The Long Term Investor

Yes......yet another MILESTONE in the continuous march of the SP500.

Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 tops 4,000 for the first time, Nasdaq gains more than 1%

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-april-1-2021-221233549-221423608.html

(BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content)
"Stocks traded higher Thursday, extending gains in another record-setting day on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 gained about 0.7% shortly after the opening bell, breaking above 4,000 for the first time ever. The Nasdaq outperformed to rise more than 1% as technology stocks jumped. Shares of electric-vehicle stocks including Workhorse Group (WKHS) and Plug Power (PLUG) increased after President Joe Biden discussed the details of his more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which would include building out half a million EV charging stations.

Thursday's session marks the first of the second quarter and of April. Historically, the month has been fortuitous for equities. Stocks have closed April higher in 14 out of the past 15 years, and since 1950, it has been the second best month for stocks, according to an analysis by Ryan Detrick, LPL Financial chief market strategist.

Heading into the second quarter, stock leadership has tilted strongly in favor of cyclical and value stocks, which have earnings most closely tethered to the broad-based reopening of business across the U.S. economy. The energy, financials and industrials sectors have outperformed in the S&P 500 for the year-to-date, while last year's winners – like the information technology and communication services sectors – have lagged by comparison. Many analysts think this trend will continue into the coming months.

"I think we’re going to see more of the same in terms of market leadership. This is an environment in which the economy is likely to accelerate,” Kristina Hooper, Invesco chief global market strategist, told Yahoo Finance. “And I think that means that we’ll see continued outperformance of areas like energy, like financials, like consumer discretionary, material, industrials — those areas of the stock market that are most sensitive to the economy.”

Others made similar assertions.

"I think the really big news is that we’re at a really big tipping point right now. We’re out of the pandemic, or getting out of the pandemic. There’s a gargantuan change in how our economy’s going to be run with the stimulus plan as well as the Build Back Better plan,” Stephen Dover, Franklin Templeton head of equities, told Yahoo Finance, referring to President Joe Biden's recently unveiled, multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal. “So I think investors are going to have to look very differently looking forward than they have been looking in the past.”

The hefty spending plan Biden proposed this week to revitalize roads, bridges, factories, broadband and address other concerns including climate change is also set to be a key focus for equity investors going forward, with the increased government spending poised to come alongside tax policy changes in order to fund it. Biden's plan includes lifting the corporate tax rate, with additional taxes on capital gains and individual top marginal rates likely to be unveiled later.

"The larger impact to markets will be whether or not the corporate tax rate is raised to 28% - or somewhere in between there and the current 21% level – and whether or not a global minimum tax on corporations can be established," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, said in an email. "It’s likely that the stock market can withstand a hike in the corporate tax rate to 25%, but unclear how much room there is above that if stocks are going to keep moving higher between now and year end."

MY COMMENT

YET another long term milestone for the SP500 and stocks and funds in general. A reflection of the entire history of the SP500 and stock investing. Anyone with a long term view and horizon for life.......is way ahead.

I STILL consider all the talk by the....media....about the next great area to invest in.....and....the great rotation......as simply BS. They act like it was just the past year of pandemic that the BIG CAP.....BIG TECH....companies that are the guts of the entire American economy.......thrived. NO....these companies have been leading the US and the world....for the past 10-20 years. NOTHING is going to change now. There is a reason that these five or six companies make up 20-25% of the......WEIGHTED.....SP500.

 

Here is the....IRRELEVANT...economic news of the day. The re-opening is making this sort of data meaningless.

Jobless claims: New unemployment claims unexpectedly rose to 719,000 last week

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/week...k-ended-march-27-2021-pandemic-175704861.html

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

"New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increased last week, even as a broadening vaccination program and the return of some high-contact service jobs took place.

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:

• Initial jobless claims, week ended March 27: 719,000 vs. 675,000 expected and a revised 658,000 during the prior week
  
• Continuing claims, week ended March 20: 3.794 million vs. 3.750 million expected and 3.870 million during the prior week
  

Last week's jump in new jobless claims came as a surprise to economists looking for an improvement to a new pandemic-era low. However, the prior week's claims were revised down to 658,000 to show an even more marked improvement from the 684,000 previously reported. The new four-week moving average for new claims came down by 10,500 to 719,000 amid these revisions.

