Look Who’s Buying Gold and Gold Stocks Now
Aug 18, 2020 | News
Last week we argued Berkshire Hathaway should rationally own Bitcoin, and laid out the case as to why. We aren’t holding our breath, however, because Warren Buffett despises Bitcoin. (According to Becky Quick of CNBC, he has called it “probably rat poison squared.”) Buffett is also disdainful of gold and has been so for decades. In the Berkshire Hathaway annual…
Vladimir Putin Said What?
Aug 12, 2020 | News
On Aug. 11, Vladimir Putin announced to the world that Russia has confirmed a successful COVID-19 vaccine. He assured the world it was safe, and that his own daughter had taken it. “I know that it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity,” Putin said. “I repeat: it has passed all the necessary tests.” That last part, about passing…
The U.S. Dollar Just Had its Worst Month in a Decade
Aug 04, 2020 | News
In the month of June, we sent a report to TradeSmith Decoder subscribers titled “The Best Time to Buy Gold Stocks in 90 Years.” The report emphasized the precious metals stocks we liked best — many of which were purchased for the TradeSmith Decoder model portfolio — and noted the likelihood of accelerated currency decline. In the following month, July…
The Robinhood Retail Mania Has Now Gone Global
Jul 29, 2020 | News
On July 13 we explained how Silicon Valley engineered a retail trading mania. As it turns out, the mania has gone global. “India’s retail investors are leaving their mark on a risky corner of the nation’s $1.9 trillion share market: penny stocks,” Bloomberg reports. “A custom index of 800 stocks that quote below 5 rupees (7 U.S. cents) has trounced…
The Spectacular Twitter Hack is a Harbinger of Cyberwar
Jul 17, 2020 | News
Twitter fell prey to a spectacular hack on Wednesday, July 15. It appears to be an “inside job,” with the hackers using a form of employee access to break into Twitter’s main database. The hack was spectacular not due to the amount of money stolen — a little more than six figures as of this writing — but rather the…
There is Plenty of Bullishness Here
Jul 14, 2020 | News
On Monday of this week, your TradeSmith Daily editor was accused of being a “permabear.” Normally we don’t mind insults. Sticks and stones and all that. But the “permabear” label feels odd when, in truth, we are aggressively bullish right now, and have commentary and portfolio positions to prove it. In terms of TradeSmith Daily commentary, we have pounded the…
How Silicon Valley Engineered a Retail Trading Mania
Jul 13, 2020 | EducationalNews
2020 will be remembered for kicking off a global pandemic. But it will also be remembered for a market mania, driven to a surprising degree by bored sports gamblers, millennials taking a flyer with stimulus checks, and day-trading retail investors new to markets overall. We know the Federal Reserve provided psychological support (through an implied promise to support markets no…
Lockdown-Related Market Risk is High and Rising
Jul 10, 2020 | News
The U.S. stock market has benefited, tremendously, from a belief that the Federal Reserve will support the market at all costs. It has also benefited from a belief that, whatever happens next with the pandemic, the worst is over from an economic perspective. Investors are eager to put COVID-19 behind them. What happens, then, if multiple U.S. states implement new…
Warren Buffett is Back in the Game, Sort Of
Jul 09, 2020 | News
Warren Buffett is back in the game, sort of. He is only spending 7% of Berkshire’s $137 billion cash pile, but it’s a start. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Buffett acted boldly. His distressed-asset deals helped support blue chip companies like General Electric, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. This time around, though, Buffett has not been…
Three out of Four Election Scenarios are Bearish — and One is a Nightmare
Jul 01, 2020 | News
In early November, which is not far off, the U.S. will hold an election in the midst of a pandemic. (We say “in the midst” because, by November 2020, there is a very small chance the virus will be gone — and an overwhelming likelihood it will not.) The stock market is ignoring the election, or otherwise failing to adjust…
