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The Russell 2000, IPO’s, & Cyclicals Had Their Way In The Markets This Week

By John F. Heerdink, Jr.


It seemed like the markets were falling precipitously throughout the week as highly weighted and wildly followed household names from the information technology, communication services, consumer discretionary, & consumer staples sectors i.e. Apple (AAPL) (-4.6% wk/wk) actually sold off. China’s TikTok & WeChat were also been banned from the US by President Trump adding a dose of fear and concern around the US-China trade wars.

However, the losses that occurred in those sectors were countered with the less “sexy” cyclical sectors i.e. energy which rebounded a solid 2.9% wk/wk and offset the losses with regards to the indices. Also on a positive note, the Russell 2000 also had a stellar week rising 2.6% where many issues I own and follow and others flew up this week. Over and above that we received relatively expected, if not positive & at least generally market supportive news, from Fed Chair Jerome Powell where he confirmed that the Fed would be leaving interest rates lower for the foreseeable future or until the US economy achieves “maximum employment” with an average 2% inflation rate in hand.

The IPO market was also alive and thriving this week with a number of new issues from a number of sectors with tech and biotech offering many of the new stars. Cloud computing company, Snowflake (SNOW), went public at $120/share on the NYSE above the 2 stated ranges through the IPO process that picked up Warren Buffett and Salesforce as investors to boot. It opened at $231.11/share and skyrocketed up to $319/share prior to closing at $253.93/share up 111.61% on its first day of trading. A truly masterfully scary marketing job by the company and the 23 banks led by Goldman Sachs did on this one. The market cap is now $66.60B at $240/share on Friday and reached over $80B during the process this week.

Shares of Compass Pathways (CMPS), the London-based psychedelic drug company, which is researching a therapy using the main ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, jumped 70.6% closing at $29/share on Friday, making it the first psychedelic drug company to go public on a major U.S. exchange.  It has backing of PayPal (PYPL) cofounder/billionaire Peter Thiel. CMPS’s IPO priced at $17 a share putting the valuation at about ~$550M range.

The macroeconomic schedule produced the following reports this week: On Tuesday, we received the macroeconomic schedule produced three reports of significance as the Industrial production report confirmed a rise of .4% month/month in August while the capacity utilization rate report confirmed a rise to 71.4%. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey report for September came in at 17 above expectations. The Import prices report showed a rise of .9% in August; while prices, excluding oil, also rose .7%. Export prices moved by .5% in August while prices, excluding agriculture, rose by .8%. On Wednesday, the initial claims report for the week ending September 12 confirmed a decline by 33k to 860k while continuing claims for the week ending September 5 declined by 916k to 12.628M. Housing Starts for August fell by 5.1% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416M units however were up 2.8% year/year. Building Permits also fell .9% month/month to 1.470M & off .1% year/year. The Philadelphia Fed Index fell to 15 in September. On Thursday, the initial claims report for the week ending September 12 confirmed a decline by 33k to 860k while continuing claims for the week ending September 5 declined by 916k to 12.628M. Housing Starts for August fell by 5.1% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416M units however were up 2.8% year/year. Building Permits also fell .9% month/month to 1.470M & off .1% year/year. The Philadelphia Fed Index fell to 15 in September. On Friday, the final University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for August moved up to 74.1 while the final reading for July was 72.5. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) rose 1.2% in August. The current account deficit for Q2 totaled $170.5 B. 

MARKET RESULTS & MARKET LEADERS

Again the Russell 2000 gets the honors this week as it outperformed all indices gaining 2.6% wk/wk to close a 1536.78 and is now down only 7.9% YTD. A major comeback considering it was down nearly 40% at its depths this year. It is not wise to ignore the little guys on this index if you are seeking significant returns but you do have to have the stomach for the volatility.  

