Still time to climb on the housebuilders’ ladder

Surely UK house builders have done so well already, that they can’t possibly have much further to go? When the heated state of the UK housing market becomes headline news on a regular basis, then as a stock investor, you have to be worried, right?

While that might normally make sense, in this case I would beg to differ. It is true that, since I wrote my last article extolling the virtues of UK house builders on February 4 (UK Building is All Systems Go!), the Bloomberg UK house builders’ index has risen some 9%, its pullback today notwithstanding.

But let me present a series of data that I find to be compelling evidence that the current bull market in housing-related stocks  still has some way to run…

Item 1: House Builders have 37% to go to Reach their 2007 Highs

Yes it is true! As a group, house builders like Barratt Developments (BDEV), Berkeley Group (BKG) and Persimmon (PSN) have 37% further to rise before they hit their June 2007 share price highs.

Item 2: Housing Starts Are Picking Up, But Still Below Average 

House builders are breaking ground on more new projects today than at any time since the first quarter of 2008. However they are still a long way from climbing back to the average for quarterly housing starts seen pre-Financial Crisis. 

Item 3: and Building Completions Are Even Worse…

If we look at the rate of building completions in the UK, the situation looks even worse...

Item 4: Mortgage Approvals Go Up, Mortgage Rates Down

And all the while, the UK Government is of course doing its bit to help the purchasing of new-build homes with their Help to Buy schemes, effectively guaranteeing the first 20% of a 95% loan-to-value mortgage, allowing first-time buyers to get on the property ladder with only a 5% deposit. No wonder then that the number of mortgage approvals is going up!

To read on, see the charts and see my favoured stocks for this theme,
click on this web link: 

Still time-to climb on the housebuilders' ladder

View my CNBC WorldWide Exchange TV interview!

Here is the video link to to my CNBC Worldwide Exchange interview from this morning:

CNBC Worldwide Exchange: Favoured Sectors

Click on it and have a look!

Best,
Edmund

On CNBC Europe this morning - my preferred sectors...

I went on CNBC Europe's WorldWide Exchange programme this mornign to talk about company results and my favourite sectors. What are they? Well:

1. UK housebuilders - like Inland Homes (INL), Barratt Developments (BDEV) and Telford Homes (TEF). Note the strong results this morning from builders' merchants Travis Perkins (TPK), helped by the strong UK housing market, together with the Government's aid from the Help 2 Buy programmes.
   
2. Technology stocks, in particular semiconductors - Infineon (IFX in Germany) and Sandisk (SNDK in the US) would be two good plays here; cash-rich and benefiting from the "Internet of Things" theme.
   
3. Mining stocks, which are cheap and recently posted good Q4 results: in the short run, they will be driven by sentiment over Chinese growth, but I still like Rio Tinto (RIO) and Anglo American (AAL) in the medium-term. 

While stock markets had a very strong 2013 and have bounced back to new highs this year, I see further positive momentum ahead as economic momentum picks up in the Eurozone, and recovers from a short-term dip in the US and China. 

Video Slideshow: Bull or Bear Market? Which sectors to favour?

Hello again,

 

I offer you this time a 5-minute video slideshow with audio commentary, tackling two questions:

 

1. Are we still in a Bull stock market or have we entered a Bear market?
2. Which industry sectors should you favour?

 

 

All the best,

Edmund

Explore oil services for attractive value and momentum

Oil services coming back into vogue

As a contrarian value investor by nature, I like to look at sectors that have under-performed and which look to offer long-term value. If we look at the performance of the various S&P 500 sectors since the beginning of this year, the Oil & Gas sector stands out as one of the worst performers, with the iShares US Energy ETF falling from $50.50 at end-December 2013 to $46.40 by the beginning of February.

Since then, however, the Oil & Gas sector has staged somewhat of a recovery – still, over the last three months, the iShares Oil Equipment & Services ETF has lagged the S&P 500 by 4% (Figure 1).

