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Posted on August 1, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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According to founder and real estate investing company CARROLL, his company has raised rents up to 30% over the past year. Of course, costs are going up as well. “So as our costs go up — our costs of interest, our costs of renovations, our cost of our employees,” Carroll told Fox Business. “We need to push those increases along through rent increase.” Because of rising property prices, renting has become the only option for a lot of people. “We are seeing a supply-demand imbalance,” he adds. “And now they have a lack of buyers because of mortgage rates. So, again, this has all kind of been a perfect storm for the multifamily business.” While it’s hard to say whether rent increases are sustainable, Carroll says that his company’s occupancy rates are at all-time high.
The stock market could be gearing up for new record highs before year-end as the 2022 bear market is over, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee just said. The biggest takeaway for me on events of this week? Convincing and arguably decisive evidence the ‘bottom is in’ — the 2022 bear market is over.” Lee’s confidence stems from the fact that between a negative GDP print, another 75-basis-point interest rate hike from the Fed, and more natural gas volatility due to Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline drama, a lot of bad news occurred this week and yet the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 managed to stage a 3% rally. “When bad news doesn’t take down markets, it is time for investors to assess.” In fact, despite a strong US dollar and heightened economic uncertainty, companies are reporting better-than-feared results. With 52% of the S&P 500 having reported second-quarter earnings already, 73% beat profit estimates by a median 7%.
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Meanwhile, investors will be closely monitoring July’s Nonfarm Payrolls print, with analysts estimating a slowdown in hiring, forecasting the addition of 250K jobs which would be the lowest since December of 2020, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 3.6%. Other important economic data include final S&P Global PMIs, ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMIs, exports, imports, JOLTS job openings, construction spending and factory orders. Finally, the earnings season continues with a slew of major companies reporting quarterly results, including Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD), Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER), Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN).
Finally, Bitcoin gained 19% since the beginning of July, which caused the crypto’s Relative Strength Index to correct from 29% on July 1 to the 60% level as of press time. The momentum coming back into Bitcoin has caused the fear and green index measurement to improve slightly from “extreme fear” in June, measuring in at 11, to “fear” in July, measuring in at 39.
Posted on July 31, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Apple just announced its most recent quarterly results. Compared to the rest of the tech industry, the numbers were pretty good.Apple’s profitswere down 11 percent from the same period last year but the company beat estimates and still managed to set a record for third-quarter revenue. Considering the challenges facing the entire economy, those numbers are pretty remarkable. The tech industry has been hit especially hard over the past few months due to things like a shortage of computer processors, inflation, and weakening demand; etc.
Bitcoin and Ether, the world’s two largest digital tokens, are headed toward their best month since 2021 amid a revival of risk appetite in global markets and optimism about an Ethereum network upgrade. Bitcoin is up 28% in July and Ether 70%, though their rallies paused Friday. Both were little changed, with Bitcoin at about $23,950 as of 5 p.m. in New York and Ether hovering around $1,730.
Posted on July 30, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Procter & Gamble(PG) warned hat consumers were beginning to pull back on their spending as inflation concerns mount. P&G posted 7% sales growth during its most recent quarter ending June 30, its strongest growth in years. The company was able to push through higher prices on consumers. But its sales volumes declined 1% last quarter, a sign consumers were dialing back.The company forecast sales growth of between 3% and 5% for its upcoming fiscal year, down from 7% during its latest fiscal year. On a call with analysts Friday, P&G leaders said that while consumers are still buying household necessities, they are beginning to alter their purchasing behavior. For example, consumers are not stocking up their pantries as much as they were early in the pandemic, and they’re buying more private-label brands, particularly in paper goods. As shoppers are “more exposed to inflation broadly in the marketplace with the highest inflation in 40 years, it’d be naive to assume the consumer is not looking at their cash outlay,” P&G finance chief Andre Schulten told analysts. P&G’s stock fell 5% during midday trading.
The S&P 500 was up 1.3% as of 2:18 p.m. Eastern, while the NASDAQ was up 1.6%. Both indexes are on pace to end July with the biggest gains since November 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8%. Positive earnings news from Apple and Amazon, as well as oil giants Exxon and Chevron, helped put traders in a buying mood.
The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed home mortgage fell to 5.22% from 5.54%. “This is an exceptionally fast drop!” wrote Matthew Graham of Mortgage News Daily. The rate fell even further today to 5.13%. The slide in mortgage rates came after a negative GDP report and the Fed’s latest interest rate hike.
Posted on July 29, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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DEFINITION: For its official definition, the NBER considers a recession a “significant decline” in economic activity. Not only that—the decline must be deep, broad, and last for more than a few months. When deciding whether the economy is in a recession, the NBER looks to a variety of indicators (not just GDP) to understand the health of the economy, such as job growth, consumer spending, and industrial production. It’s not a simple or transparent formula.
Top economists don’t believe a downturn has begun but some predict a mild recession is likely by early next year. For example, residential investment plunged last quarter as the housing market slumped amid sharply rising mortgage rates while business stockpiling and investment also declined, more than offsetting a modest advance in consumer spending. Furthermore, the nation’s gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., shrank at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.9% in the April-June period, according to the Commerce Department. That followed a 1.6% drop early this year. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 0.5% rise in GDP.
In fact, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said the US economy is seeing an economic slowdown — something vital to bringing down inflation — but isn’t currently in a recession. “We do see a significant slowdown in growth,” Yellen said at a press conference. But a true recession is a “broad-based weakening of the economy,” she said. “That is not what we’re seeing right now.” The country currently is seeing job creation, strong household finances, gains in consumer spending and growth in business, Yellen said. Employment climbed by 1.1 million jobs in the second quarter, a sharp contrast with the average loss of 240,000 in the first three months of past recessions. The Treasury chief was speaking hours after data showed the US economy shrank for a second straight quarter, as higher interest rates slowed business investment and housing demand.
ON THE OTHER HAND: Yesterday was an amazing day for the stock market — especially for growth stocks. The Fed sparked a massive rally across all asset classes. It strongly implied it’ll slow the pace of rate hikes in the coming months. And it may even turn to rate cuts by the end of the year.
Posted on July 28, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: Stocks soared yesterday after the Fed said it was hiking interest rates by 75 basis points (its fourth rate hike this year) in order to stamp out inflation. Another rate increase could be on its way this fall, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, depending on the economic data. Powell also rejected claims that the US was currently in a recession.
The DJIA rallied 400 points as Powell hinted the Fed could slow the pace of rate hikes, and the NASDAQ jumped 4%.