"This is a bit disappointing, given the sharp drop in Google searches for 'file for unemployment' last week, but note that last week’s claims were revised down to 658K from 684K," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in an email Thursday. "Taking the two weeks together it’s clear that the trend in claims is falling. We expect a sustained sharp decline in the second quarter as the economy reopens, making it easier for businesses under financial stress to hold onto employees."

This week's report also comes a year after the peak of pandemic-era initial jobless claims, when these came in at a record 6.867 million during the final full week of March 2020. Since then, new weekly claims have declined significantly— albeit with some choppiness over the last 12 months — and closely followed trends in virus-related restrictions and reopenings across the states.

"The recent improvement is consistent with accelerating labor market momentum as economic reopening continues," Nomura economist Lewis Alexander wrote in a recent note.

Still, it will likely take many more months for claims to return to their 2019 levels, when new claims averaged just over 200,000 per week.

Moreover, a staggering number of Americans remain out of work, based on the number of claimants across all programs. As of mid-March, about 18.2 million individuals were still claiming unemployment benefits of some form, including via the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which offers extended benefits to those who have exhausted their regular state insurance.

The latest weekly jobless claims report also serves as a more timely indicator of the trajectory of the labor market recovery, and set the stage for Friday's monthly March jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That report is expected to show non-farm payrolls rose by 650,000, or by the most since September, as the unemployment rate edged lower by 0.2 percentage points to 6.0%. The survey week for the monthly jobs report coincided with the initial jobless claims release during the week ended March 12, during which new claims rose week-over-week to 781,000.

State-by-state unemployment
By state, the largest increase in new jobless claims came out of Virginia last week, where new claims rose by nearly 31,000 on an unadjusted basis. Kentucky and Georgia also each reported increases of more than 10,000 new claims.

The increases in these states, as well as the smaller jumps in new claims reported in some other states, were only partially offset by decreases in states like Ohio, Massachusetts and Florida. Ohio saw another drop of nearly 16,000 new jobless claims last week, after seeing one of the largest declines alongside Illinois last week.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Alaska comprised the three states with the highest insured unemployment rates, or ratio of those claiming unemployment benefits to the total size of states' labor forces. Pennsylvania's insured unemployment rate came in at 5.5% for the week ended March 13, ticking down by 0.3 percentage points from a week earlier. Nevada's and Alaska's insured unemployment rates totaled 5.4% and 5.0%, respectively. Overall, the U.S. insured unemployment rate was 3.0% for the week ended March 13.

MY COMMENT

I actually believe that this data IS.....irrelevant. Probably a HUGE amount of FRAUD reflected in this data. Also the PERVERSE INCENTIVE being provided for people to sit and not work. AND......going forward I would not hold my breath expecting the unemployment data to get back to 2019 levels. Too many new laws, new regulations, new taxes, etc, etc.

 

I am seeing something REALLY STRANGE lately.......those that sat and held through the little mini-correction that started on February 12 are.......NOW....hitting new all time highs in their portfolios.

How can that be? After all....we have seen ALL the constant negativity......and.....doom&gloom.....and....fear mongering in the media over the past weeks. AND.....long term investing....with No market timing or trading....is supposed to be simply for CHUMPS...right?

WRONG.....as usual. The first three months of this year have been a perfect......micro....example of the power of long term investing habits. Ignore the short term. Do not be a trader/speculator. Avoid market timing. Have a long term horizon. Follow the PROVEN PROBABILITIES........and......"you" will do just fine.

Yeah but......it is the "new normal"....right?

Yeah right......after investing for 45+ years and being alive for 71 years...... there is NOTHING that surprises me with the markets or life......it is all just REPETITION of what we have seen over and over in the past. I will believe the....."new normal".....BULL SH*T....when I can see that.........human nature and human brain based behavior.......has undergone a change. Unfortunately.....or fortunately.......human brain based behavior and human nature.....DOES NOT CHANGE. At least in any time span less than 10,000 years. Probably actually.....100,000 years or more.

 

AND.....we are off to a very nice.....strong....open today. You know in all my reading and review of information on the internet....daily.......I NEVER saw a single short term trader or market timer.....predict this little bump up that we are seeing right now. In fact.....with the past couple of months being POSITIVE for the general averages.....we have been in a little STEALTH RALLY.

With ALL the traders and market timers that.....CLAIM....to be able to make money and time the market short term.....you would think that some of them would post or publish their market calls.......and....their ACTUAL trades. STRANGE.....I never see that anywhere.

