GOOD MORNING ALL.....just checking in. EVERYONE we know is safe and doing fine. Not posting any news.....at the moment today.......since there is NONE on a Sunday and what there is......is NOTHING more than rumor and opinion.....basically fear mongering. Went to Walmart (for a routine prescription refill) and Randalls yesterday. Both were open and doing business. No crowds or craziness. NO masks. Walmart had NO meat or chicken. Randalls....the entire meat and chicken section was completely fully stocked like a normal day. Will be going out for lunch soon....another day of eating in the car. We will continue to try to support local businesses as much as possible. AS USUAL....in this sort of situation or any emergency these days.....it is the MEDIA and HYSTERICAL opinion commentators that are in full on PANIC MODE. While my experience out and about with regular people indicates that they are soldiering on with reasonable and rational behavior. If I see anything that is relevant today I will post it. OTHERWISE, I will await the market opens tomorrow to see what is going on. The stock futures seem to be worthless.....all over the board. There does not seem to be any two sites that are anywhere close to each other in what they are showing for the stock futures. EXTREMELY unreliable data and........NOT indicative of where we will be tomorrow. NO PLANS to change ANYTHING in terms of how and where I am currently invested for the long term. A couple of accounts are cash as I have posted on here.....the rest are STILL fully invested and will remain that way. Any accounts that have AUTOMATIC investments going into the SP500 once monthly (three accounts) will continue as usual with those automatic investments being made monthly as usual. The value of the automatic monthly investments will be REALIZED in the near to medium term future as this little virus PANIC resolves. TAKE CARE ALL....
HERE is the data and "STUFF" that we are looking at over the coming week: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coro...what-to-know-in-the-week-ahead-144626629.html "Monday: Chicago Fed National Activity Index, February (-0.29 expected, -0.25 in January)" data-reactid="47">Monday: Chicago Fed National Activity Index, February (-0.29 expected, -0.25 in January) Tuesday: Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI, March preliminary (44.0 expected, 50.7 prior); Markit U.S. Services PMI, March preliminary (42.0 expected, 49.4 prior); Markit U.S. Composite PMI, March preliminary (49.6 prior); New Home Sales, February (750,000 expected, 764,000 in January); New Home Sales month-on-month, February (-1.8% expected, 7.9% in January); Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, March (-10 expected, -2 in February)" data-reactid="48">Tuesday: Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI, March preliminary (44.0 expected, 50.7 prior); Markit U.S. Services PMI, March preliminary (42.0 expected, 49.4 prior); Markit U.S. Composite PMI, March preliminary (49.6 prior); New Home Sales, February (750,000 expected, 764,000 in January); New Home Sales month-on-month, February (-1.8% expected, 7.9% in January); Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, March (-10 expected, -2 in February) Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications, week ended March 20 (-8.4% prior); Durable Goods Orders, February preliminary (-1.0% expected, -0.2% prior); Durable Goods excluding Transportation, February preliminary (-0.4% expected, 0.8% prior); FHFA House Price Index month-on-month, January (0.4% expected, 0.6% in December)" data-reactid="49">Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications, week ended March 20 (-8.4% prior); Durable Goods Orders, February preliminary (-1.0% expected, -0.2% prior); Durable Goods excluding Transportation, February preliminary (-0.4% expected, 0.8% prior); FHFA House Price Index month-on-month, January (0.4% expected, 0.6% in December) Thursday: Wholesale Inventories month-on-month, February preliminary (-0.4% expected, -0.4% prior); GDP Annualized quarter-on-quarter, Q4 third reading (2.1% expected, 2.1% prior); Personal Consumption, Q4 third reading (1.7% expected, 1.7% prior); GDP Price Index, Q4 third reading (1.3% expected, 1.3% prior); Core PCE quarter-on-quarter, Q4 third reading (1.2% expected, 1.2% prior); Initial Jobless Claims, week ended March 21 (1.5 million expected, 281,000 prior); Continuing