Prices for goods in the U.S. are expected to continue rising through 2023. The Federal Reserve [FOMC] waited too long to respond to early signals of inflation. The central bank is correcting the course by raising its interest rate targets at the fastest pace in more than two decades.
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, reported a 1 percent decline in quarterly revenue from the previous year. It was the first time the social media giant’s revenue had fallen since it went public a decade ago, as it confronts increased regulatory scrutiny and a turbulent economy while trying to build a new frontier of digital communication.
Posted on July 27, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Microsoft Corporation Report posted weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings as a surging U.S. dollar blunted the impact of overseas demand for its flagship cloud computing division. Microsoft said revenues for Azure, its flagship cloud division, rose 40% from last year, slowing notably from its prior quarter gains in the mid to high 40-percent range as companies pulled back on digital infrastructure spending and the dollar continued its 2022 climb. Overall group revenues rose 12.4% to $51.87 billion for the three months ending in June, Microsoft’s fiscal fourth quarter, missing analysts’ estimates of a $52.45 billion tally and the company’s owned lowered guidance of between $51.94 billion to $54.74 billion. Microsoft’s bottom line rose 2% to $16.7 billion, as adjusted earnings rose 2.7% from last year to $2.23 per share, well shy of the the Street consensus forecast of $2.29 per share. Microsoft had forecast a range of between $2.24 and $2.32 per share in early June.
And, Google’s revenue growth during the past quarter decelerated to its slowest pace in two years as advertisers reined in their spending amid intensifying fears of an economic recession. The regression reported by Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, is the latest sign that the tailwinds propelling big technology companies during the pandemic have shifted. The array of new challenges facing the industry has already caused the tech-driven NASDAQ composite index to plummet by 26% so far this year. In Alphabet’s case, revenue during the April-June period totaled $69.7 billion, a 13% increase from the same time last year.
On the other hand, Texas Instruments Inc., the maker of chips used in everything from washing machines to satellites, gave a bullish forecast for the current period, countering concern that a slowing economy is hurting demand for electronics. Third-quarter revenue will be $4.9 billion to $5.3 billion. That compares with the $4.94 billion average estimate from analysts. Profit will be as much as $2.51 a share, the company said, ahead of projections.That helped lift the shares 2.6% in extended trading Tuesday and gave a boost to other chip makers, such as Qualcomm Inc.
Posted on July 25, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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An important week of the summer” for Wall Street, thanks to a deluge of earnings, economic data, and Fed action. For example:
Fed meeting: After the Fed wraps up its meeting on Wednesday, it’s expected to announce another interest rate hike to tame inflation. Central bank officials have signaled that they’ll boost rates by 75 basis points, the same as last month’s increase. That was the biggest rate hike in almost three decades.
Earnings: More than a third of S&P 500 companies will report this week, including tech behemoths Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet.
Economic growth: Q2 GDP will be released on Thursday, and it could show that the US economy shrunk for two straight quarters.
Finally, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Federal Reserve [FMOC] officials need to stay the course to quell inflation that’s proving persistent at a four-decade high. “We do need strong action from our central bank,” he said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”. While Summers said he’s “encouraged” by the Fed’s commitment to bring down inflation, he cast doubt on the likelihood of a soft landing for the US economy, saying it’s “very unlikely.”
Posted on July 21, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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By Staff Reporters
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The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, a day after soaring 2.8% for its best day in weeks. The NASDAQ led the market with a 1.6% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added a more modest 0.2%. Smaller company stocks also closed higher. The Russell 2000 rose 28.62 points, or 1.6%, to 1,827.95.
In Europe, stocks slipped amid worries about whether Russia would restrict supplies of natural gas headed for the region after some maintenance on a key pipeline is scheduled to end. Germany’s DAX fell 0.2%, and French stocks dipped 0.3%. The continent is also preparing for the first increase in interest rates by the European Central Bank in 11 years as it tries to beat back inflation.
And, in the letter to investors, Tesla execs reveal the company has sold 75 percent of its Bitcoin holdings. Last year, Tesla made a $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin and announced that it would accept bitcoin as payment. Tesla started accepting Bitcoin in late March, then abruptly reversed itself in May, just 49 days later. In the latest report, Tesla says the value of its remaining “digital assets” is $218 million, which it had reported at around $1.2 billion in previous quarters.
Finally, Microsoft Corp. is eliminating many open jobs, including in its Azure cloud business and its security software unit, as the economy continues to weaken.
Posted on July 20, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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By Staff Reporters
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Cathie Wood is closing down one of her exchange-traded funds, the first time her Ark Investment Management has pulled the plug on an ETF. The St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm is shutting down its ARK Transparency ETF (CTRU), which launched at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing. With holdings like Teladoc Health Inc. and Spotify Technology SA, the fund aimed to invest in companies that received high scores on transparency.
Several big companies report earnings this week, including Netflix, Tesla, United Airlines, Verizon and Twitter, among others.
Finally, a closely watched Bank of America survey revealed a “dire level of investor pessimism” among 259 fund managers. A few data points:
Investors’ asset allocation to stocks has hit its lowest level since the financial crisis of 2008, showing they have little appetite for risky assets.
Expectations for global economic growth have hit an all-time low.
And the share of investors who deemed a recession “likely” reached its highest point since the onset of COVID in April 2020.
To weather the storm, investors are piling into defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples, and hoarding cash at levels not seen in 21 years.
Posted on July 19, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
ByStaff Reporters
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During regular trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 215.6 points or 0.7% to 31,072.6, the S&P 500 lost 32.3 points or 0.8% to 3,830.8 and the NASDAQ Composite dipped 92.4 points or 0.8% to 11,360.1.
Among stocks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) added 2.5% after reporting Q2 EPS of $7.73 versus $6.64 expected on revenue of $11.86 billion versus expectations of $10.85 billion. Charles Schwab Corp (NYSE: SCHW) closed 1.5% lower despite reporting Q2 EPS of $0.97, beating expectations of $0.91, while revenue came in at $5.09 billion versus $5.04 billion expected. Meantime, fresh data from the National Association of Home Builders showed that home builder sentiment plunged 12 points to 55, touching the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at 2.989%.
Posted on July 18, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose $1.81, or 1.9%, to close at $97.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark suffered a 6.9% weekly fall.
September Brent crude the global benchmark, gained $2.06, or 2.1%, to settle at $101.16 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Brent fell 5.5% for the week.
Back on Nymex, August gasoline rose 0.8% to end at $3.2132 a gallon, while August heating oil rose 1.4% to $3.699 a gallon. Gasoline rose 6.8% for the week, while heating oil was up 0.7%.
August natural gas rose 6.3% to $7.016 per million British thermal units, pushing it to a 16.3% weekly gain.
