Markets Moved South & Volatility ‘Irrationally’ Increased With Fed’s ‘Twisted’ Comments This Week

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.

Markets Moved South & Volatility 'Irrationally'

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker

Happy Saturday All!

I hope that all of you had a fabulous week in the markets and otherwise. However, as for the markets, it was an overall broadly negative week where in the first half many were sitting on their hands waiting for the Fed’s interest rate decision. Then, when the Fed spoke on Wednesday, many more investors were wishing that they had not done so, as it was a bit twisted at best I must admit and seemed to unravel understanding even further. The very least it increased the irrational fear levels. As for what the fed did and said it came be summed up as follows. The Fed confirmed that they did not raise interest rates, but may seek to do so a little earlier than expected because things are getting better. They suggested that interest rates could be bumped up by sometime time in 2023 (possibly 2 rate hikes), which ‘disturbingly’ updated their existing timeline that had been targeted in 2024. Basically, they could not leave well enough alone. However, the Fed did stay true to its belief that inflation is ‘transitory’ in nature, but also raised its inflation expectation to 3.4%. They also gave no indications as to when they might taper their bond buying activities. There was also a little ‘breaking from the ranks’ provided by St. Louis Fed President Bullard that provided further indigestion. He suggested that we will see a rate hike in 2022 and wants the Fed to get out of the mortgage-backed securities business. Good thing that he is a lone wolf at this time, but nevertheless, he did help to spook many investors.

In reaction and to add more concern, the yield curve flattened again this week. The 10-yr yields quite volatile at times, but ended down 1 basis point wk/wk to close 1.45, while the 2-yr rose 10 basis points wk/wk close at .254%. The U.S. Dollar Index also moved significantly higher from 90.51 to 92.26.

Needless, to say, that in a seemingly psychologically challenging & economically volatile environment such as this, the markets moved lower across the board. The Dow 30 pulled back -3.4% to close at 33,290.08, but remains up 8.8% YTD. The pressure, outside of the Fed, came mainly from the following sectors: the materials dropped 6.3%, the financials fell 6.2%, energy dropped 5.2% (curiously oil price rose 1.1% to rose at $71.67), & the industrials dropped 3.8%. The S&P 500 closed at 4,166.45 (-1.9%) & remains up +10.9% YTD. The Nasdaq closed at 14,030.38 (-.3%) for the week and is now up +8.9% YTD. The small caps on the Russell 2000 had the worst week as the appetite for risk waned in the wake of the Fed’s comments closing 2,237.75 (-4.2%), but remains up +13.3% YTD. The Microcaps also fell down a bit too this week evidenced by the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC), which closed at $149.10 down from the $154.77 close last week.

MACRO – RATES REPORT

Many more macroeconomic reports surfaced this week on 3 out the 5 days of trading. On Tuesday, the total retail sales report confirmed a drop by 1.3% in May while on a y/y basis, retail sales are up 28.1%. The Producer Price Index for final demand report also confirmed a rise by .8% month/month in May, while the Producer Price Index report for final demand was determined to have risen .7% month/month, on a y/y basis, the Producer Price Index for final demand was confirmed to risen 6.6% in May. The total industrial production report confirmed an .8% rise in May. The capacity utilization rate was shown to have risen to 75.2. The Total industrial production report confirmed a 16.3% year/year rise but still significantly lower than the long term average. The NAHB Housing Market Index for June fell by 2 points to 81. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey fell to 17.4 in June. The business inventories report was shown to have dropped by .2% month/month in April. On Wednesday, three macroeconomic reports surfaced today including the total housing starts report, which confirmed a rise by 3.6% m/m to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.572M units and which should increase the supply to some degree. The import prices report was confirmed to have risen by 1.1% in May, while export prices rose 2.2% in May. The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index also rose 4.2%. On Thursday, the initial claims report for the week ending June 12 confirmed a rise by 37k to 412k, while continuing claims for the week ending June 5 rosed by 1k to 3.518M. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) moved up by 1.3% in May. The Philadelphia Fed Survey for June moved lower to 30.7. We will not receive any reports on Friday.

The yield curve flattened again this week. The 10-yr yield fell 9 basis points wk/wk to close 1.46, while the 2-yr settled was flat wk/wk close at .15%.

The U.S. Dollar Index also ticked slightly higher from 90.13 to 90.51.

