Evil Knievil: The wonder of sweeteners

My opening spread bet trade on the general election has been to short LibDem seats at 35. (Incidentally, the spread firms are pretty jumpy since they, just like the rest of us, are very uncertain as to how this affair will turn out.)

However, I have kept digging around and listening and find the idea that Labour melts down entirely plausible. I think a short at around 200 seats makes a lot of sense. There is no prospect whatsoever that Labour’s spending plans can be afforded. And the gilts market will make that all too clear.

I lost £25,000 on being long gold last week. But, ever the glutton for punishment, I have steadied up and gone long again. This negative interest rate nonsense will require a heavy dose of inflation to be corrected. When that happens, the rush out of paper currencies should be pretty terrifying for holders of cash. On the other hand, holders of gold could see a sensational rise. There only remains the small matter of timing.

REA (LON:RE.) looks to me to be a terrific recovery story. It is now 178p to buy. Palm oil stands at $670. Those who are more cautious can buy the 9% prefs (LON:RE.B) at 85p.

When Pure Circle (LON:PURE) floated perhaps six years ago I reckoned that it suffered the defect of not enjoying patent protection. This is still the case. The joker in the pack is that late yesterday it emerged that there would have to be huge write downs of slow-moving stock. I am not sure where that leaves PURE now. But it does not look too good. The wonder is that it took six years.