We were surprised by the unusual occurrence of having four typhoons since the start of the year.
The first surprise was tropical depression “Auring” in the first week of January. The next was “Bising” in the early days of February.
Then tropical storms “Crising” and “Dante” hit the country last April 16 and 26, respectively.
Bottom line spin
Another surprise also unfolded at the bourse.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) soared to a six-month high on April 25 on bullish sentiments brought about by upbeat US and global markets trading activities.
The PSEi climbed 111.58 points or 1.47 percent to close the day at 7,700.46. This was the market’s best closing since the 7,713.32 hit on Oct. 20, 2016.
Likewise, the All Shares index ended the day at 4,96.88, up 54.07 points or 1.19 percent on the back of a total value turnover of P8.31 billion and total volume of 2.67 billion shares, both considered to be above the market’s present normal.
The PSEi climbed some more the following day, Wednesday, with a modest advance of 26.99 points or 0.33 percent at 7,726.45. The All Shares index also went up by another 15.92 points or 0.34 percent.
Total value turnover was back to only P6.46 billion on a similarly normal total volume of 1.73 billion shares.
Then foreign investors’ transactions set the tone of trading on Thursday. The PSEi closed lower at 7,661.01 on a loss of 65.44 points or 0.84 percent. The All Shares index reached 4,579.2 on a loss of 33.6 points or 0.72 percent.
As shared by Alex Ariza, a long-time friend from the steel industry, we have another unusual and unlikely surprise coming from the French—this time from one of the hottest contenders to the presidential post.
“The next president [could be] France’s youngest president ever. But that’s not the news! He’s married to a 64-year old. That’s still not the news! His wife is his teacher 24 years ago. Nope, that is not still the news!”
“His then teacher had a daughter who was his classmate, whom everyone, including his parents, thought was his girlfriend. They were, of course, wrong! At 15, he fell in love with his teacher who was then happily married with three kids. At 17, he promised to marry her. She was then 42 years old. They wed in 2007 when he was 30, and she was almost 55.”
“Next month, he’ll be sworn in as the president of France, six months to his 40th birthday, while his lovely wife is now 64 with three adult kids and seven grandchildren (her first born is two years older than him, while her second child, the former classmate is his same age.)”
That’s Emmanuel Macron, 39, France’s would-be president!