Market Woes and Art Buying

Not that anyone would notice, but I took a week off my blog as I was in Maui on a family vacation. It was not a super relaxing vacation as we took all three kids. But, despite it being a tad hectic, it was great to connect with my wife and kids and be disconnected from work. Onward.

Day after day, it appears the macroeconomy gets worse and worse. There is no end in sight to the war in Ukraine. I read that Russia has been dropping the N-word - nuclear as an option in the future. As a counter posture, the US states that they would "get involved militarily" under certain conditions.

Netflix reported underwhelming subscription numbers, which caused a massive correction in share price. This news has resulted in Wall Street pulling back on tech despite increased performance in Microsoft Azures cloud numbers. These numbers serve as a leading indicator of the adoption of cloud technologies which is generally deflationary. Now Nasdaq is coming up to a 20% market correction.

What am I doing? Not much, sitting on my hands mostly. One thing that a wise man once told me was never to make sudden moves around rabid dogs. This market is rabid. I have been making small rebalancing efforts out of the public markets allocating lightly to real estate, credit funds, and art. Yes, I said it, art! I made my first purchase this week in Hawaii from the Harte Galleries in Lahaina.

The painting is called "The Splendor of You." It is an original painting by Sir Anthony Hopkins. I never knew that my favorite actor of all time was a painter. His work is incredible. You can watch a youtube video of an interview here.