All the blustering over nuclear war over, now replaced with frantic screaming about neo-Nazi and White Supremacy groups (what kind of media is this?) after demonstrations and bloodshed in Charlottesville over the weekend, Wall Street didn't seem to interested in anything in a typical mid-summer session.
Stocks kind of straddled the unchanged line, and the usual unusual of indices pointing in opposite directions was the result of a lackluster day of trading paper.
The only significant news was from retail, if it can be believed, as July retail sales showed a 0.6% improvement, mostly due to incentives on new car sales and leases.
It wasn't enough to send buyers into a panic of shopping for downtrodden mall rentiers, since everybody already knows that the half-life of most retailers is very short, due to the general slack demand in the economy and the Amazon effect of hovering up all latent shoppers to the internet.
So, since Americans killing other Americans is not apparently as sexy as Americans killing North Koreans, or vice-versa, not much on the rally front today.
At the Close, Tuesday, August 15, 2017:
Dow: 21,998.99, +5.28 (0.02%)
NASDAQ: 6,333.01, -7.22 (-0.11%)
S&P 500: 2,464.61, -1.23 (-0.05%)
NYSE Composite: 11,843.48, -12.58 (-0.11%)
Showing posts with label Amazon (AMZN). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon (AMZN). Show all posts
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Monday, June 12, 2017
What Happened Friday? A Shaky Trend Is Developing
Strangely enough, the skyrocketing NASDAQ took a serve turn for the worse on Friday, dropping a massive 113 points at the same time the Dow was setting a new record with an 89-point gain and the NYSE Composite tacked on 65 points.
What drove the NASDAQ to its knees on Friday were the stocks known as FAANGs - Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google - taking hits to their massively-overvalued share prices.
Here's the ugly reality
Facebook (FB) -5.11 (-3.30%); Apple (AAPL) -6.01 (-3.88%); Amazon (AMZN) -31.96 (-3.16%); Netflix (NFLX) -7.85 (-4.73%); Alphabet (parent of Google) (GOOG) -33.58 (-3.41%).
One-day, three-to-five-percent declines in any equity is usually a big deal. Having all of these institutionally-widely held stocks take a nosedive like that on a single day is a large, red, flashing warning sign that something is fundamentally wrong with the market, the economy, maybe even the world.
These shares weren't dumped all at once because somebody was taking profits. Volume was three times normal. Everybody was booking gains, and probably with good reason. The price/earning ratios for these tech darlings are unsustainable. Netflix leads the way with a P/E of 204, followed by Amazon, at 184, according to Yahoo Finance. Google seems modest by comparison, at 32. Facebook is 38, and Apple looks downright cheap with a P/E around 17.
So, only two of these stocks are wickedly overpriced, using standard metrics, but they all suffer some similar characteristics: They are all tech companies, based on the West coast, run by billionaire founders (excepting Apple, though Tim Cook was surely an heir apparent to Steve Jobs). The only other company that comes to mind with these characteristics is Microsoft (MSFT). The company founded by Bill Gates took a pretty good hit on Friday, down 1.63 (-2.27%).
Does this suggest that the "big one" is about to shake out the left coast, battering California from LA to San Jose with aftershocks up the coast to Seattle? And just how would anybody know that? OK, that theory falls into the category of tin-foil hat conspiracy theory, but, if Cali shakes, rattles and rolls someday soon, Money Daily will take credit for calling it (that's a joke, son).
Outside of Friday's tumult, general economic data has not been encouraging. First quarter GDP was 1.2% (second estimate), which is pretty close to stall speed. The US - and largely the global - economy has been anything but robust since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-09. Captains of finance at places like the World Bank, the Fed, ECB, and elsewhere have been touting "recovery" for eight years, wherein none, in fact, has occurred, unless one peers only at stock charts all day. While stocks have soared on easy money accommodation, he same cannot be said of Main Street's outlook. Retail stores are closing everywhere in America, small business has already been dumped into the trash bin of history, and new company creation has hit a 27-year low. Additionally, the Fed is hell-bent on raising rates for the second time this year when the FOMC meets on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
What's troubling about the fall of the FAANGs is that these companies have largely benefitted off the backs of consumers, monopolizing markets and cannibalizing profits to the C-suite executives. Now, the largest shareholders - pension, mutual, and hedge funds - may be taking their money elsewhere, either to cash, bonds, or, maybe just to more stolid, established, dividend-paying stocks. It's tough to know, groupthink among the elites being difficult to gauge or define.