However, in the long-term, I still see the Oil Equipment & Services sub sector remains an excellent way to take a “picks and shovels” approach to investing in the US shale oil & gas theme. The crude oil price has, if anything, moved higher over this period, judging by the Brent Crude Oil ETF (BNO; Figure 2).

To read the rest of this article and see my 3 favoured European stock picks to ride this Oil Services recovery, please click on the Mindful Money article link below:

Explore Oil Services for Attractive Value and Momentum

All the best for the week ahead,
Edmund

On BBC World Business Report, Talking about Peugeot and National Champions

Yes, that's right, I stayed up until 9pm UK time to appear on BBC World's evening Business Report programme discusing the bailout of the French car company Peugeot by its Chinese joint venture partner DongFeng and the French Government.

National champions can work in a number of strategic or sensitive sectors like Nuclear (think Areva) and Aerospace and Defence (e.g. EADS), but there is little rationale for promoting national champions in a globally competitive industry like Autos, with the Japanese, South Koreans and Germans battling for global supremacy, not to mention the resurgence of the Big 3 US carmakers too. 

If you have to buy a car company, I am keen on the South Korean success story that is Hyundai (look at their amazing growth of market share in the US) and also BMW in Germany (look at the strength of their ancillary brands like Mini, and also their push into fully electric vehicles).  

As for Peugeot, it will be a long road ahead through heavy restructuring to final recovery, and one that will inevitably involve reducing production capacity yet further in France. After all, they already produce the bulk of their small cars outside the Hexagon as it is...

Edmund

Weekly Newsletter: February 17, 2014 - Focus on SmallCaps

Weekly Spotlight on: Small-Cap Stocks

While global stock markets have continued their steady recovery following January’s emerging market-led swoon, a difference in performance is emerging between small-cap stocks Stateside and those both located in the UK and also in Europe. 

Now normally, you could expect the performance of small-cap stocks in general to be driven broadly by two factors: 

 Firstly, the direction of the broader stock market, as small-cap stocks tend to have a beta higher than 1 as a group; that is to say, when the benchmark stock market indices are moving higher, small-caps tend to move higher even faster. Conversely, when stock markets are correcting, small-caps tend to suffer more as small-cap liquidity can dry up, causing wider swings in stock prices on lower volumes.

 Secondly, small-caps tend to be driven more by the momentum in the domestic economy than large-caps given their greater domestic exposure. So when the domestic economy is improving rapidly, as it is currently in the UK, you would expect small-caps to be more responsive to this trend and outperform their large-cap compatriots.

Now small-caps are indeed outperforming the large-cap stock indices in the UK and Continental Europe as you would expect given rising stock markets and positive signs from the UK and Eurozone economies. 

UK SmallCap ETF BEats the Footsie Hands Down

Source: Yahoo Finance

However, this is no longer the case in the US, after an impressive 2013 when US stocks did well (the S&P 500 benchmark index gained over 30%) and small-cap stocks did best of all (+37% over calendar 2013!). 

Why might this be? Well, there are some signs that the US domestic economy is not perhaps growing as robustly as was previously thought. Employment growth (as measured by the non-farm payrolls data) has been much weaker over the past two months. 

Now while some of this weakness may be attributable to the extremely cold weather hitting much of the US over this period, there are also lingering suspicions that better US economic growth is not translating into better job growth, suggesting that the peak in domestic US growth may already be behind us. Hence the relative weakness in US small-caps, reflecting these economic doubts. 

A second factor to bear in mind is valuation: US small-caps now sit on average at a hefty valuation premium to large-caps, when traditionally small-caps have traded more often at a discount to the largest US companies. This suggests that for US small-caps to grow into their higher valuations, they are going to have to convince investors by posting superior earnings growth from here on out. 

