Intolerance of Opinions

Trends once establised continue for some time. We continue with the downtrend in most assets that we track. Almost all equity indices and commodities other than Gold are in a downtrend. Most currencies continue to depreciate vs the Dollar. The one exception is the Japanese Yen which is continuing its appreciation vs the Dollar. I continue to be short on Nifty futures. I will cut my short positions and Go Long if the Nifty crosses 5530.

There are a couple of BUY calls which will come to you separately in the form of a TMSG but try as I might, I could not find any fresh sell calls. There are lots of stocks that are in sell modes. However, they are already well on their path down and it might be imprudent to short now.

Having said all that I really want to say, I have to attempt to fill up the space- Any self respecting daily note writer has to fill up at least one bloomberg page! So I will discuss my views on something that the environment minister touched upon. I do not want to join the debate on whether Indian IITs and IIMs are world class institutions or not and whether the faculty is great or not. My assertion is that it is impossible to claim that stringent entry criteria for students does not help in determining the quality of the graduates that pass out from the institute. It is impossible to assert that this fact has no explanatory power at all.

Why is it that we Indians get so defensive about what is essentially another opinion from a very opiniated person? That is why everytime there is a biography or a film on a hallowed historical figure which does not stick to the straight and narrow or which even hints of a little fraility of charachter there is an immediate hue and cry to ban the book/film. We as a society seem to highly intolerant of even a small negative opinion on some of our hallowed institutions/figures.

Does not bode well for a democracy when opinions start getting people into trouble. Well, I have filled up more than a page and now can let this note go I guess. Just a reminder that I continue to be short and will go long only above 5530.