The Lemon Fool

I see Bloomberg report that Jack Ma has reappeared, suitably towing the CCP line now.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... f=mwlrlP7l

"Ma’s comments on Wednesday struck a much different tone, echoing themes espoused by the ruling Communist Party. He spoke about the importance of reviving China’s countryside and narrowing income disparities by encouraging the return of younger talent to rural areas.

“Recently, my colleagues and I have been studying and thinking. We made a firmer resolution to devote ourselves to education philanthropy,” Ma said in the video, which was first posted online by a local blog. “Working hard for rural revitalization and common prosperity is the responsibility for our generation of businessmen.”"

Alibaba's shares rose sharply, and perhaps this accounts for the uptick in SMT with all their Chinese holdings

scrumpyjack wrote:I see Bloomberg report that Jack Ma has reappeared, suitably towing the CCP line now.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... f=mwlrlP7l

"Ma’s comments on Wednesday struck a much different tone, echoing themes espoused by the ruling Communist Party. He spoke about the importance of reviving China’s countryside and narrowing income disparities by encouraging the return of younger talent to rural areas.

“Recently, my colleagues and I have been studying and thinking. We made a firmer resolution to devote ourselves to education philanthropy,” Ma said in the video, which was first posted online by a local blog. “Working hard for rural revitalization and common prosperity is the responsibility for our generation of businessmen.”"

Alibaba's shares rose sharply, and perhaps this accounts for the uptick in SMT with all their Chinese holdings

Rural broadband and education.

If China wasn't already set to leave the West far behind, that'll clinch it for the next generation.

Hi all

SMT appear to have sold a significant proportion - around 40 percent - of their Tesla holding during December.

The November factsheet stated TSLA was 12.3 percent of NAV as at 30/11/20.
The December factsheet isn't out yet but the 31/12/20 figures are on the Baillie Gifford site here https://www.bailliegifford.com/en/uk/in ... ent-trust/ and state that the holding has gone DOWN to 8.9 percent.

It's actually an even bigger change than that: the TSLA share price went up by 24.3 percent over the period, from USD 567.6 to 705.67 (figures from Google share price graph). SMT NAV went up by 4.3 percent over the period (figures from same page linked to above). So other things being equal, and with no trades, the TSLA holding would be around 14.65 percent of NAV. At 8.9 percent, it's just over 60 percent of that. Implying nearly 40 percent has been sold over the month (and more could have been sold during January, of course).

I'm glad to see this move by the managers as I've long had concerns about the size of the TSLA holding (like many others I consider the TSLA share price to be wildly overinflated) but it's a clear indication that they are not ideologically wedded to it. It's also a demonstration that the phrase in the factsheet description that they consider "how the market and the Managers’ views differ" on valuation applies to sells as well as buys.

(Interestingly the 31/12/20 figures for Edinburgh Worldwide show the TSLA holding rising from 6.1 percent to 6.5 percent of NAV, which suggests minimal to zero trading given the relative changes in the TSLA share price and total NAV).

Disclaimer: I hold SMT and wish I had bought it many years ago

cheers wand

UncleEbenezer wrote:

scrumpyjack wrote:I see Bloomberg report that Jack Ma has reappeared, suitably towing the CCP line now.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... f=mwlrlP7l

"Ma’s comments on Wednesday struck a much different tone, echoing themes espoused by the ruling Communist Party. He spoke about the importance of reviving China’s countryside and narrowing income disparities by encouraging the return of younger talent to rural areas.

“Recently, my colleagues and I have been studying and thinking. We made a firmer resolution to devote ourselves to education philanthropy,” Ma said in the video, which was first posted online by a local blog. “Working hard for rural revitalization and common prosperity is the responsibility for our generation of businessmen.”"

Alibaba's shares rose sharply, and perhaps this accounts for the uptick in SMT with all their Chinese holdings

Rural broadband and education.

If China wasn't already set to leave the West far behind, that'll clinch it for the next generation.