TRADING NEXT AND LOOKING FORWARD

Next week, we will receive the Consumer Income and Consumption report, the Mark PMI report, & the GDP report. The markets will also be back to normal next week with 5-day trading sessions and hopefully calmer minds will prevail despite the perceptions of what the Fed says or does not say. With all this in mind, please remember that the market still rests <2% from the its all-time high. Also, we should keep in mind that historically periods leading up to an initial policy-rate increase have been overall favorable for stocks. In fact, since 1990, large cap stocks have averaged an approx. total return of 18.1% over the 2 years prior to a rate hike. Also, the economy continues to race back for the most part. So, I don’t think the we should be heading for the exits any time soon, and there is a great deal of room for growth.

VISTA STORIES FROM THE DOW 30

P&G Informs Of Rise In Commodity & Freight Costs For This Fiscal Year

Apple Hires Ulrich Kranz (Former BMW Executive) Determined To Build A Self-Driving Electric Car

U.S. and EU Agreed To Suspend Tariffs Related To Boeing-Airbus Subsidies

Walgreens Collaborates With Uber Eats Now Offering Same-Day Delivery From +7,800 Stores In US

Verizon Business Launches Commercial Private 5G In U.S

TECH & FAANG’s OVERALL STRENGTH

On the positive side many of the larger tech names moved and the information tech sector closed up +.1%.

The FAANG’s ended fairly strongly week/week as follows: Apple (AAPL) closed at $130.46 up from last Friday’s close of $127.35, Amazon (AMZN) closed at $3,486.90 up from last Friday’s close of $3,346.83, Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $2,511.35, -1% for the week, Facebook (FB) closed at $329.66, -.48% this week & Netflix (NFLX) closed at $500.77/share, +2.46% this week. The MicroSectors FANG+ Index 3X Leveraged ETN (FNGU), which offers 3x leveraged exposure to an index of “FANG” companies, and other companies that exhibit similar characteristics, closed at $31.98, +4.34% for the week.

Leading EV car maker Tesla (TSLA) up again to close at $623.31 up from last Friday’s close at $609.89.

Shares of Ford Motor Co (F) cooled again this week after its recent run closing at $14.52 down from the $15.28 close last Friday.

ADT (ADT), the “most trusted brand in smart home and small business security” and Google partner closed lower this week at $10.90 (-6.09% during Friday’s session), but still significantly from our recent entry in the low $9 range.Nothing was reported. Note that 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 regained some ‘mojo’ again this week despite the markets drop as it closed at $118.90 up from last Friday’s close of $116.12, but still off her 52-wk high of $159.70. She will continue to focus on her ‘5-yr goals’. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) closed at $142.09 up from last Friday’s close of $141.13.

BIOTECH PULLED BACK

The Biotech sector that had been showing strength trailed off this week overall. The Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed at $158.77 down 2.06% for the week. The NYSE ARCA Biotech Index (^BTK) closed at 5,911.36 down 1.22% for the week. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) closed at $133.58 down 1.66% for the week. The XBI’s 52-wk range is $97.15-$174.79.

Shares of VP Watchlist stock, 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 $5.35, +24.13% over the course of the week and is trading 13.34M shares a day. Atossa has moved up from a 52-wk low of $.81 to hit a high of $6.82 recently. Atossa new enjoys a market cap of $646.41M. This week, Atossa announced that it is set to be added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes This milestone will take place at the conclusion of the 2021 Russell Indexes’ annual reconstitution, effective after the U.S. market opens on June 28, 2021, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 4, and June 14, 2021. Atossa management held a webinar on June 9th with Tribe Public to discuss their final data from its Phase 2 clinical study of oral Endoxifen administered in the “window of opportunity” between diagnosis of breast cancer and surgery. The study enrolled seven newly-diagnosed patients with ER+ and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) stage 1 or 2 invasive breast cancer, requiring mastectomy or lumpectomy.

On June 14th, INMB announced that it had entered into a new $15M credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and an affiliate of SVB Financial Group. INmune intends to use the proceeds from the facility to partially fund the buyout of an option held by Xencor, Inc.(XNCR), resulting from INmune’s in-licensing of XPro1595 (now known by its generic name, pegipanermin) in October 2017. XPro1595 is a next-generation inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that uses a dominant-negativeTNF technology that is very different from approved TNF inhibitors that block the effects of both soluble and trans-membrane TNF. Pegipanermin neutralizes soluble TNF, without affecting trans-membrane TNF or TNF receptors. XPro1595 could have substantial beneficial effects in patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases by decreasing neuroinflammation. Total consideration to be paid to Xencor by INmune is $18.3 million, comprised of $15 million of cash and $3.3 million of INMB shares at a price of $17.14 resulting in the issuance of 192,533 shares. Pursuant to the original 2017 in-licensing agreement, INmune granted Xencor an option to purchase an additional number of shares of common stock equal to 10% of INmune’s fully diluted company shares for a period of seven years. The retirement of the Xencor option eliminates an estimated 2.1 million shares of potential future common stock dilution upon exercise of the option.

