By Michael O’Connor

To understand markets, you first have to realise that ‘Price’ and ‘Value’ are not the same thing.

The major indexes continued to trade relatively flat in recent days. The vast majority of Stocks struggled to eke out gains as a lack of clear market catalysts kept institutional investors on the sidelines, while retail traders fuelled the ongoing meme stocks rally. As social media hype pushes the likes of AMC, GameStop and Bed Bath & Beyond ‘to the moon,’ the crypto market continues to trade in the opposite direction, with all major crypto names recording double-digit losses early in the week.

The short squeeze is back

Earlier this year, GameStop saw its share price run from $19 to $483 as the Reddit retail traders banded together to punish the wall street speculators. In recent weeks, the short squeeze is back in fashion. The new king of meme stocks is AMC Entertainment. Recently on the brink of bankruptcy, the movie theatre chain’s stock is up more than 2,000% this year after another roller-coaster week.

While this phenomenon is hard to comprehend at times, in simple terms, the Internet has brought forth the age of virality, and the stock market is not immune.

Younger generations who grew up on the Internet are now having a significant impact on specific companies. Their risk tolerance seems to be much higher than previous generations, and their willingness to band together to support a viral trend knows no bounds.

While these short-term individual stock surges may not significantly impact markets over the longer term, the meme stock craze is here to stay as the gamification of investing becomes a powerful force in an era of social media dominance.

All this speculation raises a lot of questions from investors. Nervous onlookers wonder if markets are broken, worried about how such ‘mindless risk’ can undermine the validity of the market as the ‘meme stock vigilantes’ blatantly disregard traditional valuation metrics.

All this recent ‘mispricing’ has highlighted one of the most common investing misconceptions.

To understand markets, you first have to realise that ‘Price’ and ‘Value’ are not the same thing.

Value is driven by cash flows, growth and risk. Of course, you can disagree about what those cash flows look like or how they are calculated, but the fundamental drivers of value remain the same.

Price, on the other hand, is simple economics 101. Demand vs. Supply. What drives demand and supply is typically mood and momentum. As a result, stock prices do not have to make rational sense at any one moment in time as they are driven by a myriad of human emotions.

Mood and momentum

For me, the current market conditions are reflective of a pricing market being driven by mood and momentum. That isn’t to say that this is necessarily a bad thing. Markets will always reflect human behaviour in some form, and sometimes this behaviour will be more pronounced as price and value push in different directions.

This recent price volatility doesn’t mean you have to change to momentum and memes when selecting your next investment. While the FOMO can be unbearable at times. The truth is, the value factors of cash flows, growth and risk are what ultimately drive markets over the longer term.

For more investing insights visit www.theislandinvestor.com.

Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce has paid tribute to the late Klaus Nölke who passed away on Sunday.

A native of Hannover in Germany, he had lived in Killarney since 1968 and was a very dedicated, enterprising and long-serving member of Chamber, serving as its President from 1982 to 1984.

The Chamber expressed its condolences to his wife, Christal, sons Lars and Kjell, daughters-in-law Norma and Yvonne, grandchildren Max, Ben, Lara, Ewan and Katie and his extended family and friends.

Chamber President Niall Kelleher said Klaus, of Sundays Well Apartments, Countess Road and formerly of Crohane, Fossa, played a major role in the industrial, commercial and business life in Killarney through his work as a director with the Liebherr Container Cranes company from 1968 to 2002.

“Everybody realises and appreciates the enormous role Liebherr has played and still plays in the everyday life of Killarney and Klaus Nölke was a central figure in the remarkable progress made by the company down through the years,” the Chamber President said.

“His wonderful vision and his technical and commercial prowess ensured that Liebherr remained at the cutting edge and, in that regard, his contribution to the commercial life of Killarney was enormous,” Mr Kelleher added.

Born in 1939, Klaus was a very enterprising Chamber of Commerce President for a two-year term and he helped establish the Killarney Working Group which led to the setting up of the hugely successful Killarney Looking Good Competition.

A long-time member of Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, Mr Nölke was also the voluntary project leader in the painstaking project to restore the ornate iron railings which surround the Church of the Sloes opposite the town hall in Killarney.

A private funeral will take place in St Mary’s Church of Ireland tomorrow (Wednesday) which will be live streamed at 2pm on www.churchservices.tv/killarneystmarysloes followed by burial in Aghadoe Cemetery, Killarney.

By Michelle Crean 
 

Ministers Ryan and Naughton briefed the cabinet on the plans this morning (Tuesday).

The move comes after the news on Sunday that Stobart Air, which operated the Kerry-Dublin service, was to cease trading with immediate effect. 

The Department today said that it will issue a request for quotes directly to airlines in the coming days, in accordance with applicable EU rules on air service Public Service Obligations (PSOs), and taking account of legal advice. It is anticipated that the emergency procurement process will be completed by early July, with a view to services being restarted by the new operator(s) as soon as possible thereafter. The contract will be subject to a maximum term of seven months and will operate in accordance with EU law.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

In tandem, the Department will launch a procurement process for a maximum of four years for the continued provision of the services, which will apply after the temporary contract has expired. This will mitigate against any disruption to these services once the emergency contract expires.

The Department recognises the importance of restoring regional connectivity to these airports in advance of the reopening of international travel on July 19 and continues to engage closely with aviation stakeholders in this regard.

Education Minister and Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry, Norma Foley, has welcomed today’s Cabinet commitment to make the Kerry Dublin PSO route a priority.

“The restoration of our regional connectivity is of critical importance to the people of Kerry,” Minister Foley said.

“Transport Minister Eamon Ryan confirmed to me his intentions to seek an expedited tendering process which aims to have a replacement carrier in place by mid-end of July.

“I am confident Government will continue to engage as a priority with relevant stakeholders until a suitable resolution is reached for the benefit of Kerry and the south-west region.”