The Long Term Investor

Waiting for the markets to open today. Here is a topic that seems to be very much on people's minds lately.

Delineating the US Government’s Two Inflation-Linked Investment Options
Know your I Bonds from your TIPS.

https://www.fisherinvestments.com/e...nments-two-inflationlinked-investment-options

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

"With inflation at 40-year highs, investors seem to have many questions about “inflation-protected” options. Two seem to continually come up: inflation-indexed US savings bonds (known as I Bonds) and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), with many investors seemingly confusing and conflating the two. Now, we don’t think the current environment necessarily calls for either. But if you are considering these assets, it behooves you to understand the vast differences between them.

What are they?

I Bonds are US savings bonds that earn interest based on a fixed rate plus an inflation rate (based on US Consumer Price Index, or CPI).

TIPS, as the name implies, are US Treasury securities that pay a fixed coupon rate and whose principal is adjusted due to changes in CPI. If US CPI rises, TIPS’ principal value is adjusted higher; if CPI falls (i.e., deflation), principal value does, too. Thus, inflation affects both the interest payments you receive and the security’s value at redemption (or at the point you sell it). A fixed interest rate applied to a higher principal yields a higher interest payment in dollars, and the principal rises over the lifespan of the bond if CPI is positive. While principal is adjusted downward in deflationary times, it never falls below its value at issuance. Yet, as we will discuss momentarily, this doesn’t make TIPS a surefire inflation hedge.

How do they adjust for inflation?

I Bonds’ interest payments are based on a semiannual inflation rate, which resets every May and November. The rate you receive depends on when you buy the bond, but it updates every six months. Currently, the going interest rate is 9.6%, and you can buy I Bonds at that rate through October 2022.

TIPS’ principal adjusts semiannually based on a formula called the Inflation Index Ratio, which the Treasury calculates based on CPI. The bond’s coupon rate then applies to that adjusted principal, giving you higher interest payments when prices have risen over the past half year.

How do interest payments work?

I Bonds’ interest accrues and compounds over the life of the bond and is paid out upon the bond’s maturity or redemption only.


TIPS pay interest semiannually.

Are these actual inflation hedges?

This question gets to the heart of the matter, and the answer is: It depends. I Bonds are a handy way to shield small portions of cash from inflation’s corrosive effects, although there are redemption restrictions to be aware of, which we will detail shortly.

TIPS, however, aren’t intended as nominal protection against inflation. Rather, they aim to guard against inflation relative to a normal Treasury bond. A normal Treasury bond pays interest to account for inflation risk—the point is to compensate for the fact that your principal would have less purchasing power at maturity than it did at the bond’s issuance. But interest rates don’t always perfectly offset inflation, so TIPS’ purpose is to add extra compensation to preserve your purchasing power over the lifespan of the bond. However, given TIPS yields are often far below nominal Treasury yields, we wouldn’t overstate their powers.

Additionally, TIPS aren’t hedges against short-term price fluctuations. They are bonds and, like bonds, their values rise and fall in the secondary market. General bond market trends, not inflation, tend to be their primary performance drivers, making them subject to interest rate risk. When interest rates rise, Treasurys and TIPS alike will fall. That happened this year, rendering deep TIPS declines even as inflation accelerated to 40-year highs. (Exhibit 1) During the slide from mid-March through June, TIPS underperformed non-inflation-protected US Treasurys on a cumulative basis, although TIPS are slightly ahead year to date. Also note that for years, until very recently, TIPS yields were negative, locking in losses for anyone who bought at those prices and planned to hold to maturity.

Exhibit 1: TIPS Haven’t Been an Inflation Hedge This Year



Source: FactSet, as of 8/2/2022. S&P 10-Year TIPS Index total return, 12/31/2021 – 8/1/2022.

How and where can I buy them?

I Bonds are available through the US Treasury’s TreasuryDirect website only.


TIPS are purchasable at auction through the Treasury or via the secondary market through banks, brokers and dealers.

Are there purchase limits?

I Bonds are available in amounts of $25 or more, and the annual purchase limit is $10,000 per taxpayer, although you can purchase up to $5,000 in additional I Bonds with your Federal tax refund per year. This must be stipulated when you file your tax return.

The minimum TIPS purchase is $100, and they are sold in increments of $100. There is ostensibly no limit for individual investors, although an individual bidder at a Treasury auction can buy up to $5 million in TIPS.

Are they available in funds?

There are no I Bond funds. You can only own the individual securities, and again, you must buy through the TreasuryDirect website directly. You cannot buy through your brokerage or financial adviser. There are no funds or ETFs containing I Bonds.

TIPS are available in funds. If you prefer the instant diversification of funds versus individual bonds, you can access them through a mutual fund or ETF.

Are they liquid?

I Bonds are the less liquid of the two. You can’t sell them on the secondary market. Rather, you can only redeem from the Treasury or hold them to maturity. I Bonds reach maturity 30 years after issuance, though investors can cash them out 12 months after purchase. Note, however, that redeeming within five years of the purchase date will cost you the last three months’ interest. We also suggest that if you own or choose to buy, ensure you look carefully at how to establish beneficiaries and what your heirs will need to do to gain access to them.

TIPS trade on the secondary market and are relatively easy to buy and sell. Funds and ETFs add more liquidity. However, supply is lower than normal Treasurys, which renders TIPS less liquid technically.

What are the tax considerations?

I Bonds are subject to Federal income tax but exempt from state and local income taxes. Owners can choose whether to pay tax on interest annually or defer reporting on interest until redemption or bond maturity.

If you hold TIPS in a non-qualified account (meaning, a traditional brokerage account or other account that isn’t tax-deferred), interest payments are also subject to Federal income taxes but exempt from state and local levies. The principal adjustment is also subject to Federal income taxes. Yes, income—not capital gains rates. You must also pay taxes on the principal adjustments in the year they occur—you can’t defer until maturity. The TreasuryDirect website has more details.

What is your opinion of each?

I Bonds may make sense for cash earmarked for expenses that are at least a year out, though losing three months of interest if you don’t wait out the full five-year lockup is an opportunity cost worth considering. What is right for you depends on your personal situation.

As for TIPS, we don’t think they are anywhere near what they are cracked up to be. They have underperformed traditional Treasurys for long stretches over time, even at times when the CPI inflation rate exceeded zero. Plus, we think the primary purpose of a fixed income allocation is to reduce expected volatility relative to an all-equity portfolio, which—over long periods—is already a more-than-effective inflation hedge. Adding TIPS into the mix doesn’t necessarily enhance this, and it adds more factors affecting the performance of that fixed income component—not least of all bidding wars for an asset that is more scarce than typical Treasurys.

We aren’t inherently for or against either of these securities, but as with any investment option, we think it is critical to look at your portfolio holistically: There are multiple ways to generate cash flow to meet your specific investment needs and generate returns that outpace inflation over time, and interest-bearing securities aren’t the only viable tools out there."

MY COMMENT

I hear mostly about I-bonds lately. there is much talk about them. There are ways around the $10,000 limit if you use various family members to buy them as well as income tax refunds. I have even heard of some people INTENTIONALLY overpaying their taxes to get a refund to put into I-bonds.

I dont really have any interest in either of these items....so my knowledge is limited.

 

The markets are just going to have to get along without me this morning.....for a while. I have a Dr appointment to get to.

Somehow....I think the markets will be just fine without me. Emmett will be on call this morning if the markets need his help.

 

A quick check in here at the BEST internet investing forum. I looked at my account a minute ago for the first time today. Moderately GREEN. I had three stocks DOWN today.....GOOGL. COST, and APPL. The way they looked I would not be surprised to see two or all of them green by the end of the day.

BUT......the short term markets are pretty random.....so who knows. So far....so good.

 

COSTCO......a GOLDEN long term holding. I see this stock as a CORE HOLDING for any investor.

Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports July Sales Results

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-rel...lesale-corporation-reports-july-sales-results


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


"Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports July Sales Results

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Aug. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Costco Wholesale
Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: COST) today reported net
sales of $16.85 billion for the retail month of July, the four weeks ended
July 31, 2022, an increase of 10.8 percent from $15.21 billion last year.

For the forty-eight weeks ended July 31, 2022, the Company reported net sales
of $205.19 billion, an increase of 16.4 percent from $176.30 billion during
the similar period last year.

Comparable sales were as follows:


4 WEEKS 48 WEEKS

U.S. 11.4% 16.2%
Canada 11.7% 15.6%
Other International 0.7% 6.8%

Total Company 10.0% 14.8%

E-commerce 10.2% 10.6%


Comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and
foreign exchange were as follows:


4 WEEKS 48 WEEKS

U.S. 5.8% 10.6%
Canada 11.5% 12.1%
Other International 9.4% 9.8%

Total Company 7.0% 10.7%

E-commerce 11.5% 10.8%


This year’s four-week retail month had one fewer shopping day in the U.S.
versus last year, due to the timing of Independence Day. This negatively
impacted Total Company total and comparable sales by approximately two and
one-half percent, and U.S. total and comparable sales by approximately three
and one-half percent.

Additional discussion of these results is available in a pre-recorded
telephone message. It can be accessed by dialing 1-888-462-2969. This message
will be available through 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, August 10, 2022.

Costco currently operates 834 warehouses, including 575 in the United States
and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United
Kingdom, 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, four in Spain, two each
in France and China, and one in Iceland. Costco also operates e-commerce sites
in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and
Australia.

Certain statements contained in this document and the pre-recorded telephone
message constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes,
forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events,
conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur
in the future. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified
because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,”
“could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “might,” “plan,”
“potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,”
“would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Such
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause
actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those
indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are
not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including
exchange rates, inflation or deflation, the effects of competition and
regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small
business spending patterns and debt levels, breaches of security or privacy of
member or business information, conditions affecting the acquisition,
development, ownership or use of real estate, capital spending, actions of
vendors, rising costs associated with employees (generally including
health-care costs), energy and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions
(including tariffs and the Ukraine conflict), the ability to maintain
effective internal control over financial reporting, regulatory and other
impacts related to climate change, and COVID-19 related factors and
challenges, including (among others) the duration of the pandemic, the unknown
long-term economic impact, reduced shopping due to illness, travel
restrictions or financial hardship, shifts in demand for products, reduced
workforces due to illness, quarantine, or government mandates, temporary store
closures or operational limitations due to government mandates, or
supply-chain disruptions, capacity constraints of third-party logistics
suppliers, and other risks identified from time to time in the Company’s
public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made, and the Company does not undertake to update these statements, except as
required by law."

MY COMMENT

SIMPLY an amazing company. One of the BEST managed companies that I own. I dont know about right now.....but a week or two ago this stock had the largest capital gain of any stock that I own......even the tech companies. I absolutely consider this stock a MUST-OWN......CORE COMPANY.....for any long term investor. Although....everyone has to look at it for themselves.....dont take investing advice from the internet. they have been absolutely hitting it out of the park for decades.

Of course......they are down today when I checked a few minutes ago.......LOL.

 

I know Zukodany....to me....that credit card policy is their only weakness. They must have a hell of a deal with the card that they favor. Even though I am a long time shareholder.....I rarely shop there. We go perhaps 2-3 times a year for some special item....like dog beds.

I believe that about 2-3 years ago AM EX used to be their primary card partner.

 

Today is the TESLA annual meeting here in Austin. I guess I could have gone since I am a shareholder.....I did not even think about it. If I remember next year and am not busy I think I will go just for the hell of it.......if I can get in. I have never gone to any annual meeting.

The stock split vote is on the agenda.

They did a random drawing to get tickets to attend due to limited space. Here are the terms of the drawing.

https://www.tesla.com/2022-meeting-terms

I just put a note on my 2023 calendar in May to check on a drawing for the 2023 meeting.

 

HERE.......is one of thousands of unknown stories that are shockingly MORONIC. This is simply unbelievable stuff.

The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1114964240/new-battery-technology-china-vanadium

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

"When a group of engineers and researchers gathered in a warehouse in Mukilteo, Wash., 10 years ago, they knew they were onto something big. They scrounged up tables and chairs, cleared out space in the parking lot for experiments and got to work.

They were building a battery — a vanadium redox flow battery — based on a design created by two dozen U.S. scientists at a government lab. The batteries were about the size of a refrigerator, held enough energy to power a house, and could be used for decades. The engineers pictured people plunking them down next to their air conditioners, attaching solar panels to them, and everyone living happily ever after off the grid.

"It was beyond promise," said Chris Howard, one of the engineers who worked there for a U.S. company called UniEnergy. "We were seeing it functioning as designed, as expected."

But that's not what happened. Instead of the batteries becoming the next great American success story, the warehouse is now shuttered and empty. All the employees who worked there were laid off. And more than 5,200 miles away, a Chinese company is hard at work making the batteries in Dalian, China.

The Chinese company didn't steal this technology. It was given to them — by the U.S. Department of Energy. First in 2017, as part of a sublicense, and later, in 2021, as part of a license transfer. An investigation by NPR and the Northwest News Network found the federal agency allowed the technology and jobs to move overseas, violating its own licensing rules while failing to intervene on behalf of U.S. workers in multiple instances.

Now, China has forged ahead, investing millions into the cutting-edge green technology that was supposed to help keep the U.S. and its economy out front.



UniEnergy Technologies and Avista's solar energy storage system is displayed at an event in 2015.

Department of Energy officials declined NPR's request for an interview to explain how the technology that cost U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars ended up in China. After NPR sent department officials written questions outlining the timeline of events, the federal agency terminated the license with the Chinese company, Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd.

"DOE takes America's manufacturing obligations within its contracts extremely seriously," the department said in a written statement. "If DOE determines that a contractor who owns a DOE-funded patent or downstream licensee is in violation of its U.S. manufacturing obligations, DOE will explore all legal remedies."

Several U.S. companies have tried to get a license to make the batteries

The department is now conducting an internal review of the licensing of vanadium battery technology and whether this license — and others — have violated U.S. manufacturing requirements, the statement said.

Forever Energy, a Bellevue, Wash., based company, is one of several U.S. companies that have been trying to get a license from the Department of Energy to make the batteries. Joanne Skievaski, Forever Energy's chief financial officer, has been trying to get hold of a license for more than a year and called the department's decision to allow foreign manufacturing "mind boggling."

"This is technology made from taxpayer dollars," Skievaski said. "It was invented in a national lab. (Now) it's deployed in China, and it's held in China. To say it's frustrating is an understatement."

The idea for this vanadium redox battery began in the basement of a government lab, three hours southwest of Seattle, called Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It was 2006, and more than two dozen scientists began to suspect that a special mix of acid and electrolyte could hold unusual amounts of energy without degrading. They turned out to be right.

It took six years and more than 15 million taxpayer dollars for the scientists to uncover what they believed was the perfect vanadium battery recipe. Others had made similar batteries with vanadium, but this mix was twice as powerful and did not appear to degrade the way cellphone batteries or even car batteries do. The researchers found the batteries capable of charging and recharging for as long as 30 years.

Gary Yang, the lead scientist on the project, said he was excited to see if he could make the batteries outside the lab. The lab encourages scientists to do just that, in an effort to bring critical new technology into the marketplace. The lab and the U.S. government still hold the patents, because U.S. taxpayers paid for the research.

In 2012, Yang applied to the Department of Energy for a license to manufacture and sell the batteries.

The agency issued the license, and Yang launched UniEnergy Technologies. He hired engineers and researchers. But he soon ran into trouble. He said he couldn't persuade any U.S. investors to come aboard.

"I talked to almost all major investment banks; none of them (wanted to) invest in batteries," Yang said in an interview, adding that the banks wanted a return on their investments faster than the batteries would turn a profit.

He said a fellow scientist connected him with a Chinese businessman named Yanhui Liu and a company called Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd., along with its parent company, and he jumped at the chance to have them invest and even help manufacture the batteries.

At first, UniEnergy Technologies did the bulk of the battery assembly in the warehouse. But over the course of the next few years, more and more of the manufacturing and assembling began to shift to Rongke Power, Chris Howard said. In 2017, Yang formalized the relationship and granted Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd. an official sublicense, allowing the company to make the batteries in China.

Any company can choose to manufacture in China. But in this case, the rules are pretty clear. Yang's original license requires him to sell a certain number of batteries in the U.S., and it says those batteries must be "substantially manufactured" here.

In an interview, Yang acknowledged that he did not do that. UniEnergy Technologies sold a few batteries in the U.S., but not enough to meet its requirements. The ones it did sell, including in one instance to the U.S. Navy, were made in China. But Yang said in all those years, neither the lab nor the department questioned him or raised any issues.

Then in 2019, Howard said, UniEnergy Technologies officials gathered all the engineers in a meeting room. He said supervisors told them they would have to work in China at Rongke Power Co. for four months at a time.

"It was unclear, certainly to myself and other engineers, what the plan was," said Howard, who now works for Forever Energy.
Yang acknowledges that he wanted his U.S. engineers to work in China. But he says it was because he thought Rongke Power could help teach them critical skills.

Yang was born in China but is a U.S. citizen and got his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. He said he wanted to manufacture the entire battery in the U.S., but that the U.S. does not have the supply chain he required. He said China is more advanced when it comes to manufacturing and engineering utility-scale batteries.

"In this field — manufacturing, engineering — China is ahead of the U.S.," Yang said. "Many wouldn't believe [it]."

He said he didn't send the battery and his engineers abroad to help China. He said the engineers in that country were helping his UniEnergy Technologies employees and helping him get his batteries built.

But news reports at the time show the moves were helping China. The Chinese government launched several large demonstration projects and announced millions of dollars in funding for large-scale vanadium batteries.

As battery work took off in China, Yang was facing more financial trouble in the U.S. So he made a decision that would again keep the technology from staying in the U.S.

The EU has strict rules about where companies manufacture products

In 2021, Yang transferred the battery license to a European company based in the Netherlands. The company, Vanadis Power, told NPR it initially planned to continue making the batteries in China and then would set up a factory in Germany, eventually hoping to manufacture in the U.S., said Roelof Platenkamp, the company's founding partner.

Vanadis Power needed to manufacture batteries in Europe because the European Union has strict rules about where companies manufacture products, Platenkamp said.

"I have to be a European company, certainly a non-Chinese company, in Europe," Platenkamp said in an interview with NPR.

But the U.S. has these types of rules, too. Any transfer of a U.S. government license requires U.S. government approval so that manufacturing doesn't move overseas. The U.S. has lost significant jobs in recent years in areas where it first forged ahead, such as solar panels, drones and telecom equipment. Still, when UniEnergy requested approval, it apparently had no trouble getting it.

On July 7, 2021, a top official at UniEnergy Technologies emailed a government manager at the lab where the battery was created. The UniEnergy official said they were making a deal with Vanadis, according to emails reviewed by NPR, and were going to transfer the license to Vanadis.

"We're working to finalize a deal with Vanadis Power and believe they have the right blend of technical expertise," the email from UniEnergy Technologies said. "Our transaction with Vanadis is ready to go pending your approval ..."

The government manager responded that he needed confirmation before transferring the license and emailed a second employee at UniEnergy. The second employee responded an hour and a half later, and the license was transferred to Vanadis Power.

Whether the manager or anyone else at the lab or Department of Energy thought to check during that hour and a half or thereafter whether Vanadis Power was an American company, or whether it intended to manufacture in the U.S., is unclear. Vanadis' own website said it planned to make the batteries in China.

In response, department officials said they review each transfer for compliance and said that new rules put in place last summer by the Biden administration will close loopholes and keep more manufacturing here.

But agency officials acknowledged that its reviews often rely on "good faith disclosures" by the companies, which means if companies such as UniEnergy Technologies don't say anything, the U.S. government may never know.

That's a problem that has plagued the department for years, according to government investigators.

In 2018, the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Energy lacked resources to properly monitor its licenses, relied on antiquated computer systems, and didn't have consistent policies across its labs.

In this case, it was an American company, Forever Energy, that raised concerns about the license with UniEnergy more than a year ago. Joanne Skievaski said she and others from the company repeatedly warned department officials that the UniEnergy license was not in compliance. In emails NPR has reviewed, department officials told them it was.

"How is it that the national lab did not require U.S. manufacturing?" Skievaski asked. "Not only is it a violation of the license, it's a violation to our country."

Now that the Department of Energy has revoked the license, Skievaski said she hopes Forever Energy will be able to acquire it or obtain a similar license. The company plans to open a factory in Louisiana next year and begin manufacturing. She bristles at the idea that U.S. engineers aren't up to the challenge.

"That's hogwash," she said. "We are ready to go with this technology."

Still, she says it will be difficult for any American company at this point to catch up. Industry trade reports currently list Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd. as the top manufacturer of vanadium redox flow batteries worldwide. Skievaski also worries about whether China will stop making the batteries once an American company is granted the right to start making them.


That may be unlikely. Chinese news reports say the country is about to bring online one of the largest battery farms the world has ever seen. The reports say the entire farm is made up of vanadium redux flow batteries."

MY COMMENT

This is why we WILL end up as a third rate country to China. They are sniffing out this sort of technology around the world......and in typical fashion it ends up being made and kept in China.

This stuff is rampant and IDIOCY of the highest order. Put simply.......we are MASSIVE FOOLS and our government is INCOMPETENT IDIOTS.

 

I had a very good day today. I was nicely GREEN. My ONLY two down stocks were.....of course.....Costco......since I bragged about them........ and Apple. I also managed to beat the SP500 by 0.52% today.

I am having a very good week so far.....three days green and one day red. Looking forward to a BIG END tomorrow.

 

Here is how investors in general did today.

Stock market news live updates: Stocks close mixed ahead of July jobs report

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-august-4-2022-113205175.html

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

"U.S. stocks were little changed Thursday following uneventful trading as investors looked ahead to July's jobs report on Friday and barreled through more earnings.

The S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped roughly 0.3%. After rallying on Wednesday, tech stocks tried to build back momentum, with the Nasdaq up 0.4%.

The biggest action in markets on Thursday, however, was happening away from the major stock indexes with the price of WTI crude oil falling below $90 a barrel for the first time since early February and Coinbase (COIN) shares rising as much as 40%.

Coinbase shares were on the move Thursday after the company announced it had partnered with BlackRock (BLK) to expand access to crypto markets for institutional investors.

Coinbase shares, which closed at a record low of $47.02 on June 30, traded as high as $115 early Thursday. About two hours into the trading session, Coinbase shares were trading closer to $95.

Elsewhere in single-name moves, shares of Chinese conglomerate AMTD IDEA Group (AMTD) were down 27% and its subsidiary AMTD Digital (HKD) were down some 18% in early trading.

AMTD Digital has become a fascination for investors this week with the company's market value exceeding more than $400 billion at one point. In a statement early Tuesday, the company said it had seen "significant volatility in our ADS price and, also observed some very active trading volume. To our knowledge, there are no material circumstances, events nor other matters relating to our Company’s business and operating activities since the IPO date."

The company's statement was called a "thank you note" to investors.

In economic news, first-time filings for unemployment insurance in the U.S. climbed to 260,000 for the week ended July 30, increasing by 6,000 from the prior week's reading, the Department of Labor said Thursday. The figure was on par with economist estimates from Bloomberg.

Investors look ahead to the main monthly jobs report for July on Friday. Economists expect the broader employment report to show 250,000 new jobs were created last month, a noted decrease from the 372,000 jobs added in June.

Thursday's moves follow a major up day on Wall Street Wednesday that saw the S&P 500 climb 1.6%, bringing the benchmark index 13% above its June 16th lows – its largest bounce of the year. The VIX – Wall Street’s volatility gauge – meanwhile, has fallen to 22, its second lowest close since mid-April.

“We are clearly doing better than past ‘dead cat bounces,’ DataTrek’s Nicholas Colas said in a note, though adding that a close below 20 for the Vix within the next two months may suggest “excessive market complacency” over an equity investment environment that remains uncertain.

“Happy as we are that U.S. equities are moving higher in more convincing form than prior 2022 rallies, we think it makes sense to stay level headed about risk-return tradeoffs until we have a clearer picture on inflation and future Fed monetary policy,” Colas said.

On the earnings front, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (BABA) reported results for its fiscal first-quarter Thursday that topped Wall Street estimates. Shares jumped more than 5% early Thursday."

MY COMMENT

YES......keep your head on straight. We obviously will face much volatility and a very erratic market for some time. We also STILL have a long way to go to recover from the insane economic shut-down. I should say the "small business shut down".....since every big company that I know of stayed open and doing business.

I am VERY PLEASED with the markets this week. Since it is a follow-up week to a massive gain the week before there was plenty of potential for a DOWN week. No matter where we are in the BEAR MARKET cycle....we seem to have definately turned a corner over the past 6-7 weeks.

Hang in there everyone.......