BOARD CERTIFICATION EXAM STUDY GUIDES Lower Extremity Trauma
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Posted on September 13, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By A.I. and Staff Reporters
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Stocks: The NASDAQ rose to its fifth record high of the week, while the S&P 500 and the Dow sank late in the day as investors turned their attention to the FOMC meeting next week.
Bonds: While equities climbed all week long, the bond market has been sending signals that weak economic data really isn’t great news.
Commodities: Oil rallied after President Trump expressed his growing frustration with Vladimir Putin and threatened further energy and financial sanctions. Meanwhile, the US may ask its G7 counterparts to apply 100% tariffs against China and India for purchasing Russian crude.
Posted on August 31, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Rick Kahler; MSFP CFP™
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This month, the U.S. government demanded a direct cut of a company’s foreign sales as the price for letting those sales happen.
Tech companies Nvidia and AMD had been stuck in regulatory limbo over selling their newest AI chips to China. According to an August 12, 2025, Reuters article by Karen Freifeld, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had even received a public “green light” for the company’s H20 chip, but the Commerce Department would not issue the export licenses.
The stalemate ended only after Huang met with President Trump and agreed to a deal: the licenses would be granted, but the U.S. Treasury would get 15% of all H20 revenue from China. AMD agreed to identical terms for its MI308 chip. Two days later, both companies had their licenses.
The numbers are staggering. Bernstein Research estimates Nvidia could sell $15 billion worth of H20 chips in China this year, and AMD about $800 million of MI308s. That is more than $2 billion flowing straight to Washington, not as taxes but as a contractual price for market access. The legality of this arrangement is questionable, and the deal also raises security concerns.
It is worth noting the administration first asked for 20% before “settling” on 15%. This was not a polite request but a “take it or leave it” demand. From a behavioral economics standpoint, the decision was predictable. The pain of losing an entire market is far greater than the pain of losing a fraction of it.
How is this any different from a tariff? A tariff is a standardized, legally defined tax that applies broadly to certain goods and is collected under public trade policy. This 15% cut is a one-off, privately negotiated condition aimed at just two companies, tied to export license approval. It is taken from gross revenue, not profit, meaning the government gets paid on every dollar of sales before the companies cover a single expense.
“Tax farmming” is an old practice where the state sold the right to collect taxes for a fixed sum, allowing the collectors to keep the rest. Its use in France made some people enormously rich, made everyone else furious, and eventually helped spark the French Revolution. Similar systems appeared in Ottoman Egypt, Qing China, and the early Dutch Republic until abuses finally brought them down.
The Nvidia/AMD deal is not exactly tax farming, but it is a similar dynamic. The government’s role is no longer just regulating. It is stepping in as a business partner, taking a direct share of private sales. Supporters might call it a smart use of national leverage. Critics will see a step away from free-market capitalism toward something more political and transactional.
Nor is this deal a one-off. In June, the administration approved foreign investment in U.S. Steel only after securing a “golden share” that gives it veto power over strategic corporate decisions. History teaches us that once a government finds a way to take a cut, it rarely stops with one sector. Today it is steel and AI chips to China. Tomorrow it could be pharmaceuticals, energy, or consumer goods.
What is the likely impact for average Americans? Money flowing to the U.S. Treasury from a source other than taxpayers may seem like a benefit. Yet any company required to give away 15% of its gross revenue, which could equal its entire profit, has to compensate in some way. The most likely result is higher prices. Hiking prices on computer chips sold to China may not seem to be a big deal—until you consider that many of the products that use those chips are sold to U.S. consumers.
Posted on August 27, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By A.I.
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Bonds: Long-term Treasury yields rose and short-term yields fell after President Trump fired Fed Governor Lisa Cook opening the gap between 5-year and 30-year yields to its widest point in three years.
Stocks: Equities barely budged on the latest FOMC drama with investors’ attention fully focused on Nvidia earnings tomorrow afternoon.
Trade Craft: President Trump vowed retaliation against countries that apply a digital services tax against US tech companies. He may also slap a 200% tariff on China if that country restricts trade on rare earth magnets.
Posted on August 12, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By A.I.
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Stocks: Markets struggled to pick a direction as investors took a wait-and-see approach ahead of today’s CPI reading—even as Wall Street worries about the data’s reliability.
Trade: President Trump asked China, the world’s largest soybean buyer, to quadruple its soybean purchases from the US. He also extended the trade war truce with China by 90 days
Commodities: Gold had its worst day in three months as traders waited for the White House to clarify its new tariffs on the key commodity—only for Trump to announce that it won’t be tariffed at all. Meanwhile, Chinese battery giant CATL halted operations at a mine that produces 4% of the world’s lithium, sending prices of the precious metal soaring.
Posted on July 29, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST–TODAY’SNEWSLETTERBRIEFING
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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants
“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“
A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.
Stocks: Investors cheered the news of an EU & US trade deal over the weekend, pushing the S&P 500 above 6,400 for the first time ever. But the index gave up most of its gains late in the day as attention turned to a huge week of data ahead (more on that in a minute).
