The Tweet that Tanked the Stock Market
Oct 07, 2020 | News
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, President Donald Trump did something mystifying. He tanked the stock market — and created a sense of panic among millions of unemployed Americans and struggling small-business owners — with a single tweet. Here is how Brian Kilmeade, the Fox News co-host of Fox and Friends, described it: “For the president to come out with a tweet…
Markets are Increasingly Anticipating a “Biden Sweep”
Oct 05, 2020 | EducationalNews
When news of the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis hit, in the wee hours of Friday morning, overnight markets reacted with shock and fear. By the end of the day on Friday, though, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 had mostly recovered, with small caps (via the Russell 2000 index) even turning positive on the day. In Monday’s premarket session,…
The Coronavirus Just Triggered a National Security Crisis
Oct 02, 2020 | News
The president and the first lady of the United States have tested positive for COVID-19. This is earth-shaking news on multiple fronts. The U.S. now faces a national security crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eight out of 10 COVID-related fatalities in the U.S. were in patients 65 years or older. President Trump is 74…
Is Nikola the Theranos of Electric Vehicle Start-Ups?
Sep 23, 2020 | News
You may remember Theranos, the blood-testing startup run by Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos was a fraud, but the company reached a multi-billion-dollar valuation by suckering some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Theranos had an “all-star” board of directors that was almost cartoonish in its weight and stature. At various points along the way, the Theranos…
A Supreme Court Battle Lowers the Odds of Vital Fiscal Support
Sep 22, 2020 | News
A U.S. Senate battle royale over who gets to fill a U.S. Supreme Court seat is bearish for markets. That is a key reason why bearish feeling has intensified this week, with asset prices dropping across the board. The cause-and-effect mechanism here is not direct, but indirect. It has to do with fiscal support. The real U.S. economy – meaning…
Mastercard Sees the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Future That is Coming
Sep 16, 2020 | News
The Bank of International Settlements, or BIS for short, is known as the central bank for other central banks. In January 2020, the BIS published a new research paper — not its first one — on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Eight months ago, the BIS found that 80% of all the central banks they surveyed were investigating CBDCs, and…
“No Deal Brexit” Looks Likely Again, and No One Can Figure Out Johnson’s Strategy
Sep 15, 2020 | News
Over the past two weeks or so, the British pound has seen a sharp decline against all major currency pairs. For the month of September 2020, thus far, the pound is down notably against the dollar, the euro, the yen, and the Swiss franc. Relative to the euro, the British pound is the weakest it has been in years. If…
Did a “Nasdaq Whale ” Manipulate the Market, or Was a Giant School of Minnows to Blame?
Sep 09, 2020 | News
On Sept. 2 we explained why Tesla is not only a bubble, but likely a hyper-bubble. We also explained why, even with four quarters of consecutive profit on the books, Tesla was not likely to make it into the S&P 500 — even though bulls considered that a sure thing. As it turns out, our Sept. 2 piece was one…
Berkshire Hathaway Makes a Surprise Move in Japan
Sep 01, 2020 | News
For a guy who just turned 90 — his birthday was Aug. 30 — Warren Buffett is still razor sharp. He is certainly not “washed up,” as flash-in-the-pan day trader Dave Portnoy called him earlier this year. Every once in a while, Buffett makes a surprise investment with billions. It is typically an unexpected move — the kind of thing…
They Kicked Exxon out of the Dow
Aug 26, 2020 | News
After 92 years, Exxon Mobil was ejected from the Dow Jones Industrial Average — along with two other names — as S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Aug. 24 the biggest shake-up to the Dow’s line-up in years. Exxon, in various forms, had been a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1928. But not any longer. As a…