ACTUALLY....the closest that I ever see....is the annual data that shows that the.....so called professionals.....can NOT beat the SP500 over the longer term....or......even annually. You would think that........the professionals would.......SURELY......with all their Quants.......and.......computer tools.......and....AI......and .......the unlimited resources of the big investment banks, etc, etc, etc......be able to beat the SP500 ALL THE TIME.

 

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL.......the little LONG TERM investors.....are enjoying the nice gains today.......and over the past 2-3 months.

BUT...lets FORGET time spans measured in months. Lets look at time spans of decades. That is the SOURCE of the BIG GAINS with compounding......and.....the accumulation of REAL family wealth and financial security.

 

I thought this little story might be appropriate will the new....all time HIGHS.....being hit recently in the averages.

Oregon’s billion-dollar weed economy faces new challenges

https://www.oregonlive.com/business...dollar-weed-economy-faces-new-challenges.html

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

"They’ve never been higher.

Oregon recreational marijuana sales have climbed to record highs, but some say the industry’s woes also have reached an apex. The difficulties range from an unfavorable federal tax code to a dangerous crime wave, wildfires, and cities and counties hungry for a larger slice of the tax pie.

“Businesses are still struggling,” says Kim Lundin, executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Association. “High sales don’t transfer to overall industry success.”

But the marijuana milestone — $1.1 billion in sales in 2020, blowing past the $795 million benchmark set in 2019 — has started a battle for cash at the state Capitol regardless.

Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, has advanced legislation that would allow cities and counties to bump their marijuana sales tax from 3% to as much as 10%. Another proposal authored by Rep. Lily Morgan, R-Grants Pass, would create an internal wholesale tax on any marijuana transported across county lines.

The temptation to backfill shrinking local budgets with cannabis dollars is worrisome, according to industry boosters.

“If you look at it holistically,” said cannabis economist Beau Whitney, “I think the Oregon market is under duress.”

Tax fight

The new tax fight is largely in response to Measure 110, the voter-approved initiative from last year that reallocates a large share of pot revenue away for schools, state troopers and local governments in order to fund drug treatment addiction services.

In the next two-year budget cycle, which begins July 1, cities and counties will have only $18 million in marijuana money to split amongst themselves, an almost 72% drop compared with the $63.7 million they expected under the old funding formula, according to the League of Oregon Cities.

City Halls eager to bump up their cannabis tax include Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Tualatin, Sherwood, St. Helens, Happy Valley, Eugene and Bend, staff for the league said in testimony to a revenue committee hearing of the Legislature on March 4.

League of Oregon Cities lobbyist Mark Gharst told lawmakers the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a decline in lodging and gas taxes, park and development fees — and the worst crunch for city budgets may be yet to come, if property tax revenues fall due to commercial vacancies.

“I don’t think that the voters were saying that they wanted local governments to cut services in order to fund that recovery,” Gharst said. “We can have our cake and eat it, too.”

Marijuana insiders see it differently. They say cannabis retailers can’t just pass the tax increase on to users, many of who could dial up their old dealer from the years before legalization.

Whitney, the economist, estimates that most consumers will pay a premium of just 10% to 15% to acquire their weed legally. Go above that, and they might just get their weed on the black market.

“Consumers are very price conscious,” agreed Casey Houlihan, executive director of the Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association. He calls the proposed 10% tax a “disaster” in the making, saying the lure of the illicit market could lead governments to collect less in the future than they do now.

“One only needs to look around on Instagram to see cheap ounces or pounds being sold,” Houlihan said.

Bursting bubble?

State data confirms that customers haven’t noticed much difference at the cash register so far.

Despite the billion-dollar consumer market in 2020, the average retail price for consumers has remained at or below $5.50 per gram nearly every month since July 2018, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission said in its Feb. 1 supply-and-demand report.

The price of wholesale flower, the smokeable part of the cannabis plant, hit $1,499 per pound in December 2020, levels not seen since late 2017.

That’s good news for growers, who for years have complained that Oregon’s cannabis market is oversupplied. Demand is now devouring 65% of annual supply, up from just 50% two years ago, per the report. That happened because purchasing outpaces crops; overall production leapt 78%, while the amount of cannabis sold rose 150%.

The sea of upward arrows likely explains the new push to raise weed taxes, though the Oregon Liquor Control Commission predicts there’s no way the market can sustain the 38% annual growth rate seen during the outbreak.

“If not for COVID, growth in demand in 2020 would have almost certainly been flatter,” the OLCC concluded in its report to lawmakers. “If consumers return to the patterns of consumption they exhibited pre‐COVID, demand will almost certainly decline or flatten in 2021.”

