The Volcker Rule.

I have been down with a fever ever since I came back from India on the 18th. However it looks like The Volcker Rule has scared the fever out of me. The markets have reacted negatively. Personally I am not sure what to make of it. Curbing the power of the proprietary desk is in a sense good but extending that to not investing in Hedge Funds or Private Equity is not good. If the Volcker Rule is implemented then in the future there will be very little to base a decision on whether the banks are putting their money where their mouth is. That is however the least of my concern. The greater and more immediate fear is if the banks have to pull their money out then the investor will get hit because the managers of the funds will have no choice but to sell. This will result in the same deadly spiral that we saw in September and October of 2008. I will be highly disappointed if banks are forced to sell immediately. I think I will be on my toes until things become clearer. There will be no knee jerk reaction from my side but I will be hesitant. It is Friday evening and it is time to switch off.

Snowed In

I was supposed to be at a business conference in London right now. Instead I am in Bangalore as I had difficulty getting the flight back to London due to the snow. Somehow that seems to mirror the economy. Over here it is a nice pleasant 28 celsius. In London it is freezing. People are hiring here and money is being spent by the common man. The infrastructure and real estate projects coming up in Bangalore are amazing. Some of the residential apartments coming up here and a more refined touch than some of the places in Central London. Being in India you can see why there is such a huge potential for growth. You can also see why the price of gold goes so high. People talk about the price of gold rising because it is a safe haven from the weakening currencies. However I believe that no matter what happens to the major currencies, the price of gold will rise because people in countries such as India will continue to buy it.