Whatever the case, with the smallish losses on the Dow and S&P earlier in the week followed by a fallout in the most speculative stocks establishes a trend, which, for now, we can only identify as "shaky."
With most stocks and indices hovering near all-time highs, shaky is not a word one would normally associate with risk-taking. The time to run is when the avalanche is first seen at the top of the mountain, not when it barrels into the lodge.
At the Close, 6/9/17:
Dow: 21,271.97, +89.44 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 6,207.92, -113.85 (-1.80%)
S&P 500 2,431.77, -2.02 (-0.08%)
NYSE Composite: 11,744.73, +65.78 (0.56%)
For the Week:
Dow: +65.68 (0.31%)
NASDAQ: -97.88 (-1.55%)
S&P 500: -7.30 (-0.30%)
NYSE Composite: +26.03 (0.22%)
What drove the NASDAQ to its knees on Friday were the stocks known as FAANGs - Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google - taking hits to their massively-overvalued share prices.
Here's the ugly reality
Facebook (FB) -5.11 (-3.30%); Apple (AAPL) -6.01 (-3.88%); Amazon (AMZN) -31.96 (-3.16%); Netflix (NFLX) -7.85 (-4.73%); Alphabet (parent of Google) (GOOG) -33.58 (-3.41%).
One-day, three-to-five-percent declines in any equity is usually a big deal. Having all of these institutionally-widely held stocks take a nosedive like that on a single day is a large, red, flashing warning sign that something is fundamentally wrong with the market, the economy, maybe even the world.
These shares weren't dumped all at once because somebody was taking profits. Volume was three times normal. Everybody was booking gains, and probably with good reason. The price/earning ratios for these tech darlings are unsustainable. Netflix leads the way with a P/E of 204, followed by Amazon, at 184, according to Yahoo Finance. Google seems modest by comparison, at 32. Facebook is 38, and Apple looks downright cheap with a P/E around 17.
So, only two of these stocks are wickedly overpriced, using standard metrics, but they all suffer some similar characteristics: They are all tech companies, based on the West coast, run by billionaire founders (excepting Apple, though Tim Cook was surely an heir apparent to Steve Jobs). The only other company that comes to mind with these characteristics is Microsoft (MSFT). The company founded by Bill Gates took a pretty good hit on Friday, down 1.63 (-2.27%).
Does this suggest that the "big one" is about to shake out the left coast, battering California from LA to San Jose with aftershocks up the coast to Seattle? And just how would anybody know that? OK, that theory falls into the category of tin-foil hat conspiracy theory, but, if Cali shakes, rattles and rolls someday soon, Money Daily will take credit for calling it (that's a joke, son).
Outside of Friday's tumult, general economic data has not been encouraging. First quarter GDP was 1.2% (second estimate), which is pretty close to stall speed. The US - and largely the global - economy has been anything but robust since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-09. Captains of finance at places like the World Bank, the Fed, ECB, and elsewhere have been touting "recovery" for eight years, wherein none, in fact, has occurred, unless one peers only at stock charts all day. While stocks have soared on easy money accommodation, he same cannot be said of Main Street's outlook. Retail stores are closing everywhere in America, small business has already been dumped into the trash bin of history, and new company creation has hit a 27-year low. Additionally, the Fed is hell-bent on raising rates for the second time this year when the FOMC meets on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
What's troubling about the fall of the FAANGs is that these companies have largely benefitted off the backs of consumers, monopolizing markets and cannibalizing profits to the C-suite executives. Now, the largest shareholders - pension, mutual, and hedge funds - may be taking their money elsewhere, either to cash, bonds, or, maybe just to more stolid, established, dividend-paying stocks. It's tough to know, groupthink among the elites being difficult to gauge or define.