Trade: Today was the first day of discussions between US and Chinese negotiators in Stockholm to keep the trade war truce alive. Elsewhere, President Trump foresees a baseline 15% to 20% tariff rate for the rest of the world.
Commodities: Gold fell as trade deal hopes heightened investors’ risk appetite, while oil spiked higher after Trump gave Russia a 10- to 12-day deadline to sign a truce with Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, 83% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings have outpaced Wall Street’s estimates, putting the index on pace for its best season of beats since the second quarter of 2021.
Stocks: The multi-day rally wavered this afternoon as investors turned their attention to big tech earnings tomorrow. The S&P 500 closed at a record high, while the NASDAQ finally broke its hot streak.
FOMC: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sees no reason for Jerome Powell to step down, while President Trump tempered his outrage against the Fed chair. Instead, well-known economist Mohamed El-Erian took up the gauntlet.
Trade: Bessent said China may get an extension to make a true trade deal, while promising a “rash of trade deals” in the coming days. Speaking of, Trump declared the US has made a deal with the Philippines capping import levies at 19%.
Posted on June 28, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By A.I.
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Deals: The US and China revealed the details of their trade deal framework, easing restrictions on rare earth metals and semiconductor chips. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick promised up to 10 more deals are on their way ahead of the July 9th tariff-pause deadline, but that probably won’t include Canada: President Trump ended all trade discussions with the country thanks to a dispute over the digital services tax.
Stocks: Indexes climbed at the open thanks to the deal with China, but they tumbled on news of a fallout with Canada. Still, the S&P 500 managed to post its 1,245th new all-time high, while the NASDAQ booked its own record close. The Dow trundled higher as well, though it’s still about 1,600 points below its previous record.
Bonds: The 10-year yield fell after CPI came in lower than analysts expected. The Treasury Department’s auction of 10-year bonds also went well, with strong participation from traders a key sign of demand for fixed income. Zero Coupon: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2024/11/12/bonds-zero-coupon/
Posted on June 10, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By AI
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Stocks: Equities inched higher on a handful of optimistic headlines. First, the US and China trade teams met in London today with hopes the two superpowers could resolve disputes over export curbs. Also, a new survey from the New York Fed found that consumer expectations for inflation eased across all time horizons in May. STOCKS: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2025/04/18/stocks-basic-definitions/
S&P 500 surges 20% in Six Weeks as Stock Market Euphoria Returns to Wall Street
U.S. stock markets surged after an agreement between the Trump administration and China to lower tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 1,000 points, while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 gained nearly 600 and about 100 points, respectively last week. The improvement has erased recent losses from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The U.S. and China agreed to reduce tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90 days. The U.S. will lower tariffs on Chinese products from 145% to 30%, while China will cut its tariffs on American imports from 125% to 10%.
This unexpected breakthrough has eased tensions in their trade war and positively impacted global markets.
Posted on May 14, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Rick Kahler MSFP CFP™
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If I had a dollar for every time someone referred to the “good old days,” of the American economy, I could probably buy a vintage diner, jukebox and all, and still have enough left for a slice of apple pie.
The newest round of on-again, off-again tariffs is built around that same kind of nostalgia. Slapping big taxes on goods from other countries will supposedly protect American jobs and industries. The aim is to bring factories back, boost wages, and make the country more self-reliant.
This is a powerful story that taps into a deep feeling that we’ve lost control. Supporters argue that the U.S. has opened its markets and played by the rules, allowing many other countries to prosper at its expense, while America has been in a long, slow economic decline. This story frames the U.S. as a victim, with tariffs a form of payback to punish countries that have “taken advantage of us.”
Except that story is a myth. Rather than punishing foreign economies, the pain of tariffs hits Americans at home. Our businesses face costlier goods, consumers pay higher prices at the store, and the ripple effects include falling sales, layoffs, and frayed trade relationships.
In addition, the U.S. economy has actually been booming. Over the past three decades, the U.S. has pulled far ahead of most developed nations. In 2008, the American economy was about the same size as the Eurozone’s. Today, it’s nearly twice as large. Wages have risen. Even the poorest U.S. state now has a higher per-person income than countries like France, Japan, or the U.K.
So why do so many people still feel like we’re falling behind?
First, the growth hasn’t reached everyone, especially in rural America. In some areas and industries, jobs have disappeared and opportunities have dwindled.
Second, many people who are doing okay themselves have bought into a powerful, repeated myth that things are going terribly for everyone else.
This narrative takes hold in people’s internal voices, the parts of themselves shaped by past pain, fear, or frustration. Tariffs, then, can feel like a way to stand up and take action. It makes perfect sense to want to relieve anxiety by shutting the world out and protecting what is left.