In the meantime, I think I shall be calling time on my US small-caps ETF strategy, and instead looking at different investment styles for my ETF exposure to American companies. As the eagle-eyed may have spotted in lat week’s weekly newsletter, my favourite ETF/investment trust portfolio includes a Nasdaq 100 ETF (EQQQ.L), rather than any US small-cap ETF, as I am still very partial to US technology exposure. 

But what about UK, Euro Small-Caps?

In contrast, I am still keen on exposure to UK and Euro small-cap ETFs and investment trusts, as the situation here is somewhat different. 

Euro SmallCap ETF Heading Back To Highs

Source: Yahoo Finance

Firstly, the valuation differential between small-cap and large-cap indices is not at all extreme on this side of the Atlantic; if anything, small-caps still trade at a modest valuation discount to large-caps.

Secondly, the economic evidence is different in that the UK and Eurozone are still seeing improving domestic trends. The UK case is relatively clear-cut, with employment growth still accelerating rather than slowing down (albeit disproportionately driven by the “London effect”). 

In the Eurozone, economic growth rates are still modest but are improving, with Friday’s Q4 2013 GDP growth data beating analysts’ expectations. The employment data in the Eurozone is very variable, but we can start to discern slow improvements even in peripheral countries such as Spain and Ireland. 

So for these two reasons, I shall be maintaining my UK and Euro small-cap fund selections in the Model ETF/IT portfolio.

The Idle Investor’s Model ETF & IT Portfolio

The table below details the 6 UK-listed ETFs and investment trusts (3 of each) that I favour at the moment. There are a number of other ETFs and closed-end funds that I am keen on in the US, but have not included here for reasons of simplicity.

Company	Code	Share Price Feb. 7, 2014	Share Price Feb. 14, 2014
iShares MSCI UK Small-Cap ETF	CUKS.L	15,027p	15,276p
Source GLG/Man Europe Plus ETF	MPFE.L	10,999p	11,126p
iShares Japan GBP-Hedged ETF	IJPH.L	4151p	4136p
Inveco Perpetual Enhanced Income IT	IPE.L	73.0p	72.0p
Fidelity Asian Values IT	FAS.L	198p	202.5p
Herald IT	HRI.L	715p	726.5p

Well four out of the six funds saw gains over the week, with the UK Small Caps leading the way in the form of the Small Cap ETF and also the Herald investment trust. 

In contrast, the Japan ETF struggled this week as the Japanese yen strengthened, with continued doubts over the success of Prime Minister Abe’s “Abenomics” economic revival plan. I remain convinced that China should see better days ahead, and that this should have positive knock-on effects for the Japanese economy and stock market, which on certain profit-based valuation measures looks cheaper than it has for many, many years. 

This Week’s Articles, In Case You Missed Them…

I wrote a couple of articles on Gold and on Europe in my Mindful Money Expert Opinion column this week:

1. Focus on Gold Miners as gold glitters once again: Gold bugs have had a good start to 2o14, unlike those invested in stock markets. While the FTSE 100 index has lost 1% over the year to date, in contrast gold futures have gained over 7% in US dollar terms. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Gold Fund gained some 18% over the month of January, according to Institutional Investor Alpha. What are the best ways to play the gold rally? Click on the article to find out…

2. Buy Europe! The ECB will have to give the Euro economy a boost: Yes, I know that you may be hesitant to buy Continental European stock market exposure, given the travails of the Euro zone since 2008. And you would be right to object that the Euro zone sovereign crisis has by no means been definitively solved, with debt loads of countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy still pretty enormous.

I am a firm believer that the European Central Bank (the ECB for short) will need to stimulate the Euro zone further in the months ahead, which should be unabashed good news for the European stock market.

There is also a video interview you can watch:

3. Bloomberg TV interview: Focusing on Euro corporate results. 

I invite you to cast your eyes over my Bloomberg TV appearance early (too early, at 6:10am!) this morning, commenting on corporate results from: Rio Tinto, BNP-Paribas, Commerzbank and Nestlé.

