Notes You Need for May 4: Apple and Buffett, Argentina again, more from Musk and Tesla, Buffett and IBM, earnings growth exceeds expectations, U.S. rig count, return of FAANG

Notes You Need for May 4: Apple and Buffett, Argentina again, more from Musk and Tesla, Buffett and IBM, earnings growth exceeds expectations, U.S. rig count, return of FAANG

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. A representative item resembles this from today: “11:40 a.m.: Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway has completely sold all its shares of IBM. At the end of the fourth quarter, Berkshire Hathaway held 2.05 million shares of IBM.”

Trick or Trend: Watch those whisper numbers ahead of earnings–some are running dangerously hot

Did Intel and Amazon finally break the sell on earnings beat pattern today?

Okay, this obviously isn’t a Morning Briefing. I wanted to wait and catch the earnings announcements from Amazon, Intel, and Microsoft. All three beat earnings estimates–but this market hasn’t been very generous in rewarding earnings surprises (after Netflix) that is.  The key tests here are to see what the shares did in after-hours trading, after investors and traders saw the earnings news, and to see how the market treats these beats tomorrow.

Special premium report Part 1: My 2018 earnings boom profit strategy–and two picks

Special premium report Part 1: My 2018 earnings boom profit strategy–and two picks

With the report of first quarter earnings season from Netflix (NFLX) on Monday, April 16, we’ve moved into the heart of earnings season. In most quarters traders began putting on plays for earnings announcements a few weeks before reporting starts. And they’ll keep making new bets over the next three weeks or so. In most quarters buying shares or options on companies about to report makes profitable sense. But this strategy is likely to be even more rewarding this year