Subtext

On April 14, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time, launching over 300 drones and missiles towards Israel. Israel and its allies intercepted almost all of the projectiles, preventing any damage. On April 19th, Israel retaliated with a limited attack on Iran. These tit-for-tat attacks have turned the already volatile Middle East into a […]

India’s exports have fallen, but its imports have fallen much more – a good thing for the Rupee, in all. Meanwhile, the data shows that both electronics and life insurance are thriving.

Are you worried about intraday spikes, volatility injections, or the fear that operators manipulate the market? Then the best thing for you is to stay away from option trading. But if you still want to try your luck and trade responsibly, you should try fully hedged options strategies such as spreads.

Robo-advisory services were the hottest wealth management trend of the last decade. Most died or were acquired in fire sales. What went wrong? This is a history of robo-advisors and why they failed.

Inflation is inching downwards. The US Dollar is appreciating, but the Rupee – buoyed by heavy FPI inflows – stays resilient. And more.

With a strong economy and falling inflation, RBI keeps rates where they are. Automobiles don’t sell, services exports fall, but power generation stays robust. And more.

We keep reading tons of interesting things, not all of which we share or write about. So, we figured, we’d share short summaries of what we are reading and tracking that you may find interesting.

India’s earning a tidy bit of foreign exchange, as its capital account surplus trumps a falling current account deficit. An RBI MPC meeting has just begun. And February sees paltry tax collections.

Central banks across the world met last week to set interest rates, sparking the question – what would the RBI do. Meanwhile, FDI blooms, but money leaves under the LRS.

Daniel Kahneman made finance more humane and investors more introspective. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for making us look inward.

A new shipping crisis may ripple through global trade. Houthi militants attack ships passing through the Red Sea, while the Panama canal experiences a disruption due to severe drought.

No alarms and no surprises last week. Inflation stayed sticky, rural wages saw mild real growth, and merchandise trade remained steady. India’s forex reserves zoomed. US inflation refused to budge lower, while Indonesia is in trouble.

In the final instalment of our China series, we trace the journey of the country’s real estate industry – from its heady rise to its sudden crash – and how China is trying to emerge from the ashes.

Have we moved the needle on the ‘women and money’ issue? And what is the women and money issue anyway? Perhaps we are mixing up completely disparate issues. Perhaps we need to first understand what the issues are before attempting to address them. Perhaps we are addressing symptoms when we need to get to the underlying causes.

We’re in a leap year; February was stretched by a day, and so are its numbers. Meanwhile, January saw the first current account surplus in forever, while money gushes into Indian mutual funds.

This week, we turn to the single defining characteristic of the Chinese economy in the eyes of the world – its status as the factory of the world. We’ll see why exports are no longer the engine for GDP growth they once were, and ask whether China’s own domestic markets could be its answer.

How fast did we grow last quarter? Could be 8.4% or 6.5%, depending on who you ask. Meanwhile, tax collections rise, less affluent Indians save more, and Europe finally reigns in inflation. And more.

Welcome to the first edition of ‘Z-Connect this Week’, a newsletter where we wrap up everything we publish on Z-Connect, Varsity, Rainmatter, and TradingQnA. Those explainers, podcasts, updates, and every other experiment we cook up to help you understand the annoying and needlessly mysterious world of finance. On Subtext Big Trouble in Brittle China I: […]

All is not well with China’s economy. Its problems come from the very strategies that brought it 40 years of growth. In our first post on China, we examine its addiction to investment-led growth.

After a long decline, fixedline connections are up. Aviation is still reeling from the pandemic. FDI is leaving the country, as is money under the LRS scheme. And more.

This week on Its the economy, stupid, lower CPI and WPI inflation, trade balance, and more.

“Investing is a problem that has been solved.” Dave Nadig, a veteran of the US ETF industry, said this on a podcast, and it has been stuck in my head ever since. I remembered this quote because I saw this poll on Twitter (Umm… X. What sort of name is that?). I’ve been thinking and […]

Over the years, whenever we asked people what aspect of their personal finances they struggled with the most, the common answer was insurance. So we decided to do an Ask Me Anything session with Shrehith Karkera, co-founder of Ditto Insurance. We collected the most common answers from people with Shrehith answering them in detail.

I think I’m financephobic. I abhor finance. Maybe not the field itself, just how it feels. I know financial decisions are important. I still find them revolting. The problem is that I’ve somehow gotten myself a job at Zerodha. India’s largest stockbroker. And I have no idea what I’m doing. In this series, I’ll try fixing my financial life and share what I learn with you.

In this edition, we take a look at outcome of RBIs Monetary Policy Commitee Meeting, Consumer Confidence Survey and diflation in China.