Have a great week ahead, and please don’t hesitate to recommend this newsletter to anyone who you know may be interested: to subscribe, please just email me at 

    idleinvestor@idleinvestor.com

The best of luck for the week ahead,

Edmund

Following up on 3 Mindful Money Articles On: AstraZeneca, Marwyn Value and Rio Tinto

Since late December last year, I have been writing a series of articles for the finance and investing website www.mindfulmoney.co.uk. Three of these articles were focused on single UK stocks: 

1. AstraZeneca AstraZeneca: Why it should defy the bears and perform;

2. Marwyn Value Investors: Marwyn Value Investors: Unlocking hidden value; and 

3. Rio Tinto Rio Tinto: Mining for value

Since writing these articles, what has happened to their share prices? Well I am pleased, and somewhat relieved, to report that each of these companies has enjoyed a rising share price in the period between article publication and close of play on Friday February 14. 

Performance of Astra, Marwyn, Rio Since Article Release

Rio Tinto (RIO.L) has recently reported an encouraging set of results, focusing on improvement in earnings via cost-cutting, notably a reduction in long-term capital expenditure plans on new mine construction. After all, there is already sufficient mining production capacity for industrial metals like copper and iron ore, and also for fossil fuels like coal, to which Rio is heavily exposed. 

This is a pattern that has been also repeated by Rio’s global mining competitors such as Anglo American and BHP-Billiton. Moving forwards, this positive share price momentum will hopefully benefit from tightly controlled supply of these industrial commodities, and an improvement in commodity prices and demand improves principally on continued growth in China and India. 

Rio Tinto continues to offer attractive valuations on profit-based valuations measures like P/E and EV/EBITDA, and also offers a combination of healthy dividend yield (around 3.5%) plus the prospect of steady dividend growth to come. 

Rio Tinto Breaks Out of its Trading Range

Source: Yahoo Finance

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) continues to wrongfoot its many professional sceptics, with encouraging results in early and mid-stage drug development, giving some hope that the company will be able to manage the oncoming patent expiry “cliff” of major blockbuster drugs like Crestor better than had been previously expected. 

AstraZeneca Breaks the £40 Barrier

Source: Yahoo Finance

Valuations continue to trade at a significant discount to its global pharmaceutical competitors in Europe and the US, and shareholders also pick up a near-5% dividend yield to boot. 

And finally to Marwyn Value Investors (MVI.L). This small-cap closed-end investment fund has been boosted in particular by very good fundamental and share price momentum in its dominant investment holding, Entertainment One (ETO.L). 

ETO reported results this week that were significantly ahead of analysts’ expectations, with a 75% jump in net earnings and encouraging prospects for its pipeline of future TV and film releases. ETO’s shares have gained some 29% since the publication of my article on MVI. So it is hardly surprising that MVI has also seen a 15% price gain in response, in line with the improvement in the fund’s underlying net asset value. 

Would I continue to hold these three shares? While I feel obliged to add the rider that you should do your own research (as always), I think there is further upside potential in all three… 

Personal Disclaimer: I own Marwyn Value Investor shares in my SIPP

Focus on gold miners as gold glitters once again

Gold bugs have had a good start to 2014, unlike those invested in stock markets. While the FTSE 100 index has lost 1% over the year to date, in contrast gold futures have gained over 7% in US dollar terms. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Gold Fund gained some 18% over the month of January, according to Institutional Investor Alpha.

This rally should of course be put in the context of the substantial slide that the gold price has suffered since October 2012, when it sat close to $1800/ounce. Today, even after rising since December of last year, the gold price is still only $1292/oz (Figure 1). Were the gold price to continue to rise back to its October 2012 level, there could still be another 38% to gain!

1. THE GOLD PRICE BREAKS OUT OF ITS 2013 DOWNTREND

Source: Bloomberg

Now that is easy to say; but what could the drivers be for a continued gold rally? And is there a better way to play this trend than simply through the yellow metal itself?