There is a report in The Times this morning that the float of Ant can go ahead. The People's Bank of China governor has said Ant can proceed with its plans as long as it follows 'legal procedures'. That would help SMT again if it does.

Dod

wanderer101 wrote:Hi all

SMT appear to have sold a significant proportion - around 40 percent - of their Tesla holding during December

I am pretty sure that BG announced this sell off at the time. It applied not just to SMT but to other funds as well. I do not think they are ideologically wedded to Tesla but they are wedded to the fact that Tesla and others are in the vanguard of major changes change in the world economy and the way it works.

I am though very happy to leave it to the managers and would never try to second guess them. I have held Scottish Mortgage for at least 20 years and have lost count of where I would stand in a profit sense, but I have a very long time ago extracted the value of my original investment. It remains my biggest holding.

Dod

Although record sales at Tesla the share price falls. Are we going to see a "balance shift" in SMT?

Dod101 wrote:

wanderer101 wrote:Hi all

SMT appear to have sold a significant proportion - around 40 percent - of their Tesla holding during December

I am pretty sure that BG announced this sell off at the time. It applied not just to SMT but to other funds as well.

I think that was a sell off earlier in the year. One which they said was pretty much forced on them due to its large weighting. It was still 12% of the portfolio at that point. See article below on 06Nov. The latest sale is between 30Nov2020 and 31Dec2020. It was to a level well below the 12% they left it at when they last sold some. 8-9% i think. This makes me think that it's more of an investment decision this time rather than just a mechanical forced sell due to their rules on weighting of a single position.
https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/s ... s-facebook

Tesla entered the S&P 500 in late December I think. Could it be that SMT and maybe other BG vehicles helped facilitate the S&P trackers get their position built on that one day or out of hours trading?

edit... and I agree. more than happy for them to make the decisions. fun to speculate though.

Interesting to see the huge impact of small retail investors on the market. Look what happened at Gamestop and others.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... f=mwlrlP7l

Their impact is easily swamping the Wall St whales and as a result 'momentum' is seemingly having a much greater impact on share prices than fundamentals.

Does the huge inflow of small private investors worldwide signal the beginning of the end? Perhaps this is the updated version of cabbies tipping shares as an indicator?

It seems to me SMT could go up or down substantially if this sort of mania affects their investments (though I doubt the companoes they invest in have been shorted much)

scrumpyjack wrote:
It seems to me SMT could go up or down substantially if this sort of mania affects their investments (though I doubt the companoes they invest in have been shorted much)

I think Tesla is the most shorted stock in history and they own quite a bit of that.

Why do you suppose it is down 4.7% a.t.m? Buying opportunity?

scrumpyjack wrote:Does the huge inflow of small private investors worldwide signal the beginning of the end? Perhaps this is the updated version of cabbies tipping shares as an indicator?

Very interesting comment. Straw in the wind perhaps? I wonder how we will view this comment in a year's time. If only I knew!

Bouleversee wrote:Why do you suppose it is down 4.7% a.t.m? Buying opportunity?

Bad results from some of the techies, Biden threats, exposure to the most overinflated sector of the most over inflated market in the world.

I’ll be tempted when they’re down 30% to 40% from their highs.

But then i’m Not yet an ISA millionaire so DYOR...

Bouleversee wrote:Why do you suppose it is down 4.7% a.t.m? Buying opportunity?

I keep a track of the SP's of Tesla and Amazon (TSLA and AMZN), through a listing of tickers in Yahoo (UK/finance/Yahoo). That shows me the latest prices and movement of those stocks and the pre market movements when markets are closed. Currently Tesla is showing as -6.12% down in the pre-market. Amazon is showing as -1.1%.

I suspect that will influence the price of SMT, amongst other factors.

DavidM13 wrote:

scrumpyjack wrote:
It seems to me SMT could go up or down substantially if this sort of mania affects their investments (though I doubt the companoes they invest in have been shorted much)

I think Tesla is the most shorted stock in history and they own quite a bit of that.

