The Long Term Investor

Yeah.....poor Intel. The...."old man"....of the chip business. I dont see a lot of upside potential for this company any time soon.

Your non-retirement account is kicking ass this year.....TireSmoke......+32% is a very powerful gain year to date. With that sort of gain.........definately tech, tech, tech, and only for the investor with BIG risk tolerance.

How do you.......balance.......this very volatile and risky portfolio with your retirement account? I assume this is in a taxable brokerage account.....if so......I like that approach. I think way too many people have all their stock market money in retirement vehicles. I found out over my lifetime that it was a very good thing to have significant assets in a non-retirement brokerage account.

 

Zukodany.......yeah. My prior Tesla adventure was not intended to be a long term holding.....it was a medium term play on some very specific factors. It worked out well with the nice 150% return in less than a year.

NOW.....I believe the time was right for me to get into the Tesla stock.....long term. In my usual fashion......I made the buy NOW.......versus waiting for some buy point. Since this money was already market money in PG.....I consider it a lateral move....and if Tesla outperforms PG over the long term.....it will be a positive move. Over the medium term.......1-2 years......I will consider moving more of the PG funds into this stock. BUT....I dont want to bail on PG at this moment. I consider it my most.....defensive....holding. PG.....is not anywhere near my largest holding since my other stocks have outperformed it over the past years and grown to represent much more of my portfolio.

SO.....a move for me....but not very significant in terms of my overall portfolio.

 

I like the approach of just having the 401K ALL in the SP500 and being passive. At your age...I think that is a very nice balance between the two accounts.....one passive and general market returns....the other high risk and the potential for outsize returns.

Your approach is pretty much what I did over my investing life. Once I felt like I had secured my retirement.....I was able to take more risk with my taxable brokerage account money. I was lucky enough with my Keogh Plan to get enough in there that I knew my retirement was set at a fairly early age. Being able to contribute $30,000 per year at young ages and considering compounding........was the key....for my retirement money.

 

The SP500 streak ended today. I was....of course....in the RED. So I gave back some of my recent gains.....but not too much. I also got beat by the SP500 today by 0.68%.

All in all not a bad week....definately a positive move forward this week. That is about all you can ask for.

 

A STELLAR week for all the averages. A very nice week for investors.

DOW year to date +16.57%
DOW for the week +1.08%

SP500 year to date +21.00%
SP500 for the week +1.64%

NASDAQ 100 year to date +19.14%
NASDAQ 100 for the week +1.37%

NASDAQ year to date +17.08%
NASDAQ for the week +1.29%

RUSSELL year to date +16.02%
RUSSELL for the week +1.13%

It is starting to be a real horse race between the SP500 and the NASDAQ 100 for the top gain this year. Plenty of time for any of the averages to pull ahead before year end. It has been an OUTSTANDING year for every average this year.

 

Sounds like good news for the forth quarter economy.

Consumers projected to spend nearly $1K on holiday shopping

https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/shopping-holiday-spending-2021

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"The nation’s largest retail trade group said Thursday that consumers are likely to spend nearly $1,000 on holiday-related merchandise and gifts this year.

According to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 90% of adults said they plan to celebrate the holiday season, which includes Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. It's a slight uptick from 87% in 2020.

Even though this year's projected holiday spending – about $997.73 per shopper– is on par with consumer spending in 2020, it's still slightly below a pre-pandemic high of $1,047.83 in 2019, according to the retail trade group.

This year, consumers are planning to dole out nearly $650 for gifts. Another $350 will be spent on non-gift items with $231 of that going toward food, candy, decorations and cards, according to the survey.

However, the dire supply chain issues remain are a major concern for shoppers.

About 47% of shoppers are worried that they will have a hard time finding desired items this year, the data showed. Most consumers are particularly worried about finding electronics, clothes and toys.

However, NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said the "industry is working diligently with ports, labor, shippers and transportation providers as well as government officials" to try and overcome supply chain challenges.

When trying to find items, though, most will head online instead of going to a store. More than half of the shoppers surveyed – about 57% – said they plan to purchase holiday items online this year, according to the survey.

In doing so, "they [shoppers] are taking advantage of additional offerings such as free shipping, buy online, pick up in store and even expedited shipping to ensure they receive their gifts on time," Phil Rist, Prosper's executive vice president of strategy, said.

For its data, NRF surveyed nearly 8,000 consumers from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10 about winter holiday shopping plans."