Posted on July 16, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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U.S. stock markets finished sharply higher snapping a five-day losing streak thanks in part to stronger-than-expected retail sales data and a moderation in inflation expectations. But the rally — which marked the best daily performance in three weeks — still wasn’t enough to overcome earlier losses, leaving stocks with a weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 658.09 points, or 2.2%, to 31,288.26. The S&P 500 advanced 72.78 points, or 1.9%, to 3,863.16. The NASDAQ Composite climbed 201.24 points, or 1.8%, to 11,452.42.
And, Citigroup (NYSE: C) reported better-than-expected quarterly results, sending its shares more than 13% higher. The Wall Street bank was helped by blowout performance in its trading business that offset weakness in investment banking revenue and an announcement that stock buybacks would be suspended. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) also surged 6% despite reporting quarterly results that fell short on both the top and bottom lines as the bank set aside more money to cover potential losses from bad loans.
Banks stocks were also helped by steepening in yield curves as data showing the consumer remains in good shape eased some concerns the economy was headed for a significant slowdown.
Posted on July 14, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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U.S. inflation climbed to new 41-year high of 9.1% in June, as gasoline prices surged. Soaring gasoline prices in June drove the rate of U.S. inflation to 9.1%, a nearly 41-year peak. The CPI jumped 1.3% last month to mark the third time in the last four months it’s topped 1%. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 1.1% advance.
Because of June’s higher-than-expected inflation jump, it’s likely seniors will receive a 10.5% adjustment to their Social Security checks in early 2023, the Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group for older Americans opined.
Nearly a third of job recruiters said they experience extreme stress on a weekly basis because of their work, according to a December survey by human-resources analytics firm Veris Insights. The research found that 77% of high-ranking recruiters are open to changing jobs, along with 65% of HR professionals — a figure that rose 17 percentage points from September to November last year.
And, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 210 points, or roughly 0.7%, though both indexes pared losses from sharper declines earlier in the day. The NASDAQ Composite closed down 0.2% but was an outlier for much of the session, trading in the green as technology stocks rebounded.
Finally, US Treasury yields were also in focus with the most dramatic moves happening at the front end of the yield curve. The 10-year stood at 3.04% following the CPI print, with 2-year yields rising as high as 3.17%, further inverting the yield curve. The curve “inverts” when yields on shorter-dated Treasuries rise above those of longer-dated ones and have typically preceded recessions on Wall Street.
Posted on July 13, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Morgan Stanley named Eli Gross and Simon Smith as new global co-heads of investment banking, as part of a leadership shakeup at the top of one of Wall Street’s most powerful deals advisory group. The current investment banking heads, Mark Eichorn and Susie Huang were elevated to executive chairs of the division to lead a newly formed group of senior bankers, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release June data from the closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) today, which tracks the prices of a basket of daily goods and services. Investors use the CPI as one way to measure inflation, which has hit a 40-year high this year and forced the Federal Reserve to become increasingly hawkish in terms of monetary policy. While CPI data comes out every month, the reading will be watched more closely than normal, as are the current high levels of inflation.
America has decided the pandemic is over. The corona virus has other ideas. The latestomicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the United States, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. The size of that wave is unclear because most people are testing at home or not testing at all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the past week has reported a little more than 100,000 new cases a day on average. But infectious-disease experts know that wildly underestimates the true number, which may be as many as a million, said Eric Topol, a professor at Scripps Research who closely tracks pandemic trends. Antibodies from vaccines and previous coronavirus infections offer limited protection against BA.5, leading Topol to call it “the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen.”
Posted on July 12, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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US stocks closed lower to start the week with the NASDAQ Composite slipping by over 2% as investors get ready for earnings to roll in and await key inflation data set to be released midweek. A wave of companies will kick off quarterly earnings season starting this week.
The Russian ruble slipped back past the 61 level against the dollar after volatile swings in recent sessions, as the market continued to wait for updates on currency interventions.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) fell as much as 10%, while Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) fell 10%, and Melco Resorts (NASDAQ: MLCO) plunged 13.8%.
The euro and the dollar are under half a penny away from parity for the first time in 20 years
Posted on July 11, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Many forecasters expect U.S. home prices to edge up to new post-pandemic highs, despite a near doubling of the 30-year mortgage rate. On the other hand, prices for used cars already have shown signs of normalizing (see chart) as supply chains untangle and dealer inventories restock.
World Population Day is observed on July 11th every year, to raise awareness regarding global population issues. The day is aimed to address the urgency and significance of issues related to the population. It may be noted that World Population Day was established by the United Nations Development Programm in 1989 when the global population reached 5 billion. Being celebrated for over three decades, is meant to raise awareness about solutions related to population control. According to the United Nations Population Fund, the world population will hit the 8 billion mark in 2022. This comes after the world achieved the seven billion-mark in 2011 only.
Posted on July 5, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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EasyJet’s chief operating officer Peter Bellew has resigned after a period where the airline has come under pressure to reduce flight disruption.
Wirecard’s former head of accounting has admitted forging documents, after coming under pressure to provide evidence of transactions during a special audit by KPMG.
Bank of America [BAC] lost 30% in the first half of 2022, which is more than the S&P 500’s decline of 20.3% and other major banks like JPMorgan’s [JPM] 28.9% and Citigroup’s [C] 23.8%.
The rapid climb in mortgage rates finally paused but elevated borrowing costs continue to stifle price-rattled home buyers. Rates for the popular 30-year fixed home loan slid to 5.70% last week, down from 5.81% the week prior, according to Freddie Mac. Still, rates have climbed 72 basis points within a three-week period and are nearly 2.5 percentage points higher than at the start of the year.
Domestic Stocks could have more room to fall, even after the recent sell-off, according to Goldman Sachs. For now, equities are only pricing in a mild recession as valuations drop amid rising rates and a more hawkish Fed. “Profit margins across markets are still elevated and some normalization would result in negative earnings revisions.”
Posted on July 4, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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As reported by CoinDesk, Meta [Facebook] is ending its three-year experiment with crypto this month. The company will shut down its crypto wallet, Novi, in September, but will prevent customers from adding any more funds to it later in July.
July 4th is the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as God’s particle. After a search of more than 40 years, the particle was discovered in experiments on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland on July 4, 2012. Considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of the modern era, the Higgs boson provides evidence for the Standard Model of Physics, which describes how various particles make the universe.
Posted on July 3, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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A new COVID-19 wave is emerging in the United States, dominantly propelled by two strong omicron strains. First seen in South Africa, later in Portland, the BA.5 sub-variant has been pegged as the “worst version” of omicron by experts, as it evades antibodies and transmits easily, according to NBC New York.
