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In the present Covid Circus with all its [promised] forthcoming variants, the greatest showman, businessman, author, publisher, philanthropist, politician [served two terms in the Connecticut legislature], and remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes.

P.T. Barnum once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” and he is also credited with the adage “There's a sucker born every minute.”

Sadly, the recent Delta [Indian] variant has not been good news for most of the market, with the exception of those stocks and sectors likely to benefit from extended restrictions and lockdowns.

Now with the new Chinese variant 'Nanjing' and South American 'Lambda' knocking on the door, it can be expected that Covid measures; the restrictions and regulations are not going to be disappearing anytime soon with all the consequences of disappointment that will entail.

Covid stocks are very large-cap Pharma, internet/technology-intensive growth stocks that do well if the economy is open or shut. The particular technology stocks include Alphabet [Google], Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, companies that explicitly cater to distanced communities and house-bound societies.

However steep and expensive the current valuations may be, while this pandemic era persists, they can only be expected to outperform other asset classes and attract investors underwhelmed by the negligible yields on Bank deposits and Government bonds.

The stench of wealth. A paradox remains that since Amazon shares slipped after recent quarterly figures rendering founder Jeff Bezos at $192 billion the second wealthiest person on the planet.

Only to be replaced by a purveyor of scents, perfumes, fine wines, and global high fashion, Bernard Arnault, owner of 47% of LVMH with a market cap of more than $400 billion.

Arnault, at $192.5 billion, nudges ahead by half a billion dollars in personal wealth. Truth be told they have been jockeying for 1st position for the best part of the past six months.