The Dow ended the week at 27,665.64 flat for the week and remains down 3.1% YTD. Around the Dow 30, Deere (DE) continued its recent run and closed at $221.97/share up over 6 points or $215.96/share after recently beating earnings expectations. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) closed at $128.63/share down from last Friday’s close of $131.75/share. Pharmaceutical giant Merck (MRK) closed at $85.81/share up from last Friday’s close of $84.48/share, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) closed at $149.18/share up from last week’s close of $147.78, energy giant Chevron (CVX) closed at $78.21 up from last Friday’s close of $77.69/share, Caterpillar (CAT) closed at $152.393/share down from last Friday’s close of $153.18/share while Walmart (WMT) closed at $135.29/share down again this week from last Friday’s close of $136.70/share. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $2040.39/share down ~14 points over last 2 weeks and from last Friday’s close of $204.03/share. Shares of Nike (NKE) closed at $114.66/share down from $118/share last Friday. From the financial sector shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) close trading at $194.02/share down again from last Friday’s close of $200.92/share, American Express (AXP) closed at $103.44/share ticking up from the $103.36/share close last Friday, Visa (V) closed trading at $202.61/share down from the $200.68/share last Friday & shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) closed at $50.08/share ticking down from last Friday’s close of $50.35/share.

The S&P 500 closed at 3319.47 losing .6% wk/wk and remains up 2.7% YTD. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 10,793.28 moving down by .6% and remains up 20.3% YTD and has now pulled back ~11% from the recent all-time high.

The communication services (-2.3%), consumer discretionary (-2.3%), consumer staples (-1.7%) & information technology sector (-1.0%) all weighed heavy through out the week. The highly weighted FAANG’s ended down week over week as follows:  Facebook (FB) closed at $252.53/share, -.55% Friday ($266.61/share a week ago) as it faced scrutiny around , Apple (AAPL) Friday at $106.84/share from $112/share a week ago. Amazon (AMZN) closed at $2,954.91/share, -1,79% Friday ($3,116.22/share a week ago), Netflix (NFLX) closed at $469.96/share, -.05% Friday, ($482.03/share a week ago) as it has lost subscribers over the “Cuties” issue, & Alphabet (GOOG) closed at $1,459.99/share, -2.38% Friday, ($1,520.72/share a week ago.)

Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) closed at $442.15/share up 4.42% on Friday up from $372.72/share last Friday. Plug Power (PLUG), the leading provider of clean hydrogen and zero-emission fuel cell solutions that are both cost-effective and reliable, closed up 5.61% at $13.56/share on Friday up significantly from last Friday’s close in the mid-$11’s. They recently closed a $300M financing at $10.25/share and would seem to be in an interesting position with the number of deals and adoption being realized in the sector. At the end of last week we purchased bullish call options in PLUG for Sept 18 at $13/share as they were seeing abnormal activity. We cashed them in for a significant gain this Friday prior to expiration as they jumped up over 300%. Yes, it was a very good Friday for us with this win. Looking at MT October call options close to the share price now as we are seeing similar activity. Fingers crossed that we bottle lightning again. 

General Electric (GE) was in the news as they also provided positive cash-flow expectations this week that projected that they will once again be profitable and GE shares jumped 15% this week to close at $6.88/share.

COMMODITY MOVES

Gold prices closed at $1,9450/oz. rising from $1,940/0z. last Friday & silver prices closed at $26.90/oz. slightly up from $26.84/oz. last Friday. North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) ended the week at $5.68/share up  from last Friday’s close of $5.45/share after recently establishing a new 52-week high of $6.79. Recently, Hecla reported 24% higher revenues on higher production and prices in Q2 2020. On, September 30th at 8:30 PT / 11:30 am ET, President and CEO of Hecla, Phillips S. Baker, Jr. will present at Tribe Public’s Free Webinar Event and be available for Q&A. His presentation is titled “A Uniquely Scare Investment.” You can join by registering at Hecla.TribePublic.com. North American silver producer First Majestic Silver (AG) closed at $11.91/share up from last Friday’s close of $11.65/share after recently establishing a new 52-week high of $14.57. This week, First Majestic announced that it has entered into an agreement with Cormark Securities Inc., as underwriter (the “Underwriter”) pursuant to which the Underwriter has agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 5,000,000 common shares of First Majestic (the “Common Shares”) at a price of CDN$15.60 per Common Share for gross proceeds of CDN$78,000,000 (the “Offering”). The sole investor under the Offering will be Canadian billionaire businessman, Eric Sprott, through 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a corporation beneficially controlled by him. This investment will result in Mr. Sprott holding approximately 2.3% of First Majestic’s issued and outstanding common shares, post-closing.

