Research Event – COVID-19 Webinar – Impact on the economy, technology sector & share prices

Radio Free Mobile is running a series of webinars for its subscription clients to present what it sees as the issues an outcomes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Richard founded RFM after spending 20 years in investment banking as a technology lead analyst. Richard also gained a PhD in molecular immunology at University College London providing the foundation for a reasonably informed amateur view on the current outbreak. In this webinar, the armchair sections represent the views of an informed amateur while desk chair sections represent professional research and views from 20 years of investment and research experience.

RFM Subscription clients who have not yet arranged their webinar on this topic and would like to do so please email richard@radiofreemobile.com to arrange a suitable date and time. 

Armchair virology – All about testing

The biggest problem with the pandemic outside of the deadliness of the disease is knowing who has the disease and who has had it and is consequently immune. This data is crucial to reopening the global economy which is why testing is so important. RFM believes that by far the biggest factor in the differences between different countries’ fatality rates comes down to their testing regimes.

Armchair economics – QE Insanity

The US economy is currently on life support with the US government and the Federal Reserve pumping money into the system like there is no tomorrow. The same is true in many other nations. The problem is that the money being provided is not coming from savings (like Japan) but it is effectively being printed meaning that the money supply (inflation) is spiking while the economy crashes. This money will need to be removed from the economy (paid back) before it is spent or it will end up as long-term debt and will have to be dealt with by inflation, taxation or default.

Desk chair technology trends – Mostly about the cloud

The result of multiple lockdowns is that hundreds of millions are working at home and hundreds of millions of students are being educated online. This combined with many millions having nothing to do has resulted in an explosion in internet traffic as well as reignited demand for certain products. The cloud, productivity hardware and gaming look like they are faring well while the sharing economy is in meltdown.

Desk chair investing – Putting the trends to work.

The market is beset with extreme volatility which in investment terms makes it very risky to invest in anything. The price-earnings ratio of the equity market is trading way above where it should be with a big recession looming.  This means that even the companies that benefit from home working and home education may still fall as the market corrects, albeit less than the overall market.