Claims, week ended March 14 (1.782 million expected, 1.701 million prior); Bloomberg Consumer Comfort, week ended March 22 (63.0 prior)" data-reactid="50">Thursday: Wholesale Inventories month-on-month, February preliminary (-0.4% expected, -0.4% prior); GDP Annualized quarter-on-quarter, Q4 third reading (2.1% expected, 2.1% prior); Personal Consumption, Q4 third reading (1.7% expected, 1.7% prior); GDP Price Index, Q4 third reading (1.3% expected, 1.3% prior); Core PCE quarter-on-quarter, Q4 third reading (1.2% expected, 1.2% prior); Initial Jobless Claims, week ended March 21 (1.5 million expected, 281,000 prior); Continuing Claims, week ended March 14 (1.782 million expected, 1.701 million prior); Bloomberg Consumer Comfort, week ended March 22 (63.0 prior) Friday: Personal Income, February (0.4% expected, 0.6% in January); Personal Spending, February (0.2% expected, 0.2% in January); University of Michigan Sentiment, March final (90.0 expected, 95.9 prior)" data-reactid="51">Friday: Personal Income, February (0.4% expected, 0.6% in January); Personal Spending, February (0.2% expected, 0.2% in January); University of Michigan Sentiment, March final (90.0 expected, 95.9 prior) Earnings calendar" data-reactid="52">Earnings calendar Monday: N/A" data-reactid="53">Monday: N/A Tuesday: Nike (NKE) after market close Wednesday: Micron (MU) after market close Thursday: Signet Jewelers (SIG) before market open; GameStop (GME), Lululemon (LULU), KB Home (KBH) after market close Friday: N/A" TIME to start to see and be able to plan based on ACTUAL data....although.....this data is just the start of things NOW.....for a continuation of my "virus speculation" I continue to see NO REASON that we will be like ITALY. I very strongly suspect that we will end up more like ISRAEL or SOUTH KOREA. Last I saw they were at .3% and .4% deaths respectively. I continue to see many articles FALSELY saying that this virus is spreading quicker than anything we have seen....blah, blah, blah. SORRY....the FLU season covers generally 6 months. This virus has been spreading for 3 months now. This FLU season we have seen about 30 MILLION Flu cases this season JUST IN THE USA. To date the China Virus has infected 335,000 world wide and caused 14,611 deaths.......and.......32,300 cases and 414 deaths in the USA......in half a FLU season. WORLD wide about 3-5 million people get SEVERE FLU in an annual season. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ MY COMMENT NOTHING more SCARY than the unknown. I CONTINUE to see everyone saying that this stay at home "stuff" being ordered right now will not really change anything at all. It might......big might....allow hospitals some time to get up to speed. At this point, we are beyond changing where we are headed. We will see more and more States ORDER people to stay at home. We will see this stay in effect for at least 8-16 weeks. BASICALLY until people REVOLT against it.....we are far from that point right now. We WILL see the destruction of the world economy as well as a SIGNIFICANT portion of our economy and businesses. AND....in the end we will have LITTLE TO NOTHING positive to show for any of the steps we will have taken......whatever the end result is. THAT is my simple opinion.
What is REALLY INTERESTING to me is........as I type this.......I am finding....ZERO, yes ZERO...articles on what the markets are expected to do tomorrow. ZERO articles on what the futures are indicating for tomorrow. ZERO new articles on anything to do with investing or the markets. EVERYTHING I am seeing is anywhere from 2-5 days old. NOTHING NEW. I think this little event has so EXHAUSTED and CONFUSED everyone, that there is NOTHING being said about the coming week (tomorrow).
Maybe the million monkeys are tired of being wrong so they are giving their million typewriters a rest.
I also find it REALLY interesting that the "THINGS" that people might think of as a safe haven in a world wide panic and potential collapse are NOT doing well at all: Bitcoin $6004 way down to date Gold $1499 down from just a few months ago Silver $12.46 way down from just a few months ago I dont follow any of these except for Bitcoin (slightly).....so NO CLUE. I do hold 1/2 of a Bitcoin at the moment. As a Hail Mary just in case it goes to $200,000 or $500,000 per coin at some time in the future. NOT holding my breath. I have a BASIS of $1450 for that 1/2 Bitcoin.
