Declining COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates across all ages: analysis of German data
Amidst the alarmist reports about continued rise in Covid cases in India, here’s a positive set of research findings. Analysis of German data shows that death rates (Case Fatality Rate or CFR) from Covid have been consistently declining. One of the explanations for that had been that as testing became more widespread, more and more milder […]
5 Lessons on Coping and Thriving from Around the World
The philosopher, Eric Weiner, is the author of three bestselling books on philosophy – “The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers”, “The Geography of Genius: Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Places” and “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World”. In this entertaining essay, […]
R.I.P David Graeber – Prophet of Wall Street
David Graeber, the scholar, anarchist and intellectual leader of Occupy Wall Street passed away on 2nd September. One of the most original and influential thinkers on Economics and Finance over the past 20 years, we join the Indian Express in celebrating this polymath: “David Graeber, the anarchist who powered the Occupy movement with intellectual rocket fuel, has […]
SoftBank, Robinhood and a Margins Singularity
Last week we featured two pieces on short term price movements – first, Aswath Damodaran on the meaningless rally in Tesla and Apple on news of stock splits and second, Softbank’s big derivatives bets in tech. As Nasdaq continues to tumble this week as well, there is more clarity emerging on the role of derivatives in pushing up the […]
Tech = unoriginal, lazy, consensus, etc
The next long read later in this edition discusses the Softbank effect on the tech stock rally this year and how it could unravel. This blog whilst not defending the rally, is an attempt to address common misperceptions underlying the criticism of owning the popular big technology companies – consensus trade, popular stocks, too expensive, too […]
Why do you feel lonely? Neuroscience is starting to find answers
With research over the years increasingly pointing to social relationships as a key source of happiness and well-being, Covid driven social isolation has raised concerns about rising mental health issues. Indeed, Ben Carlson wrote about how whilst stock markets are soaring, there is a bear market in happiness. Why, the suicide of a Bollywood star suffering from […]
Spotlighting GMM Pfaudler
As expected, 1QFY21 was a tough quarter for the earnings of most Little Champs portfolio companies. However, management commentaries pointed towards several positives on demand recovery, cost reduction measures and market share gains – all pointing to a healthy recovery in earnings over the coming quarters. This month, we place the spotlight on GMM Pfaudler, […]
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged
Whilst advances in science and technology on the one hand showed how quickly the Coronovirus’ genetic code was identified and shared with scientists across the world to understand and come up with cures and vaccines, months hence, our understanding about Covid-19 is still evolving. Particularly, the pathology – how exactly does Covid-19 affect the human […]
SoftBank’s Bet on Tech Giants Fueled Powerful Market Rally
History may not repeat itself but it rhymes, they say. The rally in tech stocks (Nasdaq up 25% this year) only partly explained by how the world is going digital on steroids, took a jolt earlier this week. And in line with the earlier piece by Prof Damodaran, market participants are ascribing the huge build-up […]
Only a shift in labour’s bargaining power can light up US inflation
Through the pandemic, we have been featuring commentaries on the unprecedented stimulus by central banks and its repercussions viz, rally in gold, cryptocurrencies and prospects of inflation. It gives us great pleasure to share this piece on the subject in the FT by a Marcellus well-wisher. V. Anantha Nageswaran is a member of the Economic […]
Illusion, Perception and Reality: Stock Splits and Index Inclusions
In his book ‘Conservative Investors Sleep Well’, Phillip Fisher said “The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing”. As a corollary, the same can be said about the events that affect price and value. Professor Aswath Damodaran, in this blog, helps us with a framework to […]
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur: The princess who built AIIMS
Week after week, the Indian Express continues to be the one Indian newspaper which publishes perspectives, insights and news which allows us to understand India better. In this piece, the newspaper tells us something that we should have known a long time ago but didn’t: the story of the woman who created India’s foremost medical […]
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