The energy sector rose 2.9% this week as oil prices ended at $41.09/bbl up 10 this week. Midstream player, Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), closed trading at $16.61/share down from $17.06/share last Friday and currently sports at an attractive $1.78/share dividend or 10.70%. USA Corporation Partners, LP. (USAC), one of the nation’s largest independent providers of natural gas compression services, closed at $10.87/share ticking up from $10.82/share last Friday and currently sports a juicy $2.10/share (18.97%) dividend.

MONEY UPDATE

The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened a little to end the week at 93.28 up .6% from 92.79 last week.

The 2-yr Treasury yield closed down 3 basis points w/w closing at .13%, the 10-yr yield closed down 5 basis points ending at .67 while the 30-yr yield ended at 1.416% down from 1.472% last Friday.

NEXT WEEK

We will be back with another full week of trading.

NEXT WEEK’S KEY MACROECONOMIC DATA

  • The existing home sales on Tuesday
  • The September preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index on Wednesday
  • The durable goods orders on Friday

We will also have the following “stocks in view” throughout the week:

 

STOCKS IN VIEW NEXT WEEK

  • Shares of Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) closed at $2.44/share up from $1.98 last Friday. 
    • This week, Atossa announced a positive interim safety assessment from the second cohort of healthy participants in their Phase 1 clinical study using Atossa’s proprietary drug candidate AT-301 administered by nasal spray. This second group of eight participants received a single escalated dose of either AT-301A (placebo) or AT-301B (active drug). The blinded, positive assessment by the safety committee allows the study to now enroll the next cohort, which will be the third of a total of four cohorts and the first of two multi-dose, placebo-controlled cohorts. The ongoing Phase 1 study is a double-blinded, randomized, and placebo-controlled safety study of AT-301 nasal spray in 32 healthy adult subjects divided into two study groups. Part A consists of two single-dose cohorts receiving either active therapy, AT-301B, or the placebo comparator AT-301A at two different doses. Part B is a multiple-dose arm with cohorts receiving either AT-301A or AT-301B for 14 days at two different doses. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of single and multiple doses of AT-301 administered via nasal instillation to healthy volunteers. Secondary objectives are to assess the incidence and severity of local irritation and bronchospasm following administration of AT-301 via nasal instillation. The study is being conducted in Australia. READ THE COMPLETE STORY!
    • The Maxim Group’s Analyst Jason McCarthy, Ph.D. updated his research on Atossa Therapeutics stating “Factoring in COVID-19 Candidates, awaiting HOPE Study Initiation as Pandemic Continues – Raising His Price Target to $8 from $4. 
    • Ascendiant Capital Markets’ Analyst Edward Woo, CFA initiated coverage this week with BUY Rating and a $7.00 Target.
    • Dr. Steven Quay MD, Ph.D., Atossa’s founder, and CEO, recently published the following book “Stay Safe: A Physician’s Guide to Keep You and Your Family Healthy During the Pandemic and Beyond,” in paperback and eBook format on his website, www.DrQuay.com. Proceeds from the book will go to military veterans performing COVID-19 relief work in their communities. You may order it here.