MY COMMENT

In spite of all the news lately focusing on the supply chain issues......I would BET that most people will be able to find what the want this year for Christmas. I am also thinking that the survey results above represent the worst case in terms of money that will be spent. I believe the actual figure will EXCEED the above amounts......perhaps.....even significantly. I think there is a large amount of pent up consumer demand and people STILL have a good amount of money to spend. No data to back this up....just my "educated" feeling.

 

My Tesla stock that I bought this morning at $898....ended the day at $909.33. A gain of 1.26% for me. Nice to have a little bit of a cushion on my initial buy. Even though this is a long term hold.....I hate to buy somethings and see it immediately go down.

 

HERE is our end to yet another week.
Stock market news live updates: Dow posts all-time closing high, Nasdaq dips as Snap shares drop by record

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-october-22-2021-222129765.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Stocks were mixed on Friday as investors digested new commentary on asset-purchase tapering and inflation from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, amid a slew of fresh earnings reports from major companies.

The Dow set a record closing high, taking out a previous record close from August 16. The S&P 500 retreated after setting a fresh intraday record high. The reversal to the downside came as Powell said the central bank was "on track to begin a taper of our asset purchases that, if the economy evolves broadly as expected, will be completed by the middle of next year" during a virtual event hosted by the South African Reserve Bank Friday. The central bank had previously telegraphed it believed the economy was nearing the recovery threshold that would warrant the start to tapering of the Fed's crisis-era asset purchase program.

Powell also noted he expected elevated inflationary pressures spurred by global supply constraints "are likely to last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year."

The Nasdaq underperformed following a couple of weaker-than-expected technology earnings.

Snap (SNAP) shares sank by a record 27% after missing third-quarter revenues and offering weak current-quarter guidance, with Apple's iOS privacy updates denting the social media platform's advertising business. The miss also catalyzed a drop in shares of peer social media companies including Facebook (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

Shares of Intel (INTC) also dropped after the company said margins would be under pressure for the next up to three years, in part reflecting challenges from global materials shortages. And Chipotle (CMG) shares fluctuated between small gains and losses despite posting better-than-expected quarterly same-store sales, though the company flagged widespread staffing shortages.

Despite some of the more recent, mixed earnings results, the S&P 500 and Dow have hovered within striking distance of their all-time highs, boosted by a string of earlier estimates-topping quarterly corporate profits and economic data. Both have served to stave off concerns over a decelerating growth environment after a surge in reopening activity earlier this year.

New data on Thursday showed weekly jobless claims improved to their lowest level since March 2020 last week, falling more-than-expected as firings, layoffs and other involuntary separations slowed further in the labor market. And existing home sales posted their biggest jump since September 2020 last month, showing still-robust demand for homes even as inventory remained tight and prices crept higher.

And based on quarterly results so far, many companies have shown they managed to grow profits even in the face of rising input and labor costs and supply chain challenges.

“Let’s not forget, we’re coming off of very high margins, so there is room for a little compression there. What we’re seeing in the early earnings releases, which is maybe the reason for equity markets hitting new highs, is that the operating leverage inside of companies right now is so significant,” Gibson Smith, Smith Capital Investors founder, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. "Think of top-line growth in the 18% arena, or you see bottom-line growth in the 50, 60, 70%. These are all positives for corporate America, and I think will actually be the fuel to launch equity prices to higher levels.”

Investors are hoping for more affirmation on the solid trends seen so far in corporate profits next week, with a more robust set of third-quarter earnings results due for release. The heavily weighted stock index components, from Apple to Amazon and Facebook, are set to report quarterly results throughout next week.

11:37 a.m. ET: American Express shares jump to a record after strong Q3 results, while VF Corp. slides on lingering manufacturing constraints
American Express (AXP) shares hit an intraday all-time high Friday morning after posting third-quarter results that easily topped estimates.

Revenue of $10.93 billion was up 25% over last year, and exceeded the $10.54 billion expected, according to Bloomberg consensus data. Earnings per share of $2.27 were also better than the $1.77 estimate.

American Express also issued upbeat commentary on the state of the U.S. consumer, suggesting spending among individuals and small businesses was rebounding to pre-virus levels.

