November 30, 2017 | Daily JAM, Notes You Need |
In my daily trawling through the market I come upon lots of tidbits of knowledge that I think are important to investors but that don’t justify a full post. I’ve decided to start compiling these notes here each day in a kind of running mini blog that I’m calling Notes You Need. Here’s one item from today’s posts: “11:20 a.m.: Yesterday the semiconductor sector led the technology sell off with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index (SOX) scoring nearly a 5% retreat with a drop of 4.39%. Recent outperforming stocks led the retreat with Nvidia (NVDA) off 6.78%, Micron Technology (MU) off 8.74%, Cypress Semiconductor (CY) off 6.99%, and Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) off 5.95%. The last 5% pullback came in early August–which was followed by a strong sector rally of more than 25%. Good chance that today was occasioned by traders taking profits”
November 30, 2017 | ARGT, Daily JAM, GGAL, Volatility |
Yesterday Moody’s Investors Service raised Argentina’s credit rating one level to B2 from B3. I added Grupo Financiero Galicia (GGAL) and Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) to my Volatility Portfolio on my expectation that President Mauricio Macri’s macroeconomic reforms would gradually revive the economy and lead to upgrades in the country’s credit rating (and a drop in runaway inflation.)  The two picks are up 69.12% and 7.29%, respectively, since I added them to this portfolio. Argentina is on track, Moody’s said in its upgrade, to turn in two years of economic growth in a row in 2017 and 2108, which would be the first time that’s happened since 2011. Moody’s projects that the Argentine economy will grow by 3% this year and 3.5% in 2018.
November 29, 2017 | Daily JAM, SQM, Stock Alerts |
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were down 3.15% in today's (November 29) session on a report from Reuters that up to 90% of its Model S and Model X vehicles showed defects during quality checks. (Tesla disputes the Reuters story.) On the news, though, lithium stocks fell as...
November 29, 2017 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
The Standard & Poor’s 500 was off 0.04% today. That’s a remarkably good performance given the rout in technology stocks. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) was down 2.21%. If not for bank stocks, the entire market would have been sent reeling today. But bank stocks shouldn’t be rallying on a flattening yield curve. What’s up?
November 28, 2017 | Daily JAM, HDB, Stock Alerts |
It's only sensible to worry about numbers like these--they're just so deliciously good. For the last 10 years, India's HDFC Bank has been able to grow its loan portfolio by 31% annually. It's deposit base has expanded at almost the same rate, 29% annually. That...
November 28, 2017 | Daily JAM, INCY, Stock Alerts |
Maybe you didn't even know there was a biotech dip. If all you've been following in the sector is a stock like Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), a Jubak Picks member (and the call options are a holding in my Volatility Portfolio), you're likely to respond "What dip?" Nektar...
November 28, 2017 | Daily JAM, Notes You Need |
In my daily trawling through the market I come upon lots of tidbits of knowledge that I think are important to investors but that don’t justify a full post. I’ve decided to start compiling these notes here each day in a kind of running mini blog that I’m calling Notes You Need. Blog posts are typically something like this from today: “10:20 a.m.:Â Amazon has reported the ‘best-ever’ holiday shopping weekend (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) for its Echo to, Fire TV Stick, Amazon Echo (AKA Alexa) and Fire 7 tablet. Customers purchased 2.7x as many Fire TV Sticks as in the same period last year. Echo Spot is now sold out for this holiday season. Bet Apple wished that its competing device was going to be available for the Holiday shopping season.”
November 28, 2017 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
When President Donald Trump met with Congressional leaders last September, he emerged with a surprise deal with Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to extend funding for the Federal government for three months–until December 8–and to temporarily suspend the ceiling that caps Federal government debt. Not this time, Trump tweeted today
November 27, 2017 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
The Treasury yield curve continues to get flatter. Today, November 27, the gap between the yield on the 2-year Treasury, at 1.74%, and the 10-year Treasury, at 2.32%, narrowed by another basis point to 58 basis points. (100 basis points make up 1 percentage point.) In the last year the yield on the 10-year Treasury has dropped by 3 basis points while the yield on the 2-year note has climbed by 62 basis points. Frequently, a narrowing yield curve is a sign that we’re headed into a recession. But not this time, in my opinion.
November 27, 2017 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
On Friday oil futures hit a 29-month high. That took West Texas Intermediate to a gain of 8.5% in 2017 to date. However, energy stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 are off 9.8% when the S&P 500 itself is up more than 16% for 2017. Energy stocks normally go up when the price of oil rises Sp how do we explain the decline in energy shares at the same time as oil prices are rising?
November 26, 2017 | Daily JAM |
The battle over the Republican tax cut bill in the Senate will draw most of the attention in the headlines. But the week includes other market moving news on retail sales and OPEC plans for extending production curbs.
November 22, 2017 | Daily JAM, Notes You Need |
In my daily trawling through the market I come upon lots of tidbits of knowledge that I think are important to investors but that don’t justify a full post. I’ve decided to start compiling these notes here each day in a kind of running mini blog that I’m calling Notes You Need. Posts in this mini-blog include items like this: 11:40 a.m.: “Bloomberg calculates that over the past 12 months, Tesla (TSLA) has burned cash at a rate of about $8,000 a minute (or $480,000 an hour.) At this pace, the company is on track to exhaust its current cash pile on Monday, August 6, 2018. Last week the company announced plans to require a $250,000 down payment from prospective buyers of its new Founders Series Roadster, even though the car is more than two years away. Reservations on its regular Roadster will cost $50,000. Companies can also pre-order electric Semi trucks for a $5,000 deposit with production scheduled to start in 2019. Despite these deposits Wall Street analysts project that Tesla will need to raise $2 billion by the middle of 2018.”