Uncertainty and Strong Chindian Demand Are Key Drivers

There are two key drivers that can be easily identified for gold; one is uncertainty in financial markets, and the second is the growth in demand for physical gold from Chinese and Indian consumers.

Focus on gold miners as gold glitters once again

A final thought:Bear in mind that, since 1900, the gold price (London fixing) has actually beaten the US Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index! 

Edmund

On Bloomberg TV this am (Video), commenting on Euro corporate results

I invite you to cast your eyes over my Bloomberg TV appearance early (too early, at 6:10am!) this morning, commenting on corporate results from:

Rio Tinto, BNP-Paribas, Commerzbank and Nestlé.

            Bloomberg TV Video: Feb 13, 2014 - Company Results

Buy Europe! The ECB will have to give the Euro economy a boost

Why you should buy Europe now, before the ECB acts

Yes, I know that you may be hesitant to buy Continental European stock market exposure, given the travails of the Euro zone since 2008. And you would be right to object that the Euro zone sovereign crisis has by no means been definitively solved, with debt loads of countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy still pretty enormous.

This is all true and I wouldn’t dream of denying any of these facts. But hey, if you are to look at sovereign debt mountains, then you wouldn’t invest a single penny in the US, Japan or the dear old UK! The final exit from the sovereign debt mountains amassed both before and during the last financial crisis will take a very long time for the respective governments to unwind, as noted by the economists Rogoff and Reinhardt in their seminal tome “This Time is Different” (although there have been some subsequent issues raised concerning their calculations).

What I would argue is that there are a number of green shoots poking through for the Euro zone economy, which should be a harbinger of better days ahead. Added to this, I am a firm believer that the European Central Bank (the ECB for short) will need to stimulate the Euro zone further in the months ahead, which should be unabashed good news for the European stock market. And you have a chance today to buy into relatively cheap European stocks before the ECB unleashes one of their economy-boosting “big bazookas”.

Euro Confidence Is On the Up

Whether you look at leading economic indicators or  economic sentiment indices like the Sentix economic confidence index highlighted below (Figure 1),  the improving macro trend is clear...

Please click on the MindfulMoney website link below to read the entire article, see the charts and also the ETF and investment trust suggestions at the end:

Buy-europe-the-ecb-will-have-to-give-the-euro-economy-a-boost

All the best,
Edmund

The Idle Investor Weekly Newsletter: 8 February 2014

Market Outlook: Are We Already Back to the Races?

As per the usual script, this recent stock market correction was unexpected and sudden on the downside, illustrating once again that while stock markets may go up steadily, they tend to drop out of bed quickly and without much warning, catching the majority of investors by surprise.

And just as everyone starts to panic and sell any exposure they have to Emerging Markets (which have suffered mutual fund huge outflows in the US over the month of January), stock markets in the US and Europe have started to recover, and volatility has started to go back down. The US VIX volatility index (commonly known as the “Fear index”) has already eased back to just over 15, after rising from 12 to a peak of over 21 (Figure 1).

1. The US VIX Volatility Index Is Receding Quickly

Even some of the worst-affected emerging markets such as Russia have even some measure of stability return to their currencies, after suffering a sharp bout of depreciation against the US dollar. 

Is this a buying opportunity, or is it too early?

This is a fair question. I would suggest that the issues that triggered the turmoil in emerging markets are far from being solved.

However the structural issues facing countries such as Turkey and Brazil are far from being as serious as those faced by Asian economies or Russia back in the crises of 1997 and 1998. 

Personally, I would not be buying into emerging markets just yet despite the compelling value they seem to offer, as they can always get cheaper still in the short-term, as has been pointed out by Templeton’s famed emerging markets guru Mark Mobius. On the other hand, developed stock markets such as the UK and Continental Europe do look attractive to me post their recent declines, as do certain US stock market sectors such as Oil Services. 

