SIMON BROWN: I’m chatting with Craig Antonie from AnBro Capital Investments. Craig, I appreciate the time today. A very strong first half [for] offshore markets. The S&P had a good first half; tech really had a spectacular first half. Was this really just an AI rally – because the argument is that it’s not broad based by any stretch?
SIMON BROWN: It does feel – and maybe this is just the curmudgeon in me – like markets have got a bit ahead of themselves, notwithstanding our still being in an interest-rate hiking environment. Inflation is coming down, but still outside of the bands. A whole bunch of other data suggests the economy’s okay in the US, and to a lesser degree in Europe, but maybe not half as okay as the market is saying.
And then last week in particular, after those jobs numbers that came out, you saw US treasuries take a bit of a sharp move lower; historically that’s not always a very good sign for tech stocks – and the Nasdaq in particular. Now they’re kind of coinciding with these higher prices and a consumer who seems to be slowing down, and one’s got to then ask the question as to whether companies can keep raising prices in order to offset this inflationary issue. Wage numbers have also been holding up relatively well.