The card company said it saw a “continued rebound in travel and entertainment spending, with restaurant spending notably resilient, growing above pre-pandemic levels." It also noted consumer and small business spending on goods and services grew 19% over the third quarter of 2019, on a currency adjusted basis. New users to premium Platinum and Gold Cards also reached all-time highs

Meanwhile, VF Corp.'s (VFC) posted disappointing quarterly results in a report also issued Friday morning, reflecting the negative impacts from ongoing supply-chain challenges for apparel-makers.

The parent company of brands including The North Face and Vans posted adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.11, or four pennies below estimates, for its fiscal second quarter. Revenue came in $3.2 billion, or a 23% jump over last year but still a miss compared to the $3.5 billion consensus estimate.

VF Corp attributed the miss to a resurgence of Covid-19 lockdowns in its key sourcing companies, which generated manufacturing capacity constraints during the quarter.

“Additionally, continued port congestion, equipment availability and other logistics challenges have contributed to increasing product delays,” the company added. “VF is working with its suppliers to minimize disruption and is employing expedited freight as needed.”

11:13 a.m. ET: U.S. service sector activity expands at a faster-than-expected clip in October, while manufacturing activity decelerates slightly

U.S. service sector activity picked up by a greater-than-expected margin in early October, while ongoing supply chain constraints weighed on goods-producing industries, according to new data from IHS Markit on Friday.

IHS Markit's U.S. services purchasing managers' index rose to 58.2 in the preliminary October print, exceeding consensus estimates for a reading of 55.2, according to Bloomberg data. The PMI had come in at 54.9 in September, and the latest October print reflected the strongest growth in three months. Readings above the neutral level of 50.0 indicate expansion in a sector.

"Driving growth in October was the quickest rise in inflows of new work since July, that was commonly attributed to stronger demand conditions as COVID-19 worries eased during the month," IHS Markit said in its release. "Concurrently, service providers recorded more intense capacity pressures amid reports that firms were struggling to cope with growing sales due to labour issues and supplier delays."

The manufacturing sector, however, posted a larger-than-expected dip in its PMI compared to September, largely reflecting the impact of rising input costs and materials and labor shortages. The U.S. manufacturing PMI slipped to 59.2 in early October from 60.7 in September, marking a third straight monthly decline. Consensus economists were looking for a reading of 60.5 in October.

"The slower improvement in conditions reflected a weaker expansion in output and a moderation in order book growth during October," IHS Markit said in its release. "Factory production rose only modestly, with the pace of increase the slowest since July 2020 as output continued to be hampered by supply chain issues and shortages. October saw a record lengthening of suppliers’ delivery times. Supply issues and sustained sales growth prompted firms to further increase their buying activity and inventories." "

MY COMMENT

Some really POSITIVE info in the American Express earnings above in terms of the consumer economy. Also some good economic data above regarding the Service Sector Activity.

ALL IN ALL.....a very good week for EARNINGS.....the ECONOMY......and the.....CONSUMER. Same old, same old.....in terms of the negative story lines.

 

TGIF......TGIF. The weekend is here.

I play tomorrow....out of town. Tomorrow kicks off 6 weeks of a packed show schedule for me. Nice to make some extra money. All the shows are regional......with most being about 125 to 250 miles round trip. Most are places that I have played in the past that will have NICE crowds......as long as the weather can stay nice. ALL are outside.

 

I like your short films Emmett. When you posted them I watched them. Good stuff. You should post them again for those that did not get a chance to see them before.

 

The two reasons for the RED market averages today....the SNAP earnings....and of course......Powell and the FED.

Powell: Federal Reserve 'on track' for tapering asset purchases

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/powe...k-for-tapering-asset-purchases-170040408.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is readying markets for an announcement of a slowdown in its asset purchases, suggesting that the U.S. economic recovery looks fit enough to sustain reduced Fed stimulus as soon as next month.

Powell said the Fed is “on track” to begin slowing the pace of its U.S. Treasury and agency mortgage-backed securities purchases, which it is currently doing at a clip of about $120 billion a month.

He added that if economic conditions progress as expected, the Fed could bring the so-called quantitative easing program to a full stop by the middle of next year.

The central bank chief indicated that a “tapering” of asset purchases is not likely to disrupt the recovery in the labor market, where 5 million people remain out of work, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

But starting a taper would allow the Fed to position itself down the line for interest rate hikes. Since the depths of the pandemic, the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee has pinned short-term borrowing rates at near-zero. Raising rates could be critical if inflationary pressures risk unanchoring inflation expectations away from the central bank’s 2% target.