This week, the BA.5 strain alone made up 36% of cases in the U.S., while BA.4, another omicron sub-variant gaining momentum, had a hold on 15.7% of infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data tracker.
Finally, a host of companies have announced job cuts or hiring freezes in just the last two weeks. They range from Tesla and JPMorgan Chase to Redfin and Coinbase. Netflix last week announced a second round of job cuts for the year, this time eliminating around 300 positions. And, last week Mark Zuckerberg announced similar restructuring for FB [Meta].
Posted on July 2, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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By Staff Reporters
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Markets: After their worst first half since 1970, stocks climbed to kick off the second half of the year, led by home building companies. But, the three major indexes posted weekly losses in four out of the last five weeks.
At least four SPAC mergers were called off in the 24 hours after the market closed, including one that would have taken Panera Brands public, according to Bloomberg. An index that tracks companies that went public via SPAC has plunged 67%. For the year to date, 30 proposed SPAC deals have been cancelled.
Recession: The Federal Reserve’s key real-time model for tracking U.S. economic activity has turned negative, signaling that the nation could already have entered a recession. The GDPNow gauge, a widely watched measurement from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, indicated that real gross domestic product shrank by 1.0% in the second quarter from April through June, 2022. So, while the official advance estimate of Q2 performance will not be released for another month, this preliminary reading shows the second quarter in a row of negative growth in the economy after GDP contracted 1.6% in Q1.
And Jeff Bezos beat nemesis Elon Musk at—losing money. The Amazon founder’s net worth crashed by $63 billion in the first half of 2022, while Musk’s fell by $62 billion. All told, the 500 richest people in the world lost $1.4 trillion so far this year according to Bloomberg.
Finally, Mark Zuckerberg thinks he has more employees than he needs. He told Meta workers that the company would be “turning up the heat” on performance oversight in order to uncover the workers who just watch Netflix all day. “If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history,” he said.
Posted on June 30, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Under a law passed by Congress last November, cryptocurrency firms are supposed to begin recording their clients’ detailed transaction data in 2023, with reports sent to the IRS and to investors the following year. From the beginning, industry executives have pushed back, complaining that the legislation was drafted too broadly. Now, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are likely to push off a January date for the firms to begin tracking data such as customers’ capital gains and losses, according to anonymous insiders. The move would mean the tax agency waits longer to get the kind of data it gets for stocks or bonds.
Bitcoin: $20,289.61
Markets: After another boring trading session, stocks wait to complete the first half of 2022—which will come at 4pm ET today.And, the carnage from Bed Bath & Beyond is a result of the company reporting a big sales decline from the previous year and showing CEO Mark Tritton the door.
Economy: Fed Chair Jerome Powell and two other central bank chiefs spoke about their inflation-combating efforts at a conference in Portugal. All three acknowledged that recent economic shocks (COVID, the war in Ukraine) have upended how inflation was understood for decades. “I think we now understand better how little we understand on inflation,” Powell said.
Posted on June 28, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: Stocks were directionless dipping slightly lower without much market-moving news. But, Robinhood shares popped after a Bloomberg report claimed that the crypto exchange FTX is debating whether it might be able to buy the trading app. Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, already owns 7.6% of Robinhood.
Posted on June 26, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Bitcoin’s energy hunger, which has alarmed environmentalists and consumer advocates concerned about pollution and utility prices, comes from the process of mining new tokens. Bitcoin miners earn new tokens by validating transactions through an inherently energy-inefficient process, using specialized machines to solve complex puzzles. All that computing by all those machines has led to an energy appetite rivaling that of entire nations. Bitcoin’s annualized energy consumption has fallen from about 204 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year on June 11th to around 132 TWh per year on June 23rd. But even though its electricity use has plunged, it’s still very high — roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity Argentina uses in a single year.
Editor’s Note: Incidentally, colleague Mike Burry MD, the Scion Asset Management boss has also compared the crypto boom to the dot-com and housing bubbles, and cautioned that retail buyers of meme stocks and crypto are barreling towards the “mother of all crashes.” – DE Marcinko
Markets: Finally, and according to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 116.98 points, or 3.08%, to end at 3,912.71 points, while the NASDAQ Composite gained 380.21 points, or 3.38%, to 11,612.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 839.93 points, or 2.70%, to 31,505.59.
Posted on June 25, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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W. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased roughly 9.5 million shares of Occidental over the past week at a cost of nearly $530 million, according to a new regulatory filing late on Wednesday. Buffett’s investing conglomerate now owns roughly 152 million shares of Occidental—a 16.3% stake worth nearly $8.5 billion that makes Berkshire by far and away the largest shareholder in the energy giant.
Sectors: Sectors like utilities, consumer staples, and real estate helped push the market higher yesterday. Today, however, we could see a lot spicier action. Index provider FTSE Russell is re-balancing its stock benchmarks, which will send investors scrambling to trade an estimated $112 billion just before the market closes. Among other tweaks it’s making, Russell will now label Meta, Netflix, and PayPal as “value” stocks.
Markets:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.68% gained 823.32 points, or 2.7%, to close at 31,500.68, its largest daily percentage gain since May 4.
The S&P 500 SPX jumped 116.01 points, or 3.1%, to finish at 3,911.74, its biggest daily percentage gain since May 18, 2020.
The NASDAQ Composite COMP, +3.34% surged 375.43 points, or 3.3%, to end at 11,607.62, its largest daily percentage gain since May 13.
For the week, the Dow booked a 5.4% gain, while the S&P 500 climbed 6.5% and the NASDAQ jumped 7.5%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow and S&P 500 each saw their biggest weekly gain since late May, while the NASDAQ had its best week since March.
Posted on June 23, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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The rate of inflation rose again in May, remaining at 40-year highs, the Office for National Statistics revealed. The rate of Consumer Prices Index [CPI] inflation rose slightly to 9.1 per cent in May from 9 per cent in April, according to the ONS. The increase matches what analysts had expected. And, supply constraints, exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine account for about half of the surge in US inflation, with demand currently making up a third of the increase, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
US gasoline futures are about 13% below the record high seen earlier this month and pump prices have dropped for more than seven days straight — the biggest run of losses since April — after rising to a fresh peak early last week, as recession concerns grip the market. Oil prices have tumbled toward $100 a barrel as traders fear that sharply higher interest rates would slow down economic growth and lead to demand destruction. The AAA reports that the average price of a gallon of regular gas slipped 6 cents since last week, to $4.955.
