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The good news. The bad news. And the uncertainty.

The good news.

+ She’s back. This is my Robin’s second batch this season.

+ A dear friend gave me a wonderful birthday present:

He said “Check the birds. They’re more interesting than the stock market.” He’s right. Last night I saw an owl in our backyard — my first time ever.  They’re really great binoculars. Pick up a pair here.

+ YouTubeTV is wonderful. It’s the best for streaming. It’s totally reliable. Best: It records, so you can watch when you like, backtrack to take notes and watch multiple channels on several devices — Roku, your laptop, your phone. You can watch tennis on one device and CNBC on the other. It’s one-third the price of DirecTV, or Verizon or Spectrum, etc.

+ You can earn the grand yield of 2.79% on a one-year treasury.  Which is a lot better than a slap in the belly with a cold fish. Owning treasuries does two things for my tiny brain: they get the money out of harm’s way. Hence I can’t do anything stupid with the money My personality is deformed — I need to do something. It’s sick. Having money in treasuries is far better than having it in cash, burning a hole in my pocket. Then forcing me to do something stupid.

+ I’ve avoided doing anything stupid — like listening to the nonsense spouted by “investment analysts” from the banks and published by CNBC — on site and on TV.  Every day they keep telling me to buy something — like Netflix, or PayPal or Alibaba — and the next day it falls more!

+ My antsy personality has served me well this year. I jump to conclusions very quickly, and stay out or sell quickly — often faster than my 15% “inviolate” stop loss rule. For example I didn’t like these four and look what happened in the last year.

My point is simple: There are a zillion stocks I can lose money on. Why stick with the obviously bad ones, e.g.:

But, wait, there’s more. It gets worse. Check out this list of the year’s biggest losers. They include Carvana (91%), Vroom (89%) and Avaya Holdings (90%). Click here.

+ I don’t rely on investments that rely on The Greater Fool Theory, e.g. crypto and bitcoin.

+ I’m getting my head into shorting. Neither the press nor BubbleVision talk much about shorting. But, much of what’s out there is still way overpriced. Remember my Watch List?

Here are the highest P/E stocks on that list. Pretty depressing. Most are down today.

+ Here’s a heatmap of the first six months. Gruesome and unpredictable.

The bad news:

I tested positive for covid this morning. I first tested positive two days after my July 11 birthday party. I look a five-day dose of Paxlovid — just like Fauci. After Paxlovid pills, I tested negative for three days. Then I tested positive, just like Fauci. But I’m not stupid. I’m not taking another dose of Paxlovid, which Fauci is doing. They call what we got “Covid Rebound.”

And doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result is just plain STUPID.

Will my covid go away? Will my Covid Rebound become Long Covid?

They’re long on names. Light on information. Am I contagious? When should I stop isolating? Does being negative mean I’m not contagious?

Good luck trying to find answers. After days of reading and listening to health care professionals, I can’t find certainty anywhere.

Maybe certainty is for small minds?

Right now, I’m playing this one day to the next.

Here are the only things I can definitely tell you:

+ You don’t want covid in any form. No matter what your friends say about how mild they had it.

+ You need to keep away from birthday parties, weddings, churches, airports, etc. Any large group that has travelers from afar. Those places and events bring strains your body can’t handle.

+ Covid is a respiratory disease. It gets to your breathing, your lungs, etc. You have to give a long time before you go back to playing tennis or running, etc. Drat!

This is me exactly three years ago. I was thinner and healthier. My covid today makes me very tired. I’m hoping to be negative this weekend. I was actually hoping for this morning.

Tips

+ Don’t “upgrade” to Windows 11. It’s not faster. It works differently. You’ll have to learn many things all over again. Some of your favorite software won’t work on it.

+ Give Verizon a debit card and get $40 off your monthly auto-pay cell phone bill. I just did. It worked. Don’t ask about the “logic.” I’ giving up logic for the summer.

+ Any equipment you need — from dishwashers to air conditioners — order now. Wait times stretch 12 months and more.

+ Watch out for fake invoices from the Geek Squad and fake awards of $50 and $500 discount coupons from every retailer you’ve never heard of.

+ Try not to travel this weekend. If you do, don’t check luggage. They have laundries where you’re going. Trust me on that one.

China is celebrating its destruction of Hong Kong

It’s 50 years since China took over from the British.

Items:

+ 140,000 residents left in Q1. That’s 2% of the entire population.
+ IPOS have dropped by 92% year over year.
+ China has issued new textbooks that says Hong Kong was never a British colony. Autocrats like Xi love re-writing history.
+ Kyle Bass was on CNBC this morning. Boy, was he devastating: “As a business hub, they have absolutely destroyed it.”  “Look at Xi’s recent speech, he said his ‘life’s mission is rejuvenation of the great Chinese race’ which means the acquisition of Taiwan.”

For more, read this brilliant piece  “How China sees the world. And how we should see China.

Click here.

I shorted AMD and MU. I’m up a little. A few months ago, we were short of chips. Now we have too many. Go figure.

Time to watch Wimbledon. It’s on ESPN and The Tennis Channel.

Maybe if I eventually test negative, my family and friends will agree to visit.  Right now, they think I have the Bubonic Plaque.

Maybe I’ll dress up for them?

Thanks for indulging me.

See you soon. Harry Newton