The Dawn of a New Era

Hello everyone,

I am finally back at writing my blog after a gap of 5 and a half years! Its been really long and lots has changed since then

In 2009, I was talking about the financial crisis, and also a few changes in my personal life

Well, on the personal front, a lot has changed! Earlier this year, I finally decided to make the switch to finance and started studying Masters of Finance at Macquarie University. It was a dramatic change but something which I have been wanting to do for a very long time

I am doing well so far at Uni and the intense program is about to finish at the end of the year. In the interim, I have cleared two levels of the CFA exam and will be looking for an analyst role soon.

It really is the dawn of an a new era! In terms of my personal life and also the financial markets. We have seen unprecedented response from the central banks post GFC leading to quantitative easing and huge flow of liquidity which has percolated to the emerging markets

The equity markets have had an amazing run in last 5 years and if anyone had bought stocks in mid-2008, you would laughing your way to the bank right now!

However, the last 5 years have brought in lot of uncertainty especially in Europe which was gripped by sovereign debt crisis and is now facing prospect of deflation. The ECB is going to buy assets soon and may announce a QE program! That is in contrast to USA, where the unemployment rate is at 6 year low, QE is coming to an end and interest rates will be raised by next year

On the political front, there has been a new government in India. The BJP managed to win a majority earlier this year, first time in 30 years that a party has won a majority. The NSE, BSE has been on a tear and midcaps are soaring on hope of economic revival by the reformist PM, Mr Modi

In Australia, the Labour party lost badly last year due to in-fighting and the Liberal part lead by Tony Abbot came to power. Though the ASX has kept up pace with the global indices, the economic policies of the government have left a bad taste in the mouth. The unemployment rate high and the government seems obsessed with getting the budget into surplus thought the AUS debt is the lowest in the developed world. 

I have come across some interesting stocks in the last few years and I wish to share my analysis in subsequent posts. 

Its good to be back writing and I will be a regular

Thank you for reading..