  • Shares of INVO Bioscience (INVO) closed at $4/share up from $3.90/share last week.
    • 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. Industry forecasts suggest that only 1% to 2% of the estimated 150 million infertile couples worldwide are currently being treated which presents and interesting opportunity. 
    • This week, INVO Bioscience, Inc. (INVO), the developers of INVOcell®, the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System, announced the appointment of two seasoned executives, Barbara Ryan and Matthew Szot, to its board of directors, effective immediately. To make way for their appointments, Kathleen Karloff and Michael Campbell have both agreed to voluntarily step down from their board positions to assist the company in achieving an independent board majority. Mr. Campbell will remain as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Business Development, while Ms. Karloff intends to continue to advise the board and assist the operating team on a go-forward basis. Ms. Ryan founded Barbara Ryan Advisors, a capital markets and communications firm, in 2012 following a more than 30-year career on Wall Street as a sell-side research analyst covering the US Large Cap Pharmaceutical Industry. Previously, Ms. Ryan was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank/Alex Brown and Head of the company’s Pharmaceutical Research Team for 19 years and began her research career covering the Pharmaceutical industry at Bear Stearns in 1982. Ms. Ryan has deep experience in equity and debt financings, valuation, SEC reporting, financial analysis, and corporate strategy across a broad range of life sciences companies. During Ms. Ryan’s career as an analyst, in addition to covering the large-cap pharmaceutical companies, Barbara also covered the drug wholesalers and PBMs and was the lead analyst on many high-profile IPO’s including Express Scripts, PSSI, Henry Schein, and Flamel Technologies. Ms. Ryan has extensive global buy-side, sell-side and financial media relationships, and has provided support and counsel on several of the highest-profile deals in the biopharma industry, including Shire/Abbvie, Shire/Baxalta, and Allergan/Valeant. Barbara led the IR/PR programs for Radius Health, the best performing IPO of 2014, for 4 years, Eloxx Pharmaceuticals for the past two years, and served on the Executive Team at both companies. Ms. Ryan has provided strategic communications counsel for Cardinal Health, Purdue, Zoetis, Radius Health, Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Agenus, Centrexion, Esperion, ContraFect, Relypsa, Shire, Allergan, and Perrigo. Ms. Ryan’s opinions and expertise are widely sought; she is frequently quoted in the press and appears on CNBC. Ms. Ryan currently serves on Pharmaceutical Executive’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Executive Advisory Board for the Prix Galien Foundation is a member of the Life Sciences Council of Springboard Enterprises and is a member of the Board of Directors of Gilda’s Club NYC, and a Faculty member at the GLG Institute. Ms. Ryan Chaired the Board of Villa Maria School, a school for children with learning disabilities, for 8 years. Ms. Ryan is the Founder of Fabulous Pharma Females, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement of women in the biopharmaceutical industry.
    • Tiny Float – INVO has  ~7.89 million shares outstanding and with ~+15% insider ownership the share float is tight.
  • North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) ended the week at $5.68 up from $5.45/share last Friday.
    • Recently, Hecla announced that its Board of Directors is increasing the expected minimum quarterly dividend 50% to an annualized one and one-half cents per share and lowering the silver-linked dividend threshold price. If Hecla’s average realized silver price for a quarter is $25.00 per ounce, the new silver-linked quarterly dividend policy provides an annualized two cents per share, while at $30 and above, the realized silver-linked dividend per quarter is unchanged. Recently, Hecla reported 24% higher revenues on higher production and prices in Q2 2020.
    • On Wednesday, September 30th, at 8:30 am PT / 11:30 am ET President and CEO of Hecla, Phillips S. Baker, Jr. will present at Tribe Public’s Free Webinar Event and be available for Q&A at 11  am eastern. His presentation is titled “A Uniquely Scare Investment.” You can register now to join the FREE event Hecla.TribePublic.com
    • Recently, Hecla recently reported 24% higher revenues on higher production and prices in Q2 2020.
    • Cantor Fitzgerald Analyst Mike Kozak also updated his coverage moving his Speculative Buy rating to a Buy rating and moving his target price to $7.25/share.
    • If silver continues to drive higher as it has been this year, not to mention if Gold continues to move higher as it has, then it would seem that Hecla could continue to become a break out stock this year.
  • Shares of Fate Therapeutics (FATE) closed at $39.25/share up from $33.56 last Friday after establishing a new all-time 52-wk high of $39.45 this week.
    • Fate is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders.
    • Aug. 19, Fate announced that Edward Dulac has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Dulac comes to the Company from Celgene Corporation, where he most recently served as Vice President, Business Development & Strategy, and brings an extensive array of biopharmaceutical experience having served for over 20 years in positions in finance, business development, and product portfolio strategy.
    • On Aug. 5, Fate Reported Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Highlights Operational Progress ending the quarter with $533 Million in Cash & Short-term Investments. Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics stated, “Early clinical data from our FT596 program are very encouraging, as we observed a partial response in a heavily-pretreated patient with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at the first dose level without any reported events of cytokine release syndrome, neurotoxicity or graft-versus-host disease. Additionally, the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity data across our off-the-shelf NK cell programs continue to suggest that multiple doses of iPSC-derived NK cells can be administered to a patient without matching. We continue to be pleased with our pace of innovation, where the recent clearances of our IND applications by the FDA for FT538, the first-ever CRISPR-edited iPSC-derived cell therapy, and for FT819, the first-ever iPSC-derived CAR T-cell therapy, continue to demonstrate our unique ability to rapidly bring multiplexed engineered, off-the-shelf NK cell and T-cell cancer immunotherapies to patients. In addition, we successfully launched our Janssen collaboration with strong momentum, bringing together Janssen’s proprietary tumor-targeting antigen binders and our industry-leading iPSC product platform to develop novel off-the-shelf CAR NK and CAR T-cell immunotherapies for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.”
    • July 14th, FATE announced that the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with Baylor College of Medicine covering alloimmune defense receptors, a first-in-class approach that renders off-the-shelf allogeneic cell products resistant to host immune rejection. Preclinical studies published in the journal Nature Biotechnology (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0601-5) demonstrate that allogeneic cells engineered with a novel alloimmune defense receptor (ADR) are protected from both T- and NK-cell mediated rejection, and provide proof-of-concept that ADR-expressing allogeneic cell therapies can durably persist in immunocompetent recipients.
    • On July 9 Fate announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for FT819, an off-the-shelf allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19+ malignancies. FT819 is the first-ever CAR T-cell therapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line and is engineered with several first-of-kind features designed to improve the safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy. The Company plans to initiate a clinical investigation of FT819 for the treatment of patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
    • On June 11th, FATE announced that it had closed an underwritten public offering of 7,108,796 shares of its common stock, which included 927,324 shares that were issued pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, at a public offering price of $28.31 per share. Aggregate gross proceeds from this offering, including the exercise of the option, were approximately $201.3 million, prior to deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. 
  • Shares of NeuBase Therapeutics (NBSE) closed trading at $8.43/share up from $7.91/share last Friday.  
    • NeuBase, a biotechnology company accelerating the genetic revolution using a new class of synthetic medicines,  announced that Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., chief executive officer, is scheduled to present at the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation 2020 Virtual Conference on September 25 between 4:00 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. ET. The conference will be held virtually on September 25-26, 2020 and is designed as an educational event for individuals and families living with myotonic dystrophy. The presentation will provide an overview of NeuBase’s PATrOL™ platform and the potential of its therapeutic approach for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).