Whitney also predicts the growth rate will slow, though he thinks the odds of sustaining a billion-dollar industry in the years ahead are fairly high, given that the market would have expanded by at least 10% during a normal year.

The economist wants to dispel the notion that the bump in weed sales can be traced to Cheech and Chong slackers or out-of-work millennials from the service industry. Instead, his money is on the white-collar types earning more than $50,000 while logging onto work in their PJs.

“Once people got used to ‘working from stoned,’” he says, “they just kept doing it.”

Plenty of problems

Regardless of how the tax increase proposal shakes out, the Oregon recreational marijauna industry is facing a passel of other hurdles.

Lundin, the trade group director, said several dispensaries burned to the ground in Medford and Talent during the 2020 wildfires. Other farmers also lost crops. And as Willamette Week recently reported, more than 100 dispensaries in Portland have been robbed or burglarized since March, likely because pot shops largely deal in cash. Those charged in the crime spree are predominantly teenagers.

“Historically, (the police) have not demonstrated the willingness we would like to see at taking these types of crimes seriously,” Houlihan said.

Another longtime thorn in the side of legal cannabis business owners is the section of the federal tax code, known as 280e, that essentially prohibits pot enterprises from deducting any expenses from their gross earnings.

“It’s an onerous tax burden,” said Jeff Yapp, CEO of Golden Leaf Holdings. “You can’t deduct any of your business operating expenses that every other business enjoys.”

Listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange but based in Portland, the vertical integration of Golden Leaf stretches from a grow facility near Bald Peak to a string of Chalice Farms dispensaries in Portland.

Flower and pre-roll sales make up more than 50% of their sales, but Yapp said the company saw edibles — food products that contain cannabis — flying off the shelves during the pandemic, as newbies sought an unimposing way to get high. Yapp said he believes the lack of nightlife and travel in 2020 triggered the booming sales, and sees potential in the three-quarters of the populace who may sooner smoke weed than try pharmaceutical products.

“You look at the scale of opportunity in plant-based medicine — that’s 75% of the marketplace — who all suffer the same issues: ‘I can’t sleep, I’m in pain, I’ve got anxiety,’” he said. “As they continue to be open to the alternatives, I think that’s a massive opportunity.”

Help from D.C.?

Oregon’s best hope for reforming the federal tax code — or achieving the larger goal of removing marijuana from the same classification as heroin — may lie with U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

The Democrat from Portland helped shepherd passage of the MORE Act — the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 — through the House in December, which would have decriminalized marijuana at the federal level, but the bill stopped in its tracks when it hit the Senate, which then was controlled by the GOP.

That proposal, as well as the SAFE Banking Act, could be reinvigorated under the Biden administration, though Blumenauer admits the new president has sent some mixed signals so far. Other observers note that any reduction in IRS revenue likely would need to be paired with a federal cannabis tax to pass muster.

“There’s a lot of competition just to get this on the floor of the House, but I think we’re in the strongest position that we’ve ever been in,” Blumenauer said. “It’s basically Congress that needs to do its job and I think Congress can and will do it.”"

MY COMMENT

This industry is in its infancy. We have about 17-18 states that are full legal now. Once the entire 50 states make it legal.......this is going to rival.......if not SWAMP.......the alcohol business.

BUT......now is not the time to invest in this business.....yet. It is way too early. There is no way to know the future look of this business. Federal banking and tax law is.......ridiculous........and......a HUGE impediment at this time.

Oregon has a population of about 4.2MILLION. So we have that population generating over $1BILLION in sales.....just a few years after legality. Extrapolate that to the entire USA population....which will probably be about 400MILLION by the time we have full on legality. We are talking about a future business niche with potential for........$100BILLION to $500BILLION in sales....or more. For comparison....annual sales of alcohol in the USA is about $260MILLION.

I would guess that we are about 10-20 years away from full on total nationwide legality. SO......it is going to be a long wait for investors interested in this business area.

 

Another big-time green day. AND....I would guess that we have very strong potential for another one MONDAY. Plus I got a beat on the SP500 of .18%.

Another step back up the ladder....for my account.....now about 1.8% away from an all time account high. AND....that is with a large amount of room for my big cap tech leaders to move back to to their higher price range.

BUT....I STILL expect the markets to go up......as usual......in spurts and drips and drabs. The lingering weakness is not going to magically disappear. It will be the usual NORM.....three steps forward two steps back. The short term.....will seem like day to day negativity.....but.....over the longer term......2-12 months....it will be a typical STEALTH RALLY.....at least to those that are focused on the day to day MEDIA.