Whatever the case, with the smallish losses on the Dow and S&P earlier in the week followed by a fallout in the most speculative stocks establishes a trend, which, for now, we can only identify as "shaky."
With most stocks and indices hovering near all-time highs, shaky is not a word one would normally associate with risk-taking. The time to run is when the avalanche is first seen at the top of the mountain, not when it barrels into the lodge.
At the Close, 6/9/17:
Dow: 21,271.97, +89.44 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 6,207.92, -113.85 (-1.80%)
S&P 500 2,431.77, -2.02 (-0.08%)
NYSE Composite: 11,744.73, +65.78 (0.56%)
For the Week:
Dow: +65.68 (0.31%)
NASDAQ: -97.88 (-1.55%)
S&P 500: -7.30 (-0.30%)
NYSE Composite: +26.03 (0.22%)
Friday, April 28, 2017
Wall Street Stalling As DC Politicians Fight Over Nothing, Threaten Shutdown
The NASDAQ recorded another record close (6,048.94), but stocks struggled to remain positive Thursday as politicians in Washington continued to wrangle over funding the government and a potential vote on a replacement for Obamacare.
Democrats have called for a government shutdown if the Republicans bring a health care bill to the House floor before passing a continuing resolution for federal government funding.
This seems to be all that the politicos in Washington - and, apparently, the wizards of Wall Street - care about at present, though first quarter corporate earnings continue to be largely impressive.
Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet, parent of Google (GOOG), released impressive first quarter results. Both stocks were up sharply on the day, but there was little luster elsewhere.
With gridlock having become the norm for the sacred cows of congress, investors need to begin looking beyond the sham that is government, which loses money all the time and is generally a burden to taxpayers rather than a benefit, for other catalysts to keep the eight-year bull market ramping along.
Nothing good is going to come out of Washington, DC, for the foreseeable future. Investors should turn a blind eye toward the nation's capitol and focus in on business, the true creator of capital.
At The Close, Thursday, April 27, 2017:
Dow: 20,981.33, +6.24 (0.03%)
NASDAQ: 6,048.94, +23.71 (0.39%)
S&P 500: 2,388.77, +1.32 (0.06%)
NYSE Composite: -11,578.52, -14.39 (-0.12%)
Democrats have called for a government shutdown if the Republicans bring a health care bill to the House floor before passing a continuing resolution for federal government funding.
This seems to be all that the politicos in Washington - and, apparently, the wizards of Wall Street - care about at present, though first quarter corporate earnings continue to be largely impressive.
Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet, parent of Google (GOOG), released impressive first quarter results. Both stocks were up sharply on the day, but there was little luster elsewhere.
With gridlock having become the norm for the sacred cows of congress, investors need to begin looking beyond the sham that is government, which loses money all the time and is generally a burden to taxpayers rather than a benefit, for other catalysts to keep the eight-year bull market ramping along.
Nothing good is going to come out of Washington, DC, for the foreseeable future. Investors should turn a blind eye toward the nation's capitol and focus in on business, the true creator of capital.
At The Close, Thursday, April 27, 2017:
Dow: 20,981.33, +6.24 (0.03%)
NASDAQ: 6,048.94, +23.71 (0.39%)
S&P 500: 2,388.77, +1.32 (0.06%)
NYSE Composite: -11,578.52, -14.39 (-0.12%)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Fun and Games Friday: Markets Erase Steep Losses, End with Gains
What passes for equity markets in America since 2008 are nothing like the vibrant, progressive institutions prevalent through the halcyon days of the 1990s and prior. Today's casinos are run by big banks and their trick algos, destroying any kind of price discovery in their quest for never-ending profits on the backs of weak companies and even sillier analysts.
Take Amazon (AMZN), for instance. On a day after reporting a loss when they were expected to show a gain for the quarter, along with missing on the revenue side and issuing skeptical guidance, the stock erased early losses and ended the day with a tidy gain. So much for fundamental analysis, price-earnings and other metrics which used to be the norm in real, functioning markets.
Today's casino has no correlation trades except those blessed by upturned-nose analysts from top firms who piece together whatever data they can cherry-pick to make their cases. It's really turned into a situation where it's every man, woman and snooty banker for him/herself.
So it was that the Dow erased all of a 140-point loss incurred in the morning (with all but Merck in negative territory) to finish the day with a modest gain. The NASDAQ was even more extreme, whipping down 20 points in the morning only to gain it all back and turn positive shortly before 2:00 pm EDT and post a 0.22% uptick. There was, as is the usual case, no shaking news or market-moving event, other than that one of the biggest thieves on the planet, Steve Cohen and his firm, SAC Capital, have come under the probing eye of the SEC. Cohen will likely settle before he is even charged and the firm will be liquidated, the money going into the coffers of the federal government, which, of course, needs the money since tax revenues are down severely and the budget process is an absolute mess.
Nothing new on Wall Street this Friday. Just more of the rampant theft and manipulation that has become the trademark of our corrupt, greed-infested markets. That and the reliance of Ben Bernanke's Fed putting a floor under the market is about all one can trust these days.
Good grief. If I hear Maria Bartiromo say, "it looks like it wants to go positive," one more time, there may soon be a busted flat screen left out on my front lawn for the trash man. Today's move was a bad joke. Just look at the A-D line.
Enjoy your weekend in the Hamptons, you rich crooked bums, and don't forget to BTFD.
For the rest of you, more silver, gold, tools, machinery and farm land.
Dow 15,558.83, +3.22 (0.02%)
NASDAQ 3,613.16, +7.98 (0.22%)
S&P 500 1,691.65, +1.40 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 9,620.42, -14.64 (0.15%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,666,886,250
NYSE Volume 2,991,769,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2758-3710
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 245-63
WTI crude oil: 104.68, -0.81
Gold: 1,321.50, -7.30
Silver: 19.80, -0.35
Take Amazon (AMZN), for instance. On a day after reporting a loss when they were expected to show a gain for the quarter, along with missing on the revenue side and issuing skeptical guidance, the stock erased early losses and ended the day with a tidy gain. So much for fundamental analysis, price-earnings and other metrics which used to be the norm in real, functioning markets.
Today's casino has no correlation trades except those blessed by upturned-nose analysts from top firms who piece together whatever data they can cherry-pick to make their cases. It's really turned into a situation where it's every man, woman and snooty banker for him/herself.
So it was that the Dow erased all of a 140-point loss incurred in the morning (with all but Merck in negative territory) to finish the day with a modest gain. The NASDAQ was even more extreme, whipping down 20 points in the morning only to gain it all back and turn positive shortly before 2:00 pm EDT and post a 0.22% uptick. There was, as is the usual case, no shaking news or market-moving event, other than that one of the biggest thieves on the planet, Steve Cohen and his firm, SAC Capital, have come under the probing eye of the SEC. Cohen will likely settle before he is even charged and the firm will be liquidated, the money going into the coffers of the federal government, which, of course, needs the money since tax revenues are down severely and the budget process is an absolute mess.
Nothing new on Wall Street this Friday. Just more of the rampant theft and manipulation that has become the trademark of our corrupt, greed-infested markets. That and the reliance of Ben Bernanke's Fed putting a floor under the market is about all one can trust these days.
Good grief. If I hear Maria Bartiromo say, "it looks like it wants to go positive," one more time, there may soon be a busted flat screen left out on my front lawn for the trash man. Today's move was a bad joke. Just look at the A-D line.
Enjoy your weekend in the Hamptons, you rich crooked bums, and don't forget to BTFD.
For the rest of you, more silver, gold, tools, machinery and farm land.
Dow 15,558.83, +3.22 (0.02%)
NASDAQ 3,613.16, +7.98 (0.22%)
S&P 500 1,691.65, +1.40 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 9,620.42, -14.64 (0.15%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,666,886,250
NYSE Volume 2,991,769,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2758-3710
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 245-63
WTI crude oil: 104.68, -0.81
Gold: 1,321.50, -7.30
Silver: 19.80, -0.35
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