On Thursday, June 17th, newly added VP Watchlist stock, InMed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INM), announced that its continued optimization of IntegraSyn™ has increased the cannabinoid yield to a level of 5 g/L, further improving the economics of this proprietary manufacturing approach in advance of large-scale production. InMed’s cannabinoid yield of 5 g/L significantly exceeds currently reported industry yields. The Company has continued to make important steps to further optimize the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing process, resulting in the improved yield of 5 g/L, surpassing InMed’s previously reported yield levels of 2 g/L, an already commercially viable yield. The impact of improved yield is a significant reduction in the overall cost of manufacturing due to greater amount of cannabinoid produced per batch. InMed is now focused on manufacturing scale-up to larger batch sizes in the second half of calendar year 2021. “We are very excited by these impressive yield levels that further validates the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing approach as a commercially viable solution for large-scale, pharmaceutical-grade GMP production of rare cannabinoids. While we continue to refine the process, we are now focused on advancing the program towards the next key milestones, including the manufacture of our first large-scale batch through a GMP-ready process in the coming months. We continue to believe InMed’s proprietary IntegraSyn™ approach will be one of the most important manufacturing processes for pharma-grade cannabinoids,” stated Eric A. Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of InMed.

COMMODITIES FALTER – GOLD & SILVER MOVE LOWER AGAIN

The prices of commodities historically drop when the dollar gets stronger and this week was no exception. Everything with the exception of oil moved lower but we did see a little rally on Friday’s soybeans moved up 4.8% along with corn’s move 4% move. But how much do you invested in those? The precious metals also tanked as Gold prices had a particularly rough week closing at $1,768, down exactly $113 from the $1,881 close last week. This Friday silver prices closed at $25.92/oz. down $2.13 from the $28.05/oz. close last Friday.

HERE YE MEMESTOCKS!

MemeStock, AMC Entertainment (AMC), closed at $$59.26 up +19.96% ever the week. Last week, 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 $213.82 down -8.37% since last Friday. GME recently announced that it has appointed Matt Furlong as Chief Executive Officer and Mike Recupero as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Furlong and Mr. Recupero join from Amazon, where they each held senior roles and oversaw various growth initiatives during their respective tenures. Mr. Furlong’s start date is June 21, 2021 and Mr. Recupero’s start date is July 12, 2021. Yesterday, GME also reported results for the first quarter ended May 1, 2021. First Quarter Fiscal 2021 Highlights included Net sales that increased 25.1% to $1.277 billion, compared to $1.021 billion in the fiscal 2020 first quarter, overcoming a nearly 12% reduction in the Company’s global store base due to strategic de-densification efforts, and continued store closures across Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Gross margin was 25.9%, a decline of 180 basis points compared to the fiscal 2020 first quarter; & Adjusted EBITDA of ($0.7) million compared to ($75.5) million in the fiscal 2020 first quarter.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) closed at $27.38 losing -14.2% over the week. Recently, BBBT announced the launch of Our Table™, a new collection of modern kitchen and dinnerware designed to help every home cook share more great meals together. Available only at Bed Bath & Beyond, Our Table features a modern and durable assortment of cookware, bakeware, dinnerware, table linens, kitchen tools, kitchen linens and more. The launch of Our Table celebrates an exciting time where many customers are preparing to welcome guests back into their homes, share recipes, and gather together at the same table

BlackBerry Limited (BB) closed at $12.90 off -9.03% over the week. 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.

1847 Goedeker Inc. (GOED) closed at $3.33, +12.5% over the week after reaching $3.63 in intraday trading. “Goedekers” the largest pure-play online retailer of household appliances in the US, reported continued strong growth with record revenue for the month of May 2021, up 41.9% from May 2020 to $44.3 million on May 2021 written orders of $72.6 million.

VP WATCHLIST UPDATES

Please review our complete VP Watchlist that includes Apple (AAPL), Disney (DIS), Tesla (TSLA) & a select group of emerging names. The pages will allow you to learn more and keep up with these companies daily.

For now, see the summaries or six of the emerging companies from the VP Watchlist below:.

Shares of Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases, closed at $15.18 down -9.37% for the week. Chinook is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and commercializing precision medicines for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases, a severe and growing worldwide problem with a lack of effective treatments often leading to dialysis, transplantation, and high costs to health care systems. In the U.S. alone, kidney diseases affect an estimated 37 million people and account for over $120 billion in annual costs.

