The Punter is so old that he would be very wise if he didn't keep forgetting things. He does, however, remember the Global Financial Crisis, the Dotcom Bubble bursting and Black Monday in October 1987 when the Dow Jones index fell 22 per cent in one day and sell orders overwhelmed the New York Stock Exchange computer systems.
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He even remembers the Bank of England launching its "lifeboat" in 1973 when the collapse of a financial institution, London and County Securities, triggered a secondary banking crisis that threatened to become a full-scale loss of confidence in the banking industry as a whole.
There were common factors in all of them - long stock market boom, soaring property prices, a sudden increase in inflation and rising interest rates. Sound familiar?
But life went on. The markets eventually stopped falling and each time they did so, they were still nominally higher than they had been at the end of the previous crash.
In the GFC, the market fell 54pc from its peak but it bottomed with the All Ords around 3,121, about 8pc up on the bottom of the dotcom/twin towers slump.
Part of that is because the indices measure prices, not real value, and because they are constantly "rebalancing" replacing duds with rising stars.
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But there are always stars.
The Punter has been cheered by a very positive update from Airseed Technologies, the start-up that uses drones to plant trees. It has signed a contract estimated to be worth $70m in revenue over the next four years. It is currently planting 14 pilot projects in Victoria, NSW and Queensland with 1.25 million seed pods and will analyse the results over the next few weeks.
With the help of TWIYO Capital and Advisory, Airseed is already pressing ahead with a $10m to $15m fundraiser to finance further growth. Alas, only the seriously wealthy need apply.
- The Punter has no financial qualifications and no links to the financial services industry. He owns shares in a number of companies featured in this column.