Yet, when we act from fear or anger without pausing to reflect, we tend to overcorrect or trade one set of problems for another. This is what many economists and business leaders see happening with tariffs. Even supporters of tariffs are beginning to admit they’re a gamble. Many are still willing to take that gamble if it means restoring something they feel they’ve lost, a sense of purpose, security, and control.
Reacting out of fear in this way is not likely to create lasting solutions. A more challenging but more productive approach would be to take time to listen with compassion to those inner voices, helping them move past anxiety to find answers based in truth rather than myth. Maybe real liberation comes from letting go of narratives that no longer serve us, choosing a future built on connection, courage, and clarity.
Because if we keep heading down an isolationist path, turning inward out of fear, the future might not be the golden age we imagine. It might look a lot more like the actual 1950s, before the civil rights movement, before women fully entered the workforce, before the innovations that made the U.S. economy a global leader. A time more isolated, less equal, and far less dynamic than the one we’ve come to idealize.
That’s a version of the past we don’t need to relive, no matter what nostalgic song is playing on the jukebox.
Posted on May 12, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
BREAKING NEWS
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: After stomach-churning ups and downs this spring, the stock market calmed down last week with all three major indexes holding steady and closing just a bit lower. This week, investors will be glued to the details of the trade agreement with China, an inflation report, and more earnings.
Breaking News Overnight: After talks in Switzerland this weekend, the US and China agreed to a large reduction in tariffs on each other. The US is lowering its tariffs on China from 145% to 30%, while China is lowering its tariffs on the US from 125% to 10%. The new tariff rates will be in effect for 90 days while the two sides continue talking.
Posted on May 7, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Rick Kahler CFP™ MSFP
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DECLINE OF THE DOLLAR
On-again, off-again tariffs. Rising prices. Dramatic market swings. The anxiety-producing headlines come so fast it’s hard to know what to worry about first. Meanwhile, one serious consequence of all this chaos is going almost unnoticed. That is the decline of the dollar.
Since the start of this year, the value of the U.S. dollar has slipped more than 10% against other major currencies. That drop is not just an economic statistic. It affects all Americans’ daily lives.
People are feeling the pinch of rising prices at checkout lines, gas stations, and shipping counters. But there isn’t a full understanding of why. Tariffs are only half the story. The weakening dollar amplifies those price increases even further.
For years, the dollar remained strong even as the national debt ballooned. It benefited from its reputation as a safe haven, from global demand, and from U.S. interest rates. But much of that strength, as we now see, was fragile—propped up more by perception than fundamentals. In April, sweeping tariffs triggered a sharp market correction, and the dollar suddenly fell to its lowest point in over three years. Market confidence vanished overnight.
This was more than a market reaction. It signaled a collapse in trust—not just in policy, but in principle. It is no longer a given that the U.S. will act with consistency, reason, and long-term responsibility. What’s unraveling is both our country’s financial credibility and the moral foundation that underpinned it.
When a currency represents a nation, its value reflects more than economics. It reflects governance, accountability, stability, and integrity. When the dollar stumbles, it speaks to who we are, and whether we can still be counted on.
Yet, most people aren’t talking about the decline of the dollar. This may come from being overwhelmed, choosing to ignore even more bad news, or actually believing that this is a necessary step in making things better. It is not.
We all respond differently to financial uncertainty. Some lean into hyper-vigilance—tightening budgets, tracking every headline. Others shut down, turning toward distraction. Still others press on as if nothing has changed. These are all natural human reactions.
They are not the same as leadership. And leadership—internal and external—is what’s needed now. Not panic. Not blame. Just the courage to face where we are and the willingness to start again from there.
But leadership is in short supply in Washington, where many in both parties remain silent. Some fear political retribution from the administration, others fear backlash from increasingly extreme and vocal constituencies. That silence costs us all.
A respected government official recently told me that, while some of the domestic damage to our economy could be repaired within a few years, rebuilding global confidence in the United States may take a generation. That is a reflection of the rapid erosion of trust that has already happened in the last three months. Trust that took decades to build has been unwound in a matter of weeks. Even if we reversed every policy decision tomorrow, the damage is done.
We cannot change what’s already happened. We can still choose to show up. To pay attention. To have the hard conversations. To lead our own financial lives with more clarity, integrity, and intention than before. That kind of personal leadership may not fix the dollar. But it can help rebuild what underlies its value: trust, steadiness, and the moral grounding we’ve begun to lose.
Because the dollar’s decline is more than an economic headline.
It’s a story about who we are—and whether we’re ready to live with open eyes in a world where the old assumptions no longer hold.
Posted on May 5, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST–TODAY’SNEWSLETTERBRIEFING
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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants
“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“
A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.
U.S. stock futures declined after the S&P 500 notched its longest winning streak in more than 20 years last week. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down around 280 points, or 0.7%, as of 11 p.m. Eastern. S&P 500 futures and NASDAQ-100 futures were off about 0.8%.