"No one should doubt that we will use these tools to guide inflation back down to 2% over time,” Powell said at an event held by the South African Reserve Bank on Friday. “At the same time, we think we can be patient and allow the recovery to take place and allow the labor market to heal.”

Powell said inflation at the moment is above target, but expects global supply chain issues that are pushing up costs to abate over time. In the meantime, the Fed chair said monetary policy tools “don’t do much on supply constraints.”

'Market generally understands where we are'
Commentary from Powell’s other colleagues also point to an announcement of a taper at the conclusion of the central bank’s next policy-setting meeting on Nov. 2 and 3.

Fed Governors Randal Quarles and Christopher Waller both said this week they will support a taper at that meeting.

“This action should not tighten financial conditions, since a later 2021 tapering has already been priced in by most participants,” Waller said at a Stanford University event on Tuesday.

Powell on Friday said markets did not appear unprepared for tapering, a policy action which the Fed has been laboriously teasing for months. The central bank has looked to December 2013 as a cautionary tale of surprising markets on a taper, when then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke inadvertently triggered volatility in markets.

“I think the market generally understands where we are,” Powell said, adding that he was “not blessing every asset price or anything like that."

The U.S. 10-year bond rose roughly three basis points as Powell began speaking on Friday, but then slipped four basis points to around 1.64% toward the end of his remarks."

MY COMMENT

YES....people and everyone in the financial world knows that tapering is going to start soon. So.....shut up already. Give it a rest.....for at least one or two weeks. This constant BLATHER from the FED is NOT helping anything.

Better yet....just go ahead and do it....taper away......and get it over with. Tapering in reality will have ZERO impact on the average business or stock. the BIG IMPACT will be the sudden STRIDENT FEAR MONGERING from the financial press when it happens. As a result....the markets will be impacted for anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. After that....no one will care.

 

I leave at noon today for a show....but for now thinking about investing and earnings next week.

First the usual.....tons of smaller banks report next week. It is amazing how many banks there are.

Monday - Facebook

Tuesday - 3M....Google....Lilly....GE....Microsoft....Visa....Twitter.

Wednesday - Boeing....Coke....Ford....Kraft.

Thursday - Amazon....Apple....Altria....Yum....Merck.

Friday - Exxon....Colgate....Chevron.

(SEE the entire weeks earnings calendar below)

AND....many more too numerous to mention. Next week we get into the GUTS of earnings and the economy. with many companies in many different business areas reporting we will get a SIGNIFICANT view of the state of the economy at this moment.

Big Tech earnings in the week ahead could test stocks' recent rally

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...tocks-recent-rally/ar-AAPQ4Rx?ocid=uxbndlbing

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

• "Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are among the 30% of the S&P 500 companies reporting earnings in the week ahead.
• So far, earnings reports are beating at a high pace, but there have been some misses and significant stock declines, as in the case of Snap and Intel.
• Snap's advertising issues put the focus on other social media companies, like Facebook and Twitter, which report in the week ahead.

An earnings avalanche is coming in the week ahead that could put the stock market's recent gains to the test.

Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon — the biggest of big cap tech — are among the 30% of the S&P 500 companies reporting. A third of the Dow also releases results, including Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Merck, Boeing and McDonald's.

"Next week is the real test," RBC head of U.S. equity strategy Lori Calvasina said. "We're getting a little bit in every sector."

Of the companies that have already reported, nearly 84% beat estimates. Earnings are so far expected to be up 34.8% over last year, based on actual reports and estimates, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

"The tug-of-war in good versus bad earnings reports has landed in favor of the market with the S&P hitting an all-time high [Thursday]. That may run into difficulty next week," National Securities chief market strategist Art Hogan said. "We may finally be seeing some cracks in the earnings season."

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average notched fresh records this week, and the indexes have solid gains for the week. The S&P 500 gained 1.6% to 4,544, while the Dow ended the week up 1.1% at 35,677, the first record close since Aug. 16. Some strategists view the return to those highs as a signal the market is on track for a year-end rally.

The Nasdaq Composite was also 1.3% higher for the week, but it was down 0.8% on Friday as tech stocks declined.

© Provided by CNBC

"I think we're going to learn a lot from this reporting season," Calvasina said. "So far, so good. Better than feared, with no change to underlying demand. Companies are still managing through for the most part. Investors are punishing companies that aren't, but they're not punishing the whole market. The market seems very rational right now."

