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Is this sell off a buy opportunity?

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Are you kidding? News outlets told us that markets reacted to central bankers telling us that easy money times are over, as if this is news. You’ve got to be kidding!

This might be news to the bond market, which has been betting the economic story isn’t as strong as optimists like me and others have been believing.

But you don’t have to be a chief economist at a bank to work out that if central bankers are saying “we’re out of the bailing out” game, that this should be good news for economies, companies and stock prices. Yet we’ve been ‘greeted’ by news headlines referring to a $26 billion wipe out of share market value on Friday!

I can’t take anyone seriously if they’re talking about market meltdowns but never even try to talk about market melt-ups.

At the heart of the central bankers warning was the escalation of debt and the surge in asset prices created by, guess who? Yep, central bankers. And now they somehow think that warnings like these, which have negative market implications, will be good for economic growth?

These warnings and these market reactions are so stupid it pains me to waste time talking about it.

What’s done is done. Now we have to see solid economic growth this year and next, or else we could see serious recession talk and big falls in stock prices. If you’re worried about that, recall that the RBA only recently reaffirmed its 3% plus calls for economic growth over the next two years, so let’s hope our central bankers are more closely connected to the ground, compared to the morons who spoke this week, with their heads somewhere in the clouds on route to cuckoo land!

Sorry, but this kind of market instability is simply unnecessary. We have to get growth, Donald Trump has to stop tweeting and fighting the media and get working on the Congress to pass his tax bill.

Earnings have to come in on par with, or better than, expectations. And the US has to see its low first quarter growth of 1.4% jump up into the 2% plus level.

While markets were listening to central bankers, I liked the rotation out of tech stocks on US stock markets into banks and energy stocks.

Wall Street wasn’t buying this central bank BS and was more concerned about the sector rotation out of tech stocks into banks and energy. That was Thursday. On Friday the same story applied, with the Dow up over 62 points. That made me happy early Saturday morning.

I was also happy to see BHP and Rio go higher in London markets on Thursday, so it surprised me that we played ‘follow the leader’ with other mad markets.

My case for skepticism about this sell off has been helped by the following facts that you might have missed:

Of course, some of the sell off could’ve been those pocketing tax losses before June 30 was over, which often happens ahead of a rebound in the first week of July. And AMP’s Shane Oliver backs me up on this – see the chart below:

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I can’t wait for July!

What I liked

What I didn’t like

If John Edwards is right then…

If John (who’s also a mate) is right (and I don’t think he is), then our economy will be going gangbusters. This is how John’s old advice-client, Paul Keating, would’ve described it. As I say, if he’s right, then our stock market will be a lot damn higher than it is today.

That said, by the fourth or fifth rate rise, I’d be taking a lot of my stocks profit off the table!

The week in review:

Top stocks – how they fared

asx200

What moved the market?

Calls of the week

The week ahead

Australia

Overseas

Food for thought

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

– John D. Rockefeller

Last week’s TV roundup

Stocks shorted

ASIC releases data daily on the major short positions in the market. These are the stocks with the highest proportion of their ordinary shares that have been sold short, which could suggest investors are expecting the price to come down. The table shows how this has changed compared to the week before.

This week, one of the biggest movers was Galaxy Resources, with its short position increasing by 1.37 percentage points to 9.21%. Retailer JB Hi-Fi followed, moving 1.05 percentage points to 12.02%.

screen-shot-2017-06-30-at-10-13-59

Source: ASIC

Chart of the week

Aussies are wealthier than ever!

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Our assets are continuing to rise! Total household wealth or net worth was a record $9,636.1 billion at the end of March. That’s an increase of 2.4% or $226.9 billion over the quarter. As you can see from the chart, the majority of our wealth comes from land and dwelling assets.

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Important: This content has been prepared without taking account of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular individual. It does not constitute formal advice. Consider the appropriateness of the information in regards to your circumstances.