Sunday, September 20, 2026
Chemo Round 6 update: Game of Gloves!
Round 6 marks the half-way point through my 12-round (12-fortnight) chemo program following cancer surgery in January. Pretty much back to normal day-to-day life by about day 6 or 7 of each round. Most of my side effects have been similar from one round to the next, but three appear to be getting progressively worse. One is the intermittent tongue muscle disfunction. Another is a gradual loss of taste. The most annoying side effect that is getting worse is the ‘peripheral neuropathy’ – nerve sensitivity / pain / damage in fingers and toes from cold temperatures and/or touching cold surfaces. It’s impossible to get through a day without accidentally touching cold surfaces and doing nerve damage. The solution? Gloves! Here are the seven different types of gloves I use to get through a day.
Inflation BIG Picture: Boomers got rich by lucky timing. Next Gen to get higher inflation & rates
Here’s my go-to chart on the BIG Picture on inflation over the past 150 years. Five BIG lessons: 1 - Inflation is global, because capital is global, and monetary theory/dogma/fads are global. 2 - Overall UPWARD trend in inflation over past 150 years as monetary systems moved from metal-backing, to exchange standards, then to unrestricted fiat paper money. 3 - Multi-decade inflation phases along the way as each monetary system is abandoned and replaced by the next. 4 - The big inflation spikes have been due to military buildups and war-time spending, same as past 2,000+ years. 5 - The recent 30-year golden era of declining/low inflation & interest rates, with high real returns for shares, bonds & property, is clearly over, as each of the drivers of disinflation have now ENDED and REVERSED, driving inflation a
Owen’s Market Pulse: 23 May 2026 + Xi-Trump-Putin talks, Budget tax debate
Here’s my latest quick take on what’s going in global markets for Aussie investors. OVERALL – US/global tech / ai / chip boom back in full swing (at bubble-like pricing levels) despite US/Iran war dragging on, high energy prices, and rising inflation. Primed and due for major correction, just waiting for the trigger/s. Share markets edge up a little, but bond yields on the rise on fears of inflationary government spending / debt, despite signs of slowdown as high energy prices blunt confidence and spending. Different world views from Xi with Trump and Putin, and the local budget tax debate in Oz.
Bitcoin is just a bet on the US tech hype cycle. Will it ever live up to its lofty ideals?
I do not own Bitcoin, but I do like the underlying utopian ideals of citizen-controlled digital currencies out of the reach of governments, banks, central banks, taxes, regulation, intermediaries, scrutiny, hackers, etc, and I have followed developments closely since the early 1980s. BTC is touted as a means of exchange, a store of value, and a hedge against inflation, political turmoil, US default. But in practice it has turned out to be the OPPOSITE. It is an extremely volatile tool for speculation and is only a currency of choice for drug dealers, arms traders, scammers, hackers and blackmailers. Bitcoin’s price actually just follows the US tech hype cycle (except it is seven times more volatile). When the tech boom bursts, will BTC fall with it, or will it magically start reflecting its true fundamental value (whatever that is)?
Owen’s Market Pulse - 16 May 2026
Given rapidly changing markets in the current environment, and an increase in queries from advisers, portfolio managers, commentators and media, I have decided to share one of my regular tools to track key market barometers and drivers of global investment markets. This is something I do anyway in order to keep track of what’s going on and why. I track and analyse thousands of data points across all markets and asset classes, but the most important barometers and drivers of local and global markets for my purposes are: share markets (Aus & US), treasury bonds (Aus & US), currencies (AUD & USD), oil and gold.
Pre-budget quick quiz - Which side has a better record on Fiscal Responsibility: Labor -v- Libs?
Since Federation: ‘Right’ governments have run surpluses more often than ‘Left’ governments. But ‘Timing is everything! - the Left happened to be in power during the big build-ups of deficits and debts in the two World Wars, when the spending was bi-partisan. In the post-WW2 era: Left wins. The Left have also run larger deficits on average than the Right, but post-WW2 the average deficits have been the same for both sides. My verdict - Equal points to Left and Right since Federation. But equally POOR scores for both sides post-GFC. Both sides should have used windfall revenue gains to put our national fiscal house in order to be better prepared for global cha
Australia’s highest cash rate in the world just got even higher – and the job’s not done yet!
Last month I outlined five simple reasons why Australia has the highest cash rate among its peers, and I warned that further rate hikes were needed to tackle inflation. Today (5 May 2026), the RBA hiked rates for a third time this year, and of the course government blamed the war in Iran, but the fact is that inflation was already well above target BEFORE the war. Following the RBA’s third rate hike today, here is my updated story on why Australian cash rates are highest in the world, and will probably need to go even higher to tackle inflation.
April 2026 snapshot: Shares rebound on hopes of war ending, but stalemate the likely outcome
Share markets around the world rebounded in April after a very brief war / inflation scare in March, but the ASX remains a global laggard. Investors have two positives to support their bullishness. The first is hope that Trump retreats (dressed up as an epic ‘win’ of course) because his most urgent goal is to get fuel prices down in order to retain MAGA voters in the November mid-term elections. The second positive is strong US profits, thanks to tech / ai, and the bonanza for fossil fuel producers like the US. The war continues, but is increasingly looking like a stalemate, probably with higher energy prices and inflation for a while yet. Rate cuts or rate hikes? Share markets everywhere (not just US tech) are still vastly over-priced on numerous measures – including and especially in Australia. A major global correction is due
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