If you are determined to buy some cheap emerging market exposure as a committed long-term investor, then can I recommend you look at relatively well-developed Asian economies such as South Korea and Taiwan. Both of these countries are home to a number of world-leading industrial and technology companies, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai, to mention but a few. They also do not have economies that are vulnerable to pressures on external debt funding. You can see from the chart below that the South Korean KOSPI index has started to bounce after a slump from the start of December (Figure 2). 

2. The South Korean KOSPI Index Stars to Rebound

So where are the best opportunities right now? I thought I would form my own model portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and investment trusts, that I feel are best-placed to gain ground over the next few months. 

NEW! The Idle Investor’s Model ETF & IT Portfolio

The table below details the 6 UK-listed ETFs and investment trusts (3 of each) that I favour at the moment. There are a number of other ETFs and closed-end funds that I am keen on in the US, but have not included here for reasons of simplicity.

Company                           Code Price (Fri)

iShares MSCI UK Small-Cap ETF    CUKS.L    15,027p

Source GLG/Man Europe Plus ETF   MPFE.L      10,999p

iShares Japan GBP-Hedged ETF     IJPH.L        4151p

Invesco Perp. Enhanced Income IT IPE.L          73p

Fidelity Asian Values IT          FAS.L         198p

Herald IT                         HRI.L         715p

A few notes on each fund:

CUKS.L (UK Small-Cap Stocks) – I am very enthusiastic about UK mid- and small-cap exposure, which held up much better than the FTSE 100 in the recent correction, and which should benefit more than their larger compatriots from the strength in the UK economy (as the largest companies tend to be more global in focus). This iShares MSCI UK Small-Cap ETF is a good way to buy exposure to this UK investment style relatively cheaply, without going to all the effort of buying a basket of individual small-cap stocks.

MPFE.L (European Stocks) – This Source ETF is an interesting twist on a European stock fund, as it combines the best stock picks from investment banks in a single fund. Historically, this ETF has outperformed the broad European stock market by around 2% per year, so the model clearly seems to work in adding performance.

IJPH.L (Japanese stock market, hedged) – This iShares Japan ETF is a way to invest in Japan without taking Japanese yen currency risk. After all, one of the reasons that Japanese companies like Toyota are growing their profits is the competitive advantage conferred on these exporters by a weaker currency. However, that is not such good news for an investor based in a currency other than the yen, as then their yen-based assets tend to depreciate. This fund neatly sidesteps the problem by hedging the yen each month back into sterling. 

IPE.L (European Corporate Bonds) – the Invesco Perpetual Enhanced Income Trust is an investment trust that invests in UK & European corporate bonds, and through application of 25% gearing, offers a dividend yield not far off 7% at present. Rare to see such a high yield these days…

FAS.L (Asian Stocks) – The Fidelity Asian Values Trust is an Asia-focused investment trust that is heavily weighted towards South Korea, Hong Kong and China, and which trades at a 12% discount to net asset value following the recent emerging markets rout.

HRI.L (UK Small-Cap Technology & Media) – The Herald Investment Trust is a specialist investor in UK small-cap technology, media and telecoms stocks. Historic performance has been strong, it is invested in both sectors and the size style (smaller companies) that I prefer, and also trades at a 12% discount to net asset value. 

So there you have it, 6 of my current UK-listed fund favourites, all in one portfolio. These can be used by an idle investor to invest in a relatively well-diversified set of assets, without the need to delve into choosing individual stocks, and all achieved at low management charges. 

I will track the performance of this portfolio over the weeks that follow, so we shall see if it is an inspired set of choices or not!