So sad what’s happening to this country. The panic and fear that the media has injected to peoples heads are unbelievable. It’s clear that their intention would be to cascade this well into Election Day. They’ve already destroyed all the worlds economy, do you really think they will stop now? No no no... The president is a sitting duck amidst all this, so try as he might, there’s nothing he can do other than obey the CDC. Imagine if he told you what you already know? That this is NOT the end of the world, that we MUST go back to work and save our economy and quarantine the elderly and sick instead of everyone? He will not only be impeached, but imprisoned. He is aware of it and MUST play along. It becomes more and more evident now that the media led by its political cronies have decided to hurt the economy and ruin Americans lives by driving them to bankruptcy. “We must all pay the price to get rid of the president and change the status quo” they say. Please play along. Stay home and do not dare leave - EVERYONE until further notice. Ladies and gentleman this is the text book definition of socialism. You want your freedom? I don’t think so, you are now, almost overnight, living in a dictatorship. Your rights are being taken away from you. And we don’t even need a president to tell you this
No sooner do I post it (see above) and the internet makes a LIAR out of me. For those that are GLUTTONS for punishment or MASOCHIST stock mavens....as of about 6:04PM: Stock market news live: Stock futures drop, hit limit down https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-march-23-221605039.html I will leave it to you to look at the article.....if you DARE....
THOUGHT this was a nice, relevant, data chart showing Sector Performance: -10.76% Retail Trade -16.27% Communications -18.72% Technology Services -23.63% Consumer Non-Durables -25.72% Electronic Technology -25.94% Utilities -27.93% Consumer Durables -29.11% Health Services -30.21% Commercial Services -30.39% Transportation -34.18% Finance -54.97% Energy Minerals Did not say......BUT....I assume this is for 2020. This shows where we are in the various sectors of the economy right now and how this event is impacting business across the spectrum. Data is from CNN.com.
HERE is something that I was thinking about a few days ago in regards to this "little event". This sort of language is pretty standard in many leases, agreements, and contracts. It is usually thrown in as part of the BOILERPLATE. In a society wide, country wide, world wide situation like this "little event" it is conceivable that just about EVERY contact, lease, and other sort of agreement in the USA will be VOIDABLE and unenforceable. What is a force majeure clause? https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/force-majeure-clause-coronavirus-small-business (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "A force majeure clause is a provision often included in contracts that allows a party to withdraw from an agreement in the wake of an “extraordinary event,” according to a definition by Cornell Law School. The term has been used most recently as businesses across the nation and the globe grapple with the consequences of the new coronavirus, which has temporarily closed some businesses and, in other cases, shut them down for good. The clause “frees both parties from obligation if an extraordinary event prevent one or both parties from performing,” Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute states. “These events must be unforeseeable and unavoidable, and not the result of the defendant's actions, hence they are considered ‘an act of god.’” More than 246,275 COVID-19 cases were reported worldwide as of Friday morning, with at least 14,250 of those in the U.S., according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Several states across the U.S., such as California, New York and Nevada, have ordered small businesses that don’t fall under the “essential” category to close up shop or to decrease their on-location workforce significantly. In New York, the state with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently ordered non-essential businesses statewide to cut their in-office staff by 75 percent. He previously described “essential businesses” as including food services, health care and pharmacies, shipping and supplies. Cuomo warned he could make further cuts and urged companies to voluntarily allow their employees to work from home. Throughout the nation, small businesses in industries of every kind and size have been left devastated by the pandemic. Even before companies were instructed by local and state governments to close their doors, many faced difficulty carrying on as business dwindled. And if they haven't been ordered to close by government officials, many are shutting down out of concern for employees, customers and clients or simply because business has vanished. Meanwhile, those that are still managing to operate are struggling. “My life's work is being ... you know, destroyed, like picked over,” said Theodore Peck, owner of a coffee shop and bakery in Brooklyn, New York. Peck had to fire his staff after the impact of the outbreak became too much to handle. On the larger scale, the Metropolitan Opera announced on March 19 it was canceling the rest of its season and stopping pay for the orchestra, chorus and other unionized employees at the end of March due to the novel coronavirus. Having previously called off performances through March 31, the Met, citing force majeure, is not paying individual singers for canceled performances. "In the history of theater and opera, in force majeure situations, artists who are very well compensated, such as those who perform at the Met, do not get paid. That's why their contracts are written in such a fashion," said Met general manager Peter Gelb in an interview with The Associated Press. "That does not mean that we are not sympathetic and supportive of them," Gelb continued. "For the Met to be able to come back and be a house they are able to perform in in the fall, it has to be strong and has to survive." The clauses have also become a topic of discussion among professional sports leagues, such as the NBA, and player compensation. The NBA suspended its season on March 11, after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. Thirteen others have since also tested positive, and league officials are preparing for the suspension to last a month or longer. "The revenue consequences are significant,” National Basketball Players’ Association executive director Michele Roberts previously told USA Today. “Sure, there is language that allows the league to enforce what they perceive to be a ‘force majeure’ and that would have an impact on compensation for players going forward. But if it happens, there would be a recognition the league is prepared to lose tens of millions of dollars." Earlier Thursday, the NBA sent a memo to teams telling them to close their training and practice facilities to all players and staff — plus recommending that players “take aggressive measures to avoid contact with others and remain home as much as possible, leaving only for essential activities."" MY COMMENT I REALLY dont care about the impact of this "little event" on RICH professional athletes and other celebrities. BUT people need to realize that virtually EVERY contract, lease, or other agreement in existence in the USA and potentially around the world contains this sort of language. Who knows what the impact will be when......or if.....virtually EVERY such agreement becomes VOID if one side or the other decides to bail. This sort of argument certainly gives business owners, lessees, and others some power and leverage when it comes to paying rent, paying contracted wages, paying other obligations, etc, etc, etc. Who knows what the impact of this escape clause will be in the business world and society going forward. I doubt that there has ever been a nationwide event that set into motion the potential to void every business and financial agreement in the entire US economy. I cant think of any...... GOING FORWARD......I am going to try to focus this thread on investing and business and other relevant topics to this STOCKAHOLICS board. I certainly dont have any right to limit what anyone else posts and would not do so anyway. For me personally, it is beginning to be a WASTE OF TIME to debate the science, death rates, infection rates, various theories of who,what, how, when, why, where, etc, etc, of this "little event". It is ALL speculation and opinion anyway. Even the so called experts in all the relevant fields have NO REAL INFORMATION and have NEVER faced a situation like this when it comes to the impact on investors and business and the country. NOT to even mention the potential political impacts.
WXYZ, will do. On the investing front, I have done nothing during this event and plan to stay the course. I'm just in a holding learning pattern. Stay Safe and Happy Investing!
ACTUALLY....not too bad today. STILL, DOW down 3.04% and SP500 down 2.93%. SP500 SOLIDLY below 2300 at the close. I actually expected worse....perhaps double the loss...considering the futures, the failure in the Senate, and everything else. SO.....a moral victory. Yeah right. For any that want to follow the latest "little virus" data....this will give you the details on a country by country basis: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ MY VIEWS on EVERY aspect of this "little situation.....remain the same...you can read them in prior posts on this thread if interested. Not going to CLUTTER up this thread with further personal "little virus" opinion.......at the moment. I see that some of the BIG BOYS are beginning to put some real money into the markets. I think he is early, but it is nice to see some positive actions on the part of those that establish trends. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-ackman-makes-2-5-181343209.html Bill Ackman Makes $2.5 Billion ‘Recovery Bet’ Amid Coronavirus Tumble
What people need to do immediately is form a gigantic march consisting of small business and those recently unemployed and everyone that feels an urge to help. A peaceful march in the street all across the states with NO social distancing demanding to put Americans back to work.
Calling $CMG around $500 level for good 3yr hold, target price $1100 I would wait to buy for another week or two to see how stocks level off. Maybe wait until the first week of April for the unemployment report. I do not think unemployment will affect them as much in this market as other dine-in.
Dont know about CMG. I have never followed or looked at them. For me with investing in anything......I am guessing that EARNINGS REPORTING might be a market low, especially if many companies really tank on their earnings. The one stock that I will consider if I see a nice drop any time soon is AMZN. They have proven themselves as a company AND as a stock in this "little crisis".
AMZN, has been a star in my holdings. Bought back about 2 months ago for 1740 and has held up well. I would say most of the S&P Funds have AMZN in there top 5 holdings. AMZN is one stock I would buy at anytime! Happy Investing!