The labor market stayed strong. The US added 177,000 jobs in April, while unemployment stayed steady at 4.2%, new Labor Department data shows. That was slightly less job growth than the month before, but still more than expected, and it shows a resilient labor environment even as the president’s introduction of tariffs roiled the stock and bond markets and raised concerns about a recession. President Trump celebrated the news in a Truth Social post that once again urged the Fed to cut interest rates.
Markets: Stocks soared like a balloon whose string a toddler couldn’t keep hold of yesterday. Unexpectedly strong jobs data for last month and reports that China is open to trade talks helped push the S&P 500 to its longest winning streak in more than 20 years (more on that later), erasing the losses from recent tariff turmoil. On its own impressive streak is Netflix, which hit an all-time high and finished its 11th day in the green for its longest positive run ever.
Crude oil futures dropped more than 3% Sunday after OPEC+ agreed to accelerate production increases for a second straight month in June by 411K bbl/day.
U.S. WTI crude (CL1:COM) for June delivery recently traded -3.4% at $56.28/bbl and July Brent crude (CO1:COM) -3.2% at $59.34/bbl, with both front-month contracts touching their lowest levels since April 9th.
Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.
Posted on April 25, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Vitaliy Katsenelson CFA
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Tesla market value of $780 billion mostly reflects Elon’s future dreams, not car sales. The reality? Only $100-180 billion tied to the actual vehicle business.
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Tesla has a market capitalization as of this writing of $780 billion. It made around $14 billion of profit in 2023 and $7 billion in 2024. A good chunk of profit comes not from selling cars but from regulatory credits. It sold fewer cars in 2024 than in 2023. Unless we see a significant shift change in battery capacity, speed of charging, and improved quality and availability of charging infrastructure, we have reached peak EV penetration (I wrote about this earlier).
However, today Tesla is not trading based on car sales but on future dreams of self-driving robo-taxis, robots, semis, and whatever else Elon dreams up. The car company may be worth $100–180 billion; the rest is what investors are willing to pay for Elon’s dreams.
Quick thoughts on each dream:
Self-driving: I would not trust my life or my kids’ lives to a car company that only uses cameras. They are passive sensors that have limited range and are easily impacted by bad weather. I’ve used Tesla self-driving software – it is great most of the time, except when it’s not – and then it might kill you or others.
Robo-taxis: They may work in geo-fenced areas, but they pose a huge reputational risk to Tesla. One death and this business is done. That’s what happened to Uber’s self-driving business, and why Google’s Waymo has taken a much more conservative route. It uses radar/lidar and launched the service in geo-fenced areas first.
Semis: They were announced in 2017 and were going to hit the road the next year. They are still not out there. I suspect Elon is waiting for a breakthrough in battery technology.
Robots: Exciting, huge market, but this will be a crowded field.
New competition: There are lots of Chinese EVs invading Europe and the rest of the world. BYD looks like a real competitor.
China looked like a great opportunity for Tesla, but may turn into a liability if the trade war intensifies.
Finally, though at times he seems superhuman, Musk is constrained by the number of hours in the day. As of today he is running Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter (x.com), xAI (the maker of Grok – a ChatGPT competitor), The Boring Company, Neuralink, and oh, yes, DOGE. The EV market is getting more, not less, competitive.
Posted on April 11, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST–TODAY’SNEWSLETTERBRIEFING
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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants
“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“
A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.
The S&P 500 (GSPC) dropped almost 3.5%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite (IXIC) tumbled 4.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 1,000 points, or 2.5%. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX), in high focus amid bond market whiplash, ended the day flat around 4.39%.
The major averages sank to session lows after the White House confirmed updated tariff figures released on Thursday brings the total increased levies on Chinese goods to 145%, not 125% as previously stated.
Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.
Posted on April 10, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Treasury notes are typically considered one of the world’s safest safe-haven assets—the US has always repaid bondholders on their investment, plus yield (interest). That’s why you can usually count on the bond market to rally when the stock market craters. And, vice-versa. But not this time:
The benchmark 10-year bond yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, had its steepest spike this week since the 2008 financial crisis. The 10-year yield is more closely watched than the 30-year yield (which also spiked) in part because it influences home and auto loan rates.
A Treasury auction of 3-year bonds on Tuesday was met with the softest demand since December 2023. That helped drive the bond sell-off on fears of a pullback among international investors, who hold $8.5 trillion in US Treasuries (Japan and China lead the pack).
Posted on April 9, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Just after midnight, President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs went into effect against 86 countries. Analysts have estimated that the new US average effective tariff rate is north of 20%, the highest in more than 100 years. Ahead of the tariff deadline, markets swung violently, mostly way down: According to Bloomberg’s Cameron Crise, yesterday was the fourth straight trading day when the S&P 500’s trading range was 5% or more. That’s only happened in 1987, 2008, and 2020.
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The Apple A18 and Apple A18 Pro are a pair of 64-bit ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series. They are used in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineups and the iPhone 16e, and built on a second generation 3 nm process by TSMC.
