfidencial.com, Neither for its forcefulness nor for its coincidence with many of the arguments that we have been giving since Cluster Family Office. Before going into the details, it is worth remembering that Centeno was CEO of companies such as Butano, Enagas, Campsa and is currently Chairman of Eneroil. He also holds a PhD in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and is Professor of Economics at the School of Mining Engineering of the UPM.

Although we have linked to the original article at the top of this post, we will summarise some of the arguments here. Be prepared for the traumatic shock of a few slaps of reality, such as we have been warning constantly, again and again. But as in the Matrix movie, most prefer to take the blue pill of the declarations and versions of the virtual reality of recovery, which governments try to hammer into our heads. However, we are already we recommended you to take the red pill 5 years ago. How time flies....: (more…)

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