DAILY UPDATE: Costco Gold, US Dock Workers & OpenAI Funding as Stocks Close Lower

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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Costco, which found success selling gold bars, will now sell platinum ones, too.

US dock workers agreed to return to work after port operators sweetened their contract offer, ending a three-day strike that threatened to disrupt the American economy. The breakthrough Thursday came after port employers offered a 62% increase in wages over six years, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Stocks up

  • Nvidia gained 3.32% after CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview that demand for the company’s new Blackwell chips is “insane.”
  • EVgo soared 60.81% after the EV charging company received both a $1.05 billion loan from the Department of Energy and an upgrade from JP Morgan analysts.
  • Utility stocks soared in the third quarter thanks to higher electricity demand for AI, and it isn’t stopping anytime soon. Both Vistra Corp. and Constellation Energy surged 5.62% and 4.52%, respectively, on comments from Google CEO Sundar Pichai that the tech titan may utilize nuclear energy in the coming years.

Stocks down

  • Levi Strauss sank 7.69% after releasing subpar earnings, cutting its full-year sales forecast , and announcing it may sell its Dockers brand.
  • Tesla fell 3.35% after announcing a recall of over 27,000 Cybertrucks due to issues with their rearview camera.
  • Hims & Hers Health dropped 9.60% on the announcement that Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drugs are no longer on the FDA’s shortage list.
  • Joby Aviation tumbled 8.63%, giving up a portion of yesterday’s gains after the aviation startup received $500 million in additional funding from Toyota.
  • Stellantis, makers of Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler vehicles, sank 4.11% to a new 52-week low today as a combination of terrible sales forecasts and a downgrade from Barclays analysts kicked the automaker while it’s already down.
  • Constellation Brands had strong beer sales but terrible wine and spirits sales last quarter, leading to a mixed earnings report that has shareholders worried about what the future holds. Shares sank 4.70%.

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Here’s where the major stock benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500® index (SPX)fell 10 points (–0.17%) to 5,699.96; the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) dropped 185 points (–0.44%) to 42,011.59; the  NASDAQ Composite® ($COMP) shed 7 points (–0.04%) to 17,918.48.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) added 7 basis points to 3.85%. 
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 1.7 points to 20.59.

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Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple were rumored to be among the investors to participate in OpenAI’s latest funding round, pushing its market cap well beyond $150 billion. However, Apple dropped out of the exercise at the eleventh hour for unclear reasons as OpenAI was about to close the funding round.

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DAILY UPDATE: Costco Gold, CPI, US Stamps and the Mexican Peso as Technology Stocks Rise and Private Equity Takes on Medicine

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Costco started selling gold bars to its members last August, and Wells Fargo analysts believe that the product is now bringing in between $100 million and $200 million a month. The retailer doesn’t reveal the price of the 1-ounce bullion to nonmembers online, but it’s estimated to be ~2% above the spot price gold trades at, per CNBC—and that price has soared since Costco got into the gold game. The price of gold has gone up 13% this year and reached record highs as investors pile in amid inflation worries.

The big numbers from the Consumer Price Index data released on Thursday

  • In March, inflation rose 3.5% from the year before, up from 3.2% in February.
  • The “core” CPI reading, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, came in even higher, rising 3.8% on an annual basis. That’s the same as in February, but this time it’s serious.
  • Half of the increases came from rising gas prices and housing.

After seeing inflation fall by 3% over the course of 2023, Fed officials believed that higher inflation readings in January and February 2024 represented a hiccup in an otherwise downward trajectory. However, with the March reading also coming in hotter than anticipated, analysts say this is more than a fluke. That means hopes for a June interest rate cut are dashed. Even the US Postal Service plans to raise the price of “forever” stamps to $0.73 in July. Get yours now. And the Mexican peso is on an absolute tear, leaving the US dollar behind.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

Here’s where the major stock benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500® index (SPX) advanced 38.42 points (0.7%) to 5,199.06; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® ($DJI) lost 2.43 points to 38,459.08; the NASDAQ Composite gained 271.84 points (1.7%) to 16,442.20.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) rose nearly 2 basis points to 4.578%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) fell 0.89 to 14.91.

Chip maker strength lifted the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) more than 2% and extended the benchmark’s year-to-date gain to more than 17%. Communications services and transportation shares were also among the strongest sectors. Financial shares were mixed ahead of expected quarterly results Friday from some major banks including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC). 

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  • Big businesses such as hospital systems, insurers, and PE firms are gobbling up medical clinics.
  • Some doctors and industry experts fear corporate owners could prioritize profits ahead of patients.
  • The federal government is dialing up scrutiny of PE firms and other corporate owners in healthcare.

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QUESTION: Are Independent doctors almost a thing of the past?

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