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House Gives Final Approval On $1.9T Stimulus – Dow’s Record High – Roblox Emerges

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.

The House gave their final approval for the $1.9 trillion stimulus package today and now it it is headed for President Joe Biden’s sign off that is expected on Friday. I am not sure why this next move needs to wait until Friday, but hey it is politics and it seems fairly certain. At then end of the day, I am just glad to see the stimulus package move forward since politicians had put this into investors and citizens minds alike and hate to think of the alternative. This move should propel a number of initiatives forward in the economy and buoy the markets for some period as the act of putting another $1,400 check in most Americans’ hands alone will add liquidity to the mix and to investment accounts too. Here’s a quick rundown on a few other bits that will help too: $300 increase in unemployment, $3k-$3.6k annual child tax credit, $34 billon for Affordable Care Act subsidies, 100% Cobra subsidies, $350 Billion in state/local aid, $14 Billion for vaccine distribution efforts & don’t forget the $25 Billion for rental aid.

Today, the markets were mostly positively except for the Nasdaq, which ended at 13,068.83 (-.04%) after its monster rebound move yesterday. The Dow 30 ended at a record high closing at 32,297.02 (+1.46%) as Boeing (BA) continued its recent oversized ascent closing at $245.34, +6.39% as the company is reportedly close to a ‘massive’ deal with Southwest for its 737 max. The S&P 500 ended at 3,898.81 (+.6%), & the little guys on the Russell 2000 ended respectably at 2,285.68 (+1.81%).

10 of eleven sectors closed in the green with the energy sector leading with a 2.6% gain as oil bounced .7% to close at $64.45/bbl. The financials sector also added 1.9% & the materials sector moved up 1.6% as the cyclicals were back in favor.

The macroeconomic schedule delivered the Total CPI which confirmed a rise of .4% month/month & the core CPI bumped up .1%. The February Treasury Budget report confirmed a $310.9B deficit. The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index dropped 1.3%. Tomorrow, the schedule produces the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report. 

The 2-yr treasury yield fell 1 basis point to end at .15% & the 10-yr yield fell 3 basis points to end at 1.52%. 

The U.S. Dollar also moved lower by .2% to end at 91.79.


BIG TECH PAUSES

The FAANG’s ended down across board except for GOOG as follows: Apple (AAPL) shares closed at $119,98, -.91%, Amazon (AMZN) closed at $3,057.64, -.17%, Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $2,055.03, +.11%, Facebook (FB) closed at $264.90, -.32%, & Netflix (NFLX) closed at $504.54/share, -.38%.

Shares of EV giant Tesla (TSLA) pulled back after yesterday’s rebound surge and ended at 668.06, -.82%.

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) closed at $498.73, -.42% today. NVDA has risen greatly during the ongoing “global chip shortage” as their chips power the future of self-driving cars and cloud gaming. Recently, NVDA reported record revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2021, of $5.00 billion, up 61 percent from $3.11 billion a year earlier, and up 6 percent from $4.73 billion in the previous quarter. The company’s Gaming and Data Center platforms achieved record revenue for the quarter and year.

Peter Thiel co-founded software/data analytics firm Palantir Technologies (PLTR) closed at $24.75/share, +2.02% (~+9% over last two days) and well shy of its all-time high of $45.

Cloud-based software firm Snowflake (SNOW) closed lower today at $230.02, +7.49% after recently reporting better than expected earnings report where sales were reported to be up by 117% in the latest quarter.

Plug Power (PLUG), a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions building the global green hydrogen economy, closed up again $42.83, +1.21% (+12% over the last two days).

Gamestop (GME) closed at $265, +7.33% after reaching an intraday high of $348.50 and is due to report its Q4 & Fiscal 2020 earnings on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. 

DraftKings (DKNG) rose 11.4% to close at at an all-time high of $69.29.

ROBLOX SURFACES

Shares of a San Mateo-based gaming company that is most popular among children, Roblox Corp., debuted today via a direct listing onto the NYSE under the ticker RBLX. Shares started trading at about 1:30 p.m. ET & jumped of an intraday price of $74.83 up from a reference price of $45 and closed at $69.50,+54.44%. The company is now in roughly valued in the $44 billion range. Roblox was reported to have listed ~199M shares Wednesday vs. the 652 million outstanding. READ MORE.

HEALTHCARE

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed at 151.61, +.03% while the NYSE ARCA Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 5,425.60,-.51%.

Reportedly, Merck & Co., Inc.  (MRK) has moved higher this week after its Ridgeback Biotherapeutics-partnered Covid-19 treatment known as molnupiravir displayed promising results in an interim analysis of a Phase 2.