KDNY touched a 52-wk high of $21.68 in Dec. 2020 and has been roughly trading in the $14 and change range up to this level after uplisting to the NASDAQ in fall of 2020. It will be interesting to see if can break though the this level as it moves forward with several milestones in the back half of 2021

- On June 8th, KDNY announced the presentation of data from the ongoing phase 1/2 study of BION-1301 in patients with IgAN. The findings were presented in an oral presentation at the 58th European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Virtual Congress. here are the highlights: 1) BION-1301 has been well-tolerated to date in patients with IgAN, with no serious adverse events (SAEs) or treatment discontinuations due to adverse events, 2) Pharmacokinetics (PK) of BION-1301 observed in patients with IgAN are consistent with those previously reported in healthy volunteers and are sufficient to drive rapid and sustained reductions in free APRIL levels, 3) BION-1301 has durably reduced Gd-IgA1, IgA, IgM, and to a lesser extent, IgG levels in patients with IgAN, & 4) BION-1301 has demonstrated a clinically meaningful mean reduction in 24-hour proteinuria (UPCR) in the first several patients enrolled in the study, providing initial proof-of-concept for BION-1301 in IgAN.
- On May 12, Chinook provided a business update and reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics stated, “During the first quarter of 2021, Chinook made strong progress with its pipeline of programs for kidney diseases, including initiating the phase 3 ALIGN and phase 2 AFFINITY trials of atrasentan, presenting encouraging clinical data from the BION-1301 program and entering into a strategic collaboration with Evotec. We are well-capitalized and resourced to execute across our programs to generate additional data catalysts and continue building Chinook into a leading kidney disease company.”

- On April 15, Chinook’s CEO Eric Dobmeier & CBO Tom Frohlich delivered a presentation titled “Revolutionizing The Treatment of Kidney Disease” followed by a Q&A session at the Tribe Public Network. You can view the video of the event here.

INmune Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: INMB) closed at $17.46, -2.4% for the week, but up significantly since we added them to the VP Watchlist in May in the $9 range. INMB is a clinical-stage immunology company focused on developing treatments that harness the patient’s innate immune system to fight disease. INMB is further focused on modulating components of the innate immune system to activate an immune response against cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. (52-wk range $4.50-$29.99).

On June 14th, INMB announced that it had entered into a new $15M credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and an affiliate of SVB Financial Group. INmune intends to use the proceeds from the facility to partially fund the buyout of an option held by Xencor, Inc.(XNCR), resulting from INmune’s in-licensing of XPro1595 (now known by its generic name, pegipanermin) in October 2017. XPro1595 is a next-generation inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that uses a dominant-negativeTNF technology that is very different from approved TNF inhibitors that block the effects of both soluble and trans-membrane TNF. Pegipanermin neutralizes soluble TNF, without affecting trans-membrane TNF or TNF receptors. XPro1595 could have substantial beneficial effects in patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases by decreasing neuroinflammation. Total consideration to be paid to Xencor by INmune is $18.3 million, comprised of $15 million of cash and $3.3 million of INMB shares at a price of $17.14 resulting in the issuance of 192,533 shares. Pursuant to the original 2017 in-licensing agreement, INmune granted Xencor an option to purchase an additional number of shares of common stock equal to 10% of INmune’s fully diluted company shares for a period of seven years. The retirement of the Xencor option eliminates an estimated 2.1 million shares of potential future common stock dilution upon exercise of the option.

- With the June 7th FDA approval of Biogen’s (BIIB) controversial and much debated Alzheimer’s Drug behind us now, the focus on the AD space has been turned up and is shining on INMB’s program and others in the space.

- On June 2nd, the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has adopted the name “Pegipanermin” for INMB’s lead clinical candidate, XPro1595.

- On May 18th, I hosted Immune Bio’s CEO RJ Tesi at the Tribe Public Presentation & Q&A Event for a fascinating discussion and his presentation titled “Advancing Treatment To Repair Our Aging Innate Immune System to Fight Alzheimer’s.” Please view the event video here.

- On May 5th, INMB reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 and provided a business update on Wednesday, May 5th. RJ Tesi, M.D., chief executive officer of INmune Bio stated, “We continued to treat patients in the Phase I XPro1595 Alzheimer’s disease trial and expand the extensive biomarker data. The interim data that we reported in January confirms that XPro1595 decreases neuroinflammation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and supports transitioning to a blinded randomized placebo-controlled Phase II trial later this year. We regard these results as extremely promising and look forward to further confirmation of XPro1595’s potential benefit to these patients in a rigorously designed Phase 2 study. We will report the additional biomarker data later this Summer. We have started screening patients in the Phase I INKmune NK cell priming platform trial in patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). MDS is a serious hematopoietic stem cell disorder in which patients have functionally defective NK cells, and approximately one-third of cases progress to AML. We created a short 5-minute video that we believe does a wonderful job explaining why NK cells fail to clear cancer and how the cellular and molecular interactions by INKmune activate NK cells to kill resistant tumors. The video can be found by clicking here.”

InMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INM) is leading clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing cannabinoid-based drug candidates for high unmet medical needs and IntegraSyn, a proprietary and cost effective manufacturing approach for synthesized rare cannabinoids.

Shares of InMed closed at closed trading this week at $2.75. The 52-wk range is $2.55 -$8.94.

- On Thursday, June 17th, InMed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INM) announced that its continued optimization of IntegraSyn™ has increased the cannabinoid yield to a level of 5 g/L, further improving the economics of this proprietary manufacturing approach in advance of large-scale production. InMed’s cannabinoid yield of 5 g/L significantly exceeds currently reported industry yields. The Company has continued to make important steps to further optimize the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing process, resulting in the improved yield of 5 g/L, surpassing InMed’s previously reported yield levels of 2 g/L, an already commercially viable yield. The impact of improved yield is a significant reduction in the overall cost of manufacturing due to greater amount of cannabinoid produced per batch. InMed is now focused on manufacturing scale-up to larger batch sizes in the second half of calendar year 2021. “We are very excited by these impressive yield levels that further validates the IntegraSyn™ manufacturing approach as a commercially viable solution for large-scale, pharmaceutical-grade GMP production of rare cannabinoids. While we continue to refine the process, we are now focused on advancing the program towards the next key milestones, including the manufacture of our first large-scale batch through a GMP-ready process in the coming months. We continue to believe InMed’s proprietary IntegraSyn™ approach will be one of the most important manufacturing processes for pharma-grade cannabinoids,” stated Eric A. Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of InMed.

Shares of Natural-Killer cell (NKcell) focused biopharmaceutical firm Fate Therapeutics (FATE) regained significant momentum this week and closed at $80.23, -10.61% this week.

- On June 15th, FATE announced that Mark Plavsic, DVM, PhD, RAC has been appointed Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Plavsic brings over 20 years of broad technical excellence in global biopharmaceutical operations, having led teams in the commercial-scale cGMP manufacture and distribution, as well as the clinical-stage process, assay, and formulation development, of complex biologics. As Chief Technical Officer, Mark will oversee the Company’s manufacturing, technical, and supply chain operations.

- On June 4th, FATE highlighted positive interim Phase 1 data from the Company’s FT516 program for patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell lymphoma at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting being held virtually June 4-8, 2021. FT516 is the Company’s universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell product candidate derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line engineered with a novel high-affinity, non-cleavable CD16 (hnCD16) Fc receptor, which is designed to maximize antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), a potent anti-tumor mechanism by which NK cells recognize, bind and kill antibody-coated cancer cells. The ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT516 is currently enrolling patients in the fourth dose cohort of 900 million cells per dose.IN summary they highlighted that 8 of 11 Patients in Dose Escalation Cohorts 2 and 3 Achieved Objective Response, 6 of 11 Patients Achieved Complete Response, including 2 Patients Previously Treated with Autologous CD19 CAR T-cell Therapy, & Favorable FT516 Safety Profile Was Observed; No FT516-related Serious Adverse Events or FT516-related Grade 3 or Greater Adverse Events.

- On May 13th, Fate announced encouraging interim Phase 1 data from the Company’s off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived natural killer (NK) cell programs in relapsed / refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT516 as monotherapy is currently enrolling patients in the third dose cohort (900 million cells per dose), with three patients treated in the first dose cohort (90 million cells per dose) and six patients treated in the second dose cohort (300 million cells per dose). The Phase 1 dose-escalation study of FT538 as monotherapy is currently ongoing, with three patients treated in the first dose cohort (100 million cells per dose). Learn more.
- On May 5th, Fate reported their business highlights and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics stated, “During the first quarter of 2021, we strengthened our balance sheet by raising $460 million and successfully positioned our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK cell pipeline to achieve significant clinical milestones across our disease franchises throughout the remainder of the year. We look forward to sharing Phase 1 clinical data from our FT516 and FT538 programs in relapsed / refractory AML at an investor event to be held alongside the ASGCT conference. We are also pleased with the clinical expansion of our FT538 program into solid tumors, where we plan to combine with FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies targeting EGFR, HER2, and PDL1. While we are disappointed that the PROTECT study of ProTmune did not meet its primary endpoint for prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic stem cell transplant, we will now turn our full attention and resources to our deep pipeline of off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived cancer immunotherapies. We would like to sincerely thank the patients, caregivers and investigators who participated in the clinical investigation of ProTmune, and we intend to share our clinical findings with that community.”