I have seen many many years over my investing lifetime......where.......if you asked people what sort of investing year it was......they would say "kind of so-so".....or.....not too good. But if you looked at the data....the gain was 12-18%. WELL....above average. I am STILL thinking that this year will end up being 15-20% gains by year end.....for the SP500. ABOVE the average.

 

Which beings me to the SP500 year to date as of today..........+7.02%......three months into the year. I would bet that many people would guess that it was MUCH LOWER.....at this moment. Especially if they were seeing the daily......"STUFF"......in the investing and financial media.

OBVIOUSLY.....earnings through the year......and.....the re-opening......will determine the REALITY by the time we get to December 31, 2021. BUT....in spite of everything......we are off to a GREAT BEGINNING.

TODAY.....we start the FINAL nine months of the investing year. A SOLID start.

 

For anyone interested in the Coinbase IPO (direct listing).......here is the date.

Coinbase Direct Listing Reportedly Scheduled for April 14

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/coinbase-ipo-scheduled-for-april

"Coinbase Global, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, will make its trading debut through a direct listing on the Nasdaq on April 14, according to a report.

The direct listing had been pushed back from March, sources told Bloomberg. As usual, a reference price will be made available the night before the shares are to begin trading.

While April 14 is the target date, the timing and other details for the listing could change.

In an amended S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Coinbase said that it planned to sell 114.9 million shares in its direct listing.

The company, via the direct listing, could be valued at more than $100 billion.

Coinbase will list on the Nasdaq with the ticker COIN. The company initially announced its intentions to go public in December.

But the company cautioned that recent trading prices in private transactions may have little or no relation to the company's opening public price. The filing didn't indicate a trading date.

"I find direct listings fascinating because they can really produce some bargains for the buyers. Stay close to that one. It may be a good one," TheStreet's Jim Cramer recently said.

In 2020, Coinbase booked revenue of $1.14 billion and net income of $322 million. The previous year, revenue was $483 million with a loss of $30.4 million."

MY COMMENT

This is one of the two BIG IPO's coming up. The other is Robinhood. Both have the .....potential to be big......but.....both have the potential for RISK. In my opinion.......... Robinhood is the more RISKY of the two.

 

LOL....I see from Schwab that.....we are done for the week. DARN....I was all ready to come out fighting tomorrow and see us end up with another GREAT day. It will give us something to look forward to on Monday.

I have not been thinking much about Easter this year....we are not going to do anything. I will be doing a little road trip on Sunday....to play an afternoon show. We will be using a fill-in bass player....not a big deal. It is nice to have some shows lined up over the next weeks. A bit of driving coming up.....200 miles this week....150 next week.....250 the week after.

So.....as I said we are siting in a GREAT spot going into the remainder of the year. We have plenty of time ahead of us to rack up some gains and go though a correction or two along the way. I will be starting the rest of the year at 1.58% away from an ALL TIME high.

HERE....is where we are starting:

DOW year to date +8.32%
DOW for the week +0.25%

SP500 year to date +7.02%
SP500 for the week +1.13%

NASDAQ100 year to date +3.42%
NASDAQ100 for the week +2.70%

NASDAQ year to date +13.61%
NASDAQ for the week +0.08%

RUSSELL year to date +14.13%
RUSSELL for the week +1.52%

THE FORCE IS....WITH US.

 

HERE is a pretty good little article on where we are going into the final three quarters this year......one down, three to go.

Stock market news live updates: Stock futures open higher ahead of jobs report, market holiday

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stoc...ril-2-2021-221233549-221423608-221148327.html

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

"Stock futures rose Thursday evening after a record-setting day on Wall Street, with traders looking ahead to the Labor Department's March jobs report Friday morning.

Regular U.S. stock trading will not take place on Friday in observance of the Good Friday holiday, and equity futures trading will close in the morning.

Contracts on the S&P 500 edged higher after the index closed above 4,000 for the first time ever on Thursday. Technology stocks led the advances, and the Nasdaq outperformed with a gain of 1.8% during the session.

"What’s happening is, markets are pricing for perfection right now. And when I say perfection, perfection in the sense that we’re going to have a smooth reopening of the economy and that we’re going to continue to have vaccinations go smoothly and that we’re not going to have any hiccups," Kevin Nicholson, RiverFront Investment Group global fixed income co-chief investment officer, told Yahoo Finance. "But I think that first-quarter earnings are going to be good, and it’s setting up that there’s momentum that’s going into the second quarter.

