The US lags Russia in the number of icebreakers. In the arctic Russia dominates with a fleet size of 46 while the US has only 5.
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Source: 2019 Index of U.S. Military Strength, Heritage
Bull and Bear Markets in Canada since 1957
There have been nine bull and bear markets in the Canadian equity market since 1957. Like in other countries, bull markets have been longer than bear markets with the average bull market lasting 70 months with an average return of over 141%. Similarly the average bear market lasted about 12 months with an average loss of over 30%.
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Source: Dynamic Funds, Canada
What Fits In One Rail Car: Infographic
Ever wonder what fits in one rail car? The following infographic shows how much a rail car holds for some of the items:
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Source: AAR
The major North American listed railroads are:
- Company: Canadian National Railway Co (CNI)
- Company: Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd(CP)
- Company: CSX Corp (CSX)
- Company: Kansas City Southern (KSU)
- Company: Union Pacific(UNP)
- Company: Norfolk Southern Corp(NSC)
Disclosure: Long CNI, CSX, UNP and NSC
Apple iPhone XS Max: Total Parts Cost vs. Retail Price
The Apple iPhone XS Max retails for $1,099. But the total cost of all the parts that form the phone costs only $390 according to an article in the journal. The markups on iPhones in general is huge and so this phone is also not an exception.
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Source: What’s Inside the New iPhone, WSJ
Its not only Apple(AAPL) that add high markups to its products. Another example is Starbucks (SBUX) which charges a huge premium for its coffee. As long as the market is willing to pay the quoted price companies are free to charge as much as they want.
Disclosure: No positions
India’s Sensex: Relatively Stable But Caution Warranted
The benchmark index of the Indian equity market S & P BSE Sensex is up by 2% YTD at 34808. However over the past 52 weeks it reached a record high of 38896. Since then it has slid some 5% to current levels. Among the major emerging markets, only Brazil is performing better than India due to ending of political uncertainty. Despite the Sensex yielding positive returns so far this year investors need to be cautious with Indian equities. Some of the factors that are not favorable to Indian markets include: rising crude oil prices, record low depreciation of the Indian Rupee against the US dollar, lack of meaningful economic reforms, rising external debt, lackluster corporate earnings, etc. In addition, the Sensex is driven a handful of powerful firms that do not truly represent the state of the economy.
The chart shows the YTD return of the Sensex:
Source: Google Finance
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