Financial news and stock markets.

[scarface]

Today, I'm going to give you a quick insight into the stock markets.

The cac 40 is up 1% this morning.
Société Générale announced strong results. the stock is up 5%. Note that I advise you to reduce your position after the recent rally of the stock, even if it can go much higher. This is what I did (I sold 1000 stocks this morning, and I made a significant capital gain, but I keep cash if it goes down and if it goes above 15€ I will keep selling).



The Dow Jones futures were down 300 points yesterday morning. I took this opportunity to sell some shorts positions bought the day before. It was a good hunch.
Finally, The Dow Jones gained 370 points or 1.34% yesterday. and the Dow Jones futures are still up 200 points today. There is euphoria because the dictatorship of Trump will be over soon (or not, since Trump vowed to take election fight to the US Supreme Court).
I think all this is a bit artificial and I don't think that the equity markets measure the consequences of the election of Biden yet. Compared to Trump, he's a communist, and he will impose more regulations. That's why I think it's wise to reduce your equity positions now.

Note that I found something in my pocket. If Maher or humbert need a donation, they can contact me. I know it won't be enough to buy a flat in Miami, but with several banknotes like this one, one can buy a computer.

[scarface]

Tonight, I'm going to give you a brief overview of the markets.

It seems there is a correction on the Dow Jones tonight, after the "Covid vaccine rally".
I think there is a significant downside potentiel on these levels, it might still be time to take profits.
I sold some stocks a bit too early on Tuesday and decided to buy some short positions on the s&p 500.

[scarface]

Apparently, there is the beginning of krack on the financial markets.
It's due to the new mutant virus strain.

[Shadow.97]

Been transfering money between my accounts. A bit sad to see that i missed the high of
1 euro = 11.20 sek.
Now it is more like
1 euro = 10.10 sek.

When transferring a lot of money, this is a big difference. Unsure if I should hold for a few more months, or if i should pull the trigger and accept the current price.

[humbert]

Been transfering money between my accounts. A bit sad to see that i missed the high of
1 euro = 11.20 sek.
Now it is more like
1 euro = 10.10 sek.

I just looked at a currency exchange app on my phone and it appears the Euro is getting stronger. Even against the US dollar it went up by about 10¢. Unfortunately currency exchange is like that. You'd have to hire a fortuneteller to predict whether currencies are going up or down.

Hey Shadow, I'm curious about something. You told us you had to get an Irish tax number to pay taxes there. What about Sweden? From what I've been hearing Swedish citizens are heavily taxed on just about everything. Do they also get a share of your salary too?

[Shadow.97]

Been transfering money between my accounts. A bit sad to see that i missed the high of
1 euro = 11.20 sek.
Now it is more like
1 euro = 10.10 sek.

I just looked at a currency exchange app on my phone and it appears the Euro is getting stronger. Even against the US dollar it went up by about 10¢. Unfortunately currency exchange is like that. You'd have to hire a fortuneteller to predict whether currencies are going up or down.

Hey Shadow, I'm curious about something. You told us you had to get an Irish tax number to pay taxes there. What about Sweden? From what I've been hearing Swedish citizens are heavily taxed on just about everything. Do they also get a share of your salary too?

No, they dont get anything from my salary, they do however take a share of the profits of my funds every year.
In EU you only pay tax on the salary in the country you earn it and you are located. If I were to buy an item from an E-store located in Germany, I still have to pay full Irish VAT, and 0% german VAT.

[humbert]

No, they dont get anything from my salary, they do however take a share of the profits of my funds every year.
In EU you only pay tax on the salary in the country you earn it and you are located. If I were to buy an item from an E-store located in Germany, I still have to pay full Irish VAT, and 0% german VAT.

By VAT I'm assuming you mean what we call "sales tax". Here in San Antonio when we buy anything other than food or medicine, we pay 8¼% sales tax. That's 6¼% for the state of Texas and 2% for the city of San Antonio. In every state/city it's different. So when you say VAT is this what you mean? If so, how much is Irish sales tax and are food and medicine exempt?

[Shadow.97]

No, they dont get anything from my salary, they do however take a share of the profits of my funds every year.
In EU you only pay tax on the salary in the country you earn it and you are located. If I were to buy an item from an E-store located in Germany, I still have to pay full Irish VAT, and 0% german VAT.

