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New words on trade Wars. New rules on IPOs. Arrogance in fund raising. Apple and Bose products. My friends have become birders. Maybe I will also?

President Donald Trump says he would think about an interim deal with China.

He  says he would prefer a full agreement as the world’s two largest economies look to end a widening trade war.

On Wednesday, Trump delayed planned tariff increases on $250 billion in Chinese goods.

China will exempt some agricultural products from additional tariffs.

Click here.

President Trump also said he’s working on “very substantial” tax cuts for the middle class.

I’m guessing the market will open higher today. That’s nice. I wrote today’s blog through the night. I can now go back to sleep?

IPOs this year have been bizarre

Among the best, Beyond Meat was priced at $25, opened at $46 and is now $152.96.

Levi Strauss offered its stock at $17 in March. The opened at $22.22, and is now $18.57. I recommended them around $17.50. And I still like them.

Lyft priced at $72. The shares opened at $87.24. They’re now $46.99. I wouldn’t touch them.

Uber priced at $45. They’re now $34.09. I wouldn’t touch them.

Zoom Video set at $36. It opened at $65 per share, but ended the day modestly lower at $62. It’s now $81.53. It’s one of the few IPOs making money. It’s too expensive. I’d like to see it fall another $10.

PagerDuty  is cloud software that finds problems in an online sales system. Shares were offered at $24. They’re now $31.35. It’s got good growth, but it’s losing money. It’s interesting at around $30. But I hate catching falling knives.

CrowdStrike does cloud-based security to stop data breaches, using AI and crowdsourcing. IPO was $34. Revenue is up hugely. But it’s still losing money. It sells at $69.66. I’m not big on catching a falling knife.

Harry’s IPO rules:

+ They’re dangerous.

+ If you’re gambling and you’re up, take the money and run.

+ If you start losing money — say 15% — take your money and run.

There’s arrogance in money raising

They’re pitching me to invest in their new fund. But they won’t do a roadshow.

People are investing $10 million to $50 million — without meeting the principals.

There’s too much money around.

Brexit is tearing families apart

The wife wants her children to be European.

The father doesn’t want to appear before an Italian judge for his latest parking ticket.

Neither side talks to each any longer. “You’re wrong and I’m right.” Sort of like here between the Trumpists and the Democrats.

Vaping

Is vaping bad for you or your kids?

In a word, yes. But if it helps you quit cigarettes, then maybe.

But there are huge health risks. For a reasoned approach, click here.

New Apple stuff

Nothing new is viewable in Apple stores until September 20.

Maybe you should wait until next year before buying a new iPhone? By then it should have 5G. It doesn’t at present. You will want 5G. Trust me. Meantime differences in the new model 11 are here.

The Bose HP700. I got a pair yesterday.

It’s got:

+ The best noise cancelling.

+ It’s Bluetooth and pluggable into any normal speaker output — like that on your laptop, iPad or on a plane.

+ The best music sound. Great for podcasts. Hint: get the free Podcasts app. You’ll get automatic downloads of what you want.

+ The most comfortable wear.

+ The best experience on an airplane.

+ A large case. Better to “wear it on your head.”

+ The instruction manual is not in the case. It’s online — here.

I like this bag

It takes your laptop, your iPad, your cables, power supplies and enough clothes and shoes for a weekend. $99.99 in the San Diego airport. $69 on Amazon. Click here.

All my friends have become birders

They carry huge, heavy cameras and iPhones that can broadcast bird sounds and identify the birds. Click here.

The best app is iBird Pro. Pick the app on the AppStore. And you too can play the sounds.

The biggest bird web site is Birdforum.net. Lots of great photos. Free to join. Click here.

Words of ancient wisdom

* If my body is ever found on a jogging trail just know that I was murdered somewhere else and dumped there.

* Respect your elders. They graduated from school without the internet.

* Behind every angry woman stands a man who has absolutely no idea what he did wrong.

* I thought getting old would take longer.

No one listens to you any longer?

Surprise. Surprise.

This is me, shot with an iPhone last weekend.

Totally gruesome. I couldn’t really look that awful? … But wait, there’s more.

There’s new software called FaceApp that shows you old — really old. Here I am:


Photo by Vahe Guzelimian

 

   

3 Comments

  1. Mike Nash says:

    On this blog right before the IPO I recommended buying Beyond Meat. How many of your readers took my advice? I’m guessing zero. Think of the enormous amount of money you guys missed out on! ON another blog I posted that I recommended NOT buying the Uber IPO. THat’s worked out too. IPOs are not dangerous if you talk to an expert like me who does his due diligence. I consider myself the IPO King. There’s a fortune to be made if you do these right.

  2. Lucky says:

    Great likeness, Harry (:😃 at least you did not lose much hair in the aging process!