The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Signs of The Times

Posted by Howard
on July 23rd, 2008

The market has it all these days. Not much good except the hint of leadership in Biotech and the ability to finally rally.

The other good news is internet growth. Fred Wilson has posted some of the global internet growth numbers in this post .

Fred’s takeaway…

When we went out to raise a second fund at the start of this year, we told our investors that the Internet was getting more global, more mobile, more social, more intelligent, and more playful.

In his next post he went on…

Of course, that’s already happening because North America is only 20% of the global internet audience but it attracts well over 80% of the investment capital. And that will change. It already is.

The world is truly shrinking and the opportunities are now everywhere. I was in Bracebridge, Muskoka for the last week. It’s a very quiet summer town that I spent my first 20 plus summers eating candy bars and pizza slices. It now has some of the best sushi I have ever had. You can get what you want when you want in the world we now live in.

The BAD is something we are now paying for and sit in which is the excesses of credit and spending and global growth.

Todd Harrison has a good post explaining the fallout .

My takeaway is that we still need patience as the process heads toward the consumer.
This morning Costco missed it’s numbers and I expect many more retailers to feel the pinch brought on not only by higher costs, but by a more nervous, tight consumer.

I like this quote from Todd Harrison:

Capital preservation, debt reduction and financial literacy remain our staunchest allies as we wade through one of the most interesting economic junctures in American history.

Also – keep these tidbits in the back of your mind while you decide if we are closer to a bottom or a top…

1. Bernanke made all these warnings just last week!

2. HEMLINES …don’t hate the messenger of this great forecasting tool.

3. Apple and Google are buried under piles of stock overhead and we need new leaders.

4. Canada is on an unstoppable all-time high :) (Hat Tip – Soren).

As you all know, I am very long Canada and have spent the summer getting a better feel for the landscape. I think that Toronto is the most undervalued (real estate) of the big, global cities and that combined with Fred’s thoughts above and having RIMM so close to town and the Canadian Dollar so close to par, that the Canadian web scene will thrive for the forseeable future.

One industry that Canada is about to lose other than all things auto related, is the hollywood north label. The weak Canadian dollar WAS a boon for US Hollywood as they saved 30-40 percent coming to shoot and produce up in Canada. Poof!

It’s never perfect out there.

If you want to get up to speed quickly on all things Canada and the web, read Jevon’s blog ‘StartupNorth.CA ‘. He also has created an index for the companies and the fundings.

Ok. Go to work. I am picking up my kids from camp and have to believe days like this are the biggest days of the year for McDonaldd’s.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.