It bounced Thursday afternoon. This is my favorite technology ETF:
This is not the beginning of The Big Rebound. We still face heavy inflation, rising interest rates, the likelihood of a recession, supply chain shortages, a war in Ukraine, China’s increasing weirdness, Biden’s war with our energy companies, tighter corporate earnings — all the usual suspects.
22 stocks on my watch list of 33 stocks rose; 11 fell. But hard to tell which ones are bargains and likely to rise further — like tomorrow?
Good news , two ETFs I like — VGT and VTI — bounced up a little. I’m long in these two.
Cramer did an interview with Faebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
+ Zuck is impressive on TV.
+ Cramer is impressed with the metaverse.
+ I still have no idea what the metaverse is or what its benefits (or any) are , or are likely to be.
+ Except one. It focused investor attention away from Facebook’s erstwhile Washington’s kick to regulate Zuck out of profitable existence..
+ Facebook’s stock (called Meta) is not doing well. Here’s Facebook over the last two years. It’s dropped from $382 to $156 — 59%. Yuch.
That’s much worse than other FANG high fliers, except for Netflix:
I once owned Facebook. But my 15% stop loss rule kicked in and I sold it. I’ll participate in it through VGT.
House sales still up
If you’re selling, sell it now. If you’re buying, wait.
See Jim Clark’s deal below.
Auto-Renew is a disaster
+ One California child service doubled its charges on us, without telling us.
+ DirecTV increased its monthly bill by 44% on us, without telling us
+ All governments get mad when they can’t charge your credit card which your bank just closed (for a reason you don’t understand).
I’m still looking for a solution to the ills of auto-renew. Anyone got an idea?
Air travel is the wild west, i.e. miserable
Here are tips from a flight attendant who reads my blog:
+ Things are not good….. if its less than 7 hours – DRIVE! I’m not kidding. There is nothing enjoyable about flying right now.
+ Download and use the app of the airline you are flying. You can do everything on it – get your boarding pass, track your bags, see your incoming plane, and change a flight. It sure beats waiting in the long line to talk to an agent! Trust me – Usually these apps will tell you a flight is cancelled before the crew even knows!
+ Fly MUCH earlier than you need to – a whole day early if it’s important!! This week I saw many people miss important things like weddings, funerals, cruises, international connections, and graduations. The tears were very real, for very real reasons, and there was nothing I could do! If you have to be somewhere, spend the extra money, go a day early. Have a glass of wine and stay in a hotel, enjoy your night not being stressed while everyone else misses their events.
+ ALWAYS fly the first flight in the morning so you have all day to be rebooked if the sh*t hits the fan. Yes, that means it might be a 3:00 alarm, but morning flights don’t cancel nearly as often.
+ Summer is thunderstorm season. A single storm can shut down a whole airport. We can’t fly through them. Storms usually build as the day gets later. Book early flights!
+ Schedule long layovers – Your one hour layover is NOT long enough anymore. 30 minutes, not a chance. 3 hours minimum.
+ What you see on the news is an understatement. We are short staffed and overworked. Not just pilots and flight attendants, but also ground crews. Without ground crews there is no one to park the planes, drive jetways, get your bags on/off planes, or scan boarding passes. This causes many delays that snowball throughout the day. Sometimes HOURS.(Another reason morning flights are best!)
+ When flight crews get delayed we time out. We can NOT fly longer than 16 hours. It’s illegal. So it doesn’t matter if you have a wedding to get to, when we are done we are done. The way things are now, there are no back up crews, so when this happens your flight cancels. (Now you are starting to see why those morning flights are best!)
+ Avoid connecting in Newark (Or any New York airport for that matter). It is literal hell. You have a 50/50 chance your flight will cancel or miss your connection. They have been cancelling flights at their starting points just to keep the planes out, because there just aren’t enough people to manage the planes, so the gates stay full. Also the restaurants are expensive. New York is not a great place to be stuck.
+ Be nice. We are overworked and tired. We will not help you if you are mean. No one cares that you are going to miss your cruise if you are an asshole. So even if we can help, we will save our help for someone nice. Tensions are high. Our patience is gone. If you make us mad – you will not be flying on our planes. We will leave you behind without a second thought, and laugh about you later.
+ Being drunk on an airplane is a federal offense, so don’t overdo it. If you drink too much at the bar waiting for your delayed flight you risk not being allowed to fly at all. We are too tired to deal with your drunk ass when we have legitimate issues to deal with.
+ Get trip insurance if you have a lot of money invested. I hate the whole idea of this, but I also hate the idea of losing money. Example: I was working a flight yesterday that waited over an hour for a gate. A family of 8 missed their flight to Rome. The only flight of the day. They were going to a cruise which they would now miss. They were all crying, there was nothing I could do. (Also another reason to fly a day early!)
+ Flights are FULL. If you buy the cheap seats you will not be able to sit with your family. It says so when you purchase your ticket!! Flight Attendants aren’t there to rearrange the whole plane just so you can sit with your family because you tried to save $100 on a third party website.
+ Speaking of third party websites and saving money….. Like I said flights are FULL. If a flight is oversold, and no one volunteers to give up their seats, who do you think is the first to be bumped? You guessed it, the family that saved a few $$ by using sites like Expedia, Kayak, Hotwire etc.
+ Pack smart. Don’t be “That guy” Don’t hold up boarding because you have your extenders open till they are busting and you can’t figure out how to make your over-stuffed bag fit in the overhead. (Passengers are stressed too, they can be aggressive when boarding a delayed flight)
+ Take showers, brush your teeth, leave the perfume off, don’t eat stinky food (caesar salad and tuna fish I’m talking to you!), and bring headphones. Trust me. These things sound basic, but add to stress on crowded planes. If you are stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours after a 4 hour flight, you will thank me for this.
+ Bring a sweater. I’m so tired of half naked girls asking me to turn the heat up. NO. Wear clothes!! Side note: If you dress like this and ask for heat, there’s a chance I will turn the AC up.
+ That’s not water on the bathroom floor. For the love of God wear shoes to the bathroom!!!
+ Don’t tell a Flight Attendant they look tired. We are and we know. You may cause us to ugly cry right there in galley.
Here are some extra tips from the Washington Post.
+ Don’t check a bag.
+ Bring masks and wear them.
+ Don’t rely on airport restaurants. Bring your own food.
+ Expect long lines for Ubers and taxis.
+ Don’t call an airline on the phone. You won’t get through. Use the app.
Final Airline tip (from Harry)
Buy yourself a nice little home and enjoy it. Jim Clark just sold this 30-bedroom monster this to Larry Ellison (of Oracle) for an alleged $173 million. Clark bought the place for just $94 million in March 2021. Click the photo for more.
Fun cartoons
Second day, I’m negative. Paxlovid, which I took, may have worked. Friends who didn’t take it, got better on the same schedule. My energy is returning. I’m worried about long covid. But don’t know how to avoid it. Except rest.
No one knows didley about covid. Best to be ultra-cautious — masking, social distancing. Don’t go to Super-Spreader events like my birthday party.
See you tomorrow. — Harry Newton
