Daily Brief – Lego

Lego

Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter, started making wooden ladders and ironing boards in 1932 and that phase lasted until 1947 when the company bought its first plastic injection moulding machine that enabled it to turn out tiny plastic bricks. The popularity of Lego for children in the pre-electronic age is well known but Lego has managed not only to retain that popularity but it has gone from strength to strength with this past half year’s revenues up 20% to DKR 41.9B or GBP 4.8B. That has been accomplished by savvy tie ups with the World Cup Football machine, Formula One and K Pop Demon Hunters. And here’s one for the anorak brigade: the largest by unit tyre manufacturer in the world? Yes, you guessed it: Lego with approximately 350 million tiny toy tyres.

EUR/USD 1.1648.

Apple

On September 1 Tim Cook CEO of Apple will pass the baton to John Ternus, and just 8 days later on September 9, Apple will launch its new foldable phone. In the past, Apple product launches were kept tightly under wraps and occasioned media scrums. This time we already know that the new iPhone will start at EUR 2200 and will feature an outside screen of 13.5 cm and an inside double page book-like screen of 19.8 cm as well as 4 cameras 2 on the outside, 1 inside and 1 on the outside for use as a selfie camera. Extra storage will take the price up to between EUR 2600 and EUR 3000.

GBP/EUR 1.1663.

SNEE-kers

If you were in Russia and fancied a Snickers bar, you would need to pronounce it as above. In an asinine example of the regulations that leads to sanctions busting arbitrage, UK Snickers munchers may well find that their Snickers comes in a wrapper badged as «сникерс». This is due to the murky world of Third-Party Resellers who source Russian made Snickers and supply them to Convenience Stores in the UK. Despite this trade supporting manufacturing, tax revenues, and the overall Russian economy, it is all legal since food products are mostly exempt from trade sanctions. Mars Inc continues manufacturing Snickers in Russia and claim that they cannot control those mostly Eastern European Third Party Resellers bringing Snickers into the UK. However much UK Snickers fans hanker after their favourite snack, they should stick to Slough made Mars Wrigley UK Snickers and eschew «сникерс» and as a minimum it will ensure that their Snickers taste a whole lot better.

GBP/USD 1.3586.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA

Most market eyes are on JH and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first outing at the annual meeting. EUR/USD is steady and Oil is now down at USD 88.54 on the pronouncement from POTUS that Hormuz is free of mines – if only that were the only impediment to the free movement of tankers. G-10 Meetings in the next 4 weeks plus the Inflation story not going away suggest a stronger USD, but noises from Frankfurt indicate a growing view of higher EUR interest rates are on the menu.

EUR/JPY 185.72.

Stand By Your Man

This day in 1968 Tammy Wynette recorded this number which has become a staple at weddings, parties and featured in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Five Easy Pieces, Sleepless in Seattle, the Blues Brothers, the Crying Game and Golden Eye. A particularly poignant song given this week’s sad news about the Queen of Country, Dolly Parton R.I.P. who sang a duet with TW during a memorable joint TV medley in January 1988.

Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman
Giving all your love to just one man
You’ll have bad times
And he’ll have good times
Doin’ things that you don’t understand

But if you love him you’ll forgive him
Even though he’s hard to understand
And if you love him, oh be proud of him
‘Cause after all he’s just a man

Stand by your man
Give him two arms to cling to
And something warm to come to
When nights are cold and lonely

Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep giving all the love you can
Stand by your man

Have a Great Bank Holiday Weekend!

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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