Another take for those that care. Apple beats Q2 estimates, as iPhone sales decline 10% https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-beats-q2-estimates-as-iphone-sales-decline-10-091232309.html
It is about time. Apple CEO Tim Cook boasts of future AI plans after earnings beat This is one of the first times Cook's come out so strongly about how Apple will set itself apart in the generative AI space. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/appl...e-ai-plans-after-earnings-beat-214757677.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook took time during the company's second quarter earnings call on Thursday to drum up excitement for the iPhone maker's upcoming generative AI offerings. In his remarks, Cook told listeners that the company is bullish about the opportunities generative AI has to offer and that it is making significant investments in the technology. "We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI, and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era including Apple's unique combination of seamless hardware, software, and services integration; groundbreaking Apple silicon with our industry leading neural engine; and our unwavering focus on privacy," Cook said. Ahead of the call, Apple reported better-than-anticipated earnings and revenue, though iPhone sales fell about 10% year over year. Apple will host its annual WWDC developer conference in June, which should serve as the launchpad for the company's generative AI ambitions. Analysts hope generative AI could kick off another iPhone sales supercycle. But, so far, the technology doesn't appear to be driving sales of competing smartphones from the likes of Samsung and Google. Cook has been relatively tightlipped regarding Apple's generative AI plans, dropping small tidbits about the company's investments here and there. This is one of the first times he's come out so strongly about how Apple will set itself apart from its Big Tech rivals in the generative AI space. Wall Street is waiting on tenterhooks for Apple's generative AI announcements. The company hasn't debuted any generative AI products since the technology exploded in popularity in late 2022. Rivals including Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, meanwhile, have rolled out a series of generative AI capabilities and products including chatbots and search engine improvements. Microsoft, in particular, has added generative AI directly to Windows 11 via the Windows 11 Copilot. If Apple's generative AI plans are going to live up to Wall Street's expectations, it will need to enable some kind of must-have features that users can't get on their existing devices. We'll find out what Apple's cooking up next month. MY COMMENT APPLES silence on AI up to now makes me wonder if they were totally caught off guard and had "nothing" going on with AI. They have been very MUTE for a long time now even as other companies have added AI capability to their products. I have to assume that being more of a consumer product and hardware company....they had little to no engineering expertise or awareness of AI going on. Although...this seems crazy. In addition they have done a very poor job of talking up their AI plans over the past 1-2 years. Which once again....makes me wonder if management and engineering was caught flat footed. I am hopeful that with their consumer product expertise....once they start to use and incorporate AI into their products......they will have some very smart and innovative uses and features. If not and they seem to be standing still or just following the pack....it will be a very negative grade for management. If they FAIL to take advantage of and lead the way into the AI future....I suspect at some point we will see a big management change. AND.....it will be justified.
The stock continues to do very well after hours being up currently by over $10 or 6.09%. COME ON EVERYONE.....LETS FINISH THE WEEK IN STYLE TOMORROW.
This new IPO might be one to keep an eye on over the next couple of years. The retirement of the BABY BOOMERS is a big driver for this company. We are booked to do a Mississippi river cruise with them in the future.....extremely expensive. Cramer says he’s willing to pay up for Viking, the biggest IPO of the year https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/02/cra...ay-up-for-viking-biggest-ipo-of-the-year.html "Key Points CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday reviewed the IPO of Viking, a cruise line whose market debut this week was the biggest of the year so far, and said he’s willing to pay up for the stock. Viking targets a wealthy consumer and offers luxury voyages with niche destinations like Iceland or Egypt."
I am repeating this post....I want to see in anyone has any experience good or bad with CMG stock. Has anyone researched this company? Does anyone here own Chipotle? Approximately number 100 in the SP500. Has anyone on here researched the stock? No I am not buying the company at this moment. But I was researching companies in the top 100 of the SP500 for the future and it came up. This seemed to be the best general article that I could find on them. Is Chipotle Stock A Buy Ahead Of Its Large 50-For-1 Stock Split? https://www.forbes.com/sites/invest...ock-buy-ahead-of-stock-split/?sh=1e9b80657e2f Thoughts? I am not usually a fast-food investor....but their expansion plans to double over the near to medium term as described in this article is interesting. I have also reviewed all their financials and they look pretty good as does the stock return for YTD, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and five years. They have ZERO long term or short term debt. I really did not see any concerning numbers in their financials. I especially liked their Revenue and Revenue Growth data for the past five years and the projections for the next five years....same with EPS and EPS Growth. I am always looking for stocks outside the BIG CAP TECH area since I am so top heavy in that area. I am thinking that this might be a good prospect. My last prospects which I bought and held for a while.......HON and TSLA.....lasted a while but I had to sell them both before they became lifetime holdings. They both disappointed me.....eventually. What am I missing? #19816
A BIG FAT open today in all the averages. NOW....all we have to do is maintain for the next six hours. At that point we can lock in another week of 2024.
Perhaps a very relevant article on a day like today. Our Counsel After April’s Spring Slide Remember pullbacks start and end without warning. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/e...mentary/our-counsel-after-aprils-spring-slide (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "The first down month in six just ended. Yes, April, now officially in the books, was stocks’ first down month since last October, when the autumn’s correction ended. Global markets fell -3.7%, and the S&P 500 slipped -4.1%. While such declines aren’t abnormal, the recent streak of gains may make them feel unsettling. So how should investors treat this, the first pullback, which perhaps begins the first correction since last year? With patience, discipline and a long-term focus, in our view. Volatility is one of those things everyone knows, on paper, is a fact of investing. No stock chart ever moved straight up and to the right only, uninterrupted. Statements about downside risk being the tradeoff for higher long-term returns frequently get nods of understanding. But when it actually strikes, those nods vanish. Amid volatility, instead of stressing core principles, headlines will usually marry the drop with the fear du jour to whip up a frenzy and garner more clicks. Combine that with investors’ innate tendency to hate losses more than they value equivalent gains, and it can trigger a powerful urge to just do something, anything, to restore some calm. Hence, when stocks hit a speedbump after a long rise, the popular conversation frequently turns to how investors can ensure they lock in recent gains and guard against downside. We have seen an abundance of this for the past couple weeks. Some argue for simple profit-taking, implying there will never be a subsequent investment decision involving those funds. Others for complex hedging strategies. They all offer the perception of safety and emotional comfort, the knowledge that if the market keeps going down, investors won’t be as exposed. In our view, this is the wrong medicine. It casts short-term volatility as something that can and must be avoided in order for investors to reach their long-term goals. Yet history shows those things aren’t correct. Short-term negativity—pullbacks and corrections—strikes for any or no reason, at any time. And it usually ends fast, with a strong recovery to fresh highs. Negativity both starts and ends before most people realize it. Whether negativity accompanies a scary story or not, it comes from sharp swings in sentiment. Feelings. Emotions. These are fickle and change on a dime, often when folks least expect it. Rewind to the end of March, when this pullback began. At the time, headlines weren’t warning trouble loomed. Rather, they were celebrating the best Q1 returns in five years, cheering good economic data, salivating over the prospect of Fed rate cuts and basically saying, smooth sailing ahead. Now they are saying the opposite, warning further trouble must await because the Fed isn’t cutting, headline Q1 GDP growth was supposedly disappointing, inflation is lingering and geopolitics are tense. Yet all these fears are well-known and overblown. They are typical wall-of-worry bricks, not the huge, shocking negatives that typically sneak up and cause bear markets. This suggests to us that stocks are likely to move on much sooner than people anticipate. Perhaps not tomorrow. Maybe we breach the -10% correction threshold first. Maybe not. But it looks likely to be soon, in our view. Hence, the main risk investors face isn’t participating in a bit more downside, but in missing the recovery that erases it. Therefore, we think a better way to navigate rocky stretches is to prepare emotionally. Not with portfolio moves aimed at guarding against it. But by remembering your long-term goals and the returns you need to reach them—returns you will reap only if you are invested in up markets. That requires participating in rebounds, which are impossible to time with precision, hence the need to stay patient and invested through the wobbles. Keeping a longer-term perspective and remembering why you are investing can help keep you on track. If you find tuning into financial news chatter makes you more anxious and tempted to make big portfolio moves, remove the temptation (other than MarketMinder!). Get outside. Enjoy the spring sun. Take a walk. Have tea with a friend. Work on a project. Cook or bake something delicious. Take the grandkids for the afternoon. Go for a drive. Whatever you fancy! All of these things are bigger, better and more consequential than whatever stocks do in a given week, month or season. They are also more rewarding, financially and mentally, than making the error of selling into volatility. It might feel good in the moment, but it means locking in prior declines and, potentially, missing the ensuing rebound. Taking money off the table sounds harmless, but it means limiting your participation in bull markets and, therefore, limiting your progress to your long-term investing goals. It could mean running out of money too soon in retirement, which is a heckuva lot more painful than enduring a rocky spell in the market today. So, stay cool. Headlines encouraging you to veer from an investment strategy you picked with your long-term goals in mind aren’t your friends. Patience and discipline, those are your friends." MY COMMENT WOW....what a great little article. I could BOLD the whole thing. This is TRUTH and REALITY. The same message that is on this thread every day. If you are a long term investor EMBRACE this message......move out of the market at your peril.
HERE comes the GOOD economic news....at least for the FED. April jobs report shows hiring, wage growth slow as unemployment unexpectedly jumps https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apri...nemployment-unexpectedly-jumps-123130544.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "The US labor market cooled notably last month as both hiring and wage growth slowed more than economists had expected in April. The US economy added 175,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% last month, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday. Wall Street economists had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise by 240,000 and the unemployment rate to remain at 3.8%, according to Bloomberg data. Wages also rose less than forecast, with average hourly earnings rising 0.2% over last month and 3.9% over the last year. Economists had expected to see a monthly jump of 0.3% in April and a 4% rise over last year. Friday's report also showed February's job growth was revised down — to a gain of 236,000 nonfarm payroll jobs from the 270,000 previously reported — while March's report was revised up to job gains of 315,000 from the 303,000 initially reported. Ahead of Friday's report, economists flagged revisions as important to watch, as the last year has seen the average month's payroll gains revised down by 13,000 jobs. The length of the average workweek fell last month, to 34.3 from 34.4. The underemployment rate, which includes the unemployed and those marginally attached to the workforce, rose to 7.4%. By industry, the narrow gains in the labor market seen this year continued, with healthcare and social assistance employment increasing by a combined 87,000 in April, accounting for almost exactly half of the overall growth in nonfarm employment. Retail along with transportation and warehousing were the only two industries outside of healthcare and social assistance that saw payroll growth north of 20,000 last month. "We suspect the near-record warm winter explains some of the strength over the preceding four months," Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in an email on Friday, "and April’s renewed slowdown bears that out a little — with construction employment up by only 8,000 and leisure & hospitality rising by a trivial 5,000." The slowdown in wage growth seen last month also helps the case for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates at some point this year, even as inflation data has remained higher than the central bank's 2% target and shown "bumpy" progress toward that level in recent months." MY COMMENT ICING on the cake today. Good news for the FED watchers.
The market today. Stock market today: Dow leads broader rally after soft jobs report, Apple earnings triumph https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stoc...-report-apple-earnings-triumph-124351108.html Read if you wish...nothing here that you dont already know just by looking at the open today. I LOVE the headline....."APPLE EARNINGS TRIUMPH". You think that is a little bit of exaggeration? DUH. These headline writers make me laugh.....I bet they had fun and smiled while writing that phrase. I do......but I will take a little bit of cheer-leading for the markets and the company.
The good news just keeps on coming today. Amazon Web Services CEO: We're on track to hit $100 billion in sales in 2024 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amaz...t-100-billion-in-sales-in-2024-122551887.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "What's in the clouds for Amazon's (AMZN) lucrative AWS business: $100 billion in 2024 sales. "This quarter, we just announced a few days ago that AWS did hit the $100 billion annualized revenue run rate milestone — not many tech companies have done that," AWS CEO Adam Selipsky said on the Opening Bid podcast (video above). Added Selipsky, "I think it's a notable milestone." Powered by voracious demand for generative AI services and the ongoing push to move workloads to the cloud, Amazon's enterprise cloud operation is fresh off a bang-up first quarter. AWS sales accelerated for the second straight quarter, rising 17% year over year to $25 billion. The business — which Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hired Selipsky to run in 2021 — saw operating profits nearly double to $9.4 billion. The division represented about 62% of Amazon's Q1 operating profits. Selipsky contends that with 85% of companies still storing their data on-premise, the tailwinds for AWS are just beginning to gust. "We're optimistic about the business outlook for AWS and I think it can continue to grow really rapidly. I don't really see an upper limit on it," Selipsky says. "Of course it's not our birthright, it's not guaranteed. We'll only be as successful as what we do tomorrow for customers." The avid water skier and wine aficionado says he doesn't wake up each day thinking about crushing rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). Rather, he spends his time plotting out how to keep customers happy — part of the "Day One" culture etched into the company by founder Jeff Bezos. Wall Street believes Selipsky and his AWS team will continue to be the main drivers of Amazon's profits — and stock price. "Drivers [of AWS] are strong and sustainable — the ending of cost optimization cycles, core cloud demand, and Gen AI workloads that are amounting to a multi-billion revenue run rate," Evercore ISI tech analyst Mark Mahaney said in a client note following Amazon's earnings. Mahaney continued, "Key is that this marked the first quarter since the third quarter of 2022 that AWS dollar revenue growth surpassed that of [Microsoft] Azure, which changes the cloud industry leadership narrative." MY COMMENT This is HUGE for AMZN and also for the entire BIG CAP TECH space. Especially NVDA. As we see this sort of news pile up and start to snowball....we are seeing the next driver of the BULL MARKET. When the next leg up comes it will be EXPLOSIVE.
MORE good news today. Currently at 4.534%. 10-year Treasury yield dives below 4.5% as unemployment rate rises to 3.9% https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/03/us-treasury-yields-ahead-of-april-jobs-report.html Rolling along....rolling along.
I dont know what is wrong with the media today....they seem giddy with positivity. Someone must have slipped something into their coffee today. I am sure it is a set-up so they can hammer us with negativity next week....but .....so refreshing to not wake up and be engulfed with dire doom, doom, doom. Makes me nervous....wondering when the FED is going to sweep in and TRASH the markets today. Oh well.....I will simply live in the moment....even though I am a long term investor....and enjoy this special little day for investors. We deserve a HAPPY day once in a while.
I have never owned Chipotle stock but have been a customer for around 2 decades. They still manage to have a cult following and have carved out a nice niche in the fast food crowd. They do have great staying power and seem to thrive even in areas where other places come and go. My opinion is that the quality of the ingredients have declined, the prices have gone up (used to be able to buy lunch for sub $10, now it's over $15) and the consistency from store to store varies. I guess the one arguments for that is prices have gone up on everything so is $15 out of line for a burrito? I guess my take is I always loved getting it now it's just another option that makes me second guess if I'm going to get a good or bad product.
Yeah I agree....regarding all restaurants. We went to Red Robin today.....a milk shake $7.....a lemonade $5. For the two drinks, the most basic burger and a salad......with tip.....$52. That is borderline outrageous. In a sane world should be about....$35.
A BANNER DAY for the markets today. I had EVERY stock in the green. I also had five stocks between +5.97% and +2%.....AAPL, NVDA, PLTR, SMCI, and MSFT. I also beat the SP500 today by 1.38%. KILLER market action today. The kind that might just signal a new round for the BULL MARKET.
We ended the week really strong to move the week into the GREEN. It was another one of those weeks that seemed pretty dismal....and than the last two days of the week turned it all around. Seems like the BULL MARKET might be about to rear it's beautiful head again. Of course it did not go anywhere....we are just in a little soft spot....within the bull market. DOW year to date +2.55% DOW five days +1.03% SP500 year to date +8.12% SP500 five days +0.27% NASDAQ100 year to date +8.16% NASDAQ100 five days +0.51% NASDAQ year to date +9.42% NASDAQ five days +0.93% RUSSELL year to date +1.09% RUSSELL five days +1.49% This week another nice gain for me. Last week my entire account year to date was at +20.35%. This week my entire account year to date is up to +22.12%. Definitely looking forward to next week.
TireSmoke.....I have never even been inside a Chipotle. I guess I should do so before going forward with thinking about the company.
The market today. Stocks Bulls Back in Charge as Jobs Fuel Fed Bets: Markets Wrap https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-rise-tech-lifts-223130777.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street drove stocks toward their biggest gain since February as a slowdown in US jobs sent bond yields tumbling, with traders amping up bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. A softer-than-estimated payrolls number — that did not signal the labor market is rolling over — and a cooldown in wages appeased investors worrying about a stagflation or even a recession. Instead, the latest employment print gave fodder to the believers in an economy that is gradually slowing and would allow a data-dependent Fed to start cutting rates as early as September. “The payroll miss hands the baton to the bulls,” said Jose Torres at Interactive Brokers. “Markets are rallying aggressively as incoming data point to a shorter journey across the monetary-policy bridge.” The S&P 500 rose over 1%, with the market also buoyed by Apple Inc.’s post-earnings surge. Gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 topped 2%. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX sank to a one-month low. Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, dropped seven basis points to 4.8%. Swap traders are now forecasting around 50 basis points of policy easing this year — which would equate to two rate cuts. Amid a slowdown in key areas like jobs, services and manufacturing, the US version of Citigroup’s Economic Surprise Index — which measures the difference between actual releases and analyst expectations — hit the lowest since February 2023. Nonfarm payrolls rose 175,000 last month, the smallest gain in six months. Unemployment ticked up to 3.9% and wage gains cooled. “The softer-than-expected payroll report suggests there is no heat in the economy that should keep inflation persistently high, which increases odds for rate cuts this year,” said Sonu Varghese at Carson Group. Fed Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee told Bloomberg Television that additional jobs reports like Friday’s would give him comfort the economy is not overheating. Speaking separately, Governor Michelle Bowman said inflation will likely remain elevated for “some time,” but added she still anticipates price gains will eventually cool with rates held at current levels. Following Wednesday’s Fed decision, Chair Jerome Powell noted it’s unlikely the next move would be to raise rates. Being weaker across the board, the April employment report vindicates Powell’s decision not to lurch hawkish at the May meeting and “is good news for the Fed and the market,” according to Krishna Guha at Evercore. “We feel somewhat more confident in our base case that the Fed will start cutting by September,” Guha added. To Seema Shah at Principal Asset Management, the latest jobs report indeed brings the rate-cutting dialogue back into the market and perhaps explains why Powell was able to lean more dovish on Wednesday. “This is the jobs report the Fed would have scripted,” Shah noted. “Of course, today’s weaker numbers need to mark the start of a new slower trend for multiple rate cuts to seriously be back on the agenda - but, by then, the new fear could be a slowing economy.” Separate data Friday showed the US services sector unexpectedly contracted in April for the first time since 2022 as a gauge of business activity slumped to a four-year low and a measure of input costs rose. “Today’s jobs report is the definition of Goldilocks: job growth that is gradually moving back to around trend amid a normalization of wage growth,” said Gennadiy Goldberg at TD Securities “This is certainly the type of employment report that Fed officials will welcome. We remain optimistic that the Fed will first ease rates at its September FOMC meeting.” Overall, market observers say signs of a cooling economy could nudge the Fed to lower interest rates over time — but that inflation data would be vital. “Worried that the US economy is overheating? The April employment report throws a bit of cold water on that idea,” said Mark Hamrick at Bankrate. “The data will need to align for the Fed to gain confidence that inflation is getting closer to its 2% target before pulling a rate cut trigger. It remains on high alert for unacceptably high inflation.” A rally in US stocks faltered last month as the Fed signaled it would hold interest rates higher for longer amid elevated inflation. A sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter has also raised “stagflation” chatter — though many market observers have downplayed that possibility at this stage. To Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the latest jobs report should be perceived by markets as a “welcome breath of fresh air as it will hush the hawkish undertone in the market and any recent ‘stagflation’ fears.” While Fed officials will likely be relieved that the labor market is cooling, this report is not soft enough to change the Fed outlook, according to Tiffany Wilding at Pacific Investment Management Co. “Hiring was strong, unemployment remains low, and wages are likely to tick up again next month,” she noted. Wilding bets the Fed will try to get at least one cut in this year, but she still expects the central bank to take one or two cuts out of its rate-path projections when it releases new Summary of Economic Projections in June. Back in March, Fed officials maintained their outlook for three interest-rate cuts in 2024. “If inflation does not breakout and jobs data stays moderate, a first rate cut could be due in September, but we expect the Fed to remain very dependent on incoming data, meeting by meeting,” said Larry Tentarelli at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance says that as long as the Fed maintains rates where they are — or cuts once or twice — the market can keep moving higher." (see article for much more commentary on the FED and jobs) MY COMMENT Just what the Doctor ordered with the jobs today. That should tamp down all the fear mongering for a while.
