MFC Feb 20 update

MFC Feb 20

This is now a high beta stock, buy at your own risk. Confederation Life is a good example of a company that strayed from its core business of life insurance into what might best be described as banking. With Manu it is a little different but they too have strayed from there core competence being life insurance into the stock markets through wealth management. Confed went from AAA in the morning to ZZZ in the afternoon and I would not for a moment want to suggest that Manu awaits a similar fate, but  it is obvious that this is not a time to back up the truck.

Economics made simple, real simple.

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Courtesy Chart of the Day, free to anyone that likes these things. This correction is still running behind 1929. R . Prechter of EW fame and Ian Gordon of the Kondratief Cycle school are among the few to predict that this correction would be worse. Of course the detractors will argue that these guys are perma-bears and that they have predicted this a hundred times before and that consequently they would (remains to be seen)be right some time. This is not factually correct as these bears (including moi même) are often bullish and almost always contarian.  In any event we now have Paul Volcker suggesting that this one will rival 1929, now that is an authority worth listening to.

UBS AG

This is the UBS AG chart. From $60 to $10 in less than 2 years. More trouble lies ahead as their franchise, par excellence, bank secrecy,  is starting to fray at the edges. The US revenue service may get their hands on 25000 names of tax evaders. If they get their way all tax collectors around the world  will be standing in line to get their list. Of course Germany already got info from Lichtenstein or one of those little havens. Very embarrassing for all concerned, especially if you are a high ranking politician. The amounts involved are large, very large both on the other side of the pond as well as in the Americas.

In this context it is heartwarming to see how naive Canada is. Any suggestion that these sinister activities are happening here is received with total disbelief , after all we all know that the plane loads of bankers from Geneva etc.  are here to service Nestle, Alusuisse, Oerlikon and a few other companies. But then Canada was the last western nation to do away with the $1000 note, the currency of choice for these activities.

DAX Canary in the coalmine?

The Dax is down 160 points as I write this, that is about 4%. Remember that one should, barring other information, always look for  a 50-62% “correction” after a full up cycle. We double topped at about 8000, a dead give away that trouble was just over the horizon. Then we dropped pretty rapidly to 4000 or the 50% level. For the past 4 months or so we have been flirting with this level ( actually under one count pretty well the exact same time we spent in wave 2! ). All this is not to say that we have to do 62% (about 3000), but the possibility is very realistic and getting more so.

dax Feb 20