For instance, Intel shares were pummeled, falling more than 11.6% on Friday, after the company's sales missed expectations. Intel warned an industry-wide component shortage hurt its PC chip business. But other semiconductor stocks did not get pulled down in the decline. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF was down about 0.8%.

But Snap sent an industry-wide warning Thursday when its quarterly revenues missed expectations. The company reported that Apple's privacy changes introduced earlier this year affected its advertising business. The company also said that advertisers were holding back due to supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

Facebook's earnings on Monday will be closely watched for any similar comments, as will reports from Alphabet and Twitter Tuesday. The three stocks fell Friday as Snap plunged 26.6%. Facebook lost more than 5%.

"Facebook has been the more broken name. It had the Instagram problem. It had the kid problem. It's had a hard time going up post-earnings. It will be interesting to see if all these problems are priced in or does it go even lower," T3Live.com chief strategic officer Scott Redler said.

Redler said the Snap news was a big surprise, since traders viewed social media as immune to supply chain problems. Even though social media was under pressure as a whole Friday, he said stocks have been able to diverge within sectors recently.

"Tesla was able to make a new high, and Netflix is at an all-time high. Every group has winners and losers, but overall the participation is better than it's been in a while. Five stocks aren't driving the S&P to the all-time highs," he said. "It's a bunch of stocks in every sector."

Traders are now watching the Russell 2000, since a breakout in small caps would be a positive for the overall market, he said. Redler trades the the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) which closed slightly lower at $227.41 Friday. "If the IWM gets above the $230 to $234 area, it could be a signal for more risk on at the end of the year," he said.

Redler said the market could be challenged in the coming week. "You just had a big 10-day move up. You would think there will be some digestion," he said. "I don't want to chase the market here. It feels like we could rest a little bit next week. If it could digest here, and we could get some individual stock movement, that would be healthier than the pain trade, which is straight up."

There are a few important economic reports in the week ahead, including durable goods Wednesday; third-quarter GDP Thursday and personal consumption expenditures Friday. Friday's data includes the PCE deflator, the preferred inflation gauge watched by the Federal Reserve.

Higher interest rates
The closely watched 10-year Treasury yield continued to edge higher in the past week, touching 1.70% before falling to 1.64% Friday. Market pros are watching to see if the yield will reach 1.74%, the closing high from March, and whether it will begin to worry stock investors. The 10-year yield hit this year's intraday high of 1.776% on March 30.

© Provided by CNBC

"I would say over the next week or two, it's possible we test it, but I would be a little surprised at this stage if it sustainably breaks through," NatWest Markets' John Briggs said. He noted that yields have been moving higher, as investors now anticipate the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates next year and as the market anticipates more inflation.

"I get a sense that people are more interested in buying here rather than selling," he said. Bond yields move inversely to price. It could be a busy week in the market, as investors adjust for the end of the month

Briggs notes the front end, or the 2-year note yield, has moved faster than the longer end. He said that reflects the market's increased expectation for rate hikes next year, with two hikes expected by the market in the second half of the year.

Week ahead calendar
Monday

Earnings: Facebook, Restaurant Brands, Otis Worldwide, Kimberly-Clark, Owens-Illinois, HSBC, TrueBlue

Tuesday

Earnings: Alphabet, Microsoft, Visa, Advanced Micro Devices, Texas Instruments, Twitter, Chubb, 3M, General Electric, Robinhood, Eli Lilly, UPS, Novartis, JetBlue, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Archer Daniels Midland, Sherwin-Williams, Invesco, Hasbro, Boston Properties, Teradyne, Fortune Brands, Hawaiian Holdings, NCR, Boyd Gaming

9:00 a.m. S&P/Case-Shiller home prices

9:00 a.m. FHFA home prices

10:00 a.m. New home sales

10:00 a.m. Consumer confidence

Wednesday

Earnings: Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Boeing, General Motors, Ford, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kraft Heinz, Norfolk Southern, Glaxo SmithKline, General Dynamics, Brink's, Automatic Data, CME Group, International Paper, Penske Auto Group, eBay, Cognizant, Extra Space Storage, KLA Corp, Aflac, Harley-Davidson, Flex, Suncor, BioMarin, Community Health Systems, iRobot

8:30 a.m. Durable goods

8:30 a.m. Advance economic indicators

Thursday

Earnings: Apple, Amazon, Caterpillar, Comcast, Merck, Northrop Grumman, Altria, Intercontinental Exchange, Sirius XM, Yum Brands, American Tower, Gilead Sciences, Starbucks, Molson Coors, T. Rowe Price, Airbus, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Sanofi, STMicroelectronics, Volkswagen, Royal Dutch Shell, Stanley Black & Decker, AllianceBernstein, Check Point Software, Brunswick, Oshkosh

8:30 a.m. Jobless claims

8:30 a.m. Q3 advance real GDP

10:00 a.m. Pending home sales

Friday

Earnings: Chevron, AbbVie, Colgate-Palmolive, Lazard, Booz Allen Hamilton, Weyerhaeuser, Church and Dwight, CBOE Global Markets, Newell Brands, W.W. Grainger, Cerner, Aon, Charter Communications, Phillips 66, Daimler, Nomura, Eni, BNP Paribas

8:30 a.m. Personal income/spending

8:30 a.m. Q3 employment cost index

9:45 a.m. Chicago PMI

10:00 a.m. Consumer sentiment

MY COMMENT

YEP....a very important week to set the tone for the markets. If the earnings come in well and we end the week with a good positive five days......we could see the stage set for a nice rally to continue. Looking forward to it all.

 

Nest week will be the most important single earnings week for my portfolio since I own......Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple. Not that the results will have any potential negative impact beyond about 2-5 days....unless.....some company reports a bad miss.....which....I dont expect.

 

The real estate market in Central Texas continues to be slower than previously. Prices are not really dropping....but houses are siting on the market longer. In my little area of 4200 homes there are currently 19 active listings. The LOWEST price is $625,000. The largest amount of inventory is in the lowest price range......$600,000 to $700,000.....there are 9 homes actively for sale in that price range. Many of those 9 homes have been actively on the market for 3-5 weeks. So, if you are a buyer in that price range......you have some inventory to choose from and do not have to make a snap decision.

You planing to buy a home some tome soon, TireSmoke? Your plan to take some profit and add to your house fund sounds like a good plan. Owning a home is a good investment and a good balance to assets that are in stocks and funds. What general area are you in and what is the market like in your area?

 

OK....here we go with a new week on deck. Some BIG earnings this week that will set the markets tone for a week or two. We are quickly pushing toward year end.

Big Tech companies report earnings: What to know this week

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-...arnings-what-to-know-this-week-210653395.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)

"Investors' focus this week will be on earnings results, with some of the most heavily weighted companies in the S&P 500 poised to deliver their quarterly reports.

Over the past couple of weeks, most of the companies that posted earnings results topped Wall Street's estimates, despite widespread concerns over the impact of supply chain challenges to corporate profits. These better-than-feared results helped power both the S&P 500 and Dow to fresh record highs in the past week.

As of Friday, about 23% of S&P 500 companies had reported actual results for the third quarter. Of these, 84% topped Wall Street's expectations for earnings per share (EPS), according to data from FactSet. And the estimated earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 stood at 32.7%, based on actual results and expectations for companies still yet to report. If maintained through the end of third-quarter earnings season, that would mark the third-highest earnings growth rate posted for the index since 2010.

Given the string of stronger-than-expected results posted so far, this week's docket of reports has a heightened bar to clear.

And that's especially set to be the case for the Big Tech companies, including Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL). Most of these far outperformed the market last year, but have seen their stock gains cool so far in 2021 amid concerns over rising interest rates, chip shortages, and slowing growth after a surge in online media usage and demand for software during the height of the pandemic. .........."

Economic calendar

• Monday: Chicago Fed National Activity Index, September (0.2 expected, 0.29 in August); Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index, October (6.2 expected, 4.6 in September)
  
  
• Tuesday: FHFA House Price Index, month-over-month, August (1.5% expected, 1.4% in July); S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite, month-over-month, August (1.44% expected, 1.55% in July); S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite, year-over-year, August (20.00% expected, 19.95% in July); New Home Sales, month-over-month, September (756,000 expected, 740,000 in August); Conference Board Consumer Confidence, October (108.5 expected, 109.2 in September)
  
  
• Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications, week ended Oct. 22 (-6.3% during prior week); Advance Goods Trade Balance, September (-$88.3 billion expected, -$87.6 billion in August); Wholesale Inventories, month-over-month, September preliminary (1.0% expected, 1.2% in August); Durable Goods Orders, September preliminary (-1.0% expected, 1.8% in August); Durable Goods Orders, excluding transportation, September preliminary (0.4% expected, 0.3% in August); Non-defense Capital Goods Orders, excluding aircraft, September preliminary (0.4% expected, 0.6% in August); Non-defense Capital Goods Orders, excluding aircraft, September preliminary (0.4% expected, 0.8% in August)
  
