Argonautica

Professional investors can review published thought leadership and market updates from the Argonaut Investment Team.

‘Why the Footsie is Failing’

If you had invested £1 in the FTSE All Share Index a decade ago you would currently have 64p of profit, including dividends. But that same £1 invested in the S&P500 - the most representative index of American stocks - over the same time would have made a profit of £3.38p (over 5 times your money).

‘The Stockmarket Sceptic 1: The Value of Scepticism’

When the venerable Charlie Munger died in November, aged 99, it marked the end of the world’s most successful investment partnership with Warren Buffett, aged 93. Although junior in terms of ownership of Berkshire Hathaway, Munger was credited with persuading Buffett to pivot his investment process away from buying “fair businesses at wonderful prices” to instead “wonderful businesses at fair prices”.

‘Failing Conventionally: how the ESG gravy train has been derailed’

We all already know that investors are susceptible to herd-like behaviour: from the South Sea Bubble of 1720 to the “permanently high plateau” for stocks in 1929, and more recently the “dot com” mania of 1999 or of late bitcoin and “cryptocurrency”. These investment bubbles, which always seem easy to identify in hindsight, have always had their messianic talismans and price insensitive believers. 

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