- In related news, we have made another investment in a private NKcell company called Cytovia Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing allogeneic “off-the-shelf” gene-edited Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-NK cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and NK cell engager multifunctional antibodies. Their website is www.cytoviatx.com . This week, Cytovia took another step towards an IPO as they announced that William Sullivan, CPA, MBA has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Sullivan has more than 25 years of experience in corporate finance, leading strategic transactions, fundraising, and investor relations. Prior to joining Cytovia, he was Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), a publicly traded gene therapy company, where he led multiple financings and core business and finance functions. Prior to AGTC, he worked at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for 10 years and held a variety of important leadership positions including Chief Financial Officer. At Merrimack, he led the company’s $100 million initial public offering, helped the company raise over $400 million in debt and equity capital as a public company, and played a key role in Merrimack’s asset sale to Ipsen SA for up to $1.025 billion. Prior to his role at Merrimack he worked for a number of years in the high-technology sector. Mr. Sullivan holds a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and a M.B.A and M.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University and obtained his certified public accountant license while working at Arthur Andersen, LLP.

Shares of 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 $5.35, +24.13% over the course of the week and is trading 13.34M shares a day.

This week, Atossa announced that it is set to be added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes This milestone will take place at the conclusion of the 2021 Russell Indexes’ annual reconstitution, effective after the U.S. market opens on June 28, 2021, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 4, and June 14, 2021.

Atossa management held a webinar on June 9th with Tribe Public to discuss their final data from its Phase 2 clinical study of oral Endoxifen administered in the “window of opportunity” between diagnosis of breast cancer and surgery. The study enrolled seven newly-diagnosed patients with ER+ and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) stage 1 or 2 invasive breast cancer, requiring mastectomy or lumpectomy. Patients received the Atossa proprietary oral Endoxifen for at least 14 days from the time of diagnosis up to the day of surgery. The primary endpoint was to determine if the administration of oral Endoxifen reduces the tumor activity as measured by Ki-67. The secondary endpoints were safety and tolerability and assessment of the study drug on expression levels of both estrogen and progesterone receptors, and correlation between Ki-67 and Endoxifen levels. The Phase 2 study was conducted on behalf of Atossa by Avance Clinical, a leading Australian CRO.

- On Friday, June 11th, Atossa announced that it has received approval from the Swedish Medical Product Agency (MPA) to initiate a Phase 2 clinical study of its oral Endoxifen for the reduction of mammographic breast density (MBD). Studies conducted by others have shown that MBD reduces the ability of mammograms to detect cancer (sensitivity) and increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Additional studies show a correlation between reducing MBD and a reduction in the incidence of breast cancer. The primary objective of the MBD study is to determine the dose-response relationship of daily oral Endoxifen on mammographic breast density reduction, with secondary endpoints assessing safety and tolerability. The Phase 2 study will be randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled. It will be conducted in Stockholm and will include approximately 240 pre-menopausal women with measurable MBD who will receive daily doses of oral Endoxifen or placebo for six months. South General Hospital in Stockholm will be conducting the study. The study is being led by principal investigator Per Hall, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet. The study is also subject to approval by the institutional ethics committees and enrollment will not begin unless and until all approvals are obtained and COVID restrictions are lifted in Sweden.

- On May 27th, DRASTIC Investigator Gilles Demaneuf and Physician-Scientist Dr. Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ATOS), announced that they have published new research that addresses the question of whether the claim that there were no COVID cases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is legitimate. Given that it has been reported there were about 590 staff members working at the WIV at that time and the documented prevalence of COVID in Wuhan during the first half of 2020 of 4.4%, it is statistically impossible that there were no cases. The research can be read here.