GOLD, SILVER, HL

The iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) closed at $24.32, +1.12% & the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) closed at $161.66, +.51%. Silver prices closed at $26.26/oz, +$.24. Gold prices closed at 1,728, +$11.

I recently hosted a Tribe Public Webinar Presentation and Q&A Event last week with Phillips S. Baker, Jr., President, and CEO of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) ($6.27, +4.5%)  where we discussed The Silver Squeeze” while addressing questions from the Tribe and offering valuable insights on silver prices throughout history and the recent volatility that helped move silver related stocks and the ETF SLV. Please view it by clicking here.  



VP WATCHLIST HIGHLIGHTS



  • Shares of next generation of gene silencing therapy firm NeuBase Therapeutics (NBSE) closed trading at $8.73, -3.85% after recently reaching a new all-time high of $12.89. Recently, Neubase reported its financial results for the three-month period ended December 31, 2020. Review the story here.
    • Oppenheimer’s analyst Hartaj Singh recently reiterated his OUTPERFORM Rating and his Price Target of $17. 
    • Recently, NeuBase announced the execution of a binding agreement to acquire infrastructure, programs and intellectual property for several peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) scaffolds from Vera Therapeutics, formerly known as TruCode Gene Repair, Inc. The technology has demonstrated the ability to resolve disease in genetic models of several human indications. The acquisition was reported to bolster NeuBase’s capabilities and reinforces the Company’s position as a leader in the field of genetic medicine. Read the complete story. 
    • NeuBase is developing the next generation of gene silencing therapies with its flexible, highly specific synthetic antisense oligonucleotides. The proprietary NeuBase peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) antisense oligonucleotide (PATrOL™) platform allows for the rapid development of targeted drugs, increasing the treatment opportunities for the hundreds of millions of people affected by rare genetic diseases, including those that can only be treated through accessing of secondary RNA structures. Using PATrOL technology, NeuBase aims to first tackle rare, genetic neurological disorders.
    • We expect to see the company to announce an update on its work in Huntington’s Disease and also sign a corporate deal of some kind prior to the end of April 2021 based on recent conversations & expectations of management.


  • Natural-Killer cell (NKcell) focused biopharmaceutical firm Fate Therapeutics (FATE) closed at $89.85/share, +1.5% after recently establishing a new all-time high of $121.16.

    • Recently, Fate Therapeutics (FATE) reported business highlights and financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2020.
    • FATE also recently announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of ~$432 million at $85.50/share. Jefferies, BofA Securities, SVB Leerink and Barclays acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

    • We started with Fate over 3 years ago when it was in the $3 range.

    • Recently, Fate presented a patient case study from the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of FT596, its universal, off-the-shelf, CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell product candidate, at the 62nd Annual Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition and the street loved it. NK cells are the body’s first line of defense against viral infections and cancerous cells with an innate ability to rapidly seek and destroy transformed cells. NK cell therapy has the potential to 1) target multiple pathogenic antigens with measurably more efficient cytotoxicity, 2) be better controlled to reduce risk of cytokine storms and 3) be produced from a variety of sources without relying on patient-specific immune cells. Dr. Wayne Chu, Senior Vice President, Clinical Development of Fate Therapeutics stated, “The safety, pharmacokinetics and clinical activity observed following both the first and second single-dose treatment cycles of FT596 are compelling, especially when considering that the administered cell dose was significantly lower than the recommended cell dose of FDA-approved autologous CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapies and that the heavily pre-treated patient was refractory to last prior therapy. We are excited the CAR component of FT596 has shown clinical activity at this low dose level, and we continue to enroll patients in dose escalation with FT596 as a monotherapy and in combination with rituximab.”


