Playing FTSE

Is Pokemon Dollar a cryptocurrency? Why are fence panels so expensive? And what’s been going into Steve W’s arm this week? Find out in this week’s Playing FTSE Podcast!

Briscoe’s in charge of the games this week, as the Steves try to distinguish cryptocurrency from computer game currency. Next it’s on to talk about everyone’s favourite subject: tax, as we discuss whether the G7 ambition to finally get some money out of Google by controlling the world’s tax regulations has any legs. Then it’s on to news from Biogen to find out why Steve D doesn’t want to buy a company that might just have released a blockbuster Alzheimer’s drug, the first of its kind to be approved by the FDA in 18 years. And we finish in the SPAC market with news of what’s going on with Bill Ackman's megaSPAC.

What’s been going on in the financial world and why should anyone care? Find out as we dive into the latest news and try to figure out what any of it means. We talk about stocks, markets, politics, and loads of other things in a way that’s accessible, light-hearted and (we hope) entertaining. For the people who know nothing, by the people who know even less. Enjoy!

Approaching the half-year mark for 2021, we look back on how some of the stocks that have been in the news have performed in a game of ‘Cathie Wood You Rather?’ Be prepared for some surprises! After that, we talk about the FED’s recent decision to start selling corporate bonds. What does it all mean? None of us knows, but won’t stop us talking about it. In the third part of the show, Briscoe is out for revenge in the form of some ‘revenge spending’. Find out where his money goes and how Steve D plans to not just spend all of his money on parties and eating out. We finish with the news that Trading212 has begun making moves towards facilitating voting rights for shareholders. Exciting for T212 users, worrying for the accountancy firms appointed to audit companies owned by Steve W.

Stocks mentioned:

$AMC, $AZN.L, $CAT, $DE, $DHI, $GME, $KL, $KO, $LEN, $LGEN.L, $MELI, $PEP, $PFE, $SCCO, $STNE, $TW.L, $VTY.L.

How much would you pay for The Pink Panther? This week, our games take an entirely new direction as Steve D introduces 'Does the Cap Fit?' and exposes how little the others know about their own portfolios. Afterwards, we get onto Amazon's recent acquisition of MGM, Netflix, Disney, and the streaming giants. Lastly, you can find out a bit more about what Steve W does for a living, and why he's our self-proclaimed expert on lying...

What have ARK been doing that’s jumped out at Steve D? What does Paul think is ‘poppycock’? And why does Steve W wish Warren Buffett was more like Paul Briscoe? Find out in this week’s episode of Playing FTSE!

Market volatility has been putting downward pressure on high-growth stocks. So this week, Steve W leads us out with a game of “Is the ARK Sinking?”. We then go on to talk about Michael Burry’s short position in Tesla, Technoking Elon’s cryptocurrency activities, and the EV manufacturer’s trajectory. Since it’s 13F season, we also take the obligatory look at what Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway have been up to, selling Wells Fargo and Chevron and adding to an already big position in Verizon. From there, we check in with our resident T enthusiast to see how Briscoe is handling the AT&T decision to merge WarnerMedia business with Discovery. 

Stocks mentioned: $BRK.A, $BRK.B, $CVX, $KR, $T, $TSLA, $VZ, $WFC, $WKHS.

I know we always say this one’s a long one - but my god this one is a long one! Go! Quick! Grab some supplies or you’ll be seeing mirages before the end!

We kick it off with our new game show: “You Suck at Cha-Math”, grab a pen and paper and play along - let us know your score in the comments section. After this, we talk about our portfolios, how we’re doing, our actions when we’re having a bad week, and give some general tips to help you stay the course.

We talk you through companies like Chewy and Virgin Galactic and help draw the line in the sand between growth and speculation, we talk about Olo, a company we all like that is taking back the customer experience from the likes of Uber, JustEat, and Doordash.

We then go over the old argument - dividends vs growth and give our views on the benefits of one style vs being a hybrid investor. We also go over big tech vs little tech and SteveW talks us through 4 stocks he thinks are approaching good value.

We finish on a live reaction to Disney’s earnings and try to figure out just how badly cinemas are going to struggle as we continuously move to an in-home streaming model before Briscoe has a mini-rant about Martin Lewis.

Stocks mentioned: Virgin Galactic ($SPCE), Olo ($OLO), Chewy ($CHWY), Tyler Technologies ($TYL), Mercado Libre ($MELI), StoneCo ($STNE), Disney ($DIS), Unity ($U), Barkbox ($STIC) & Veeva ($VEEV)

Hello & welcome to episode 14! We're still a threesome this week due to illness (get well soon Zak!) but welcome back Steve W from his honeymoon. In this one, we open with how our portfolios are doing, touch upon BoE Governor Andrew Bailey’s thoughts on crypto, and how FAANG has seemingly hoovered up the US stimulus.

Our main topic, following the Motley Fools Chairman David Gardner stepping down, is to discuss David’s 5 steps to being a Rule Breaker Investor. We also cover Marks & Spencer's creamy meatballs, why Peter Lynch likes PEG’s and Briscoe gets his tinfoil hat out.

In the second half we’re all about inflation - why is the FED so terrified of raising interest rates, are they doing the right thing and what exactly is an inflation nutter?

And to finish we head back to discuss why Winners win, why Steve D and Briscoe would benefit from a stock penalty box, and finish on our review of the Berkshire meeting and why we think Greg, the next Berkshire Chairman, has a tough task ahead.

So grab a snack or two, seriously, this is a long one! And for those on the toilet, we apologise for the pins & needles.

We're minus one this week as Steve W is on Honeymoon - but we didn't let that stop us. In this one, we discuss Britcoin, Biden and the Fed's new tax proposals, Netflix's latest earnings, and what this means for the streaming wars and lastly Zak gives us a rundown on his new favourite penny stock!

In this week's podcast we discuss our favourite Emerging Market stocks, we cover Alibaba and JD.com and tell you about a hidden way to get Tencent in your ISA dirt cheap! So grab a cuppa', this one's an hour and is jam-packed.