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Yesterday, for several hours on Tuesday, it looked like stocks were going to regain some of the ground lost during the market’s very bad week. But after the Trump administration made it clear that its increased tariffs on China would go into effect, all three indexes plunged. Apple, which makes most of its iPhones in China, was hit harder than many of its Big Tech peers.
So shoppers are thinking it’s better to have an Apple A18 processor and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Apple customers are scrambling to buy new iPhones out of fear that the company could raise prices to offset President Trump’s tariffs.
Employees at locations throughout the US said they’re being bombarded with questions about potential price hikes and have witnessed customers panic-buying phones. Though Apple declined to comment to Bloomberg, its retail stores reportedly saw higher sales over the last weekend than in previous years.
Posted on February 11, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST–TODAY’SNEWSLETTERBRIEFING
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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants
“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“
A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.
Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) detected a data breach on Jan. 2 after identifying unusual activity within its computer systems. An investigation confirmed that a skilled hacker had accessed and extracted data but did not delete or lock any information. If CHC’s claims are accurate, this is a positive outcome, as hackers often deploy ransomware, a type of attack in which they lock systems and demand payment before restoring access.
Over one million Floridians have had their health insurance revoked as a result of a nationwide disenrollment from coverage that was previously safeguarded as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrolment in Florida has fallen from 5.1 million to 3.8 million between March 2023 and October 2024, according to health care research non-profit the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
US stocks bounced back on Monday as investors looked beyond President Trump’s latest tariff threats, including new levies on steel and aluminum imports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added nearly 0.4% after the blue-chip index on Friday booked its worst loss in nearly four weeks. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.6%, while the NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC) popped nearly 1% as shares of AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) surged 3%, along with other tech stocks.
Posted on February 5, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST–TODAY’SNEWSLETTERBRIEFING
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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants
“Serving Almost One Million Doctors, Financial Advisors and Medical Management Consultants Daily“
A Partner of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors , Inc.
‘There are people with high I.Q.s who have fooled themselves on that one,’ Bill Gates the billionaire Microsoft co-founder told The New York Times. Gates’ comments come as Bitcoin has hit record highs in recent weeks, and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole has hailed the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House as a positive moment.
The President has said he will introduce policies supportive of digital currencies, and both him and his wife Melania launched their own meme coins last month. Cryptocurrency prices took a hit on Monday from the prospect of a trade war between the US and its trading partners, with some well-known digital assets seeing values fall more than 10 percent, AP News reported. However the notoriously volatile investment recovered later on Monday, with Bitcoin rebounding back above $100,000. Gates, who has a net worth of around $165 billion, has previously shared his skepticism around Bitcoin, and its volatility in particular.
US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, led by Big Tech, as investors assessed China’s instant retaliation to US President Donald Trump’s additional tariffs and the potential risks of a trade war.
Traders also took in fresh jobs data, with job openings declining more than expected in December. Investors are continuing to watch any signs of cooling in the labor market as the Federal Reserve debates future interest rate cuts in the face of sticky inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained around 0.3%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.7%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC) jumped nearly 1.4% to recoup some of Monday’s losses.
Beijing reacted swiftly on Tuesday to Trump’s additional 10% levies on Chinese imports going into effect at midnight. China slapped tariffs of 15% on US coal and liquified natural gas, starting Feb. 10, alongside 10% duties on imports of crude oil, farm equipment, and some autos.
Posted on January 19, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
BREAKING NEWS!
By Staff Reporters
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Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now
A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.
We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
In the meantime, you can still log in to download your data.
Posted on January 10, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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China’s 10-year bond yield plunged to a record low this month, while the Chinese currency [yuan] traded in Hong Kong on Wednesday hit its weakest against the U.S. dollar in more than a year.
The People’s Bank of China is “trying to cool down the market by suspending government bond buying,” said Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie.
And, the U.S. economy added a much larger-than-expected total of new hires last month, adding more upward pressure to wage inflation and likely stoking a further selloff in U.S. Treasury bonds.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 256,000 new jobs were created last month, well ahead Wall Street’s 164,000 forecast and the down-wardly revised 212,000 reading from November.
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Finally, Wall Street’s major averages are tumbling today as investors digested the hotter than expected jobs report. Early on and the S&P 500 (SP500) was -1.7%, the NASDAQ Composite (COMP:IND) was -2.2%, and the Dow (DJI) was -1.3%.
Posted on December 31, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The Li Keqiang Index was created in 2010 by The Economist and measure’s China’s economy using three indicators: railway cargo volume, electricity consumption and bank loans.
The index is seen as an alternative to official gross domestic product numbers released by the Chinese government.
Posted on November 29, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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The Li Keqiang Index was created by The Economist and measure’s China’s economy using three indicators: railway cargo volume, electricity consumption and bank loans.
According to Wikipedia and a leaked US State Department Memorandum, Li Keqiang (then the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Liaoning) told a US ambassador in 2007 that the GDP figures in Liaoning were unreliable and that he himself used the three other indicators: [1] railway cargo volume, [2] electricity consumption and [3] bank loans
The “Keqiang index” is also used by Haitong Securities released in 2013, suggesting decelerating China’s economic growth since the beginning of 2013
The index is seen as an alternative to official gross domestic product numbers released by the Chinese government.
