Z-SYMBOLS
April 7, 2025 | Daily JAM, Videos, VIX |
Today’s Hot Money Move is The Volatility of the VIX. I’ve been playing the VIX (the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index) as a hedge against market fear, and right now, it’s showing a clear pattern tied to tariff anxiety. Back in January, I bought VIX options when the index was sitting between 14 and 16—near its long-term average of 15 to 17—with strike prices at 20 to 25. Lately, these options have been swinging hard, jumping 30–40% in value before pulling back and then rallying again. The reason? Investors panic ahead of tariff announcements, driving the VIX up as they hedge. But here’s the pattern: once the tariffs are actually announced, the VIX drops as relief sets in. For active traders, this is a short-term play—buy into the fear, sell into the relief. Just remember: these patterns hold until they don’t, so keep a close eye on it if you’re going to make these plays.
April 4, 2025 | Daily JAM, TCEHY, Top 50 Stocks, Videos |
Today’s Quick Pick is Tencent Holdings ADR (TCEHY). Tencent is the world’s biggest computer gaming company and operator of China’s biggest chat platform. I’ve had them in my long term portfolio for a while, but the reason I’m suggesting this stock now is the AI boom happening in China. China is able to build AI models more economically than U.S. AI companies models and Tencent is a big player in the space. Last I checked, they were about 20% undervalued according to Morningstar. If you’re looking for stocks that will move independently from the U.S. market, China’s internet and AI sector is a good place to be.
April 2, 2025 | Daily JAM, TSLA |
Tesla (TSLA0 reported a 13% drop in vehicle sales in the first three months of the year, making it the company’s worst quarter since 2022.
April 2, 2025 | AAPL, Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, NKE, WMT |
My first take away from President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden speech on his new global reciprocal tariff plan is that it worse than expected. In some cases shockingly worse.
April 1, 2025 | AAPL, Daily JAM |
By itself, the display stand in the main Vodafone store in Venice doesn’t prove much. But with the context of European anger at U.S tariffs and consumer boycott of U.S. goods in countries like Denmark, I found the empty rack fro Apple’s iPhone and the big display of phones from China’s Xiaomi, well, suggestive.
March 31, 2025 | Daily JAM, TSLA |
On 2 April, Liberation Day, President Donald Trump will announce a big new round of tariffs on global exports to the United States. And Tesla (TSLA) will release data for first-quarter deliveries. Analysts expect the report to show a dip on the same period last year.
March 30, 2025 | Daily JAM, FXY, Perfect Five-ETFs, Short Term, UUP |
On Monday, March 31, I will sell the Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index BullishFund ETF (UUP) out of the Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio and replace it with the Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY). I will leave the portfolio weighting at 25%. The yen ETF is up 5.32% in the last three months as of the close on March 28. It charges a 0.40% expense ratio.
March 24, 2025 | BABA, Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Short Term, Stock Alerts, Volatility |
Today I added shares of Tencent (TCEHY) and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) to my portfolios at least partly on the strength of China’s AI rally. Tomorrow, March 25, I’d adding shares of Alibaba (BABA) to my Jubak Picks and Volatility portfolios.
March 23, 2025 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Long Term, Mid Term, Stock Alerts, TCEHY, Top 50 Stocks, Volatility |
On Monday, March 24, I’m adding these Tencent ADRs (TCEHY) TO my Jubak Picks and Volatility Portfolios.
March 23, 2025 | Daily JAM, FXI, Jubak Picks, Perfect Five-ETFs, Volatility |
Just because we’ve seen this page from the play book before and just because I’m skeptical about the long-term effects of this policy doesn’t mean I don’t want to own the China rally now. On Monday March 24, I’m adding the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) to my Perfect Five ETF Portfolio and to my Jubak Picks and Volatility portfolios. (In the Perfect Five ETF portfolio I’m replacing my India ETF with this China ETF.)
March 18, 2025 | Daily JAM, DHR, Dividend Income, Jubak Picks, RUN |
I’m selling Danaher (DHR) and RTX (RTX) out of my Jubak Picks and Dividend portfolios, respectively, in an attempt to get ahead of some of the likely fallout from policy moves by the Trump Administration. And in order to sit out as much of current market volatility as is possible.
March 17, 2025 | Daily JAM, LAZR, Long Term, Millennial |
Luminar Technologies (LAZR) surged on Monday after former NASA scientist Mark Rober test-drove a car equipped with the company’s lidar technology in a YouTube video and said it outperformed Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot feature.