U.S. online trading firms specializing in crypto were hit hard after BinanceUS, an arm of the word’s biggest digital currency exchange, eliminated its bitcion spot trading fees. BinanceUS will now allow its users to trade bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, against assets such as the U.S. dollar, tether, and other dollar-backed stablecoins for free, eliminating its prior levy of 0.1% on transaction valued at less than $50,000.00.
Altria’s big tumble—the tobacco company owns a 35% stake in Juul, and a WSJ report suggested the FDA could order Juul to yank its products off the market imminently.
Posted on June 22, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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Cathie Wood warned that the Federal Reserve could cause a recession if it keeps hiking interest rates. The US central bank is ignoring three indicators that might show inflation easing, according to the Ark Invest CIO. First, aggressive hikes are unnecessary because inflation is already easing. Second, she pointed to the stagnating prices of gold and lumber, which are often seen as leading inflation indicators. “After soaring from $1,350/ounce pre-COVID to a peak of nearly $2,000 [an ounce] during 2020, the gold price has dropped back to $1,840 [an ounce] during the past two years. “The lumber price has dropped more than 50%.” Finally, Wood said fuel prices have likely peaked as Americans increasingly turn to electric vehicles. Surging oil prices have been one of the main drivers of inflation this year, with Brent crude up 48.3% to over $115 a barrel.
The IRS says it is climbing out from under the unprecedented stack of tax returns that piled up after the agency had to scale back its operations and close facilities in 2020 following the onset of the pandemic. The agency announced that by the end of this week it will have cleared all original individual tax returns that were filed in 2021 and that didn’t contain any major mistakes. “Due to issues related to the pandemic and staffing limitations, the IRS began 2022 with a larger than usual inventory of paper tax returns and correspondence filed during 2021,” the IRS said in a statement. “The IRS took a number of steps to address this, and the agency is on track to complete processing of originally filed Form 1040 (individual tax returns without errors) received in 2021 this week.”
Another record for US single-family rents, which jumped 14% year-over-year in April, marking the 13th period of record-breaking annual gains.
Markets: Stocks bounced yesterday after their worst week in two years, led by energy stocks and Big Tech companies. Cypto even rose. Today, investors will be glued to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill. They want to know whether Powell expects to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points next month.
Posted on June 21, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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For the last two years, the Corona Virus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths, cutting an unforgiving path across the country. But that pattern appears to have changed. Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are nonetheless dying from COVID at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic. The spread of the virus and the number of deaths in its wake, two measures that were once yoked together, have diverged more than ever before, epidemiologists said. Deaths have ticked up slowly in the northeastern United States, where the latest wave began, and are likely to do the same nationally as the surge pushes across the South and West. But the country remains better fortified against COVID deaths than earlier in the pandemic, scientists said.
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The recent FOMC interest rate hike campaign is not all bad news. There is a silver lining for savers. “Rising interest rates represent a turn of fortunes for savers as interest earnings are finally on the rise, and eventually those higher interest rates will help reduce inflation,” Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst, told ABC News. “This is the opposite of what savers have endured the past three years when interest rates fell and then inflation took off.”
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Markets: Of the 17 times the S&P has dropped more than 15% since 1950, on 11 of those occasions stocks bottomed out only when the FOMC began to signal a loosening of monetary policy, according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs.
Posted on June 21, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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By Staff Reporters
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Give any, or all, of the above sites a click, and tell us what you think! Better yet, if you are a client, customer, vendor, patient, payer, doctor or other stakeholder.
Conclusion
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Posted on June 19, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Recession fears overtook the S&P 500 a day after the Fed meeting, reversing gains seen midweek.
The S&P 500 has been higher only 43.5% of all trading days in 2022, a gloomy marker, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
Meanwhile, it said the Fed is facing a “policy error” in focusing on headline inflation that’s swayed by high gas prices.
This year’s dismal performance in US equities worsened this week as a post-Fed rally fizzled and investors cemented the S&P 500 to one of its shabbiest mid-year showings in decades, all taking place with poor economic data piling up.
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Goldman Sachs’ President John Waldron admitted at a June 2 conference that this is “among—if not the most—complex, dynamic environments” that he’s ever experienced. As a result, investment banks and economists are split on what the most likely outcome will be for the U.S. economy moving forward. Deutsche Bank has argued since April that we’re headed for a “major” recession, but Morgan Stanley’s CEO James Gorman said on Monday the odds of even a minor recession are more like 50-50.
Bank of America believes we will most likely avoid a recession altogether and instead face “extended weakness,” while the economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman appeared to side with more optimistic Fed officials arguing that we could be headed for a ”goldilocks” scenario, where economic growth slows enough to cool inflation without instigating a recession.
Posted on June 18, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
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By Staff Reporters
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Per history, Bank of America’s Global Investment Strategy chief investment officer, Michael Hartnett, pointed out that the average peak-to-trough bear-market decline is 37.3% over a span of 289 days. Matching that pattern would put the end of current pain on Oct. 19th, 2022. This happens to mark the 35th anniversary of Black Monday, as the stock-market crash of 1987 is widely known. And according to statistical averages, the S&P 500 will likely bottom at 3,000.
Despite rising slightly, the S&P just posted its worst week since March 2020. Even energy stocks, one of the lone bright spots in the market, have taken a beating during this higher interest-rate era
The FDA just authorized two Covid-19 vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, for kids under five—a year and a half after vaccines were approved for adults 16+.
Posted on June 17, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of the U.S. government’s Covid pandemic response effort tested positive for the coronavirus. Fauci, who is fully vaccinated against Covid, is experiencing mild symptoms. “Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from home,” a statement said. “He has not recently been in close contact with President [Joe] Biden or other senior government officials.”
The yen fell after Japan’s central bank kept its ultra-low interest rates on hold even as policy makers around the world hike cost of borrowing to tackle rising prices. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) also says it will continue its program of buying huge amounts of government bonds. This week central banks in the US, UK and Switzerland raised interest rates as they try to curb inflation. After the announcement, the US dollar climbed to 134.64 yen, not far from the 24-year peak of 135.6 earlier this week. So far this year the dollar has climbed by 15% against the yen, as the gap between interest rates in Japan and much of the rest of the world continues to grow.
Markets: Stocks took a big tumble over recession concerns, and blue-chip companies such as Home Depot, Intel, Walgreens, and JPMorgan touched 52-week lows.
Global economy: European central banks including the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, and the National Bank of Hungary increased interest rates yesterday to tame inflation.
Posted on June 16, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point [75 bps], its most aggressive move yet to try to control inflation, as it squeezes the U.S. economy. Through interest rate increases, the Fed is attempting to raise the cost to borrow money, slow economic activity, and bring down inflation that’s at 40-year-highs.
