“Markets Drop To End Q1 – Plus A Couple Of Bright Spots in Healthcare” – Vista’s Daily – March 31, 2020

The first quarter is finally over folks but unfortunately, we are still not out of the scary side the woods yet as the worldwide coronavirus cases number is now at 846,000, including 41,000 deaths. Now the US ranks number one with over 175,000 cases & 4000 deaths & businesses continue to close or stay closed in the shelter in place fight. With this mind, the markets continued to a selloff across the board until the end of trading today even though the Fed and White House have implemented significant stimulus measures to keep the financial markets flowing. The S&P 500 closed down -1.6% and is now down 20% YTD, the Dow dropped -1.84% is now down 23.2% YTD, the Nasdaq lost -.95% is now down 14% YTD while the Russell 2000 dropped -.45% is now down 30.89% YTD. Not pretty.

The FAANG stocks’ results were mixed today. Facebook (FB) closed at $166.80/share, adding +.51%, Amazon (AMZN) closed at $1,949.72/share, down by -.72%, Apple (AAPL) closed at $254.29/share losing -.2%, Netflix (NFLX) added +1.22% closing $375.50/share, & Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $1,162.81/share, +1.39%.

The 2-yr yield dropped by 1 basis points to .20% & the 10-yr yield moved higher by 3 basis points to .70%. The U.S. Dollar Index weakened -.2% to 98.99.

Gold prices closed slightly lower at 1,596.60/oz, silver prices dropped to $14.08/oz, & oil prices moved higher up by +1.5% to $20.52/bbl as global growth concerns continue to grow and/or be realized.

On Tuesday, we received a couple of economic reports. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index Report for March which confirmed a decrease to 120, while the Chicago PMI decreased to 47.8 in March & the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index Report for January confirmed a rise by +3.1%.

Two bright spots in our portfolio today came again from the healthcare sector as follows: 

Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) rose another +12.71% today after Atossa’s CEO Steven Quay, MD, Ph.D., announced on Monday news about a new combination treatment with the potential to improve pulmonary function and reduce or eliminate mechanical ventilation in patients with the coronavirus infection. The treatment uses two drugs previously approved by the FDA for other conditions: nebulized (inhaled as a fine mist) heparin combined with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), termed “H-NAC.” Dr. Quay is making this new clinical trial protocol (called the COVID-19 HOPE Trial) available for use by the worldwide medical community. Starting today, doctors around the world are invited to directly download the protocol free of charge at www.DrQuay.com. Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D. stated, “Given the rapid growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases worldwide, and especially in the U.S., I made the decision to make the HOPE Trial documents immediately available. From my experience having invented seven FDA-approved pharmaceuticals over my career, it is my reasoned opinion that this has a high likelihood of success and should be quick to test given that these drugs are widely available. Nebulized H-NAC could become a valuable new tool for frontline COVID-19 treatment, as it should reduce or eliminate the need for a mechanical ventilator.” READ COMPLETE STORY.

Neubase Therapeutics (NBSE), a biotechnology company developing next-generation antisense therapies using its scalable PATrOL™ platform to address genetic diseases, rose +.14.29% today at $7.12/share after announcing positive preclinical data from its pharmacokinetics studies in non-human primates (“NHPs”) and in vitro pharmacodynamics data in patient-derived cell lines. NeuBase believes these data validate the key advantages of the proprietary NeuBase peptide-nucleic acid (“PNA”) antisense oligonucleotide (PATrOL™) platform and support the Company’s decision to advance the development of its Huntington’s disease (“HD”) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (“DM1”) programs, as well as the potential expansion of its therapeutic pipeline into other indications. Dr. George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and member of the National Academy of Sciences, stated, “Given the activity and broad biodistribution observed in these studies and the potential for easier target definition, I believe the PATrOL™ technology may have a potent impact on the future of drug development and treatment of genetic diseases.” READ COMPLETE STORY.

Economic Reports

On Monday, we received the Pending Home Sales report surfaced and it confirmed a rise by +2.4% in February.

On Tuesday, we received the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index Report for March which confirmed a decrease to 120, while the Chicago PMI decreased to 47.8 in March & the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index Report for January confirmed a rise by +3.1%.

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 include the following:

• The ISM Manufacturing Index Report for March
• The ADP Employment Change Report for March
• The Construction Spending Report for February
• The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index Report
• The auto and truck sales reports for March