I like charts.<\/p>\n
There are a zillion bad things affecting our economy — inflation, the Fed’s rising interest rates, war in Ukraine, supply chain, China’s housing mess (Click here<\/strong><\/a>), the cratering U.S. housing market, etc. And there are still many serious hedge fund managers predicting doom, gloom and a recession in 2023 (next year).<\/p>\n The stockmarket has its own craziness. And I’m more cautious today with my shorts than now that I’ve seen Cramer. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Yesterday was strongly up. My shorts lost. But my VGT and VTI more than made up. I think that’s called “hedging.”<\/p>\n The only short that made me a few shekels yesterday was Apple.<\/p>\n It got hit by downgrades, including one headlined “Apple: Be Fearful.” Something about ailing iPhone 14 sales.<\/p>\n I took myself to a couple of Apple stores yesterday — including the Fifth Avenue store, the world’s largest, employing 800 Apple salespeople, and open 24\/7.<\/p>\n I tried to buy the newest Series 8 Apple Watch. No luck. The place was mobbed with a babble of languages I couldn’t understand. Wealthy tourists.<\/p>\n I don’t know what they were all buying in the Apple Store. But I do know that no one was in that store to look. They were buying. And buying and buying.<\/p>\n Me? I’m too impatient to stand in line.<\/p>\n They told me politely to go “on line.”<\/p>\n I was looking at my Watch List for the price\/earnings ratios of stocks:<\/p>\n I don’t think Salesforce (CRM) is worth 280 P\/E. Or ZS is worth a negative P\/E. It’s losing $2.67 each share which sells at $168.<\/p>\n But people believe in stocks for the same reasons they believe in their god.<\/p>\n Our beliefs are sold to us. They better the sales pitch the more firm our beliefs — until something awful comes along — like a bear market.<\/p>\n I’m the worst. I substitute enthusiasm for intelligence.<\/p>\n I fell in love with Nvidia. Its technology is awesome. Look what happened to the stock. Me and my big enthusiasm.<\/p>\n What protects me from myself (my enthusiasm) is my stop loss rules — Get out when I’m down 15%. They’ve protected me from “hot” stocks like Coinbase, Robinhood, Tesla, Salesforce, Amazon, Facebook, etc.<\/p>\n For now, my shorts today are protecting me from the losses on my longs —\u00a0 VGT and VTI.<\/p>\n I suspect this market has a ways to go before everyone who is skittish (a la Cramer theory) has sold their shares and the buyers step in — like they did yesterday.<\/p>\n All bear market have bull days.<\/p>\n Inflation easing (?)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The supply chain is easing. I can now buy the Wilson tennis balls I like.<\/p>\n But inflation, as measured by tennis balls, is not easing.<\/p>\n The price of Wilson balls is twice as high as it was a year ago.<\/p>\n But, the good news: Wilson throws in free shipping. Whoopee.<\/p>\n It’s still cheaper to play tennis than golf.<\/p>\n The most important commodity in the inflation world is oil. And it’s falling.<\/p>\n Here’s WTI oil over the last year . It’s down to $82.34. It was over $120 a few months ago. That’s a 30% reduction.<\/p>\n Your passport\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n You can renew your U.S. passport on line. Click here,<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0here <\/a><\/strong>and here\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Your fifth Covid shot<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Figure 6 months after your fourth one to get the fifth one.<\/p>\n CVS shines. To sign up for an appointment, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n I’m getting my fifth shot next Monday. It’s the bivalent one — good for the new Covid variations.<\/p>\n I got my flu shot yesterday.<\/p>\n Keys to staying alive<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n + Don’t do stupid. Watch that last step going down.<\/p>\n + Stay current on all your shots.<\/p>\n + Look both ways twice before you move. I spent yesterday in Manhattan. I saw cars speeding through red lights. What blew me away was a long, double bus speeding up to go through a red light. I was freaked.<\/p>\n + Keep moving. Bicycling and tennis are two great ways to keep moving. Fast walking is good also. Listening to podcasts while you walk is great.<\/p>\n + My friend Francis swears by his new diet — no bread, no desert. I works. He’s lost 8 lbs. He looks healthier. He can run faster on the tennis court.<\/p>\n + Drink lots of water. I cramped last night. I drunk oodles of water. The cramp went away.<\/p>\n + Stress is bad for your health. Two solutions: napping and mulling.<\/p>\n + If something goes wrong inside you , insist on a catscan (also called a CT scan). Do not rely on your doctor’s idea of what is going wrong. Get the CT scan. My friend is\u00a0 life-long radiologist. He is amazed at how many doctors diagnoses are proven wrong when the CT scan is checked — 10 minutes later. There’s a a good piece on CT scans here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n + My 10 mg daily 10 mg statin is working. My bad cholesterol is way down.\u00a0My blood pressure came in yesterday at 117\/70. I’m going to live to 80. Oops, passed that in June. I’m on the way to 90 Henry Kissinger is 99 and still can’t lose his horrible accent.<\/p>\n I bought a\u00a0<\/strong>Fujitsu\u00a0ScanSnap iX1600 scanner.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n No desk should be without this scanner. $449 and worth every penny and more. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n I’m in New York City for a couple of days<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n + The place is crawling (booming?) with tourists.<\/p>\n + Many erstwhile empty shops are being rented. Those that are not suffer less from a dearth of prospective tenants than from landlords who refuse to lower their rents from pre-pandemic days.<\/p>\n + There are still banks on every corner. Why? When everyone does their banking (like me) on-line. Banks see their retail stores as “advertising.”<\/p>\n Favorite music — Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Click on the picture or click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/apple-store.jpg\")
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\nThis thing scans everything, including the K-1s which some idiots keep sending me on paper.<\/p>\n