Andrew Bolton

Fellow of PFS investor and trader retired to Algarve and Leicester City fan no investment advice given

[Michael A. Arouet @MichaelAArouet]

Thomas Piketty made headlines this week with his Marxist degrowth proposal disguised as environmentalism.

If the left really cared about the climate, why do they close nuclear power plants? With nuclear, you can save the planet without sacrificing prosperity.

What am I missing?

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Just to remind these same folk:
You’ve not lifted 1/2m kids out of poverty. You’ve just moved them over a bureaucratic line on a Whitehall spreadsheet.
Your ‘workers rights’ are destroying entry-level jobs, hitting young people disproportionately, where unemployment is now over 16%.
You have not transformed the NHS. It’s still the same old wheezing leviathan, just with a lot more dosh and still dismal productivity.
And you’ve nationalised steel and rail before. It was not the prelude to an economic or industrial miracle. Plus you will now have to include their demands for capital/subsidies among all the other priorities already crowding in on the public purse.
Other than that your reminder was useful. Thank you.

[Samantha LaDuc @SamanthaLaDuc]

Since January, the entire S&P 500's gains have come from just two corners of the market, AI and energy, while everything else is actually trading at less than where it started - per Apollo

[John Longworth @john4brexit]

Heat pumps will push up energy bills, Labour report finds -Energy Secretary previously claimed net zero technology would save households ‘hundreds of pounds a year’

https://t.co/T8WLC37mcd

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

On Christmas Day 1937, a football match between Chelsea and Charlton Athletic was abandoned at Stamford Bridge due to the worst London fog since 1904.

Everyone left the pitch.

Everyone except Charlton goalkeeper Sam Bartram.

For the next 15 minutes, he stood alone in the thick fog, arms outstretched, guarding an empty goal — convinced his teammates were dominating at the other end and that no attack was coming his way.

It was only when a police officer emerged from the curtain of fog and stared at him in disbelief that he finally learned the truth.
"What on earth are you doing here?" the officer gasped. "The game was stopped a quarter of an hour ago."

When Bartram finally made it to the dressing room, his teammates — already bathed and back in their street clothes — were in fits of laughter.

He went on to make 623 appearances for Charlton Athletic, becoming the club's greatest ever goalkeeper. A statue of him now stands outside their stadium.

The fog took the game. It never took his focus.

[Restoring Your Faith in Humanity @HumanityChad]

A three-year-old boy touched thousands of people after choosing to celebrate his birthday by having breakfast with the garbage collectors who worked on his street. 😭❤️

[JW 🇬🇧 @FinanceTiger]

⚠️ A 50-year-old came up to me last week.

"Am I too late to start investing? Property was meant to be my pension, but London prices are falling..." 😬

Here's what I showed him 👇

£100,000 invested in 1995:

📈 S&P 500 ~£2.4m
📊 FTSE 100 ~£1.15m
🏠 London property ~£670k

Yes, property kept pace with the FTSE, but you can't put property in a SIPP. You can't drip-feed dividends back in. You pay stamp duty, agents, maintenance, and void periods and all the hassle that comes with it!!

The S&P? Compounding quietly. No tenants. No roof repairs!

At 50, with 17 years to State Pension age, YOU still have TIME.

£1,000/month into a SIPP. Compound interest. 17 years.

The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. The second best time? Today.

It's never too late. Start now!

Happy Weekend! 🤩

[🔥⚜️ 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 ⚜️🔥 @Andrew_Maj42]

❤️ Heroes don't always wear capes, sometimes they just hit the brakes. Thank you to everyone who stopped to help this dog. 🥹🚗🫶

[Ronnie @Ronmarkets]

Recently travelled from Kowloon to Shenzhen. The train was the the best train I’d ever been on. #China

[John Longworth @john4brexit]

British taxpayers will subsidise French energy bills under Starmer’s EU deal - The Telegraph
Surplus wind power created because of creaking grid system can be sold abroad under ‘wasteful’ rules https://t.co/0hq6x2mEg6

[Simon French @Frencheconomics]

“Primordial soup” (h/t @g__j) of cheap energy and capital is the best growth strategy. Something for the UK govt to think about if he wants to pivot the growth mission from a series of downstream sector strategies, to more favourable upstream conditions.

