Amidst Protesting & Rioting Atmosphere Monday’s Stock Market, Gold & Silver Move Higher

If the COVID-19 pandemic situation was not enough for all us to deal with, we are now having to deal with protests, rioting, looting, and curfews. Hopefully, we will see better times soon as attitudes and mindsets level, but in the meantime, the markets bumped higher on Monday with the following sectors leading the way: real estate, +2.1%, energy +1.7%, financials, +1.2% & utilities, +1.0%. The S&P 500 closed up .38%, the Dow gained .36%, the Nasdaq moved up .66%, & the Russell 2000 added nearly a point up .81% as small caps were in favor too.

On the coronavirus front, we continue to see growth as we now have a reported 6,226,409 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world with 2,671,705 cases that have recovered and more than 373,883 worldwide deaths. In the US, we have 1,839,445 confirmed cases with 408,274 cases that have recovered with now 106,274 deaths.

Oil prices retreated .6% to close at $35.28/bbl. Chevron (CVX) closed at $92.79/share up 1.19%, Exxon (XOM) closed at $46.28/share up by 1.78% & Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) closed at $13.81/share up by a silid 6.64%. 

The popular FAANG stocks moved higher as follows: Facebook (FB) closed at $231.91/share, up by 3.03% despite a virtual walkout staged by employees as Trump posts continue to go unchallenged with regard to “Looting and Shooting,” Amazon (AMZN) closed at $2,471.04/share, up 1.17%,  Apple (AAPL) closed at $321.85/share up by 1.23%, & Netflix (NFLX) added 1.47% closing at $425.92/share, & Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $1,431.82/shareup by .2%.

The 2-yr US treasury yield ended flat at .15% & the 10-yr yield closed flat at 65%. The U.S. Dollar Index weakened by .5% to end at 97.82. 

Gold and silver kept rising today as gold prices ended at $1,740/oz (+10) while silver prices closed at $18.78/oz (+.36). North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) closed at $3.59/share up 8.13% while First Majestic Silver (AG) gained 7.19% closing at $10.73/share.

The macroeconomic schedule brought forth the following reports today:

• The ISM Manufacturing Index Report for May moved up to 43.1% but still below expansion levels as reopening continues
• The Construction spending report confirmed a decrease of 2.9% month/month in April while total residential spending was decreased by 4.5% & total nonresidential spending declined by 1.8%

MOVERS

A couple of equities from the consumer goods and the technology sectors moved significantly as follows:

• Shares of indebted cosmetics maker Coty (COTY) closed at $4.39/share up 20.94% after reporting that it has named its Chairman Peter Harf As CEO and it has made a deal to sell a majority stake in its retail and hair business to infamous buyout firm KKR & Co. (KKR). 

• Shares of connected law enforcement technology firm Axon Enterprises, Inc. (AAXN) rose 18.94% closing at $89.75/share after their quarter beat earnings expectations.

TOMORROW

Tomorrow’s significant economic data report schedule will provide the following:

• The auto and truck sales report

WATCH LIST

• Keep an eye on INVO Bioscience (INVO) which was recently funded and saw their 1-20 reverse split take effect today and will be trading under the symbol INVOD for the next 19 days. They now have ~7.8M shares in this newly minted low or tight float play.

• I am also looking for Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) to possibly hit us with further news regarding their now 2 COVID-19 treatment programs as early as this week. Recently ATOS announced the successful results from in vitro testing of AT-H201, Atossa’s proprietary COVID-19 drug candidate, and are seeking IRB and FDA approval to move into the clinic. ATOS also recently announced that it has begun the development of a second COVID-19 program using its proprietary drug candidate AT-301, to be administered by nasal spray as is teaming with nasal spray specialist firm Summit Biosciences. AT-301 is Atossa’s proprietary formula intended for nasal administration in patients immediately following a diagnosis of COVID-19 but who have not yet exhibited symptoms severe enough to require hospitalization. Atossa confirmed that it is intended for at-home use to proactively reduce symptoms of COVID-19 and to slow the infection rate so that a person’s immune system can more effectively fight SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus). Atossa also intends to conduct testing to determine whether AT-301 can be used as a prophylaxis to prevent or mitigate SARS-CoV-2, with the goal that it could become a “bridge to the vaccine” and be useful in the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic. Shares of ATOS closed $2.46/share after spiking to an intraday high of $2.52/share during intraday trading. ATOS has approximately 9.2M shares issued and outstanding placing it in the low-float category. \

•  Gold & Silver stocks i.e. North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) which closed at $3.59/share up 8.13% & First Majestic Silver (AG) which gained 7.19% closing at $10.73/share should cintuue to see momentum in this environment.

Economic Reports

• On Monday, it was Memorial Day so now reports surfaced.
• On Tuesday, we received the following reports:
  • The New home sales report confirmed an increase by .6% month/month on lower selling prices to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 623k and on a year/year basis new home sales are now down 6.2%.
  • The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index came in at 86.6 for May and increasing from April as reopening measures tick forward
  • The FHFA Housing Price Index for May confirmed a rise by .1%
  • The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index jumped 3.9% year/year in March
• On Wednesday, we received the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index that confirmed a rise by 2.7%

Investing & Inspiration

“I believe the returns on investment in the poor are just as exciting as successes achieved in the business arena, and they are even more meaningful!” -Bill Gates

“Every portfolio benefits from bonds; they provide a cushion when the stock market hits a rough patch. But avoiding stocks completely could mean your investment won’t grow any faster than the rate of inflation.” – Suze Orman

“The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility, and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.” – John F. Kennedy

“If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.
-George Bernard Shaw

“The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.
I get up at 4:30 in the morning, seven days a week, no matter where I am in the world. I think it is important for people who are given leadership roles to assume that role immediately. What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very, very important part of leadership.” Bob Iger, Ceo of Disney

“There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota

“Let this scenario play out on its own, in its own fashion. As you watch it unfold, you will soon be grateful that you choose the peaceful path. Remember — those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”

“As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer

“I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” -Mark Cuban

“Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.” -Bruce Kovner

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru

“The only true test of whether a stock is “cheap” or “high” is not its current price in relation to some former price, no matter how accustomed we may have become to that former price, but whether the company’s fundamentals are significantly more or less favorable than the current financial-community appraisal of that stock.” -Philip Fisher

“I learned to avoid trying to catch up or double up to recoup losses. I also learned that a certain amount of loss will affect your judgment, so you have to put some time between that loss and the next trade.” -Richard Dennis

“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton

“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Tomorrow

Tomorrow’s significant economic data report schedule will provide the following:

• The weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report
• The Durable Goods Orders Report for April
• The second estimate for Q1 GDP
• The Pending Home Sales for April