By VAT I'm assuming you mean what we call "sales tax". Here in San Antonio when we buy anything other than food or medicine, we pay 8¼% sales tax. That's 6¼% for the state of Texas and 2% for the city of San Antonio. In every state/city it's different. So when you say VAT is this what you mean? If so, how much is Irish sales tax and are food and medicine exempt?

I thought you had VAT, after a quick google, VAT does not exist in the US.
Vat here is Value added tax, in some countries it is galled Goods and services Tax. (GST)
According to wikipedia, the approximate equivilant in the US would be 'Sales and use tax'. Except puerto rico, which has both VAT and Sales and use tax.


I know food is exempt from VAT Ireland. Sugar has a separate tax, known as 'Sugar tax'.
The tax on electronics in ireland is I think 21%.'
Dont know the rates for medicine. In sweden you get it almost for free once you pay like $150~ for approved medicine. Might be wrong. Never had expensive medicine.

The VAT rates I remember in sweden are:
6% food at resturaunt, taxi, airplane,
12% for food in store,staying at a hotel, and artists selling their own art.
25% for electronics, and basically everything else, general tax

But in sweden we also pay additional tax/fees that is added ontop of this for some items, such as storage devices.
"Private copy tax"
(10 sek = 1.21 usd, 10 sek = 0.98 eur)

Phone storage
4.38 SEK per gigabyte, no price cap. (A phone with 512gb storage costs 2245SEK/$271/€220 extra. )

Harddrive/SSD for computer
1.25 SEK per gigabyte, capped at 100SEK.(12usd, 9.8 euro)
CD-R
0.75 SEK per disk.
DVD -r/+r double layer (8gb total)
6 SEK per disk.

This fee, does luckily not exist in Ireland.
Making phones and harddrives much cheaper here.

[humbert]

I read your response and looked and briefly looked at it in Wiki. The difference I'm seeing is that the sales tax that exists in the USA is a flat tax which is charged irrespective of what the item is. For me, buying a car, a restaurant meal or anything other than food or medicine will cost me an additional 8¼% regardless of what it is. VAT's charge you by the item or what's in it, hence electronics pay more than restaurants. Honestly I had no idea this sort of thing even existed.

Another thing that had me confused is that in many places (e.g. Mexico) when you buy something they just tell you the amount in MXN but they don't add anything on top of that. I was under the impression Mexico had no sales tax (or VAT). As it turns out, the VAT is included in the price. The same logic applies in Puerto Rico. That's not the case here. The 8¼% is always listed as a separate item on the ticket and is never part of the original price. In Canada it's more confusing. When I visited Calgary some time ago, they charged an additional 7% GST (General Sales Tax) which goes to the federal government in Ottawa. The province of Alberta had no sales tax at the time. No mention of VAT anywhere.    BTW, in the USA all sales tax is for the state and local government. There is no federal sales tax.

[Shadow.97]

I read your response and looked and briefly looked at it in Wiki. The difference I'm seeing is that the sales tax that exists in the USA is a flat tax which is charged irrespective of what the item is. For me, buying a car, a restaurant meal or anything other than food or medicine will cost me an additional 8¼% regardless of what it is. VAT's charge you by the item or what's in it, hence electronics pay more than restaurants. Honestly I had no idea this sort of thing even existed.

Another thing that had me confused is that in many places (e.g. Mexico) when you buy something they just tell you the amount in MXN but they don't add anything on top of that. I was under the impression Mexico had no sales tax (or VAT). As it turns out, the VAT is included in the price. The same logic applies in Puerto Rico. That's not the case here. The 8¼% is always listed as a separate item on the ticket and is never part of the original price. In Canada it's more confusing. When I visited Calgary some time ago, they charged an additional 7% GST (General Sales Tax) which goes to the federal government in Ottawa. The province of Alberta had no sales tax at the time. No mention of VAT anywhere.    BTW, in the USA all sales tax is for the state and local government. There is no federal sales tax.

I still dont understand how people would know the prices of items until checkout if it didnt include VAT.
If you are a business VAT is usually not included in price, or you can deduct the VAT. As to my understanding, they are exempt.
I dont know. Taxes are a mess.. All I know is that I will probably have a nice tax return the coming two months. Expecting €1000~4000 due to emergency tax when I arrived in ireland (40% salary got taxed by my company) before i got the tax papers sorted.
Taxes are less fun to do in Ireland than in Sweden. I'll probably just hire a tax broker to fix it for me.