(no subject)

I missed this post when it came out. The Chinese stock markets are really booming. It's like 1929! or 1999.

Deutsche Bank, quoted in FT Alphaville:

Bubble watchers point out median earnings multiples for Chinese technology stocks are twice US peer valuations at their dot.com peak. More worrying perhaps is a health-goods-from-deer-antlers producer on 70 times, the seamless underwear manufacturer on 90 times or those school uniform and ketchup makers on 330 times!

From the same article in Alphaville:

It seems everyone in the country is racing to open a brokerage account – 1.67m new accounts in the latest week, according to the China Securities Depository and Clearing Co. That sounds a lot, although it is growth of only about 1 per cent a week in the total of new accounts: China, remember is big.

They go on to make some comparisons between the current state of the Shenzhen and Shanghai markets and that of the Russell 2000.

"Past performance is no guarantee", etc. I wonder when the music's going to stop?

(no subject)

"I believe that the public wants to be lead, to be instructed, to be told what to do. They want reassurance. They will always move en masse, a mob, a herd, a group, because people want the safety of human company. They are afraid to stand alone because the pressure is to be safely included in the herd, not to be the lone calf standing on the desolate, dangerous wolf-patrolled prairie of contrary opinion." --Jesse Livermore, 1877-1940

(no subject)

There's something very appropriate about having Postmodern Jukebox's Jazz Age covers playing in the background when you're having your morning cup reading about the markets in the FT.

(no subject)

In a followup post, the folks at FT Alphaville said this about China's equity markets:

Of course, as the FT’s Josh Noble says, there’s still room for this to run. Politics and momentum are powerful forces. Per Josh, “this market rally has something going for it that previous bull runs have not — central government support.” Whether that support exists separately to the need to prop up growth rates… who knows. For now it doesn’t really seem to matter — the Shanghai Composite was up 1.5 per cent, taking its gains for the year so far to nearly 32 per cent and you can’t knock the greater fool theory while it’s working.

And as someone who generally knows what they’re talking about said to us recently (and we are paraphrasing a bit since we didn’t take it down at the time): “Oh, for sure. It’s going to be an absolute disaster. The government has no idea what it’s doing. But in the meantime, lots of money to make!” Seems about right.

(no subject)

As I write this, the music box version of the closing theme from Totoro is playing in the background.

I am very pleased at this. It reminds me of bedfull_o_books.

ETA: I think the actual version playing was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OetmTQ-wPyE