Fear And Greed

The S&P 500 has recently ticked a couple of sell signals on RSI and MACD (highlighted below). Despite that, fear or volatility is benign – here is the VIX (volatility) index that is used as a barometer of fear and greed – it is not predictive but does highlight when the market is “comfortable” (now)…

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London Stock Brokers in the 1980s

ASX Education: London Barrowboys at work

Having spent sixteen years in the UK and four years in Australia sitting on the institutional desks of some major brokers, particularly in the UK, one thing becomes apparent, that share prices don’t go up and down because of the fundamental reasons that commentators and the media obsess over in hindsight, they go up and…

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Why Bother

I was studying the latest edition of Marcus Today whilst on holiday when my son asked what I was reading.  Then came the question, “why do you bother?”  Why not invest in some EFTs or in a managed fund and save yourself a lot of time and worry? I’ve been asked that question before and…

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The One Stock Portfolio

The One Stock Portfolio

After I first wrote this article in 2009 and published it in The Age on Saturday, the stockbroker I worked  for at the time insisted that I include a disclaimer at the bottom of all my articles from then on saying “The opinions in this article are those of Marcus Padley and do not represent…

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Retirement Today: Crystal Ball

Looking out of our hotel room window in a small town in Portugal I noticed an oversized parking meter with a car connected by cable.  It wasn’t a parking meter it was an electric car recharging point.  It made me reflect on the number of electric cars we see in Europe and on the dominance…

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