    • RBC Capital Markets recently initiated coverage of NBSE today with an Outperform, Speculative Risk rating & a $16 price target.
    • On Aug. 13th, NBSE reported its financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended June 30, 2020. Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., chief executive officer of NeuBase stated, “We are pleased with the continued execution of our development programs during 2020. This includes the announcement in late-March of compelling data that firmly validates our platform as a viable fully synthetic approach to genetic medicine. Notably, these data confirm that our therapies penetrate into the brain when administered systemically – overcoming one of the grand challenges of drug delivery. PATrOL-enabled compounds can also access tissues throughout the entire body, opening our platform up to unexplored indications that have not previously been accessible by genetic medicine technologies. These positive pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data-position our unique technology to output a vast pipeline of therapeutics to resolve innumerable human diseases. We anticipate presenting additional new data with respect to our ongoing progress in the fourth calendar quarter of this year. A key objective for our company shortly after the March data announcement was to strengthen our balance sheet in order to fully advance our strategies in HD and DM1, and build out our pipeline. This was accomplished in April with the closing of our oversubscribed capital raise of approximately $33.3 million in net proceeds that was led by fundamental healthcare investors and significantly increased our institutional shareholder base. We expect this to support our R&D and general corporate expenses into the second calendar quarter of 2022.”.
  • Shares of Aduro (ADRO) closed at $2.76/share down from $2.36/share last Friday.
    • Aug. 18th, Chinook Therapeutics, Inc., a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of precision medicines for kidney diseases,  announced a $106 million private placement financing, with participation from new widely respected healthcare investors including EcoR1 Capital, OrbiMed, funds managed by Rock Springs Capital, Avidity Partners, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Ally Bridge Group, Monashee Investment Management LLC, Northleaf Capital Partners, Janus Henderson Investors, Sphera Biotech, and other top-tier healthcare investors. As part of the financing, Chinook’s existing investors, Versant Ventures, Apple Tree Partners and Samsara BioCapital, will purchase $25 million in Chinook common stock on the same terms as the new investors in lieu of their prior commitment to purchase convertible notes. The private placement closing is expected to occur immediately prior to the closing of the previously announced proposed merger between Chinook and Aduro Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADRO). Following the proposed merger closing, which is expected to occur in the second half of 2020, Aduro will be renamed Chinook Therapeutics, Inc., and is expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “KDNY”. Closing of the private placement is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of all closing conditions for the proposed merger. Following the private placement financing, and upon closing of the merger, Chinook is expected to have at least $275 million in operating capital.
    • Recently, ADRO announced that the first patient with IgA nephropathy has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial of BION-1301, an investigational humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody that blocks APRIL binding to both the BCMA and TACI receptors. “We are thrilled to have dosed the first patient with IgA nephropathy in the Phase 1 clinical study of our investigational anti-APRIL antibody, BION-1301,” said Dimitry S.A. Nuyten, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer of Aduro.
    • “The data Aduro recently presented from Parts 1 and 2 of this study in healthy volunteers at the 57th ERA-EDTA Virtual Congress indicated BION-1301 was well-tolerated, had a half-life of approximately 33 days, achieved over 90% target engagement with a single 450 mg dose of BION-1301 and demonstrated dose-dependent and durable reductions in IgA and IgM levels, and to a lesser extent, IgG levels. We look forward to hopefully replicating this effect in addition to exploring BION-1301’s disease-modifying potential in patients with IgA nephropathy in Part 3 of the ongoing Phase 1 clinical study.”
  •  