  • Shares of infertility treatment innovator, INVO Bioscience (NASDAQ: INVO) (a ‘low float’ stock), traded up to $12.30/share a new-52-week high quadrupling Monday’s $3.11 close and then closed at $9.40, +202.25% on 95.76 million shares of trading. Today IBVO pulled back to close at $6.44, -31.49% on 7.79M shares.
    • Monday, after the close INVO announced that they has agreed to an amendment of their agreement with Ferring Pharmaceuticals that provides for an increase in the number of INVO company-owned US-based clinics initially allowable under the agreement and removes certain geographical restrictions. The amendment also adjusted the remaining annual 2020 minimum contractual product purchase requirement, whereby Ferring will place a $501,000 order, which will be recognized as revenue by INVO Bioscience in the first quarter of 2021. READ STORY.
    • Last week, INVO announced the Company has received approval by COFEPRIS to import INVOcell into Mexico. In late 2020, INVO Bioscience established a joint venture focused on establishing fertility centers dedicated to offering INVOcell, with the initial center, called Positib Fertility, to be located in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. Steve Shum, CEO of INVO Bioscience, commented, “We are extremely pleased to have received approval by COFEPRIS to begin importing INVOcell into Mexico. This was a key step in the process to open our first joint venture owned clinic in the large and growing Mexico market for infertility services. Our internal team along with our JV partners have and continue to work aggressively and with a relentless focus to bring the INVOcell treatment option to the many patients in need of care within Mexico.”
    • Recently, INVO announced that it has advanced its commercialization efforts into the European fertility market by securing initial orders of INVOcell in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. INVOcell will initially be available at three separate existing fertility clinics which have placed orders and commenced training. Please read the story here.
    • INVO is a medical device company focused on creating alternative treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility and developers of INVOcell®, the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System. Industry forecasts suggest that only 1% to 2% of the estimated 150 million infertile couples worldwide are currently being treated. INVO’s mission is to increase access to care and expand infertility treatment across the globe with a goal of improving patient affordability and industry capacity. Since January 2019, INVO Bioscience has signed commercialization agreements in the United States, India, as well as parts of Africa and Eurasia and Mexico for the INVOcell device.
    • INVO’s Management Issued a letter to shareholders recently that spoke to their key developments and future initiatives that have positioned their product INVOcell® within the severely underserved fertility market. PLEASE read the story here.
    • INVO received BUY Ratings from both Roth Capital ($5 PT) & Collier International Securities ( $5.75 PT) in December, 2020.  


  • Shares of Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases, closed today at $17.97/share, +4.05% and has been steadily rising from the $14 range over the last 3-weeks.
    • On March 1, Chinook and Evotec SE announced a strategic collaboration focused on the discovery and development of novel precision medicine therapies for patients with chronic kidney diseases. Based on Evotec’s proprietary comprehensive molecular datasets from thousands of patients across chronic kidney diseases of multiple underlying etiologies, Chinook and Evotec will jointly identify, characterize and validate novel mechanisms and discover precision medicines for PKD, lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy and other primary glomerular diseases. The collaboration will also involve further characterization of pathways and patient stratification strategies for programs currently in Chinook’s clinical and preclinical pipeline. “We are excited to embark on this strategic collaboration with Evotec, the leading drug discovery alliance and development partner in nephrology,” said Andrew King, D.V.M., Ph.D., Head of Renal Discovery and Translational Medicine at Chinook. “Gaining access to the NURTuRE cohort study and other proprietary patient biobanks, along with Evotec’s multi-omics integration platform, will enable us to define the molecular drivers of kidney diseases, identify novel targets for drug development in selected patient sub-populations and continue to build the foundation for our precision medicine approach. With a focus on comprehensive molecular disease classification, combined with prospective clinical outcomes, Chinook has the opportunity to potentially deliver targeted therapies to the right patient populations.”
    • Recently, Chinook announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted rare pediatric disease designation for CHK-336, an investigational oral small molecule inhibitor of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) for primary hyperoxaluria (PH). PH is a group (PH1, PH2 and PH3) of ultra-rare genetic diseases caused by enzyme mutations that result in excess oxalate production in the liver, and in its most severe forms, can lead to end-stage kidney disease at a young age. Inhibition of LDHA with CHK-336 allows for the potential to treat all forms of PH and other disorders arising from excess oxalate, while its liver-targeted tissue distribution profile enables maximal inhibition of liver oxalate production with minimal systemic exposure. Please read the story here.
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  • Shares of Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company seeking to discover and develop innovative medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need with a current focus on breast cancer and COVID-19, closed at $2.91, +17.34% on 24.12M shares of trading,.
    • Recently, Atossa announced final results from its Phase 1 double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study using Atossa’s proprietary drug candidate AT-301 administered by nasal spray. AT-301 was considered to be safe and well tolerated in healthy male and female participants in this study at two different dose levels over 14 days. AT-301 is being developed for at home use for patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies to treat COVID-19 at home. Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Atossa’s President and CEO stated, “The results from this study are very encouraging and we look forward to quickly commencing the next study of AT-301. We recently received input from the FDA on this program and based in part on that input, we are now preparing to conduct an additional pre-clinical study, which we expect to start this quarter. Following that, we expect to apply to the FDA to commence a Phase 2 study here in the United States.”
    • Recently, Atossa’s President and CEO Dr. Steven C. Quay issued his annual Letter to Stockholders highlighting key accomplishments and strategy for 2021. Please view it here.
    • Recently, Atossa announced updated findings following 26 months of Expanded Access (or “compassionate use”) single-patient studies of Atossa’s Endoxifen. “To date, the patient has not had a recurrence of breast cancer, as assessed by clinical breast examination and mammography; has not had treatment-related changes in periodic laboratory blood tests and general clinical examinations; and, the treatment has been well tolerated, including an absence of typical vasomotor symptoms commonly associated with tamoxifen (for example, night sweats and hot flashes), an FDA-approved drug frequently prescribed for breast cancer treatment,” commented Sidney Goldblatt, M.D., Principal Investigator. “This patient, like many breast cancer patients, was reluctant to take tamoxifen because of the well-documented side effects associated with that drug and because she lacked the proper liver enzymes to properly metabolize tamoxifen. We are very encouraged by this patient’s experience with our Endoxifen over the past two years. Her experience serves as a model for ongoing development efforts,” commented Steve Quay, Ph.D., M.D., Atossa’s President and CEO.  Yesterday, I hosted  Tribe Public’s Webinar Presentation and Q&A Event with Steven Quay, MD, PhD, CEO & Founder & Kyle Guse CFO of Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ATOS) who delivered a presentation titled “The Important Role of COVID-19 Therapeutics In A Post-Vaccine World.” They also addressed Q&A session at the end of the presentation. Please view it here.
    • Recently, Atossa announced that based on substantially positive results achieved with the patients enrolled to date in its Australian open-label Phase 2 clinical study of oral Endoxifen administered in the “window of opportunity” between diagnosis of breast cancer and surgery, Atossa has halted the study and is accelerating its Endoxifen program in the United States. “It is a welcome event to halt an ongoing clinical trial because the results are so overwhelmingly positive,” commented Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Atossa’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Data from the first six patients in our Australian Phase 2 window of opportunity study shows a 74% average reduction in Ki-67, which is a common measure of tumor cell activity, and that at the time of surgery all patients had Ki-67 levels lower than 25%, which is an important threshold to improve long-term survival as identified in studies by others. We believe that additional enrollment will not alter these positive results so we are terminating the study early. This saves at least a year on the development time line allowing us to accelerate clinical development in the Unites States. We look forward to reporting final data from all patients in the study and sharing our continued progress in the development of oral Endoxifen.”
    •  Atossa recently raised ~$81M in gross proceeds affording the company a significant development runway and many more options to be considering. 
    • Atossa is seeking in the near term to get an FDA nod to move into a Phase 2 trial with its nasal spray COVID-19 therapy.
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Please review our complete VP Watchlist that includes nine highlighted companies. The pages will allow you to learn more and keep up with these companies daily. 

