Comment of the Day
Video commentary for February 21st 2022
A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area.
Some of the topics discussed include: stocks weak, gold and oil firm, FANGMAN rolling over, value stocks in the resources/materials sector still struggling despite the promise of asset sales.
Long-term ratios Ex-FANGMAN/Gold
My view - I’ve posted the long-term charts of how the FANGMANT shares have performed relative to the total market cap of the NYSE stocks on multiple occasions. The ratio is rolling over so that is a testament to the recent underperformance of the leadership of the tech sector.
Tencent Quashes Talk of New Crackdown as Tech Wipeout Deepens
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Chinese technology shares had their worst two-day drop since July due to renewed fears Beijing may roll out more restrictions for private enterprise. Traders pointed to everything from regulatory warnings over the weekend about scams in the metaverse -- a virtual-reality based social media concept -- to unsubstantiated talk about more curbs on the gaming industry. Tencent is a leader in metaverse development.
On Monday, a screenshot detailing the alleged new gaming curbs made waves on China’s internet. But Wang Guanran, an analyst with Citic Securities, clarified that the content was originally posted by him last year when regulators hosted study sessions on gaming regulations.
“I didn’t post anything today,” he said on his WeChat. The screenshot flagged more oversight of violent genres and concepts like anime and religion and limits on player spending on loot boxes.
My view - Protestations that Tencent does not expect additional curbs on its primary business lines would be more convincing if the government were not asking banks to disclose their relationships with Alibaba’s ANT Financial.
Google Search Is Dying
This article from dkb.io may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Appendix 3: Seriously, what are you talking about? My search results are perfect.
If you think your search results are perfect (without appending Reddit), then you're probably right. If every single person agreed that Google search results were trash, then Google would already be bankrupt.
Perhaps it is more likely that 80% of people think Google is good enough, and 20% think Google sucks.
I do suspect that the 20% will be growing in number though.
Appendix 4: *Yawn*, this is the 87th time someone has claimed that Google search is dying in the last 20 years. This is a big meme in the SEO world.
"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" - Google, probably
You're right, there's been a new article bashing Google every few months for the last 20 years straight. It's probably nothing.
Still, it is a bit interesting that this short and simple post is now one of the most upvoted things of all time on Hacker News. There must be a lot of people who resonate with it this time around.
Hard to tell if something significant has changed.
Appendix 5: Random redditor explains it succinctly
u/a_latvian_potato:
I think I understand what this article is trying to say. It's not saying that Google's search technology is worse or that people don't use Google to search. It's saying that people trust less of the results Google shows compared to seeing discussions of it on Reddit.
For instance, if I'm looking to see reviews of the Honda Civic 2022 or whatever, I do find myself typing "Honda Civic review reddit" instead of "Honda Civic review". This is because I want to see what real people and enthusiasts (on r/cars or whatever) are talking about the car, rather than the top results at Google which are basically just paid reviews advertising the car anyway.
Even though I kinda know people in Reddit are just as capable of spouting BS that are completely wrong, I find the discussions more authentic anyway than the corporate speak the "big websites" have on their articles that Google shows me.
My view - I have also noticed the quality of search results on Google has deteriorated. A great deal of scrolling is required to get past ads. That’s particularly true for commercial search terms.
The Chart Seminar 2022
With global vaccination rates rising, the prospect of anti-COVID pills on the horizon and the promise of travel restrictions being dropped, it is time to start thinking about venues for The Chart Seminar in 2022.
Please drop sarah@fullertreacymoney.com a line if you would be interested in attending an event next year, as well as your preferred location.
At present I am looking at a late May date for a London seminar and I am open to other times and locations subject to demand.
Eoin's personal portfolio: short reopened February 2nd 2022
One of the questions subscribers as most often is how to find details of my open trades. To make it easier I will simply repost the latest summary daily until there is a change.