Tech is taking it on the chin big-time, for the third day. This has nothing to do with corporate growth or earnings, both of which are in great shape. Right now tech is not in fashion. That includes companies like — Apple, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla, Marvell, and Trade Desk.
Were I all-seeing and all-knowing, I’d be shorting tech. I haven’t because I’m living in that wonderful (fantasy?) world of how tech is changing and improving our lives. And all that malarkey. Fashion has nothing to do with reality.
Fortunately I have loosened up on some of my holdings. Right now I’m 55% in cash.
I noticed on CNBC that there are four tech ETFs I could short. Figure which ones to short. Another approach is to sell call options on some of my big tech positions — like Apple, Google, Amazon and Nvidia. That’s my project after I play tennis this afternoon. My shoulder is much improved, thank God. Tennis is cathartic, at least for me.
This stuff in today’s weird market — Fed tightening, Ukraine war, supply shortages — is not easy. Today I actually have some significant gainers — Costco, Tractor Supply, United Health, Zoetis (the pet medicine company), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), and one tech stock — Palo Alto Networks — PANW. Go figure.
In short, unless you’re Houdini, you have a lot of cash and, maybe by tomorrow, I’ll learn which ETFs to short, or which ones I should sell call options on. This is very different for me. I always have focused on the positive side.
Twitter deserves some of your gambling money
Whatever Elon does with the company, it will be amazing. I have no doubts. The man is a genius.
It bounced when his 9.2% stake was announced. But today it’s down 7%.
Wait until the dust settles. Ditto for HP and Buffett’s huge buy in it. As a tech stock, I’ve never been impressed with HP (just as I’m not impressed with Intel). But Buffett’s somewhat smarter and know something I don’t.
LED stuff
+ Some LED bulbs won’t dim. Be wary.
+ The best LED bulbs are 2700 Kelvin. Anything higher is too bright white.
+ LED bulbs use so little electricity and last so much longer. It’s worth replacing all your bulbs with LED.
+ We placed 72 huge 1,000 watt LED bulbs on our three tennis courts more than two years. Despite burning day and most of the night, we’ve only lost one since. And they keep their brightness, not like the old ones which got dimmer over time. Compared to the old days of halogen, that’s a major miracle. We’re also saving maybe 75% of the electricity.
It’s always the cable
I upgraded my Verizon FiOS Internet speed from 100 megs to one gigabit. That’s an increase of tenfold.
But when I plugged in at my desk. It was the same 100 megs.
Why? This was weird.
Turned out the cable between the Verizon FiOS box and my desk was 15 years old and awful quality (though good for those times).
I have two solutions: Replace the cable with cat 7 or 8, the more modern Ethernet varieties. Or go with Wi-Fi which came in at a respectable 350 megs.
When I ran a Cat 8 cable directly from the FiOS box to my laptop, I got over 800 megs, which is phenomenal. But Susan objected to the ugly black cable snaking across the floor.
If you’re stuck with cables in the wall and don’t want to rip your walls apart, you’re stuck with Wi-Fi.
Get Wi-Fi extenders. I bought a Netgear Orbi mesh Wi-Fi network. It’s faster than a “normal” router. And you get to drop extenders all over. So your speed is faster all over.
I won’t tell you which model. They’re introducing new ones every day. Research them on Amazon.
Go visit some gorgeous U.S. sites
Plan your spring/summer trips. Conde Nast picked the most beautiful place in every U.S. state. Here’s a sampling of places I especially like:
For the Conde Nast listing of all 50 states’ greatest places to visit, click here.
I sound like a cracked record
Ukrainian refugees need to be fed. Please send money to World Central Kitchen. Click here.
Tell your friends to also. This war is being fought in many ways. I came across this photo.
See you tomorrow. — Harry Newton