These are considered to be large developing economies that are part of a global, twenty-first century shift in economic power and influence away from the more established, traditional developed economies of the twentieth century.
Posted on September 27, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
BREAKING NEWS
By Staff Reporters
Tropical Storm Helene made landfall in Florida last night as a Category 4 hurricane, the strongest to ever hit the state’s Big Bend. It is a huge and powerful storm—with a wind field that could span the distance between tjhe State of Maryland/Washington, DC, and Indianapolis/Chicago—that has already caused historic flooding to some of Florida’s coastal communities.
How bad is it? The Waffle House Index, which has been used by FEMA as an indicator of a storm’s severity, closed all of its locations in Tallahassee, Florida. The Waffle House Index [WHI] is an informal metric named after the Waffle House restaurant chain, headquartered in Georgia, and used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to determine the effect of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for disaster recovery.
And, as of 8am EST, Helene has weakened to a Category 1 as it’s moved into Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 2 million customers are without power across Florida, Georgia, and North/South Carolina. You can get real-time updates here, as we hope everyone in the region is staying safe.
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Stock market yesterday: The S&P 500 clinched a fresh new record amid GDP data and micro chip stock gains.and Stonk Stocks. Stonk, a deliberate misspelling of stock (meaning “a share of the value of a company which can be bought, sold, or traded as an investment”), was coined in a 2017 meme. The word is often used humorously on the internet to imply a vague understanding of financial transactions or poor financial decisions.
Upbeat GDP data and new stimulus measures in China were largely to thank. One of the day’s big winners was Southwest Airlines, which soared after executives announced plans to revitalize the business.
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*** Designated a Doody’s Core Title!
To keep up with the ever-changing field of health care, we must learn new and re-learn old terminology in order to correctly apply it to practice. By bringing together the most up-to-date abbreviations, acronyms, definitions, and terms in the health care industry, the Dictionary offers a wealth of essential information that will help you understand the ever-changing policies and practices in health insurance and managed care today.
Posted on January 17, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Many analysts are talking about a rebound in healthcare stocks in 2024. If that’s the case, investors should load up on shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and buy the dip after the company’s Q4 results. The largest healthcare insurer in the U.S. reported Q4 financial results that beat Wall Street forecasts on the top and bottom lines. But, UNH stock dropped 3% due to higher-than-expected utilization rate for medical services.
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Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery app Drizly, the company confirmed, three years after acquiring the platform for $1.1 billion. Drizly will officially shut down at the end of March, Uber told The Associated Press. That means orders are open until then, Drizly said in details posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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And, after a rocky couple of years for the Chinese economy, the country’s stock market appears to be in free fall now, with authorities asking institutional investors not to sell stocks in an attempt to stabilize share prices as foreigners are pulling out. On Monday, Chinese equities dipped after the country’s central bank decided to keep its medium-term policy rate unchanged at 2.5 percent, failing to cut interest as was widely expected by investors. The country’s CSI 300 was at its lowest level since 2019, a record only previously beaten in October 2023.
Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:
The S&P 500® index (SPX) fell 17.85 points (0.4%) to 4,765.98; the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 231.86 points (0.6%) to 37,361.12; the NASDAQ Composite® (COMP) declined 28.41 points (0.2%) to 14,944.35.
The 10-year Treasury note yield rose about 11 basis points to 4.06%.
The CBOE® Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.59 to 13.84.
Banks and energy shares were among the weakest performers Tuesday, the latter sector pressured by a 1.1% drop in crude oil futures. Climbing yields appeared to drag down financial shares, with the KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX) sinking 1.7% to its lowest level in over a month. Semiconductors were among the few sectors to post gains.
Driving much of the tech slump was a 4% drop by Apple’s stock, a dive precipitated by an analyst downgrade questioning why the $2.9 trillion (market capitalization) company is trading at such an expensive valuation considering its negative earnings and profit growth.
Other members of the “magnificent seven” tech stocks, which gained a collective $5.1 trillion in market cap last year, also flailed Tuesday. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta each fell 1.6% or more, while Tesla was the sole magnificent seven member in the green, as its shares slipped less than 1% after reporting more fourth-quarter electric vehicle deliveries than fore-casted.
Here is where the major benchmarks ended:
The S&P 500 index was down 27.00 points (0.6%) at 4,742.83; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) was up 25.50 points (0.1%) at 37,715.04; the NASDAQ Composite was down 245.41 points (1.6%) at 14,765.94.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was up about 7 basis points at 3.931%.
The CBOE® Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.73 at 13.18.
Semiconductor companies led the way lower Tuesday after Bloomberg reported Netherlands-based ASML Holding NV (ASML) canceled shipments of some of its machines to China at the request of U.S. President Biden’s administration weeks before export bans on the high-end chipmaking equipment came into effect. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) tumbled 3.7%. Health care and energy sectors were among the few areas of strength, the latter gaining despite a 1.6% drop in crude oil futures.
