Stocks are going down.
This chart of the past five years on Nasdaq is seriously awful. Look at the two previous bounce -downs. Today’s bounce-down looks much more gruesome, and less recoverable.
It’s also difficult — make that impossible — to pick something positive and obvious — e.g. oils, defense, healthcare. Devon Energy is down 6.2% today. Oxy is down 7%. Raytheon is down 2.5%. You get the message. Your brain is not working. Mine either.
Reasons:
+ The Ukraine- Russia “Special Military Operation.”
+ Slowdown in the second largest economy, China, caused by their virus “ideas” — like mass lockdowns and lousy (homegrown) vaccines. They have their own dumb ideas — all dictatorships do.
+ Supply chain problems, made worse by China. I have satellite maps of Shanghai harbor. There are a lot of ships waiting to bring Amazon (and others) stuff you and want (but don’t need).
+ Strong U.S. inflation and the “need” to ease it back, also called clobber the economy. I read somewhere, “The last time the Fed started to undertake such “quantitative tightening” in 2017, what ensued was “a liquidity crash” in which nearly $7 trillion was wiped off global stocks in 2018.
Latest Economist:
None of this gloom and doom will be solved soon, In fact, it will get worse.
There are three forces in the stock market.
+ First, investors are trimming stocks that were bought for a logical, short-term reason — like oil, defense or housing. They’re no longer working.
+ Second, investors are selling stocks short or buying puts. My Apple puts are actually making money. Not much.
All the high-priced tech stocks, like Nvidia, Adobe, Mimecast, and Apple are not doing what they should be doing — going up.
+ Third, the machines who figure the market’s direction and help it along. They don’t suffer emotions, like I do. I’ve heard there are stock trading machines that have never lost money in a day. I’m down a lot of Nvidia, but I haven’t sold all my Nvidia. Stupid!
I’m down 20% from my November 2021 peak. Apple remains my biggest position. It reports Thursday. Fingers crossed.
The Age of Slow Growth in China
And What It Means for America and the Global Economy
From Foreign Affairs magazine by Daniel H. Rosen. April 15, 2022
Explains all. Click here.
Homage to Borodyanka
Bearing witness to the horror and majesty of a ruined, resilient Ukraine
That’s the name of a beautifully written article by by Bernard-Henri Lévy, famous French author and philosopher. He recently visited Ukraine. That’s him in Borodyanka. Here’s his report:
HIs article begins:
We arrive by train, from Lviv, to Kyiv. They are fat, blue trains, comfortable, fairly fast, with a reputation, before the war, for being on time. But everyone has in mind the bombing, the day before yesterday (April 9), of the Kramatorsk station, where at least 52 died.
So, people are careful. They avoid gathering. Step lively if the platform is exposed. And when the train pulls out, it’s with all lights off, shades drawn in the compartments, and, all during the night, stops in the middle of the countryside, and detours, which causes delays. Soon, though, you think nothing of it. In the wagon, there are volunteers who have put their families out of harm’s way and are returning to combat. A sleeping soldier, his unloaded Kalashnikov hugged to his chest like a baby. A Brit who has come to enlist in the International Brigade created by Zelensky. And people who travel against the current of refugees, having decided, in fear and trembling, to return to their town or village. What’s left of my house? Did they destroy the blue and yellow terracotta ceiling that, for three generations, survived all catastrophes? And the porcelain I left behind, in my haste? And my mother-in-law, whom I’ve heard nothing about since the invasion? That’s what we talk about on the Lviv-Kyiv direct train, crossing, as in a dream, a besieged Ukraine.
The article is too long for me to reproduce in this blog. You can read it on the Tablet blog here.
Stuff
+ Suntan screen expires. Often quicker than its theoretical three year shelf life. Throw out your old tubes.
+ If it works, don’t mess with it. You’ll make it worse.
+ The first time you do it takes hours. The second time five minutes.
+ Find answers: YouTube videos. Product questions on Amazon. Google.
+ Eat less. Walk more. Slow down. Watch that last step going down.
+ Always nap after lunch.
+ This is a scam. I just received it this morning.
Easter on Easter Island!
Fun stuff
I played tennis this morning. Had brunch of Quaker Oats and red and blue berries. Time for my afternoon nappe pooh.
Please send some money to World Central Kitchen. They’re feeding more Ukrainians and Ukrainian refugees than anyone else. Click here.
—Harry Newton