And, as much as we love to think we’re exceptional, inflation has been afflicting countries around the globe. In an analysis of 111 countries, Deutsche Bank found that the US’ inflation rate sits roughly in the middle.
The S&P snapped a five-day losing streak (though it’s still in a bear market), and the NASDAQ soared thanks to a surge in tech shares.
US retail sales fell for the first time in five months in May, as Americans pulled back on buying cars and other expensive items.
Finally, an FDA advisory committee unanimously recommended Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID vaccines for children under five, which is the only age cohort in the US that doesn’t yet have an authorized vaccine.
Posted on June 15, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The corporate technology layoff slump is affecting a wide range of companies. Cryptocurrency company BlockFi, which had grown nearly sixfold in 2021, announced it was laying off 250 people. Privacy and marketing company OneTrust let go 950 employees, Stitch Fix cut 330 and identity-verification company ID.me dismissed 130. Transportation company Bird slashed a similar number, while PolicyGenius gave pink slips to 170.
Ten Year Treasury: 3.484%
And, warning signs are also flashing in global bond markets, revealing the extent to which investors are on edge about the economy, inflation and what central bankers will do next. For example, the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasuries — which moves opposite prices — jumped from 3.36%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury climbed even higher as investors dumped those notes. That created an unusual phenomenon known as a “yield curve inversion.”
Posted on June 12, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The price of gas rose to $5.01, according to AAA. Gas hit the $5 mark for the first time ever as part of a record setting run. The average price jumped 18 cents in the previous week, and was $1.92 higher than this time last year.
Development of a smartwatch that was going to feature dual cameras was stopped by MetaPlatforms (META) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Report, the parent company of Facebook, a source told Bloomberg. But, the social media company is working on the development of other devices that will be worn on the wrist.
In May, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 1.0 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 8.6 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.6 percent in May (SA); up 6.0 percent over the year (NSA).
The Securities and Exchange Commission is aiming to shake up the mechanics of US stock trading in the wake of last year’s meme-stock frenzy, and some experts in the markets say changes could lead to a shift back to retail investors paying commissions to make trades. Proposed changes to market-structure rules could lead to retail investors paying commissions on trades again. SEC Chairman Gensler is proposing the agency consider sending retail stock orders to auctions.
Finally, sales of luxury homes in the U.S. fell by 17.8% as compared to the year before, according to Redfin, for the three months ending April 30th. In contrast, non-luxury homes fell by 5.4% over the same period.
Posted on June 11, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The federal tax deduction that businesses and self-employed taxpayers can use for their work-related miles on the road is suddenly getting more generous. The optional standard mileage rate for business-related driving is increasing to 62.5 cents a mile, starting in July, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday. That’s up from the 58.5-cents-a-mile rate first announced in December.
Rising inflation continues to frustrate consumers who are growing tired of shelling out more money. for example, Record gas prices helped push down the consumer sentiment index from 58.4 in May to 50.2 in June – the lowest recorded level since November 1952. The preliminary reading is comparable to the trough reached during the 1980 recession, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the university’s Surveys of Consumers. In May 1980, the sentiment reading hit 51.7, according to historical data. The final reading for June will be published on June 24th.
Markets: The S&P 500 is on the bear market watch list after a vicious sell-off yesterday capping off its worst week since January. Investors were disappointed by the inflation report that dropped Friday. Prices jumped 8.6% last month, which is a faster pace than in April and higher than expected. Rents, food, energy, and used cars all contributed to the price increases, putting even more pressure on the Fed to hike interest rates substantially throughout the summer and into the fall.
Posted on June 10, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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US mortgage applications are in “meltdown” and the threat to house prices is growing. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications tumbled again last week and has fallen dramatically since January. Pantheon Macroeconomics said the chances of a “short period of clear declines” in home prices is growing.
Jobless claims for the week hit 229,000, the highest since January. The number of jobless claims increased by 27,000 from the last period, and it greatly surpassed the Dow Jones estimate of 210,000, according to this report.
Markets: Investors are nervous before this morning’s crucial inflation report—which will show if inflation has peaked or not. Big Tech stocks such as Meta, Amazon, and Apple dragged the market lower. The 10-year T-bond was 3.046?
Finally, average US gas pricestopped $5 per gallon according to GasBuddy. Many experts predict we’re headed toward $6 and beyond.
Posted on June 9, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Global venture capital investment was a healthy $39 billion in May, according to Crunchbase. But, the figure declined for the second month in a row, reaching the lowest point since December 2020. In monthly terms, VC investments declined by nearly 16%. In yearly terms, it fell by 20%.
Nobel laureate and economist Robert Shiller said the US has a good chance of entering a recession. He told Bloomberg the odds of a recession in the next few years are 50%, which is “much higher than normal.” Shiller predicted in 2005 that the housing bubble would burst and also warned a new one may be forming. And, Ray Dalio said the FMOC will cut interest rates to combat stagflation in a recent Market Insider interview. “We are in a tighttening mode … the pain of that will become great.”
Additionally, former EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger warned that inflation will not go down in the near future, causing the economy to “turn for the worse.”
Gemini, a crypto exchange and custodian founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss faced a loss in February in the form of a $36 million breach. And now the company is being sued over its alleged failure to protect its customers.
The Stock Markets have been a bit dull recently. The S&P 500 has been directionless trading within a roughly 100-point range for the past two weeks. The only energy in the market seems to belong to Exxon Mobil which notched a record close; first since 2014.
Posted on June 8, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Economist Paul Krugman just compared the cryptocurrency boom to the mid-2000s housing bubble. According to BIA, the Nobel laureate noted that, just like during the housing boom, it seems ridiculous to question an asset class that has become so valuable and attracted so many influential promoters. It sounds absurd to suggest crypto is “a house built not on sand, but on nothing at all.” Yet Krugman’s assessment is precisely that. “If you ask me, it looks as if we’ve gone from the Big Short to the Big Scam.”
The SEC is considering sending retail stock orders to auctions under a new proposal. Trading firms could be forced to compete in auctions to execute retail stock orders under the planned proposals. It comes after the regulator focused on payment-for-order flow as a barrier to market efficiency.
Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management is suffering a steeper drop in assets than almost any other US exchange-traded fund issuer this year. Ark’s lineup holds $15.3 billion across nine ETFs, a 48% decrease from the start of 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence through June 1st. That’s the biggest collapse in assets among the 25 largest US issuers.
The average price per gallon of gasoline in the U.S. reached a new high of $4.92. In Michigan the average sits higher at $5.17 per gallon, according to AAA’s tracker.