- This week, Physician-Scientist Dr. Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ATOS) was asked to brief the elected members and staff of the United States Congress on his work on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual meeting was scheduled for Monday, May 24, 2021. Dr. Quay was too speak about his research on the origin of the pandemic, which he published in January 2021 and which is available here. In this analysis he concludes that it is beyond a reasonable doubt the virus came from a laboratory accident, a so called “laboratory-acquired infection”, in Wuhan, China. The briefing was also to include a discussion by David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, about his work at the U.S. State Department looking into the origins of COVID-19 and the role of the Chinese government. Dr. Quay recently stated, “While it would be a positive step for China to be open and transparent with records from the Wuhan Institute of Virology that were not shared with the WHO Committee during their field work in China earlier this year, there already exists more than enough data and evidence to conclude with high certainty that the COVID pandemic did not arise from a natural zoonosis. The purpose of this briefing is to supply relevant congressional staff and members with the facts that are not in dispute with respect to the pandemic, to show how these facts are different from any prior zoonosis, to show these facts are completely consistent with a lab-leak, and finally, to document the genetic signatures that are consistent with ‘gain-of-function’ laboratory manipulation. For over a year there has been a reticence to consider a lab-leak as the source of this pandemic despite the fact that most of the evidence I will present has been in the public domain all this time. It is clear to me that only a grass roots effort directed to the federal government will bring the urgency to help uncover the cause of the pandemic and set the stage to put in place the safeguards to prevent the next. You can help in this fight by inviting your Representative and Senators to this briefing on the leading COVID origin hypothesis, the possibility of a laboratory acquired infection at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We owe it to the three million people who have died to get to the bottom of this.”

Shares of INVO Bioscience, Inc. (INVO), 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, closed at $4.15.

- On June 15th, INVO Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVO), announced further foundational progress as they appointed of Andrea Goren as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. In a career approaching 27 years, Mr. Goren has extensive experience in numerous financial functions, including service as a public company CFO, company director, capital raising activities as well as mergers and acquisition experience. Mr. Goren has served as managing director and CFO of Phoenix Group, a New York City-based private equity firm specializing in micro-cap and nano-cap public companies. He served as vice president of Shamrock Group, the Roy Disney family private investment firm in London; and was a director at New York City-based Madison Capital Group, a corporate advisory firm focused on U.S. / European Union cross border transactions. Mr. Goren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, and an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York City.

- On May 17, INVO announced financial results for the first quarter of 2021 ended March 31, 2021 and provides a business update. Steve Shum, Chief Executive Officer of INVO Bioscience stated, “This was an exciting start to the year 2021 for INVO Bioscience as we advanced our INVO Clinic strategy with the signing of our first U.S.-based INVOcell exclusive facility in Birmingham, Alabama, the signing of a partnership agreement to establish and operate a center in Northern California, and the completion of our product registration in Mexico. We expect these initial centers to become operational in the second half of the year. Throughout this year, we have expanded our real-world experience data and positive results with INVOcell, enhanced our online training tools, materials, and capabilities and have experienced a substantial increase in active training sessions for our international partners and distributors. We believe the combination of strong commercialization partnerships and company-owned clinics, both in the U.S. and around the world, is key to expanding INVOcell’s adoption within the fertility industry. In addition to the progress made executing new commercialization agreements, we have strengthened our marketing capabilities to support the INVOcell-only centers and our growing number of distribution partners. Meryle Lynn Chamberlain, a tenured women’s health and fertility solution marketing professional, joined us as Director of Marketing in March 2021, while Rebecca Messina, current Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Co. and former Global Chief Marketing Officer at both Uber and Beam Suntory joined our board of directors in April 2021. As we look to increase access to care and expand fertility treatment across the globe, our market positioning and overall strategies are more important than ever. The addition of Meryle Lynn and Rebecca will enhance our ability to successfully accomplish these goals. As we look to the remainder of 2021, we have set a number of key objectives, including the opening of our first company-owned clinics in Mexico and the United States. Additionally, we will seek to build our international revenues this year through our growing list of international distribution partners as they finish training, and we complete local product registration requirements. Of note, we are extremely pleased to see the initial INVO procedures performed recently in Spain and Malaysia, which reflects the groundwork done by our team in these specific markets, which we believe will help in further expanding the overall awareness of the potential outside of the U.S. Finally, we are continuing to advance our 5-day label expansion efforts with the FDA in the U.S. market with a goal of completing this effort in 2021. It remains our belief that there is strong global demand for fertility services and INVOcell is well-positioned through our growing, global footprint to play a key role in helping to turn the dream of creating a family for millions of people around the world into a reality through our accessible, efficient, and affordable fertility treatment.”

- On May 11, a 13G was filed that confirms that David Sable’s (a former #IVF doc turned portfolio manager) Special Situations Fund of AWM Investment Company increased their ownership to 11.1% or 1,154,153 share ownership of INVO Bioscience (INVO). They held 625k/6.5% as of the 13G filing 2-12-2021. If you are not familiar with them, I believe if you do a relatively small amount sleuthing you will find out that they are one of the most successful multi-billion funds over the last 20-years, especially in finding small undiscovered microchips. I believe that they led the round of $13M at $3.20 a share in November 12, 2020 that pushed INVO uplist to the NASDAQ. Here’s the 13G filing. The company only has 10,424,229 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2021.

- 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.