There is currently virtually no shorting of Tesla
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDA ... -interest/

The shorters got burned in a very bad way and had to close their positions, losing billions in the process.

scrumpyjack wrote:

DavidM13 wrote:

scrumpyjack wrote:
It seems to me SMT could go up or down substantially if this sort of mania affects their investments (though I doubt the companoes they invest in have been shorted much)

I think Tesla is the most shorted stock in history and they own quite a bit of that.

There is currently virtually no shorting of Tesla
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDA ... -interest/

The shorters got burned in a very bad way and had to close their positions, losing billions in the process.

GOOD! Its rather a nasty way of making money!

DavidM13 wrote:

scrumpyjack wrote:

DavidM13 wrote:
I think Tesla is the most shorted stock in history and they own quite a bit of that.

There is currently virtually no shorting of Tesla
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDA ... -interest/

The shorters got burned in a very bad way and had to close their positions, losing billions in the process.

GOOD! Its rather a nasty way of making money!

Although it's also a great way of bringing liquidity to the stock markets. It's also a way for longs to earn additional income from stock lending. Those investors that call for a banning of shorts might need to be watchful for what they wish for.

dealtn wrote:Although it's also a great way of bringing liquidity to the stock markets. It's also a way for longs to earn additional income from stock lending. Those investors that call for a banning of shorts might need to be watchful for what they wish for.

Short-term sugar rush and a long-term drag.

Creating more money but no more value is something between an illusion and a con-trick.

If this can kill off shorting as we know it today, that's a Good Thing.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

dealtn wrote:Although it's also a great way of bringing liquidity to the stock markets. It's also a way for longs to earn additional income from stock lending. Those investors that call for a banning of shorts might need to be watchful for what they wish for.

Short-term sugar rush and a long-term drag.

Creating more money but no more value is something between an illusion and a con-trick.

If this can kill off shorting as we know it today, that's a Good Thing.

It's a view.

If you want a "long only" market that's fine, but be aware that potentially means larger spikes and more volatility without a potential liquidity provider.

It's a model, but might not be the one that suits all, or indeed most.

Personally I think something that creates liquidity adds value, although I have no idea what you mean by an illusion or con-trick. All involved seem to know what they are doing, and being exposed to. Happy to hear the argument that liquidity has no worth if you would like to make it.

I see SMT hit a new all time high so I've sold my holding, part of my annual tax planning, no special market insight. The share was in my unsheltered dealing account and the money is staying as cash until the new tax year when I like to fill the SIPP or ISA.
I see I had an average buy price of £4.90 having bought at, £3, £4, £5 and even last year at £9, I sold a portion last tax year too for similar cap gains planning. For now I'm undecided if I'll restart another position, though it has served me well for the past few years and I do think it's managers have been on the money with some of it's big holdings. Still we've probably been lucky - the managers in their picks and mine of them.

dealtn wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:

dealtn wrote:Although it's also a great way of bringing liquidity to the stock markets. It's also a way for longs to earn additional income from stock lending. Those investors that call for a banning of shorts might need to be watchful for what they wish for.

Short-term sugar rush and a long-term drag.

Creating more money but no more value is something between an illusion and a con-trick.

If this can kill off shorting as we know it today, that's a Good Thing.

It's a view.

If you want a "long only" market that's fine, but be aware that potentially means larger spikes and more volatility without a potential liquidity provider.

It's a model, but might not be the one that suits all, or indeed most.

Personally I think something that creates liquidity adds value, although I have no idea what you mean by an illusion or con-trick. All involved seem to know what they are doing, and being exposed to. Happy to hear the argument that liquidity has no worth if you would like to make it.

Emotionally I share the distaste for shorting, but, apart from adding liquidity, the other positive it brings is to accelerate the uncovering of criminal activity or misrepresentation in a company. It was shorting, and the resulting press coverage, that helped uncover the real situation at many companies such as Enron, Wirecard, CAKE, Burford Capital or at least made investors question the value in those businesses or the validity of their accounting.

Not strictly OT re SMT but I think anyone shorting them would have got their fingers burnt as did those who tried it on Tesla