Category: Investment returns

I never studied Greek. But I thought I’d learnt of most of the letters of the Greek alphabet by the time from my secondary school maths/stats education.

So this ‘omicron’ variant has befuddled me. It turns out that the Greek letter looks like a lower case o, so it would have been the most confusing thing ever in my school maths classes – thank goodness I’d never come across it (nor all the other variants after Delta) before. Now I’m trying to avoid coming across it in a different sense.

But it’s not just me that has been befuddled, it turns out, because the stock market has been almost as befuddled by the recent developments. But as the month turned out, things looked fairly straightforward – equities down, AUD down, and safety (gilts & USD) up.

My overall return for the month was actually up slightly in the month, with currencies and my tech stocks helping counteract the hit from equities. My subportfolios tell a slightly more granular story:

Continue reading “Nov 2021 – Omicron emerges” →

It was only a matter of time, some people argue. Which ignores the vaccine efficacy stats. But for those of us with the Astra vaccine, which is only 60% effective at preventing catching symptomatic Covid Delta variant, perhaps it is true that it was only a matter of time.

Does 60% effective mean: if you meet 10 infected people, you have a 60% chance of not catching covid? Or does it mean that you have 60% chance with the first person, then 60% chance with the second person, then 60% the third time, etc. If the latter, then absolutely it is only a matter of time – even for Pfizer jabbees who are extrovert / risk-taking enough.

In any case, my time struck earlier in the month. I got a sniffle, then slight flu-like symptoms, progressing into a headache. I did a lateral flow test. It was positive. Ho hum. Another lateral flow and then, a few days later, a PCR test result all confirmed the picture.

Thankfully the virus has progressed in me in a pretty typical way. The flu wasn’t too bad, and then quickly became a cough, which has slowly been dying down. I’m back to normal, or at least 95% normal – I haven’t got my full sense of taste, and very little sense of smell. Apparently that can take weeks. Which leaves me much more aware than normal of foods’ texture – rather like, so they say, the Chinese appreciate certain foods.

Continue reading “Oct 2021 – Covid gets me” →

All it needs is one idiot government minister to say ‘there won’t be any need for panic buying’ and, well, everybody’s panic buying.

The month started out with empty supermarket shelves and finished with North London petrol stations that still had petrol in them being a rarity, with queues that I assume will soon be rivalled by queues at car dealers for electric cars.

In related news, there is a definite buzz returning to London. Clear differences with pre-pandemic life remain – widespread (tho mostly voluntary) masks, much more outdoor eating/drinking, testing regimes at offices and even before private social events. Thankfully, the trendy Dishoom restaurant chain is continuing to take bookings and hasn’t reverted yet to ‘queues only’. Oh, and the tube’s Northern Line has a new extension – the first tube addition for about thirty years.

Continue reading “Sep 2021 – Inflation looms” →