June Markets Kick Off Positively Led By A Ridiculous Energy Sector Jump!

Happy Saturday All!

I hope that all of you had a great week investing and trading in the markets. It was a generally positive week that saw June ring in another positive week in 2021. The major indices rose week-over-week across the board.  The Dow 30 closed at 34,756.39 (+.7%) for the week & is now up +13.6% YTD & the S&P 500 closed at 4,229.89 (+.6%) for the week and is now up +12.6% YTD. The Nasdaq closed at 13,814.49 (+.5%) for the week and is now up +7.2% YTD. The small caps on the Russell 2000 closed at 2,286.41 (+.8%) for the week & are now up +15.8% YTD. The Microcaps also moved nicely higher again this week evidenced by the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC), which closed at $151.92 up from the $149.58 close last week & nearing its 52-wk high of $159.56.  

Setting the overall positive tone, the energy sector gained a ridiculous 6.7% during the week and moving its YTD returns to an even more ridiculous +45.3%, which was powered by a +5% jump in oil prices the climbed to another ~3-year high $69.61/bbl. Dow 30 component Chevron (CVX) closed at $108.45, +.8% on Friday and is up from its 52-wk low of $65.16.

Also, setting the table for the markets this week was a resolution of sorts regarding corporate taxes where the G-7 (an informal group of seven of wealthy democracies consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) neared an agreement on a 15% global minimum corporate tax.  The Biden administration also seemed to be pulling back from the irrational and proposed top corporate tax 28% rate & is now reportedly considering a 15% minimum tax rate.

MACRO/RATES/DOLLAR 

Many macroeconomic reports surfaced this week. On Tuesday, the ISM Manufacturing Index report for May confirmed a move up to 61.2% & has now finished well above the Mendoza line (50) for a year confirming continued expansion and that manufacturing is trying to get back on line to meet current demand. The total construction spending report also edged higher .2% month/month in April, while total private construction moved up .4% month/month. The total public construction spending report showed a drop by .6%. The final IHS Market Manufacturing PMI report for April came in at 62.1%. On Wednesday, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index report confirmed a drop by 4% while the Purchase Index report showed a drop by 3.1% & the Refinance Index report confirmed a 4.6% drop as well. The Fed’s June Beige Book confirmed that that the US economy expanded moderately between April and late May, but also sited appearance of shortages & moderate employment & wage growth.  On Thursday, the initial claims report for the week ending May 29 confirmed a drop by 20k to 385k as continuing claims for the week ending May 22 rose by 169k to 3.771M. This issue is believed to be associated with the unwillingness of eligible workers to head back to work with stimulus measures in place. The ADP Employment Change report confirmed that 978k private-sector payrolls were added in May. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index report for May confirmed a rise to 64. The Final IHS Markit Services PMI report for May confirmed a rise to 70.4. Q1 Productivity remained at 5.4%, while Q1 unit labor costs were revised to +1.7%. On Friday, the May nonfarm payrolls report confirmed a rise by 559k below the expected 720k. April nonfarm payrolls were revised up to 278k. March nonfarm payrolls were revised up to 785,000. May private sector payrolls rose by 492k. April private sector payrolls were revised up to 219k. March private sector payrolls were revised up to 724k. May unemployment rate came in at 5.8% below expectations.  The U6 unemployment rate, come in at 10.2% blower than April. May average hourly earnings rose .5%. Over the last year, average hourly earnings have moved up 2%. The average workweek in May was 34.9 hours as expected.  The labor force participation rate came in at 61.6%. Factory orders for manufactured goods repot confirmed a drop by .6% month/month in April. Shipments of manufactured goods moved up .4%. Next week, we will receive number of reports which will include include the CPI report, the consumer credit report, & the hourly earnings report.

The yield curve lower this week as inflationary concerns drifted and investors seemed to understand that the FED will not be raising rates anytime soon based on their transitory position regarding inflation. The 10-yr yield fell 3 basis points wk/wk to close 1.554, while the 2-yr settled rose 1 basis point wk/wk close at .153%.

The U.S. Dollar Index also ticked slightly lower from 90.32 to 90.13. 