Posted on November 14, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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DEFINITION: In the USA shutdowns occur when funding legislation required to finance the Federal Government is not enacted before the next fiscal year begins. In a shutdown, the federal government curtails agency activities and services, ceases non-essential operations, furloughs non-essential workers, and retains only essential employees in departments that protect human life or property. Shutdowns can also disrupt state, territory and local levels of government.
Fortunately, prices held steady for consumers and are growing at a slower pace, the U.S. government just reported Tuesday morning, as overall prices in October were the same as what consumers paid in September.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says prices in October were unchanged as gasoline prices declined and shelter costs continued to rise. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.2% compared to a year ago, the latest sign that inflation is slowing down as interest rates rise and the job market gives up some of its recent strength.
And, the stock markets rocked upward as Presidents Biden and Xi meet in San Francisco and Congress counts down toward a possible government shutdown. As stocks were a mixed bag yesterday as investors kept their eyes trained on Washington for the latest inflation good news data and to see whether lawmakers can hammer out a budget deal to keep the government from shutting down on Friday.
Yet, Boeing stock took off following reports that China may soon end its freeze on the 737 Max, as well as the announcement of several deals for new aircraft, including Emirates’s $52 billion order for 95 planes.
Posted on September 8, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
APPLE
The NASDAQ fell for the fourth-straight session as Apple stock—its biggest component—comes under major pressure.
Apple has lost ~$200 billion in market value over the past two days since Bloomberg reported the Chinese government was going to widen its ban on using iPhones. Any threat to Apple’s business in China is going to worry investors—it’s the company’s biggest international market and a production hub.
Posted on August 18, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Stat: 0.7%. That’s how much retail sales grew last month, a sign that inflation isn’t dampening consumer spending or demand. (CNBC)
Quote:“This is pure market economics. We do not magically have thousands of additional AI developers, product managers, and everything else.”—Paul J. Groce, partner and head of the Americas at recruitment firm Leathwaite, on how a talent shortage is driving up wages for AI positions. (the Wall Street Journal)
Read: The teetering company threatening China’s economy. (the New York Times)
Posted on August 17, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Intel said yesterday it had agreed to ditch a deal to buy Israeli chip manufacturer Tower Semiconductor (and pay Tower a $353 million fee) after Chinese regulators failed to conduct a required antitrust review of the acquisition before a crucial deadline.
The scuttled purchase comes amid tension between the US and China over technology, especially chips, which the Biden administration has worked to restrict China’s access to them.
Posted on July 17, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: Stocks are rolling following a week that showed our inflation emergency seems to be ending, and big banks are still raking in big profits. The Fed’s so-called “soft landing” scenario—getting inflation down without tipping the economy into a recession—is a distinct possibility, as long as corporate finances don’t end up being shockingly bad this earnings season.
Global economy: While the US economy is chugging along, the same can’t be said for China. Growth in the world’s No. 2 economy hardly budged between the first and second quarters, while youth unemployment hit a record last month. Expect President Xi Jinping to make moves to juice China’s stagnating GDP.
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Curiously, Cathie Wood’s flagship exchange-traded fund has rallied more than 50% this year. Investors are using that as an opportunity to get out.
They have pulled a net $717 million from the ARK Innovation ETF over the past 12 months, according to FactSet. That exodus marks a notable shift for a fund that had consistently drawn investor cash since its 2014 inception. Once the largest actively managed ETF with nearly $30 billion in assets under management, the fund has shrunk to roughly $9 billion, mostly due to investment losses.
Known by its ticker symbol ARKK, Wood’s fund became an investor darling shortly after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic with hugely successful bets on unprofitable and “disruptive” technology companies. It took in huge amounts of investor money, culminating with a $6.5 billion inflow in the first quarter of 2021, when its share price peaked.
Then, the Federal Reserve’s fastest interest-rate hiking campaign in decades crushed the valuations of unprofitable growth companies, which often attract investors when interest rates are low and returns on safer investments such as CDs are minimal. Shares of ARKK plunged 67% in 2022, but its investors largely held on or bought the dip.
Now, analysts say they expect some of those investors are getting out for good?
Posted on April 13, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Stock share spotlight
Alibaba shares dipped yesterday thanks to China’s efforts to crack down on AI chatbots and fell even further after-hours when the Financial Times reported that SoftBank has sold off most of its stake in the company.
Posted on January 26, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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U.S. equities came well off their lows of the day to finish nearly where they began, as the Street sifted through a slew of mixed results with Q4 earnings season kicking into gear.
IOW: A seismic morass.
Dow member Microsoft topped profit projections, but its revenues and guidance disappointed, and Dow Component Boeing Company posted an unexpected loss, and its revenues came in short of forecasts. Elsewhere, AT&T exceeded earnings estimates and topped subscriber expectations, which are overshadowing its lackluster guidance, and Texas Instruments is lower on its outlook. The economic calendar was relatively light today, with the lone report being a third-straight weekly gain for mortgage applications.