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. My thoughts and prayers also go out to all of those that are having to deal and fight the California wildfires. I hope the rain comes and the wind slows down so that all can get back to normal. 

I will leave you with an insightful quote to help form your investment thesis this week:

“We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.” – Warren Buffett

 

 

Economic Reports

The macroeconomic schedule produced the following reports this week: On Monday, we did not receive any significant reports. On Tuesday, we received the macroeconomic schedule produced three reports of significance as the Industrial production report confirmed a rise of .4% month/month in August while the capacity utilization rate report confirmed a rise to 71.4%. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey report for September came in at 17 above expectations. The Import prices report showed a rise of .9% in August; while prices, excluding oil, also rose .7%. Export prices moved by .5% in August while prices, excluding agriculture, rose by .8%. On Wednesday, the initial claims report for the week ending September 12 confirmed a decline by 33k to 860k while continuing claims for the week ending September 5 declined by 916k to 12.628M. Housing Starts for August fell by 5.1% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416M units however were up 2.8% year/year. Building Permits also fell .9% month/month to 1.470M & off .1% year/year. The Philadelphia Fed Index fell to 15 in September. On Thursday, the initial claims report for the week ending September 12 confirmed a decline by 33k to 860k while continuing claims for the week ending September 5 declined by 916k to 12.628M. Housing Starts for August fell by 5.1% month/month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416M units however were up 2.8% year/year. Building Permits also fell .9% month/month to 1.470M & off .1% year/year. The Philadelphia Fed Index fell to 15 in September. On Friday, the final University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for August moved up to 74.1 while the final reading for July was 72.5. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) rose 1.2% in August. The current account deficit for Q2 totaled $170.5 B. 

Investing & Inspiration

“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

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