VISTA STORIES FROM THE DOW 30

The Coca-Cola Company Becomes The First Global Implementation Partner For The Ocean Cleanup’s River Project

Verizon Offering Offering free Apple & Android Phones To Sign Up For Unlimited 5G Plans

Chevron Allowed To Continue Restricted Operations In Venezuela

Merck & Sanofi Has Developed First Hexavalent Combination Vaccine Vaxelis™ In US

Russia Issues Warning To Disney Against Distribution Of Its Short Film “Out” Featuring Gay Character

CONSUMER – TECH 

Leading EV car maker Tesla (TSLA) moved lower this week to close at $599.05 & down $26.17/share from last Fridays’s $625.22 close as Elon Musk continued to ‘piss’ off cyptocurrency investors with his ongoing & recent negative Twitter rhetoric that he has ‘broken up’ with crypto and Bitcoin as he is concerned with the increased use of fossil fuels. Shares of Ford Motor Co (F) continued to surge this week closing at $15.97 and hit a new 52-wk high of $16.47. Last week, Ford revealed their customer-focused strategic ambitions and actions in a virtual meeting with financial analysts and other stakeholders during an event themed “Delivering Ford+”. Ford CEO Jim Farley stated, “We will deliver lower costs, stronger loyalty and greater returns across all our customers. This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T, and we’re grabbing it with both hands.” Ford expects 40% of Ford global vehicle volume to be all-electric by 2030 & raised planned electrification spending to $30+ billion by 2025, including development of IonBoost batteries.

ADT (ADT), the “most trusted brand in smart home and small business security” and Google partner closed at $11.04 up again from last Friday’s close of $10.34. On August 3, 2020, ADT and Google announced a partnership to create ‘Leading Smart Home Security Offering’. The partnership has allowed Google’s award-winning Nest hardware to be combined with ADT’s trusted security, professional installation and monitoring service to create a fully integrated set of devices, software and services for the secure smart home & pairs ADT’s more than 20,000 professionals together with Google’s suite of helpful home hardware, manufacturing technology and vertical technology stack. Google also invested $450 million to acquire 6.6% ownership in ADT, cementing mutual, long-term commitment to partnership. Each company is to commit $150 million for co-marketing, product development, technology and employee training. This partnership is believed to provide customers with integrated smart home technology to be offered in both DIY and professionally installed security offerings.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF slipped this week as it closed at $109.51 down from last Friday’s close of $112.10 & well off her 52-wk high of $159.70. 

BIOTECH ‘FOUND MORE GROUND’ THIS WEEK

The Biotech sector found a little more ground this week as a number of issues moved forward. The Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed at $153.02 up from last week’s Friday close of $151.95. The NYSE ARCA Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 5,556.63 slightly down from last week’s close of 5,572.71. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed at $126.76 down last Friday’s close $128.10. The XBI’s 52-wk range is $97.15-$174.79 and had been getting hit harshly since the early part of March!

On Monday, June 7th the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide whether to approve Biogen’s (BIIB) Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapy, aducanumab. The news will likely have significant implications for patients & Biogen, but it will also be important for all companies developing therapies for AD. many believe that Biogen’s aducanumab is not the complete answer even if it gets approved, but if it gets appoved or not, this event will most definitely shine significant light on the disease state and all companies in the space alike. Did you know that +6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and that number is growing?… If you have not checked out our VP Watchlist company INmune Bio (INMB, $13.56) and their focused work on modulating components of the innate immune system to activate an immune response against cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, then please do so now at this link. This week, INmune Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMB), confirmed via announcement that the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has adopted the name “Pegipanermin” for its lead clinical candidate, XPro1595.  The United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council is responsible for selecting simple, informative and unique nonproprietary (generic) drug names. The council and staff meet twice a year to discuss outstanding negotiations, new items of interest and policy issues. The USAN Council establishes logical nomenclature classifications based on pharmacological and/or chemical relationships. In addition to one member-at-large and a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) liaison, the council consists of one representative from each of the following: The American Medical Association (AMA), United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA).

GOLD & SILVER MOVES LOWER

Gold prices closed back below $1900/oz this week closing at $1,894, down $13 from the $1,907 close last week. This Friday silver prices closed at $27.89/oz. down $.14 from the $28.03/oz. close last Friday. Hecla Mining (HL) recently reported impressive Q1 2021 financial and operating results recently and closed at $8.92 down from the $9 close last Friday after establishing a new-52-wk high of $9.44 this week.  See our update story here for greater details.