Despite the recent rotation into cyclical and value stocks, with small caps as well as the energy, financial and industrial sectors outperforming for the year-to-date, Big Tech stocks were in fact the biggest contributor to the blue-chip index's latest milestone. According to an analysis from S&P Dow Jones Indices, Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL) contributed 43.8% of the latest 1,000-point gain in the S&P 500. And Thursday's tech-led session could be a "harbinger" of leadership trends to come in the stock market, according to Chris Konstantinos, RiverFront chief investment strategist.

"I think Q2 is going to be driven more by corporate earnings and a little bit less by some sort of positive mean reversion in valuation multiples off deep cyclicals," Konstantinos told Yahoo Finance. "So what we’re recommending is a barbell of secular growth stories and some value and cyclical plays, but not going whole-hog into the [cyclicals] because we believe a big part of that move has already happened."

On Friday, investors will eye the Labor Department's March jobs report, in what is expected to be the latest positive data point tracking the economic recovery. Consensus economists expect to see the greatest number of payrolls added back since October at 650,000. The jobless rate likely edged lower by 0.2 percentage points to a new pandemic-era low of 6.0%. "

MY COMMENT

YES......the rest of this year......the remaining three quarters....are going to be dominated by EARNINGS. The re-opening is a given.....at least in terms of expectations. Fully baked in.

I dont think it will be any surprise that the rest of the year will see continued FOCUS on the stocks that have been the leaders for the past....TEN YEARS.....Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Tesla. These are the TOP SIX stocks by weight in the SP500 Index.

 

I can EASILY predict the next DOOM&GLOOM story in the media......the AMAZON union election count at a local facility in Alabama. If it comes in favor of unionization....you will see the hand wringing begin.......with fear mongering as to what it all means for investors. If it comes out against the union.....the MEDIA will be in FULL SCALE....fight mode......alleging racism, anti-union tactics, corruption, etc, etc, etc. No doubt....a MEDIA FIELD DAY....whatever happens.

They began counting ballots on Tuesday. You would think that it would not take long to finish. BUT....here we are three full days later with no results.

As a Amazon stock owner......I really dont care. The company will just deal with it either way. There may be some short term impact on the stock.....but....nothing of concern to ACTUAL long term investors. the greatest danger to investors on this issue will be.......the media.

 

While we are talking about.....FUTURE ISSUES.....here is a potential big one for the financial world.

Mortgage Firms Warned to Prepare for a ‘Tidal Wave’ of Distress

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-firms-warned-prepare-tidal-204414646.html

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

"Mortgage companies could face penalties if they don’t take steps to prevent a deluge of foreclosures that threatens to hit the housing market later this year, a U.S. regulator said Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning is tied to forbearance relief that’s allowed million of borrowers to delay their mortgage payments due to the pandemic. To avoid what the bureau called “avoidable foreclosures” when the relief lapses, mortgage servicers should start reaching out to affected homeowners now to advise them on ways they can modify their loans.

“There is a tidal wave of distressed homeowners who will need help,” Dave Uejio, the CFPB’s acting director, said in a statement. “Servicers who put struggling families first have nothing to fear from our oversight, but we will hold accountable those who cause harm to homeowners and families.”

In a separate compliance bulletin released Thursday, the CFPB said that companies “that are unable to adequately manage loss mitigation can expect the bureau to take enforcement or supervisory action.”

More than 2 million borrowers as of January had either postponed their payments or failed to make them for at least three months, the bureau said. Once government-authorized forbearance plans begin to end in September, hundreds of thousands of people may need assistance getting back on track."

MY COMMENT

I have very mixed emotions about this......BIG MESS. On one hand........some people......need help. On the other hand you had everyone on any sort of unemployment receiving........an EXTRA $600 per week....from the government. At the moment it is NOW an extra $300 per week. These payment were on top of the regular unemployment payments that workers that lost their job got.

The number of people that have NOT been paying their mortgage seems very high considering.....the extra money ranging from $2400 per month to now $1200 per month. This little forbearance........gift....from the government....was...in my opinion.....a real TRAP. The temptation is........to not pay your mortgage.......even if you can. The thinking goes........"well I can save the money and just pay it later". The reality.....the money gets spent and when the time comes......the amount owed is too high to get back on track.

WHAT A BIG MESS.