Past edition of the "What Ian Can See" WICS trading information newsletter.

Ian's weekly look at the world economic situation and his world view. Members get access to the current edition, archives, chart analysis and one-to-one mentoring on your trading.

October 17th 2021

Hello again, and today's ramble has to start with an apology to someone I have frequently taken a pop at. To whom do I refer? None other than the Emperor Macrumb! Imagine that eh? And why the apology? Because he's clearly not quite as daft as he may appear. He's pushing for the building of a load of "small nuclear reactors" to ensure a reliable supply of not too costly electricity for the population of France. Well done him!

I also see that the Finnish government is asking the EU to consider nuclear electricity generation as being "green" per Brussels rules and regulations - quite a U-turn from that country's prior position, given that their Minister for the Environment and Climate Change is a member of their Green League, one of five parties forming their current coalition government. It gives me an element of hope!

Mind you, in this Septic Isle, our Queen Carrie Antoinette is a wee bit too "environmental" for my tastes - or can we do away with the first few letters there and just say "mental"? After all, she married The Babbler, which hardly provides a ringing endorsement of her intellectual prowess.

It amused me to read a Grauniad thing anent the coming Glasgow gabfest, saying "Boris Johnson's credibility at stake in runup to summit". Gosh, that implies that the Grauniad reckons The Babbler actually has some credibility to lose! I quite liked Rawnsley's piece about The Babbler:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/

Rishi will take over! He's on top of his game. Christmas is safe. He says so, and thus it will be so. Ho ho ho. I see that a whole twenty furrin lorry drivers now have work visas so deliveries of everything to everywhere are no longer at risk of delay. Well, anyway, you'll be able to have Christmas pizzas because Domino's are hiring another 8000 delivery people. Presumably such folk will come from among the 393000 of night club, cinema, pub etc etc employees who have lost their jobs due to lockdowns...... Or maybe from the ranks about to be dumped on to the dole queues by the rail companies. Or from the ex employees of the 1446 companies that went bust in September.

Coming back briefly to the coming Glasgow nonsense, I note without any kind of surprise that Blighty is in a mess overall:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58859105

Should we be surprised? It's not really "build back better", is it? It's more "build back briber" with the current bunch of shameless troughers in charge.

Digressing very slightly but on the same tack, I note that the total idiot Packham clearly hates grouse. He wants their habitat trashed, despite the fact that heather moorland without trees in parts of the British Isles are the only places where they survive, and they are not only unique to these areas, but they are classed as "endangered" by the RSPB. Yet Packham, Monbiot and others want the "barren wastelands" (their description of heather moors) covered in "temperate rainforests". Duh.

I note too that a report by the BBC says that the Environment Agency reckons that Blighty is "not prepared to deal with the effects of climate change". I think that more importantly, the EA is not prepared (as in not willing) to deal with the effects of unfettered sewage dumping, fly tipping etc etc.... It's all about Big Biz being allowed to do as it likes in my view. And as for house building on greenfield sites.... aaghh - don't get me started on that! Property developers, Tory party donors, double aaagghhhh.

Anyway, enough of the fluffy stuff for today!

What's going on out in the big, bad world of munnee? Well, you might be forgiven for believing that yet again the main indices are about to make new highs. My riposte would be "So what?"
If you think it was only the lurgy contagion that began in China before spreading worldwide, good luck to you. Junk bond collapses will do exactly the same thing, only this time it's not intentional. I see that another Chinese property developer (Modern Land) has defaulted on $250m of borrowings. And on average, Chinese junk bond yields were 14.7% on October 1st. Last Friday they were 19.8% and rising.

Likewise, if you believe Taiwan is "safe" you are really living in some kind of parallel universe, as hinted at here a couple of months ago. And guess where 48% of the world's semiconductors are made? Oops.

OK - that's it for today - brief but reasonably to the point, I trust.

In any event there's still plenty for you to read if you feel so inclined, via these links. Make of them what you will, or indeed what you won't:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General

and
https://cei.org/blog

also
https://www.zerohedge.com/

next
https://www.spiked-online.com/

finally
https://mises.org/power-market

Whew!

Onward then to a chart or two if you're still awake....

First there's a look at a head & shoulders on the Domino's Pizza picture. Maybe Mr Market doesn't like the new hiring plans? Then there's a falling wedge on the Unilever chart. Next, BT is looking a bit similar to Unilever. Finally, a blue line of significance for the S&P 500?

That's your lot then till November 7th. I'm taking a break from writing this stuff because two fishing buddies arrive tonight from deepest darkest Somerset and Cornwall respectively, then when they leave next weekend the grandsons arrive for their week's escape from deepest darkest Brummagen.

All the best then, till November!
Ian.

(I'll still be available to answer any mentoring questions so please don't hesitate to get in touch - your emails are always welcome!)

The rest of this post, which is the charts and analysis, is available to TTIWW course members only. Members receive the latest post, the archives, plus the manuals, video updates and one-to-one mentoring from Ian Williams via email.

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: This information is for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. It represents only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should it be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.