Musings of a 50+ year old boy – a halftime journey

It seemed so long ago when we were in Feb, where the world was in a different place… As I try to remember what had happened each week on this blog, it feels like no end is in sight and that we are heading towards a deeper hole. Every government is trying to scramble and…

We live in extraordinary times. Never in my 30 years career have I seen the way the world is unravelling and decelerating at breakneck speed. Unlike previous financial crises, this one encompasses all aspects of economic life and human social interactions. It is impacting each and every individual in a very direct way which we…

To some people, it seems like the zombie apocalypse which lots of TV shows and movies were based on, is starting to happen. An unseen enemy is lurking amongst us and spreading its tentacles into every corner of the world. Countries are declaring war footing on an unknown foe and scrambling to shore up defences…

I thought we have seen it all last week and that it couldn’t get worse, but boy was I wrong. The world went crazier this week. It was a week of unintended consequences that caused the financial markets to flip flop like mad every other day. I could see my Bloomberg stock portfolio MTM (Mark…

The perfect storm may have arrived. Financial markets went crazy this week again, gyrating like crazy every day as panic grip investors. One day the American index was down 1,200 points and then it was up 800 the next day, then down again and up the next day. Central banks all over the world used…

In the midst of the coronavirus scare that has spread globally to date, we had planned our first trip to NZ in Jan. As the panic situation was developing by mid-Feb, we were not sure if the vacation will materialize. The situation had worsened in S’pore (Alert from Yellow to Orange) just a few days…

The feared virus finally has an official name from WHO: Covid-19. It has been a week since we had a panic last Friday evening as the Dorscon alert was changed from yellow to orange after a day of rumours that it will be raised. Common sense was thrown out the door as we had a…

Let’s just first establish the timeline. The saga started in early Dec as cases began to appear in the Wuhan seafood market. By end Dec, the Chinese authorities had flagged the virus as an issue. Before the CNY holiday period on 25 Jan, most were well aware of it and China had already started to…