  
• Thursday: Initial jobless claims, week ended Oct. 23 (292,000 expected, 290,000 during prior week); Continuing claims, week ended Oct. 16 (2.420 million expected, 2.481 million during prior week); GDP annualized, quarter-over-quarter, Q3 first estimate annualized (2.7% expected, 6.7% in Q2); Personal consumption, Q3 first estimate (0.7% expected, 12.0% in Q2); Core personal consumption expenditures, quarter-over-quarter, Q3 first estimate (4.4% expected, 6.1% in Q2); Pending home sales, September (0.6% expected, 8.1% in August); Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Index, October (19 expected, 22 in September)
  
  
• Friday: Personal income, September (-0.2% expected, 0.2% in August); Personal spending, September (0.6% expected, 0.8% in August); Personal Consumption Expenditures Core Deflator, month-over-moth, September (0.2% expected, 0.3% in August); Personal Consumption Expenditures, Core Deflator, year-over-year, September (3.7% expected, 3.6% in August): MNI Chicago PMI, October (64.0 expected, 64.7 in September); University of Michigan Sentiment, October final (71.4 expected, 71.4 in September)

Earnings calendar

• Monday: Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB), Otis Worldwide Corp. (OTIS) before market open; Facebook (FB) after market close
  
  
• Tuesday: Centene (CNC), UPS (UPS), 3M (MMM), General Electric (GE), Waste Management (WM), Eli Lilly (LLY), Hasbro (HAS), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Invesco (IVZ), The Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW), Lockheed Martin (LMT), S&P Global (SPGI) before market open; Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), Twitter (TWTR), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Visa (V), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Microsoft (MSFT), Texas Instruments (TXN), Alphabet (GOOGL) after market close
  
  
• Wednesday: CME Group (CME), McDonald's (MCD), Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Boeing (BA), The Coca-Cola Company (KO), Kraft Heinz (KHC), General Motors (GM) before market open; Ford (F), Xilinx (XLNX), O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY), United Rentals (URI), Align Technology (ALGN), eBay (EBAY), ServiceNow (NOW) after market close
  
  
• Thursday: Merck (MRK), Caterpillar (CAT), Yum! Brands (YUM), Comcast (CMCSA), Moody's Corp. (MCO), Nielsen Holdings (NLSN), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), The Hershey Co. (HSY), Molson Coors Beverage Co. (TAP), Mastercard (MA), Altria Group (MO) before market open; Apple (AAPL), Western Digital Corp. (WDC), Starbucks (SBUX), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Amazon (AMZN) after market close
  
  
• Friday: Royal Caribbean (RCL), T Rowe Price Group (TROW), Charter Communications (CHTR), Chevron (CVX), AbbVie (ABBV), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Newell Brands (NWL) before market open

MY COMMENT

This little article is kind of a re-hash of an earlier one that I posted.......so.....I will not put a lot into BOLD. If you want to see the entire article click on the link.

My 10......now 11....stocks with the recent addition of Tesla to my portfolio......continue to make up approximately 56.5% of my entire portfolio. This is the same across ALL the various portfolios that I manage. The mutual fund side of the portfolio is at approximately 53.5%. The difference in the two represents the fact that the stock side of the portfolio has OUTPERFORMED the fund side over the long term. In ALL my portfolios they started out approximately 50/50.

Of all my stocks that report this week the one that I am most interested in is AMAZON. The stock has had a DISMAL year this year.....although the company is doing very nicely in their FUNDAMENTALS. With the recent market movement they have gone up to a gain of 4.67% year to date......a marked improvement from the approximately 2.4% YTD gain they had not too long ago. So.....at least they are moving in the right direction. I STILL see one big reason for their poor stock performance this year......their REFUSAL to split the stock. They are just TOO expensive for many people to buy the stock. I continue to see management as STUBBORNLY FOOLISH in their refusal to consider and do a stock split. There is a lot of pent up demand for this company if they had a realistic stock price.At least earnings will give them a shot at additional gains in the stock price heading to year end.

For some reason the last paragraph of the portion of the article....quoted above......does not include Microsoft....as one of the big tech giants reporting this week. A SIGNIFICANT OVERSIGHT.