On Slack: 1% = 40 Lakh Cases, Arbitrage Mutual Funds, Investor or Speculator, Irrational Thinking, Still Using Cash?
The Slack group at Capital Mind Premium has been extremely active and if you haven’t been there (Premium subscribers only), pop us a note or login here using your premium credentials.
A brief summary of some of the interesting things discussed there in the last few days:
#bonds: How Arbitrage Mutual Funds Work: A simple introduction
#general: Let’s Be Honest: Are You an Investor or a Speculator?
#macronomics: Portland to raise taxes on companies where CEO earns 100 times what workers do
Move expected to bring in as much as $3.5M next year, which will be used to combat homelessness. CBC
#general: Demonetisation hits service tax, excise duty collection
Growth in service tax collection declined to 13% in November as against 68% in October; excise duty collections grew by 32% in November as against 41% the previous month. Livemint
#general: One per cent suspicious accounts means I-T has to probe 40 lakh cases
The demonetisation deadline ends on December 30, and a day later, the I-T officers are expected to complete their scrutiny assessment work. Indian Express
#macronomics: Will The Fed Kill The Dollar Rally?
#general: Salaries to employees must be through banks: Dattatreya
Salaries and payments to be made for the all employees will have to be done through banks using the electronic platforms and the Payments and Wages Act will be amended soon to enable this, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya has said. The Hindu
#macronomics: GST Council meet inconclusive; April 1 target seems undoable
The GST Council, the representative body of the states and the Centre empowered to vet all decisions relating to the tax, was unable to clear the draft GST law in its meeting on Sunday and will now meet on December 22-23 to consider all remaining issues. The winter session of parliament ends on December 16. Economic Times
#general: In Urjit Patel’s reign, only certainty is that nothing is certain
Both of Patel’s policy reviews so far have wrong-footed investors, raising frustration that they are unable to get a handle on where monetary policy is headed in Asia’s third-largest economy. Economic Times
#general: The Demonetization Opportunity - Face-to-Face Event
#forex: India’s foreign exchange reserves go down by $1.4 billion
India’s foreign exchange reserves have gone down $1.4 billion to stand at $363.8 billion as of December 2 said the Reserve Bank of India on Friday to manage the stress arising out of FCNR(B) redemptions and moving out of foreign investors from the Indian markets. Economic Times
#general: T N Ninan: Twists on the road
Demonetisation, which was touted as the “biggest and boldest” attack on black money, has turned out to be nothing of the sort. Business Standard
#general: Jumla Is The New Black
It’s hard to tell whether demonetisation will turn out to be a bold hit or a costly miss, but it appears to many that the government has taken the black money bull by the horns. Announcing the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed several steps that his government had taken so far in its war on black money. Chunauti
#general: Foodpanda: No secret ingredient
Think of Foodpanda as the last bastion of Rocket Internet in India. Its journey in the country, so far, can be summed up in three parts: A. Setting up brouhaha and enthusiasm of being able to order food from a couch. B. Mismanagement, lack of process and unethical practices. C. Change in guard to bring in some sanity. The Ken
#general: India’s NSE Must List Sans Hubris
India’s largest stock exchange is getting ready for a listing it has fought long and hard to avoid: its own. Bloomberg
#general: American psyche: Michael Lewis on the triumph of irrational thinking
The writer talks about how ‘the marketplace for politicians did something as weird as the marketplace for securities’. Financial Times
#macronomics: India’s demonetisation as a de facto tax amnesty
This from SocGen’s Kunal Kumar Kundu is a very useful way to think about the current status of India’s great monetary experiment. Financial Times
#macronomics: How Will Stocks React to the Fed Meeting? Watch Twitter
Research shows trading strategies built on what people tweet before Fed days have been profitable. WSJ
#general: Why Are We Still Using Cash?
#stocks: Bharat Forge shimmers owing to North America truck orders
World’s largest forging major, Bharat Forge is trading with smart gains of close to 4 per cent owing to strong heavy-duty truck orders in North American markets, which have increased for the first time in nearly two years. DSIJ
#macronomics: Bank credit plunges by Rs. 61,000 cr
The demand destruction unleashed by the November 8 demonetisation drive saw the bank credit shrinking by a whopping Rs. 61,000 crore, or 0.8 per cent, during the fortnight to November 25, according to the latest RBI data. The Hindu
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