Market Talk
Former President Trump was nominated as the republican Presidential candidate yesterday. On Saturday, thank God he survived an assassination attempt where somehow by the angel of good and exact timing, he swerved to look at a favorite chart, exactly at the right moment with less than a half second difference between a disastrous headshot vs an ear grazing hit that was a way too close call with death. Sadly, and tragically, a hero attendee, fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed while covering his family,
This sad event, yet miraculous that President Trump survived seems like an act of divine providence to many. At this present time, it seems like Donald J. Trump will be a shoe in as long as the voting system is properly managed and regulated.
The Federal reserve is signaling that interest rates will likely be coming down due to inflation rate dropping to 3 % and new job rate slowing down. In reality anybody that shops at the grocery store and pays rent may disagree about inflation slowing. Regardless, the Fed has a job to set the economic tone. The Fed is sending signals that interest rates cuts are likely in September and probably December. Generally, lowering interest rates are bullish for stocks. However, some indicators are pointing to a GDP slowdown in the economy pointing to a recession coming. The balance of lower interest rates vs a GDP slow down makes the future market outlook seem "mixed".
The past few weeks have seen a broadening of market action with small cap stocks as in the Russell 2000 behaving very bullish. Energy stocks, financials and Gold stocks are starting to show life in a bullish sense.
Meanwhile, the US dollar is being challenged by the growing "Brics" led by China and Russia to break away from the US dollar as a world currency.
Try to be selective in stock picking.
Stock Talk
A new watch stock, Altria (MO), is being added to the list.
Altria Group, Inc (MO): Recently FDA approved to market menthol e cigarettes. These are vaped and typically contain fewer toxic chemicals to traditional cigarettes which have thousands of harmful substances, including tar and carbon monoxide. Use of e -cigarettes instead of smoking may reduce the risk of smoking related diseases such as lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. One caveat is that when young people flock to "vapes" that never even smoked they stupidly set themselves up to be addicted for life to nicotine. Regardless as a stock, MO pays over an 8 % dividend and people will smoke and vape no matter what anybody has to say. MO is starting to catch buy side interest and the solid dividend is why it joins the watch list here.
If interested in other current watch stocks recently opined on here, scroll back to see posts on other stocks we are watching.
For now, we close by noting that any view on the market and stocks on any particular day may change in the future days to come. That is why we watch and see how our views match up with the reality of the time. But trying to look ahead a few months into the future may be a way to do things. If you think too deep about world events and the recent alliances forming, projecting ahead can be a dicey endeavor. In all - we use the word maybe "some", not "too much" and play it accordingly. Remember never get arrogant in our various notions because things do change in the market and individual stocks are subject to many factors outside of our control.. So we try to -stay aware.
With all the above caveats and attempted prognostications, I will close this post. Stay tuned for more opining on the market and stocks to watch.
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