Caveat Emptor

  Review of January The advent of the year of the Tiger  has been a mauling for stock and crypto investors as volatility spiked up. The inflation worries impacted the high valuation of stocks in Dec. The Federal Reserve signalling of the tapering of QE and the intent to increase interest rates to control inflation in Jan sent a rude awakening to investors whom focus at the narratives instead of the financial numbers, and sent a hit among the technology and growth labeled stocks. The various surprises of the earnings releases in Feb led to huge adjustments in the valuations of the winners in the Covid season. And now, the potential breakout of war between US and Russia over the independence of Ukraine led to sour sentiment especially if armed conflict breaks out between 2 nuclear powers. From a discounted cash flow perspective, the terminal cash flows / multiples of the companies with cash flows well into the future (growth orientated companies) will be more uncertain with the interest