MEMESTOCKS 

MemeStock, AMC Entertainment (AMC), closed at $47.91 after +95.22% move on Wednesday and the stock hitting a new 52-week high of $72.62. On Thursday, AMC announced that it had completed another 11.55M share at-the-market (“ATM”) equity program. AMC raised approximately $587.4M of new equity capital, before commissions and fees, at an average price of approximately $50.85 per share. AMC President and CEO Adam Aron said, “Bringing in an additional $587.4 million of new equity on top of the $658.5 million already raised this quarter results in a total equity raise in the second quarter of $1.246 billion, substantially strengthening and improving AMC’s balance sheet, providing valuable flexibility to respond to potential challenges and capitalize on attractive opportunities in the future.” Earlier in the week AMC also announced that it had entered into an agreement to raise $230.5 million of cash from the sale of equity to Mudrick Capital Management, L.P. in exchange for 8.5 million shares of AMC’s Class A Common stock. The equity was raised at a price of approximately $27.12 per share.  

GameStop (GME) also closed at $248.36, -3.8% on Friday.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) closed at $31.71, -.6% on Friday but on Wednesday BBBY moved up a whopping 62.1% surge. They recently announced that they will launch three new Owned Brands this quarter, continuing the Company’s execution of its biggest product assortment change in a generation to rebuild its authority in the $180 billion home market. With the launch of the new Owned Brands in the coming weeks, the Company will have launched six Owned Brands in five months – which is ahead of its previously announced 6-month timetable and in advance of the important Back to College shopping season.

BlackBerry Limited (BB) continued+39.02% higher this week and closed at $13.86 on Friday.  Recently, BB announced that BlackBerry® Optics 3.0, its next-generation cloud-based endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution and BlackBerry® Gateway, the company’s first AI-empowered Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) product. Rooted in a prevention-first and AI-driven approach, BlackBerry’s new endpoint and network security capabilities will help differentiate BlackBerry’s extended detection and response (XDR) strategy.

TRADING

The markets will be back to normal next week with 5-day trading sessions. 

Thanks again for your attention this week. Please continue to share your thoughts, questions, & ideas as we move forward. 

In the meantime, please enjoy the balance of the weekly newsletter’s videos, quotes, updates. 

Investing & Inspiration

1. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
2. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
3. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes
4. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell
5. “If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.” – Elon Musk
6. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
7. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
8. “Netflix, Amazon, iTunes – whatever platforms emerge – we are looking at as having the same potential that home video had for the movie business. Which means there are entirely new opportunities to monetize our capital investment in content and do so in ways that work for distributors, for consumers and for creators.” – Bob Iger
9. “When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.” – Carl Icahn
10. “No other investment yields as great a return as the investment in education. An educated workforce is the foundation of every community and the future of every economy.” – Brad Henry
11. “In my view, the biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. Not only is the mere drop in stock prices not risk, but it is an opportunity. Where else do you look for cheap stocks?” – Li Lu
12. “Modern medical advances have helped millions of people live longer, healthier lives. We owe these improvements to decades of investment in medical research.”– Ike Skelton
13. “Stock market goes up or down, and you can’t adjust your portfolio based on the whims of the market, so you have to have a strategy in a position and stay true to that strategy and not pay attention to noise that could surround any particular investment.” – John Paulson
14. “Your mindset matters. It affects everything – from the business and investment decisions you make, to the way you raise your children, to your stress levels and overall well-being.” – Peter Diamandis
15. “Inflation destroys savings, impedes planning, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living.” – Kevin Brady
16. “Cash – in savings accounts, short-term CDs or money market deposits – is great for an emergency fund. But to fulfill a long-term investment goal like funding your retirement, consider buying stocks. The more distant your financial target, the longer inflation will gnaw at the purchasing power of your money.”  – Suze Orman
17. “Bitcoin, in the short or even long term, may turn out be a good investment in the same way that anything that is rare can be considered valuable. Like baseball cards. Or a Picasso.” – Andrew Ross Sorkin
18. “I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock and there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” – Peter Lynch
19. “Historically, there has been a bull market in the commodities every 20 or 30 years.” – Jim Rogers
20. “The markets generally are unpredictable, so that one has to have different scenarios. The idea that you can actually predict what’s going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market.” – George Soros
21. “Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy or the elections.” – Warren Buffett
22. “An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.” – Peter Lynch
23. “Learn everyday, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” – John Bogle
24. “When purchasing depressed stock in troubled companies, seek out the ones with the superior financial positions and avoid the ones with loads of bank debt.” – Peter Lynch
25. “No stock price is too low for bears or too high for bulls.” –  John F. Heerdink, Jr.
26. “Investment is most successful when it is most businesslike.” – Ben Graham
27. “Value stocks are about as exciting as watching grass grow, but have you ever noticed just how much your grass grows in a week?” – Christopher Browne
28. “Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable willpower to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham
29. “Individual who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.” – Benjamin Graham
30. “I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life until then.” – Warren Buffet
31. “I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.” — Warren Buffett
32. “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
33. “Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble” ― Warren Buffett
34. “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.” – Warren Buffet
35. “How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” — Robert G. Allen
36. “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett
37. “A market downturn doesn’t bother us. It is an opportunity to increase our ownership of great companies with great management at good prices.” — Warren Buffett
38. “Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away.” — Jim Cramer
39. “The person who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.” — John D. Rockefeller
40. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
41. “Although it’s easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket… it’s part ownership of a business.” – Peter Lynch

42. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” – Rhonda Katz

43. “Invest for the long haul. Don’t get too greedy and don’t get too scared.” – Shelby M.C. Davis

44. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.”
    -Jeremy Siegel

45. “With a good perspective on history, we can have a better understanding of the past and present, and thus a clear vision of the future.” — Carlos Slim Helu
46. “If we like a business, we’re going to buy as much of it as we can and keep it as long as we can. And when we change our mind, we don’t take half measures.” – Warren Buffett
47. “The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel
48. “Never depend on a single income, make an investment to create a second source.” Warren Buffet“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field –- not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.” ― Warren Buffett
49. “The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.” – Peter Lynch
50. “Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets … any sound investment will eventually pay off.” — Carlos Slim Helu
51. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
52. “As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method of investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes.” — John Maynard Keynes
53. “Given a 10% chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time.” — Jeff Bezos
54. “Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
55. “The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less.” – Joel Greenblatt
56. “We don’t have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place.” – Seth Klarman
57. “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
58. “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
59. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott
60. “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!” — John Bogle
61. “No Price is too low for a bear or too high for a bull.” — Anonymous
62. “Investment is an asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.” — Anonymous
63. “Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” — Peter Lynch
64. “Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” –Rhonda Katz
65. “If there is one common theme to the vast range of the world’s financial crises, it is that excessive debt accumulation, whether by the government, banks, corporations, or consumers, often poses greater systemic risks than it seems during a boom.” — Carmen Reinhart
66. “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
67. “A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” — Barton Biggs
68. “The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham
69. “No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea
70. “The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel
71. “Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
72. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
73. “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
74. “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
75. “Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
76. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn
77. “You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr. 
78. “We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.” – Warren Buffett
79. “Never test the depth of the river with both of your feet.” – Warren Buffet
80. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
81. “Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb
82. “There is no such thing as no risk. There’s only this choice of what to risk, and when to risk it.” – Nick Murray
83. “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson
84. “Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
85. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
86. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger
87. “The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert
88. “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” – PopeFrancis
89. “It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton
90. “Inaction and patience are almost always the wisest options for investors in the stock market.” – Guy Spier
91. “Remember that the stock market is a manic depressive.”  – Warren Buffett
92. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
93. “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
94. “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
95. “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
96. “If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion.
    -George Bernard Shaw
97. “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, Former Ceo of Disney
98. “In the short run, the market is a voting machine. But in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” – Ben Graham
99. “In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” -Robert Arnott
100. “The fundamental law of investing is the uncertainty of the future.” -Peter Bernstein
101. “How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts?” -Robert G Allen
102. “Greed is all right, by the way. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.”-Ivan Boesky
103. “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
104. “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru
105. “I talk about macro themes a lot because they are fun to talk about, but it is the risk management that is the most important thing. The risk control is all bottom-up. I structured the business right from the get-go so that we would have lots of diversification.” -Michael Platt
106. “Blaming speculators as a response to financial crisis goes back at least to the Greeks. It’s almost always the wrong response.” -Larry Summers