Also, please make sure that you check out the interesting quotes and selected videos that we have highlighted below. 


Economic Reports

  • On Monday, the macroeconomic schedule produced the Wholesale Inventories report for January that confirmed a 1.3% rise month/month.
  • On Tuesday, we received the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index that was confirmed to have risen to 95.8.
  • On Wednesday, we received the Total CPI which confirmed a rise of .4% month/month & the core CPI bumped up .1%. The February Treasury Budget report confirmed a $310.9B deficit. The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index dropped 1.3%.

Investing & Inspiration

  1. The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less.” – Joel Greenblatt
  2. “We don’t have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place.” – Seth Klarman
  3. “Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” – Charles Mackay
  4. “It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.” – George Soros
  5. “No Price is too low for a bear or too high for a bull.” — Anonymous
  6. “Investment is an asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.” Anonymous
  7. “Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” — Peter Lynch
  8. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” –Rhonda Katz
  9. “It amazes me how people are often more willing to act based on little or no data than to use data that is a challenge to assemble.” ― Robert Shiller
  10. “A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” — Barton Biggs
  11. “The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham
  12. “No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea
  13. “Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
  14. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
  15. “Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results” — Warren Buffett
  16. “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
  17. “Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed’s policy on money supply…and they can’t predict markets with any useful consistency, any more than the gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack.” – Peter Lynch
  18. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
  19. “You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr. 
  20. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
  21. “Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb
  22. “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson
  23. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
  24. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
  25. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger
  26. “The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert
  27. “The rivers don’t drink their own water; Trees don’t eat their own fruits. The sun does not shine for itself, And flowers do not spread their fragrance For themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature” – Pope Francis
  28. “It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton
  29. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin.
  30. 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
  31. “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
  32. “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
  33. “If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. -George Bernard Shaw
  34. “There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota
  35. “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.”
  36. “As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer
  37. “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
  38. 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
  39. “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru
  40. “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
  41. “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
  42. “The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton
  43. “Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Videos

Please consider viewing these interesting videos: