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Macron, France, Euro$, ECB...a few related observations. HEDJ etf
I think I should also share an expert opinion. Not mine. I heard this live on Bloomberg. For some reason I thought they would be better than regular cable news I find nauseous.
Charlie Rose: So did Macron win or did Le Pen lose? Expert1: (Thoughtfully) Both. Everyone thought Le Pen would win, but she lost. Macron was not expected to win, but he did.
Charlie Rose: (to be charitable, he perhaps decides to ask someone else because inside he is feeling the same way I am after hearing response from E1) So how did Macron do it? Expert 2: Luck. And everyone voted for him.
At this point I switched channels. It was either that, or throw my glass at the TV.
Hi @VintageFreak Thank you for this note/reminder to those who may have an interest in such matters.
To your reference: Expert 1, Bernard-Henri Levy. "I didn't think LePen would win". >>>I don't understand why he would say, "Everyone" thought she would win. Based upon my reading articles/France 24, I always felt assured the Macron would win. I was more surprised by the percentage of winning vote (66%). Expert 2, Michiel Vos. "Luck." >>>Some may suppose "luck" is an appropriate word to explain what happened, but I would have to remove him from my list of folks to consult for providing insightful and critical thinking.
For those who do not pay attention or don't consider European events to be of consequece: The EU and France are high on the global GDP list, eh? Click onto the first line in the list for GDP which has the word "nominal" at the end of the text. Scroll down the page a tiny bit for listing info.
Macron won, 2-1. Holy landslides, Batman. When I started investing, (2002) I stayed away from Europe. Old money. Dead money. Asia was charging ahead. I owned Matthews, back then. The Financial Crash caused by the criminal banksters struck the periphery hard: Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece. Italy, too. And there are still systemic issues to be dealt with ... Was Ireland able to climb out of crisis sooner than the others--- via a new Austerity--- because it is smaller and more homogeneous? I just don't know. Lots of ANGRY people, when suddenly, WATER became a metered commodity. I lived in a town here in the States years ago, at the bottom of the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia below Wheeling, where even in 1992, water was not metered.
My holding in PRESX about 18 months or 2 years ago (TRP Europe) went nowhere, at break-neck speed. I guess I missed the sudden upsurge on the heels of easing by the ECB. (Draghi.) I dumped it. Currently, my PRIDX is doing much better. Its portfolio is pretty evenly split between Europe and Asia. A smattering in Latin America (4%.) Is the PRIDX fund Manager just better at stock selection than the PRESX guy, with regard to the EU portion of holdings? Of course it may be that Asian holdings doing so well today may serve to cancel-out any EU under-performance within the fund. Within the overall portfolio, PRIDX holds 15% in GB, and 28% in DEVELOPED Europe. I'm just thinking out loud--- so to speak.
What I'm wondering is: just how un-dead has the EU become? Investing strictly in Europe got me nowhere, 2 years ago..... I don't think I'd own a dedicated-Europe fund again, anyhow, but since I own PRIDX now, I'm simply wondering...
@ Crash: I was a bit surprised to learn the other day that an investment in the French market (le CAC 40) in 2007 would have earned just about zilch in the last 10 years. Not surprising a European fund would have done poorly.
Comments
Charlie Rose: So did Macron win or did Le Pen lose?
Expert1: (Thoughtfully) Both. Everyone thought Le Pen would win, but she lost. Macron was not expected to win, but he did.
Charlie Rose: (to be charitable, he perhaps decides to ask someone else because inside he is feeling the same way I am after hearing response from E1) So how did Macron do it?
Expert 2: Luck. And everyone voted for him.
At this point I switched channels. It was either that, or throw my glass at the TV.
Thank you for this note/reminder to those who may have an interest in such matters.
To your reference:
Expert 1, Bernard-Henri Levy. "I didn't think LePen would win".
>>>I don't understand why he would say, "Everyone" thought she would win. Based upon my reading articles/France 24, I always felt assured the Macron would win. I was more surprised by the percentage of winning vote (66%).
Expert 2, Michiel Vos. "Luck."
>>>Some may suppose "luck" is an appropriate word to explain what happened, but I would have to remove him from my list of folks to consult for providing insightful and critical thinking.
For those who do not pay attention or don't consider European events to be of consequece:
The EU and France are high on the global GDP list, eh? Click onto the first line in the list for GDP which has the word "nominal" at the end of the text. Scroll down the page a tiny bit for listing info.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP
Regards,
Catch
My holding in PRESX about 18 months or 2 years ago (TRP Europe) went nowhere, at break-neck speed. I guess I missed the sudden upsurge on the heels of easing by the ECB. (Draghi.) I dumped it. Currently, my PRIDX is doing much better. Its portfolio is pretty evenly split between Europe and Asia. A smattering in Latin America (4%.) Is the PRIDX fund Manager just better at stock selection than the PRESX guy, with regard to the EU portion of holdings? Of course it may be that Asian holdings doing so well today may serve to cancel-out any EU under-performance within the fund. Within the overall portfolio, PRIDX holds 15% in GB, and 28% in DEVELOPED Europe. I'm just thinking out loud--- so to speak.
What I'm wondering is: just how un-dead has the EU become? Investing strictly in Europe got me nowhere, 2 years ago..... I don't think I'd own a dedicated-Europe fund again, anyhow, but since I own PRIDX now, I'm simply wondering...
France I Shares, ticker EWQ
From May 10, 2007- May 10, 2017 about +2.9%
The below graph is a compare of SPY and EWQ beginning at Jan. 4, 1999 through May 10, 2017.
http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?EWQ,SPY&n=4619&O=011000