Catalina Norena Valderrama @VIXGold: "Hi Everyone, During the months of..."

Colombia

Edited

Hi Everyone, During the months of July and August I prepared a series of videos on my Instagram account based on 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 (𝐈𝐑𝐈). You can still check them out here 👉 www.instagram.com/investbites And as I promised back then, as the series has now finished, I am providing here a short summary of these indicators in case you were not checking them on IG or in case you just wanted to see them compiled. Please scroll to the bottom to find the summary 🙂 But you may wonder, what is the importance of these types of indicators? And why should we pay any attention at all to this kind of information? Well, in Economics in general, announcements and facts tend to come after the event. For example, a recession is only declared after 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Also, economic and financial figures can sometimes even be revised retroactively as it has recently happened with the US employment numbers. That is why it is so critical for savvy investors to look at information for their decisions from multiple sources and why looking at different data with a curious mindset is key. Of course I’m not saying this is the ONLY info you should be looking at, but it can definitely complement other key economic indicators, and it can serve as an early warning system. I want to give you an example of how this worked in my case specifically. In early January 2020 I remember very vividly telling my mom and friends about this new virus in China that was spreading and causing a lot of problems… Most of the West at the time had not even heard of Covid nor were the news agencies occupied with it at all. Chinese news outlets told a different story though. Fast forward to February, I had stocked up and supplied my home with face masks 😷 and all the essentials, and for my trading account on eToro, I had loaded up on appropriate protection products… When March came, not only was I in a very calm state of mind personally, but I was also able to navigate the new situation with a steady hand. And when most people were panicking and generating big losses, I accumulated double digit returns, all while keeping a low risk score, in what is still my 2nd best month ever 🙂 I am not saying to ditch information from Central Banks and other economic authorities, but to always look for ways to complement them. Developing a good nose for news and keeping a clear mind are incredibly powerful tool when it comes to investing. And as promised, here is a summary of the 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬: 𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫 💄: During economic downturns, lipstick sales tend to increase, as lipstick is an affordable way for women to upscale their look and feel pretty. Lately it has evolved into the “The Affordable Makeup Index (AMI)”. 𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 👩‍🦳: Hair bleaching is expensive, time consuming and needs to be done frequently. When the economy cools down, women tend to bleach their hair less often or go back to their natural hair colour altogether. 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗦 🦟: When times are difficult more homes are poorly maintained or vacant, creating the perfect breeding ground for bugs, indirectly increasing the number of mosquito bites. 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫 📉: The more the media talks about a recession, the more likely it is that public sentiment, business decisions, and even economic activity will be affected. 𝗠𝗘𝗡’𝗦 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗪𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫 (𝗠𝗨𝗜) 🩲: It is based on the idea that sales of men’s underwear drop during a recession. Not because men no longer need underwear, but because it’s one of the few items that they can postpone buying without anyone noticing. On a sidenote, Alan Greenspan 👴 was a big fan of this index. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗘-𝗔𝗧-𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫 ☕: It tracks declines in café visits and rises in at-home coffee sales (pods, instant coffee, espresso machines). It often signals that people are cutting back on daily luxuries. Wishing you all a great Tuesday! Catalina $SPX500 $NSDQ100 $VXX (iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term FuturesTM ETN) $GOLD $TLT (iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF )