Investors who loaded up on S&P 500 index funds are beginning to understand the truth behind the S&P 500. Big component companies like Disney, Netflix, Salesforce.com, and Twitter are fueling a sell off. That's not to mention Apple, where a sell off has erased over 6% since the beginning of the year, when Apple was worth as much as McDonald’s, Walmart, AT&T, Philip Morris, Berkshire Hathaway, Proctor & Gamble, JP Morgan Chase, Starbucks, Boeing, Deere, and American Express combined. The number of securities at 52-week lows each day is higher than normal. That's a bad … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2022
What a Way to Make a Living: Part I
Your Survival Guy’s “What a Way to Make a Living” series kicks off today, and it’s not about Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” Because let’s not forget that before work, there’s that long, early morning commute into a big, blob city, only to do it again in reverse at five, and maybe get home by seven? Then feed the kids. I hope those days are over. Because the megatrend of living where you work and working where you live is here to stay. Your Survival Guy’s focus is on you. How can you improve your life and that of your family? I talk with hundreds of investors like you every month and can tell you … [Read more...]
Hedge Funds, BlackRock, Fight SEC’s Transparency Plans
Hedge funds and big money managers like BlackRock are fighting transparency plans being pushed by the SEC in an attempt to avoid the type of "meme stock" madness that occurred last year. Chris Flood and Harriet Agnew report for The Financial Times: Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, said in November that it was time to bring securities lending “out of the dark”. The SEC has proposed extensive reforms to securities lending arrangements which allow hedge funds to pay a fee to borrow stocks and bonds in order to bet that an asset will fall in value — the process known as “short selling”. Lenders … [Read more...]
Invest Like a Rich Man, Not a Poor Man
This is a "rich man, poor man" market. Which one are you? The late, great, Richard Russell explained what it means to be a rich man or poor man when investing. Read his classic explanation of "Rich Man, Poor Man," below. Today, William Boston reports on the surge in luxury car sales versus lagging sales for cheaper brands in The Wall Street Journal, writing: Luxury car brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Porsche and BMW BMW +0.10% have reported record sales, thanks to customers who have craved them and manufacturers that have directed scarce chips toward their most profitable … [Read more...]
The Masters of the Universe Align Themselves with CHINA Using YOUR Money?
BlackRock now manages over $10 trillion in assets. Its funds are among the three largest shareholders in more than 80% of the companies in the S&P 500. In speaking about CEO Larry Fink, David Rubenstein, the co-founder of the private-equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. said, “Treasury Secretaries and finance ministers come and go. They work for someone else who can fire them tomorrow and have to build what others want them to. When you are the CEO of the biggest asset manager, you don’t have to do that.” So when you become THAT BIG, doesn’t life get boring? What’s next? Another jet, or a … [Read more...]
TECH DIFFICULTIES: Big Tech Focused Hedge Funds in Trouble
Hedge funds that have focused for years on big tech investments are finding themselves in trouble as the industry stalls. Juliet Chung reports for The Wall Street Journal: A major bright spot for the hedge-fund industry in recent years has suddenly darkened as stocks of technology and other fast-growing companies sell off, handing out large losses to some big investors. Hedge funds investing in growth stocks turned in their worst performance in years in 2021, according to portfolio managers and their clients. Many funds were hit by large losses late in the year, with the drubbing … [Read more...]
Inflating Their Way out of Inflation
Spending more money to end inflation is much like drilling a hole in the bottom of a boat to let the water out. Yet, that's just what many Democrats want to do. In The Wall Street Journal, former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Phil Gramm, and former Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Banking Committee Mike Solon, point out the inanity of Democrats' attempts to justify more spending as a way to stop inflation. They write: For 40 years, the pain of inflation was only a fading nightmare. Then last year, piled on top of Donald Trump’s ill-advised postelection spending surge, the Biden … [Read more...]
GM of Vail Owned Attitash, NH to Step Down
Hopefully, this is a move in the right direction as the GM of Vail owned Attitash, NH is replaced as reported by the Conway Daily Sun: Attitash Mountain Resort General Manager Greg Gavrilets is resigning, effective Jan. 17. A statement shared with the Sun that Vail Resorts, corporate owner of Attitash, released to employees, said: “We thank Greg for all he has contributed to our resort and wish him every success in the future. Gavrilets, Vail said, "will continue to lead Attitash until his departure Jan. 17, after which Deirdre Riley will assume interim day-to-day leadership … [Read more...]
NO COMPASSION: Lockdowns Break Children, Murder Businesses
In my conversations with you, you're telling me without saying a word that you're weary. You're exasperated. And you're excited to vote the bums out in November. But it's a long time between now and then—and what is Trump going to do? Does he even like DeSantis? In my conversations with you, you're telling me about your water situation. You have well water. You're looking for a water filter if things break down. You know I like the Zero Water filter and own a Berkey water filter system. Can you improve your water situation? Find out here with my special report, Emergency Water Storage: How … [Read more...]
INFLATION EFFECT: Stocks Threatened by Rising Real Yields
Stock prices for shares with high valuations are being threatened by rising real yields. The Financial Times reports: A jump in real yields — the return bond investors can expect once inflation is taken into account — has jolted markets in early 2022 and is behind a pullback in high-flying technology stocks, investors say. The yield on 10-year inflation-linked US government bonds has surged 0.24 percentage points since the end of December to minus 0.86 per cent, as investors position for the end of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying programme and bet on interest rate rises from the US … [Read more...]