Shares of NeuBase Therapeutics (NBSE) closed trading this week at $4.63.

- 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.
- On June 8th, NBSE announced positive new data and program updates for its development pipeline of PATrOL-enabled genetic medicines. Review the story here.
- On May 13, NBSE reported its financial results for the three- and six-month periods ended March 31, 2021. Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., Founder, CEO and Chairman of NeuBase stated, “We continue to expand and scale our unique precision genetic medicine platform that we believe can turn genes on, off, or edit them in vivo, and thus address most mechanisms that cause diseases in a single industry-unifying solution. Our recent financing led by top-tier healthcare investors enables us to advance our lead program into the clinic next year and expand our pipeline to address historically undruggable oncogenic driver mutations. We look forward to hosting our R&D day on June 8th, during which we will present an update on our current pipeline programs, as well as introduce an oncology program targeting a genetic driver mutation in a high value indication.”

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

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter Drucker
“I’m involved in the stock market, which is fun and, sometimes, very painful.” – Regis Philbin
“Who owns the future? This is the question at the heart of every stock market.” – John Landgraf
“One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute.” – William Feather
“While I’m sure some millennials are concerned with the ethical issues involved in mining for diamonds, the main reason they steer clear of the gems is because, well, they’re a dumb investment.” – Ana Kasparian
“The wisest rule in investment is: when others are selling, buy. When others are buying, sell. Usually, of course, we do the opposite. When everyone else is buying, we assume they know something we don’t, so we buy. Then people start selling, panic sets in, and we sell too.” – Jonathan Sacks
“We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.” – Deb Haaland
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.” – Bear Bryant
“Investing in women’s lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations – and consequently in our own long-term national interests.” -Liya Kebede
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell
“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
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
“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
“When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.” – Carl Icahn
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“Inflation destroys savings, impedes planning, and discourages investment. That means less productivity and a lower standard of living.” – Kevin Brady
“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
“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
“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
“Historically, there has been a bull market in the commodities every 20 or 30 years.” – Jim Rogers
“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
“Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy or the elections.” – Warren Buffett
“An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.” – Peter Lynch
“Learn everyday, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” – John Bogle
“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
“No stock price is too low for bears or too high for bulls.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr.
“Investment is most successful when it is most businesslike.” – Ben Graham
“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
“Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable willpower to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham
“Individual who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.” – Benjamin Graham
“I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life until then.” – Warren Buffet
“I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.” — Warren Buffett
“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
“Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble” ― Warren Buffett
“If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.” – Warren Buffet
“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” — Robert G. Allen
“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett
“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
“Every once in a while, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away.” — Jim Cramer
“The person who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.” — John D. Rockefeller
“Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
“Although it’s easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket… it’s part ownership of a business.” – Peter Lynch
“Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” – Rhonda Katz
“Invest for the long haul. Don’t get too greedy and don’t get too scared.” – Shelby M.C. Davis
“Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.”
-Jeremy Siegel
“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
“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
“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel
“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
“The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.” – Peter Lynch
“Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets … any sound investment will eventually pay off.” — Carlos Slim Helu
“Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
“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
“Given a 10% chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time.” — Jeff Bezos
“Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
“The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less.” – Joel Greenblatt
“We don’t have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place.” – Seth Klarman
“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
“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
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” — Robert Arnott
“Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!” — John Bogle
“No Price is too low for a bear or too high for a bull.” — Anonymous
“Investment is an asset or item that is purchased with the hope that it will generate income or appreciate in the future.” — Anonymous
“Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” — Peter Lynch
“Wise spending is part of wise investing. And it’s never too late to start.” –Rhonda Katz
“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
“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
“A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” — Barton Biggs
“The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham
“No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea
“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel
“Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
“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
“Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn
“You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr.
“We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.” – Warren Buffett
“Never test the depth of the river with both of your feet.” – Warren Buffet
“Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch
“Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb
“There is no such thing as no risk. There’s only this choice of what to risk, and when to risk it.” – Nick Murray
“If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson
“Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott
“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger
“The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert
“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
“It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton
“Inaction and patience are almost always the wisest options for investors in the stock market.” – Guy Spier
“Remember that the stock market is a manic depressive.” – Warren Buffett
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
“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, Former Ceo of Disney
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine. But in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” – Ben Graham
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” -Robert Arnott
“The fundamental law of investing is the uncertainty of the future.” -Peter Bernstein
“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts?” -Robert G Allen
“Greed is all right, by the way. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.”-Ivan Boesky
“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
“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
“Blaming speculators as a response to financial crisis goes back at least to the Greeks. It’s almost always the wrong response.” -Larry Summers