Treasury yields were lower, and the U.S. dollar lost ground, while crude oil prices were nearly unchanged, and gold prices were higher.
And, Asia finished mixed, with mainland China and Hong Kong remaining closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, and Europe was mostly lower as investors continued to digest yesterday’s flood of manufacturing and services data.
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Finally, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is weighing a sale of its pharmacy automation business, which could fetch up to $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Posted on November 6, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: Stocks closed their otherwise terrible week on a high note following another solid jobs report for October. The US economy added 261,000 jobs last month, more than expected, though the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7%. The Fed wants to see the labor market loosen up before it’s willing to slow down its rate hikes.
Stock spotlight: Carvana, the online used car retailer that surged during the pandemic, suffered its worst day ever and closed near its all-time low. Carvana’s plunge of more than 95% this year makes it a prime example of Covid darlings that were caught flat-footed when the macroeconomic environment deteriorated and pandemic trends (like huge demand for used cars) snapped back to normal.
DraftKings stock had its worst day on record, down nearly 28%, after revealing a longer-than-expected path to profitability.
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Is China going to loosen its Covid policies? Investors pounced on rumors this week that Beijing was thinking about relaxing its draconian Covid precautions, sending Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index to its best week in a decade. Separately, Reuters obtained a recording of a former Chinese disease control official telling a conference that China would be making big changes to its “dynamic-zero” Covid policy.
Posted on April 23, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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US stocks plunged yesterday with the Dow Jones falling nearly 1,000 points as investors grappled with new comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that indicate bigger interest rate hikes ahead.
For the week, the Dow finished down 1.85%, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.7%, and the NASDAQ crashed 3.8%. The Dow Jones marked its fourth consecutive weekly decline, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 registered their third straight weekly drops.
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Despite the bearishness in the stock market, first-quarter corporate earnings continue to beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. According to data from Fundstrat, of the 95 companies that have reported so far, or 19% of the S&P 500, results are beating profit estimates by a median of 6%. Meanwhile, revenue estimates have been beating by a median of 3%.
Ukraine announced limits on bitcoin purchases Friday to protect against capital flight as Russia’s war on the country pushes into a third month. The National Bank of Ukraine is banning bitcoin purchases made with the hyrvnia and is capping purchases made with foreign currencies at $3,300 a month.
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China’s yuan was on track for its worst weekly drop since 2015 on Friday, as investors rushed back to the US. The offshore yuan, or renminbi, had fallen 2.4% over the week to 6.53 per dollar, according to Bloomberg data.
The S&P 500 dropped and erased earlier gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also turned lower. The NASDAQ fell more than 2% and extended losses when the tech-heavy index was weighed down by a slide in Netflix. Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) shares rose after the electric vehicle-maker handily exceeded expectations in its fiscal first-quarter results.
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Treasury bond yields climbed after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested the case for front-loading interest rate hikes with 50 basis-point increases in order to quickly address persistent inflationary pressures. San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly also suggested in an interview with Yahoo Finance that she would back a larger-than-typical 50 basis point interest rate hike following the Fed’s May meeting given current price pressures.
China: The nation’s securities regulator issued investor guidance for the country’s giant social security fund, just as the benchmark CSI 300 Index was heading toward the lowest level since June 2020.
Posted on January 18, 2022 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
By Staff Reporters
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Markets: The stock market was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Maybe a day off is just what the market needs to score its first winning week of 2022. But … For many stocks, 2022 was a real bear of a year. More than 220 US-listed companies with a market cap of $10+ billion are down at least 20% from their peaks. And things are even worse in the tech-heavy NASDAQ, where 39% of companies have dropped at least half from their all-time highs.
Economy: A combo of Omicron disruptions, higher inflation, and shortages of everything has caused forecasters to lower their projections for economic growth this quarter. Analysts surveyed by the WSJ dropped their Q1 forecast to 3% annual growth from 4.2% back in October.
China: World shares were mixed after China reported that its economy expanded at an 8.1% annual pace in 2021, though growth slowed to half that level in the last quarter. And, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Shanghai advanced while Hong Kong and Seoul declined.
Posted on May 10, 2021 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™
A PODCAST PRESENTATIONON THE C.C.P.
By Vitaliy Katsenelson, CFA
EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the last six months, my value investing management colleague Vitaliy Katsenelson has skewed his IMA’s portfolios more towards defense companies.
–Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA CMP®
WHY THE SHIFT?
The world appears less safe today than at any time since the Berlin Wall came down. Fast-forward two decades from then to now, and we find a drastically different world.
For example, China’s large Long March 5b rocket has fallen to Earth mostly as expected, much to the chagrin of critics. And some suggest the country is gearing up for “World War III” after Congress passed a multi-billion dollar defense Bill on Friday which President Donald Trump had previously vetoed.
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