[BMNR Bullz @BMNRBullz]

TOM LEE: THE MARKET GOT THE FED WRONG

Investors treated KEVIN WARSH’S first Fed meeting like a hawkish pivot.

Tom Lee @fundstrat says it was actually dovish.

Warsh is moving the Fed away from stale guidance and toward real-time data, meaning the dots can move fast if inflation keeps improving.

🔹 Stocks still favorable
🔹 SpaceX IPO was successful
🔹 Bear-market tone comes later

Tom Lee still sees an abrupt market shift later this year.

But not now.

[William Clouston SDP @WilliamClouston]

‘We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond market’ says Andy Burnham…

😱

[Metav3rse @themetav3rse]

Elon Musk says smartphones won't exist in 5 years.

"We're not going to have a phone in the traditional sense. What we call a phone will really be an edge node for AI inference, with some radios to obviously connect, but essentially you'll have AI on the server side communicating to an AI on your device."

"There won't be operating systems, there won't be apps in the future. You've got a device that is there for the screen and audio to put as much AI on the device as possible so as to minimize the amount of bandwidth needed between your edge node device and the servers."

"You'll get everything through AI. Whatever you can think of, or really whatever the AI can anticipate you can think of, it'll show you."

"It's probably five or six years, something like that."

[Simon French @Frencheconomics]

Nice jump in retail sales (+1.2% MoM) thanks to a hot and sunny May. Sales volumes at their highest level since the post-pandemic rebound in April 2022. Striking though how inflation has eaten into volume growth over the last five years....

[Matt Cerminaro @mattcerminaro]

Tech price and forward PE leading into today vs the tech bubble.

Two very different pictures.

[Ronnie @Ronmarkets]

Wonderful people #humans much of the #ROW should follow the #Japanese. A great credit to the #human #race. #Japan❤️

[Kallum Pickering @KallumPickering]

Andy Burnham wins Makerfield by-election – what it means for markets and the Labour leadership race

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s comfortable victory in yesterday’s Makerfield by-election was largely priced into markets in advance. As a result, expect limited immediate movement in sterling or gilts today.

Attention now turns to whether Burnham will mount a challenge to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. To do so, he will need nominations from 81 Labour MPs (20% of the parliamentary party) to trigger a contest, followed by a vote of the wider membership.

Parliament is not sitting today, so Burnham cannot be sworn in until Monday 22 June. This means the coming days will be dominated by speculation over how any potential leadership transition could unfold.

Key questions for markets include:
Can Burnham orchestrate an orderly change of leadership?
Who might become the next Chancellor, and what economic direction would they pursue?
Could an early general election become more likely if Labour’s polling improves under new leadership?

Policy implications of a leadership change
A shift in prime minister would not automatically trigger a sharp change in economic policy. However, the direction of travel would depend heavily on the winner and their choice of Chancellor. Risks include higher taxes to fund increased public spending, potential wealth taxes, and greater state intervention – all of which could affect capital flows and investor confidence. Fiscal discipline would remain under scrutiny regardless.

What is unlikely to change
The Bank of England’s operational independence and the broad direction of green energy policy are likely to remain unaffected.

Market risks
Risks remain skewed to the downside. A move towards a more left-leaning agenda without a fresh electoral mandate could weigh on gilt yields and sterling. The identity of the next Chancellor will be critical in shaping market sentiment.

#UKPolitics #LabourLeadership #FinancialMarkets #UKEconomy #Brexit #Sterling #Gilts

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

A welcoming present just out this morning for a Mr A Burnham to underline just how limited his latitude as PM will be:
The UK government borrowed £23.3 billion last month, 30 per cent or £5.4 billion higher than a year earlier.
It was also more than the £18.8 billion expected by most economists and the £17.7 billion forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog.
 The interest payable on government debt rose to £11.7 billion, the highest ever recorded in any May.

[Equity investor @equitydd]

Stocks making new ATH today

Foundry & Chips:
$TSM $MU $INTC $ARM $ALAB $UMC $CRDO $SIMO $DIOD

Equipment & Materials:
$ASML $AMAT $LRCX $MKSI $ENTG $ACMR $KLIC $UCTT $ICHR $COHU

Storage & Infrastructure:
$SNDK $WDC $STX $NBIS $TTMI $CIFR

Analog & Components:
$ALGM $VSH $BELFB