This Week’s Articles, In Case You Missed Them…

I wrote an article on the UK Construction sector in my MindfulMoney Expert Opinion column this week:

1. UK Building Is All Systems Go! If ever anyone needed confirmation that the UK building industry is enjoying the best of times, you only need cast your eyes over the recent UK Construction Confidence survey from the firm Markit, that was released this morning, which hit a new high at nearly 65. Which stocks should benefit from this strength in building? Click on the article to find out…

There have also been a couple of videos you can watch:

2. CNBC TV Guest Host: Why I still prefer Insurance to Banks.... I was asked what I thought about European Banks in the wake of the announcement of Credit Suisse's results - I maintained that I still prefer Insurance companies to Banks. To find out why, please click on the CNBC TV web link below to watch the video…

3. Bloomberg TV Interview: On Emerging Markets, the allure of Technology The topics of this 5-minute interview were the value that can be found today in Emerging markets and European stock markets, following the current correction, and my continuing fondness for the Technology sector.

And if you would like to see and listen to my slideshow presentation with audio commentary on why further monetary stimulus efforts from the European Central Bank are key to the investment case for the European stock markets, click on the video link below:

4. Why the ECB is the Key to Buying European Stock Markets

Have a great week ahead, and please don’t hesitate to recommend this newsletter to anyone who you know may be interested: to subscribe, please just email me at

idleinvestor@idleinvestor.com

The best of luck for the week ahead,

Edmund

CNBC TV Guest Host! Why I still prefer Insurance to Banks...

Yes, I was once again Guest Host on CNBC Europe's Squawkbox show from 7 to 9am. Thanks to the London Tube strike, I had to get up at 5am to get a car to the studio at 5:30am! 

We discussed a whole slew of company results, including some of my favourite stocks such as Alcatel-Lucent (restructuring and seeing the benefits in better gross profit margins) and AstraZeneca (which every analyst has loved to hate because of its upcoming drug patent expiries like the statin Crestor). 

I was asked what I thought about European Banks in the wake of the announcement of Credit Suisse's results - I maintained that I still prefer Insurance companies to Banks. To find out why, please click on the CNBC TV web link below to watch the video:

Edmund on CNBC - Prefer Insurance to Banks

While today's Bank of England interest rate announcement should be uneventful, this afternoon's European Central Bank (ECB) announcement could be more interesting, as there is a good argument for the ECB to add further stimulus to help economic growth in the Eurozone. So far, while German manufacturing is picking up nicely, France is lagging badly behind (not helped by President Hollande's antics). 

The Eurozone still needs all the help it can get, so here's hoping that President Draghi does something!

Edmund

UK Building is All Systems Go! Stocks to play the theme

Highest UK Construction Confidence in 10 years

If ever anyone needed confirmation that the UK building industry is enjoying the best of times, you only need to look at the record level of UK construction confidence registered this morning in the Markit UK Construction PMI survey - a reading of over 65, confounding analysts' expectations for a fall in confidence. 

Unsurprisingly, residential construction is leading the way, given the buoyant state of house prices nationwide, but most of all in London. You only have to look around London to see the amount of regeneration that is going on, even after the 2012 Olympic Games, for instance in the North and the East End of London.

To see charts and UK stock suggestions to play this strong construction momentum, please click on the Mindful Money website link below:

UK-building-is-all-systems-go

This is one of my personal favourite investment themes of the moment in the UK, as I feel there is quite a bit further to run in the UK's economic renaissance, with the property market crying out for new builds to alleviate the current shortage of housing supply in London and the South East. 

Edmund  

The Idle Investor: Today's Bloomberg TV interview re Emerging Markets, Technology allure

Top of the morning to you!

Since I had to get up super-early to go to do this TV interview live at Bloomberg at 7am this morning, I thought I would take this opportunity to inflict the interview on you as well...
  
              Bloomberg TV: Putting-the-emerging-market-slide-in-perspective

The topics of this 5-minute interview were the value that can be found today in Emerging markets and European stock markets, following the current correction. 

Personally speaking, I am even starting to be interested by Russian stocks, given the very low valuations (often 3-4x P/E and 5-6% dividend yields!) on offer now from Russian giants like Gazprom and Lukoil, at massive discounts to Western oil & gas producers. 

As always, I am very interested in any feedback you may have, so don't hesitate, fire away!

Edmund