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01 March 2019
Video commentary for February 28th 2019
A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area.
Some of the topics discussed include: odds of a global reflation trade are improving. China in particular has scope to stimulate, gold easing, oil steady, bonds ease but Gilts steady on increasing odds of a Bank of England rate hike if a soft Brexit is agreed. Australian Dollar eases, industrial resources steady
Tesla Owner Takes Delivery, Heads for Autobahn Experience
This article by Bill Howard for Extreme Tech may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Tesla Owner Takes Delivery, Heads for Autobahn Experience – This article by Bill Howard for Extreme Tech may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
If this were a pickup truck video, one of the tags would be “hold-my-beer-and-watch-this,” and in the final frames, the video might appear to be upside down. Now that the European deliveries of the Tesla Model 3 have begun (Feb. 6), we’ll be seeing all manner of Model-3-in-Europe videos.
Here’s YouTuber “Dan’s Tesla,” who apparently took delivery of a Model 3 in mid-February in the Netherlands, then proceeded 80 km (50 miles) to Germany’s Autobahn for a satisfying high-speed Fahrt lasting 213 seconds. Dan does note he’s “not used to driving on the autobahn” and backed off after a bit. Survive to live another day and all.
And
Dan described his trip thusly:
I took my brand new Model 3 to the german highway, just 80KM away from the Tilburg delivery center. 209KM/h while wifey [“wifey”?] is holding her laptop [and phone], no problem. I was too afraid to keep pushing as I’m not used to driving on the autobahn and it was difficult to judge when to apply brakes.
The most rational people will contend that it is pointless having a fast car when there is nowhere to take it up to speeds that would allow you to experience its full potential. That’s particularly true when you are stuck in traffic on the morning commute. Nevertheless, it is nice to have a burst of speed when you want to overtake or change lanes. Even more relevant is no ever said the choice of what car to own is a rational decision. For many people it’s as much about prestige and one-up-man-ship as it is about utility.
Rio Tinto investors partying like it's 2014
This article by Cecilia Jamasmie for Mining.com may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Rio Tinto’s (ASX, LON:RIO) investors will be celebrating Christmas in February, as the miner is giving them a $4 billion special dividend, or $2.43 cent a share, after posting its highest annual underlying earnings since 2014.
The world’s second largest miner reported Wednesday a 2% increase in underlying profit, up to $8.8 billion, beating market forecasts of $8.5 billion on the back of rising revenue of $40.5 billion. The special dividend also came after a string of asset divestments, including Rio’s entire interest in Indonesia’s Grasberg mine for $3.9 billion.
Since Jean-Sébastien Jacques took the helm in July 2016, Rio has focused on cutting costs, generating cash and returning as much of it as possible to investors through dividends and share buybacks.
Last year, the company waved all its coal assets goodbye and is now the only major miner with a fossil-fuel-free portfolio. In total, Rio has sold $12 billion worth of unwanted assets since 2015.
The special dividend got shaved off the share’s price in the last couple of days as it tests the region of the June peak near 4500p. Nevertheless, a sustained move below the trend mean would be required to question medium-term scope for continued upside.
In China, Distressed Debt Can Be AAA
This article by Chris Anstey and Lianting Tu for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers.
Enter the Foreign Raters! authorities have a record of pulling out the stops to aid some corporate debtors, including pressuring creditors into providing funding even after a company has defaulted. So it’s hard to imagine they’d be patient with downgrades by a foreign ratings company that could make it difficult for a troubled borrower to refinance.
Yet regulators in Beijing recognize that allowing credit to be priced based on the risk of the borrower could make investment across the economy more efficient. The People’s Bank of China says a certain amount of defaults can be healthy. And it sees foreign investors as a catalyst for reform. Given that those investors would prefer ratings akin to what they’re used to elsewhere, China in 2017 opened the door to the big three global ratings companies to operate wholly owned units.
S&P has hired at least 30 analysts for its Beijing office, preparing to open for business soon, says Simon Jin, chief executive officer of the company’s new China unit. The question on the minds of observers is just how S&P, along with Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings—if and when they follow—will manage to produce ratings that enjoy the confidence of international investors while also expanding business in a market that may not welcome hard truths about creditworthiness. Jin says “there is genuine demand for objective and reliable ratings in China” and that S&P plans “to provide Chinese market participants the same standards of transparency and independent analysis as we do anywhere else in the world.”
China’s growth since it began to open up over the last few decades has been supported by protectionism on the one hand but by outright support for domestic industry on the other. That manifested itself in free land for factories, generous open- ended credit availability through the banks, zero to low taxation, lax or no regulation, ignoring environmental standards and the creation of markets for the products produced. That resulted in rampant credit growth and, with clear government support, there were very low credit standards provided it served the national interest of industrialisation and full employment.