The World Bank released a grim forecast for the global economy, concluding that “for many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.” Disruptions from the war in Ukraine, Covid lockdowns in China, and ongoing supply shortages could lead to 1970s-style “stagflation”—and hit low- and middle-income countries the hardest.
Posted on June 6, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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“The risk of workplace violence is a serious occupational hazard for nurses and other health care workers,” a recent study by National Nurses United found. “Countless acts of assault, battery, aggression, and threats of violence that routinely take place in health care settings demonstrate a frightening trend of increasing violence faced by health care workers throughout the country.”
Last week’s shooting that left four people dead at a Tulsa medical center is an all-too-familiar scenario for health care workers across the nation. In another hospital attack, a man stabbed a doctor and two nurses at Encino Hospital Medical Center’s emergency department and barricaded himself inside. On the same day as the Tulsa shooting, a county jail inmate receiving treatment at a Miami Valley, Ohio, hospital stole a security guard’s gun, killed the guard and escaped before fatally shooting himself. And that’s just one of at least six deadly assaults in medical buildings that happened in Texas, California, New Jersey, Minnesota and elsewhere in the past three years.
And, the May jobs report showed the US economy added a robust 390,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate held steady at a low 3.6%. May’s jobs growth is the weakest pace of hiring in more than a year, but wage growth fell to 5.2% in May from 5.5% in April. This suggests the crippling labor shortage is easing up and inflation is starting to tick down across the economy.
Finally, July Corn traded at $7.27, and July beans $17.00. July Chicago wheat traded at $10.40, down more than $1.00 per bushel.
Posted on June 5, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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U.S. personal income rose 0.42% in May, which equates to 5% on an annualized basis. With inflation (8.26% annualized) so much higher than income (5% annualized), consumers have to borrow or dip into savings to continue buying the same amount of goods and services they purchased last year.
And, in a recent survey, Clever found that retirees average only $191,659 saved for retirement. That’s not a lot for what could be a 20- to 30-year time period. This would translate to an annual income of $7,666. On a monthly basis, that’s just $639 — still not a lot when combined with the average Social Security benefit. NOTE: To be fair, that $191,659 is based on a single survey of 1,000 retired Americans. That number may look different across a much larger sample size.
Finally, amid rising inflation rates and slowing demand, tech and crypto companies cut more jobs in May than in the previous four months combined, according to out placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. There were 4,044 job cuts in the tech industry compared to about 500 through the first four months of the year and the most in one month since December 2020. Crypto and other companies in the fintech industry cut 1,619 jobs in May, compared to 440 in January through April.
Posted on June 4, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Between September of last year and May, audit rates have doubled “for taxpayers in every income category above $100,000,” the IRS said in a statement. Audit rates for incomes between $100,000 and $500,000 have risen to 0.6%, doubling from 2019, the IRS said. Audits for taxpayers making above $10 million in one year increased fourfold, reaching 8%.
Best States for Minimizing Taxes in Retirement: If decreased tax liability is high on your list of priorities, a few states stand out. These states either have no state income tax, no tax on retirement income, or a substantial discount on the taxes levied on retirement income: Alaska, Florida, Georgia Mississippi Nevada South Dakota and Wyoming.
And, Amazon Worldwide Consumer CEO Dave Clark is leaving the company. The longtime executive has worked for Amazon since 1999.
Finally, colleague Michael Burry MDrecently compared the current market downturn to an aviation disaster, and said it reminded him of the collapse of the mid-2000s housing bubble. “As I said about 2008, it is like watching a plane crash,” the investor wrote in a since-deleted tweet on May 24. “It hurts, it is not fun, and I’m not smiling.” The Scion Asset Management chief warned that based on historic market slumps, the S&P 500 index could lose half its value and sink below 1,900. He also suggested it could be several years until Amazon, Microsoft, and other high-flying stocks record their bottom tick, as they did in 2002 and 2009. Mike Burry, who wrote a chapter in our financial textbook for physicians, shot to fame for anticipating and profiting from the 2008 crash. He diagnosed the “greatest speculative bubble of all time in all things” last summer, and warned buyers of meme stocks and cryptocurrencies that the “mother of all crashes” was coming.
Posted on June 3, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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US roaring consumer demand has caused an increase in the price of goods and services, otherwise known as inflation. But with inflation at a 40-year high this year, Americans are finding their monthly income isn’t going as far as it used to. In April, the personal savings rate in the US ticked down to a 14-year low of 4.4%, according to the latest figures from the Commerce Department. That’s half the rate it was in December, and roughly a third of where it was the year before. And, many households are already in negative savings territory, meaning they are increasingly tapping into their savings to cover purchases each month.
And Oil prices moved higher as a production increase by OPEC+ countries was viewed as potentially too little to offset the absence of Russian supply, while US crude inventories declined sharply. West Texas Intermediate moved 1.249% higher to $116.70, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped about 1% to $117.47
Finally, The Social Network twins are laying off 10% of the workforce at Gemini, the crypto exchange they own. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss said that the industry has entered a “contraction phase that is settling into a period of stasis”—which is another way of saying that the total value of digital assets has plunged by about $2 trillion from its peak last November.
Posted on June 2, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Oracle Corp. said it has received all regulatory clearances needed to complete its $28.3 billion purchase of digital medical-records provider Cerner Corp., paving a further expansion into health care for the software giant.
Seven states are now at an average of $5 or higher per gallon, according to AAA data, with Illinois becoming the latest to join California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska. The national average for a gallon of gas sits at $4.671 for regular unleaded gas as of June 1st while diesel gas prices are at $5.54 per gallon on average nationally, down from the record high of $5.58 per gallon set on on May 18th.
As part of Facebook’s rebranding to Meta Platforms, the company’s stock ticker will officially change from “FB” to “META” effective before the market opens on June 9th. The social media giant has utilized the “FB” ticker since its initial public offering in 2012. And, Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Meta just announced that she is stepping down from her position with the company. She held the role since 2008. She’ll be replaced by chief growth officer Javier Olivan who’s been with Meta for 15 years. Olivan said he won’t be as “public-facing” as Sandberg and will focus more on working with multiple teams.
Finally, Georgia Department of Public Health officials have confirmed the first potential case of monkeypox in the state. It comes less than a month after the first confirmed U.S. case of monkeypox in 2022 was reported out of Massachusetts. The Georgia patient is a male resident from Metro Atlanta and has a history of international travel. Monkeypox, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus, typically begins with a flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, followed by a rash on the face and body.
Posted on June 1, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
So far this year, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) have announced plans for splitting their stocks.
And, the FOMC’s $9 trillion portfolio is about to be reduced in a process intended to supplement rate hikes and buttress the central bank’s fight against inflation. “Quantitative tightening” is the opposite of “quantitative easing”. It’s basically a way to reduce the money supply floating around in the economy and helps to augment rate hikes in a predictable manner — though, by how much remains unclear.
Finally, the market for public listings [IPOs] has essentially stalled. No companies, including SPACs, went public in the US last week for the first time in two years, according to Renaissance Capital.
Posted on May 31, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Since the year began, the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average entered correction territory with a decline of greater than 10%, while the S&P 500 (very briefly, on an intra-day basis) and NASDAQ Composite both pushed into a bear market. The latter has endured a peak-to-trough drop of as much as 31% in six months.
Terra launched a new version of its failed luna cryptocurrency, which plunged to $0. At its height, the old luna — “luna classic” — had a circulating supply of over $40 billion. The revived luna token is already trading on exchanges but its price is crashing.
Oil prices rose to a two-month high over the holiday weekend, while the average cost of a gallon of gas in the US hit a record of $4.62.
Americans say it takes exactly $2.2 million in net worth to be considered “wealthy,” according to a new Charles Schwab study. The figure is up slightly from 2021, when it sat at $1.9 million, but down from a pre-pandemic “wealthy” high of $2.6 million in 2019. The average net worth it takes to be “financially comfortable” sat at $774,000 in 2022 and is up from $624,000 in 2021, but down from a pre-pandemic high of $1.4 million in 2018.
Posted on May 29, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Crypto-currency trader Capo reported that Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is poised to hit a new 52-week low as another sell-off event is insight. The prediction comes as the market is showing signs of weakness, and as Bitcoin managed to trade above $28,400, slightly higher than its 52-week low of $26,910. Capo warned that the support area of around $28,000 is flashing signs of demand exhaustion, as BTC has revisited the price level six times quickly.
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Finally, some venture capital firms are telling their portfolio companies to start cutting costs and looking for ways to cushion their cash position. It’s a stark contrast to last year, when IPOs were raising record amounts of cash, valuations were sky high and venture firms’ wallets were wide open. For example, Y Combinator said companies have to “understand that the poor public market performance of tech companies significantly impacts VC investing.”
Posted on May 27, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Twitter shares moved firmly higher after Tesla CEO Elon Musk added another $6.25 billion in equity to the financing package in his $44 billion takeover bid.
And, Tesla shares moved higher after Musk closed out a margin loan linked to his $44 billion takeover of Twitter , although gains were capped by a price target cut from analysts at Jefferies.
In March, the House of Representatives voted 414-5 in favor of the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022. If passed by the Senate, and then signed into law by President Joe Biden, the act could represent a massive economic policy shift regarding retirement savings and investment. Now, the next generation known as the SECURE Act 2.0, expands on the original SECURE Act and includes provisions to boost the required minimum distribution (RMD) age from 72 to 75 over time, broaden automatic enrollment in retirement plans, and enhance 403(b) plans.
The DJIA rose for its fifth straight day, as the S&P and NASDAQ are poised to snap their seven-week losing streaks. Retailers are upbeat as shares of Macy’s, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General all soared after exceeding expectations and forecasting positive outlooks. But, Microsoft, Meta, Uber, and Nvidia slowed hiring, and Netflix and Robinhood recently laid off staff. SoftBank’s Vision Fund posted its worst annual loss as a result of the tech downturn.
Posted on May 26, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Guggenheim Partners Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd said he expects Bitcoin to fall to $8,000 and that cryptocurrency has become a market of “a bunch of yahoos.” Minerd said his firm bought Bitcoin at $20,000 and sold when it reached $40,000. Guggenheim no longer holds any Bitcoin, but recommend short selling it. Bitcoin fell from a high of more than $65,000 in November to trade at less than $29,000.
Tesla stock is down more than 40% this year amid a broad-based sell-off in high growth companies. Analysts warn the car maker’s difficulties in China have become impossible to ignore. Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter is also weighing heavily on the stock (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Federal Reserve officials suggested that they may have to raise interest rates to levels that would weaken the economy as part of their drive to curb inflation, which is near a four-decade high. They believed that the Fed should “expeditiously” raise its key rate to a level at which it neither stimulates nor restrains growth, which was set as a rate of about 2.4%.
The USbudget deficit is expected to fall from $2.7 trillion in 2021 to $1 trillion this year, reflecting lower government spending and faster economic growth.
The SEC proposed rule changes that would crack down on misleading claims made by ESG funds and require more transparency from them.
Posted on May 25, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
SPECIAL EDITION
By Staff Reporters
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At least 19 children and two adultswere killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a town about 80 miles west of San Antonio. It was deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary, when 20 children and six staff members were killed in Newtown, CT, in 2012.
The gunman in Uvalde, an 18-year-old man who was a native of the area, also died after being fatally wounded by police who were responding to the scene. He was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, according to CBS News.
Guns surpassed car accidents as the No. 1 cause of death among children in 2020, jumping nearly 30% between 2019 and 2020, per a research letter in the New England Journal of Medicine.
REST IN PEACE
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The Treasury Department will not allow Russia to pay its debt-holders through American banks beginning today, revoking a special license that it had granted Russia since sanctions were first placed. Because Russia can’t use American banks to pay its IOUs, it’s almost guaranteed to default on its debts for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution.
And, you’re probably not going to get monkeypoxfrom someone by brushing past them in the grocery store, CDC official Dr. Jennifer McQuiston said yesterday. It’s mostly spread through continuous physical contact with a person who has an active rash, and sometimes can be spread through respiratory droplets, but that’s “not the predominant worry,” according to McQuiston.
Posted on May 24, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Snapchat shares tanked 30% in extended trading after the social media company told Wall Street that it would not meet revenue and profit targets this quarter.
Starbucks joins the Russian exodus as thecoffee chain will fully exit the Russian market several days after McDonald’s sold its Russian business. Russia is not a significant market for Starbucks, which derives less than 1% of its revenue from its 130 locations in the country.
Conan O’Brien has sold his digital media company, Team Coco, to SiriusXM in a heavyweight deal valued around $150 million. The acquisition is further proof that companies see big money in long conversations.
T-Bond: 2.854%
Capitalism:
Airbnb may shut down all of its mainland China listings by the summer.
Pfizer and BioNTech said that three doses of their Covid vaccine offer strong protection for kids younger than five, and they’ll submit the data to health regulators this week. No other vaccines are authorized yet for this age group.
Chipmaking giant Broadcom is in talks to acquire VMware in what would be among the biggest tech deals ever (nearly $60 billion, potentially).
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