Morning News: July 20, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 20th, 2023 at 7:05 am

Wheat Soars After US Warns of Explosives at Ukrainian Sea Ports

Brazil’s All-Powerful Sugar Industry Is Souring the Country on EVs

Why Heat Waves Are Deepening China’s Addiction to Coal

A $15 Billion Oil Debt Spawns a Black Market in Mexican Fixers

The Biggest Winners in America’s Climate Law: Foreign Companies

TSMC Delays Start of First Arizona Chip Factory, Citing Worker Shortage

Could the Recession in the Distance Be Just a Mirage?

Selloffs, Inequality, China Tension: Here Are the Next Big Risks

The Hiring Boom Is Hiding a Recession Signal

Fed Wants Paychecks to Hit Bank Accounts in a Flash

Fed Seen Hiking Final Time to a 22-Year Peak in Economist Survey

‘Passport King’ Builds Quant Trading Fortune

Blackstone’s $1 Trillion Triumph Is Muted by Deal Slowdown

Apollo to Launch Private Fund in Asset-Based Financing Buildout

KeyCorp Second-Quarter Profit Halves on Higher Loan Loss Provisions

SAIC, Audi Reach Agreement on Electric Vehicle Cooperation

Netflix Password-Sharing Crackdown Delivers Jolt of New Subscriber Growth

Not Even Tom Cruise Can Charm China’s Moviegoers Into Seeing Hollywood Films

How TV Writing Became a Dead-End Job

Adidas and Ye’s Secret Battle Over a $100 Million Marketing Fund

Inside the Private Writings of Caroline Ellison, Star Witness in the FTX Case

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Morning News: July 19, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 19th, 2023 at 7:06 am

U.K. Inflation Rate Slows to 7.9 Percent, as Price Pressures Ease

Markets Cheer U.K. Inflation Slowdown but Pain Remains for Households

U.S. Rate Rises Hit the Yen Hard, but Now It’s Staging a Comeback

A $500 Billion Corporate-Debt Storm Builds Over Global Economy

High-Tech Subsidy Wars Widen Global Divide

In London, New York and Paris, a Giant Office Bet Is Going Wrong

Private Equity Titans Tap Sovereign Wealth to Get Deals Done

Biden’s Anti-Trust Team Isn’t Backing Down From a Fight

Goldman Sachs Profit Tumbles on Real Estate Hits, Banking Slump

Morgan Stanley Moves 200 Tech Experts From China on Data Law

Wall Street Gets New ETF Offering 100% Downside Protection

Tech Stocks, Meme Stocks, Crypto: Investors Are Feeling Bold Again

Big Tech Stocks Are About to Be Tested, and So Is the Whole Market

Americans Aren’t Rebuilding Their Savings Fast Enough

Meta Unveils a More Powerful A.I. and Isn’t Fretting Over Who Uses It

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard Still Committed to $75 Billion Merger

Carvana Soars After Reaching Debt Restructuring Deal

Homeowners Don’t Want to Sell, So Home Builders Are Booming

WeightWatchers Is Gambling Everything on Obesity Drugs

Taco Bell Wins ‘Taco Tuesday’ Trademark Dispute with Rival Chain

Kim Kardashian’s Skims Is Now Worth $4 Billion

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CWS Market Review – July 18, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 18th, 2023 at 6:23 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

China’s Economy Misses Expectations

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for its seventh day in a row. This is the index’s longest winning streak since 2021. Across those seven days, the index added more than 1,200 points. One of the old sayings on Wall Street is that good markets tend to build on themselves.

There’s some truth to this. Bespoke Investment Group said that this year was the 23rd year since 1945 that the S&P 500 rallied more than 10% during the first half of the year. Of those 22 previous times, 18 saw gains in the second half of the year. The median gain for the back half of the year was 10%.

Of the 55 years when the Dow lost ground or gained less than 10% in the first half of the year, the median second half performance was a gain of just 3.5%. Of course, we’re barely halfway through the year and a lot could happen between now and December 31.

Lately, the big concern hasn’t been about our economy. Instead, the worry is about China’s economy. Yesterday, the Chinese government said that its economy grew at a slower-than-expected rate for the second quarter. This was a bit of a shock. Analysts had been expecting an increase of 7.3%. Instead, it grew by 6.3%.

That number sounds healthier than it really is because it’s compared against a very weak number from a year ago when China was still locked down during Covid.

China’s sour news poses a novel issue for Americans. Many countries around the world have become used to having problems in their economies due to the U.S. economy having problems of its own. For Americans, however, this spillover effect is a new phenomenon. The idea that we can be doing everything right and yet some policy mistake in China redounds on us is rather new. We’re now just dealing with what everyone else has had to contend with.

The problems in China may get worse. The unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 23 is 21.3%. That’s a new record. The unemployment rate for people in cities was 5.2% in June. Earlier this year, China set a growth target for this year of 5%. That may have been overly optimistic.

A few months ago, China relaxed its Covid controls and that helped the economy get an initial boost, but that boost has clearly faded. In fact, the government recently said that China had 0% inflation for June. For the most part, the government has shied away from doing a large-scale stimulus program. It appears that shoppers in China are wary of buying more.

Many countries around the world depend heavily on growth in China to keep their own economies afloat. Plus, many jobs in developed nations have been outsourced to China.

The fear is that slower growth from China could help push the U.S. economy into recession, and this is happening at the same time the Federal Reserve is trying to kill off inflation. This could put the Fed in a tight spot with a need to cut rates at the same time it wants to fight inflation. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that problems in China could impact the U.S. economy but not enough to push us into a recession. We’ll see.

A lot of observers are hoping for a soft landing in the U.S., but weaker growth from China could make that more difficult. It’s not a major problem yet for the U.S. but it could become one soon.

This is coming at the same time as earnings season starts. All in all, I think this will be a fairly mediocre earnings season for Wall Street. Some good and some bad, but it easily could have been a lot worse. For this earnings season, Wall Street expects a 9% drop in profits. If that’s right, then Q2 will be the worst quarter for GDP growth since Q2 2020.

We already have some early numbers. So far, 79.3% of reports have beaten their earnings estimates and 73.3% have beaten their revenues estimates. A total of 62.1% have beaten on both. That’s not bad, but it’s still early.

The major weak spot is Energy. That’s not a surprise. That sector is on pace to post an earnings drop of 48.59%. On the plus side, Consumer Discretionary looks to see earnings growth of 20%.

This earnings season is on track to be the third quarter in a row with an earnings decline. The silver lining is that Q2 will likely be the earnings trough.

Here are some key stats I got from John Butters at FactSet. Quarterly earnings growth for the S&P 500 has exceeded estimates 37 times in the last 40 quarters. Over the last ten years, the average earnings beat has been 6.4%. An average of 73% of companies have topped estimates. In other words, you’re expected to beat expectations. Over the past four quarters, earnings have beaten estimates by “only” 3.2%.

On Thursday, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) will be our first Buy List stock to report this earnings season. Three months ago, ABT topped earnings and the stock jumped 8% in one day. This time, Wall Street expects ABT to report earnings of $1.05 per share. My numbers say it will be closer to $1.10 per share. ABT is a very good company.

The U.S. Dollar Tumbles

One area of concern lately has been the slumping U.S. dollar. There’s been a lot of scaremongering about the “pending collapse” of the dollar for a long time. In fact, the dollar already gave us a bearish head fake a few months ago. I use these words cautiously, but this time may really be different.

With investors betting that the Fed’s rate hike cycle is coming to an end, and with possible rate cuts not too far off, this leaves the dollar in a tight spot. Bear in mind that rate cycles tend to last a few years rather than a few weeks. Traders see the Fed starting to cut rates in March of next year.

Currency traders aren’t wasting any time. The U.S. dollar is currently going through its worst drop since November and is now at its lowest level in more than a year. Not only is the dollar weak, but it may stay weak for some time. The recent drop has also helped spark gains in oil and gold.

The Fed meets again next week and will almost certainly raise interest rates by 0.25%, but what about after that? The outlook gets murkier, but the Fed may stay on the sidelines for several months.

The fear is that there could be a mismatch between Fed policy and the European Central Bank. For example, if the Fed calls off its inflation battle at the same time the ECB is hiking, that could lead to a dollar rout. I doubt it will happen, but it’s not an unreasonable fear.

Here’s a very ugly chart of the dollar versus the euro:

It’s hard to avoid the simple fact that the dollar is probably overvalued. Bloomberg notes that the real effective exchange rate for the Japanese yen is at its lowest point in decades.

We may be witnessing an unwinding of the “carry trade.” This refers to a strategy of borrowing in a low-yield currency like the yen and buying a higher-yielding one like the dollar. So far in 2023, this has been a no-brainer move but it may be coming to an end.

The yen-dollar is only one such pairing. Investors have also been playing the carry trade with emerging market currencies.

On Tuesday, we got the retail sales report for June. This is an important report because if shoppers are in a good mood, then the economy will likely do well. Unfortunately, shoppers were a little sluggish last month.

For June, retail sales rose by 0.2%. That’s not adjusted for inflation. Economists had been expecting an increase of 0.5%. The rate for May was revised to 0.5%. Consumer spending makes up roughly two-thirds of the economy.

Consumer spending tends to be tied to the strength of the labor market. The June payroll figure, while still positive, came in well below the figure for May. Gary Alexander reminds me that the Conference Board said earlier this year that a recession in the coming 12 months was 99% certain. The same group recently reported that their June Consumer Confidence survey turned positive for the first time since January of 2022.

Interestingly, Goldman Sachs just cut its odds of a recession happening over the next 12 months from 25% to 20%. I’m ready to christen 2023 “the year of the recession that never came.” We’ll know more on July 27 when the government releases its initial estimates for Q2 GDP growth.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

P.S. If you want more info on our ETF, you can check out the ETF’s website.

Morning News: July 18, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 18th, 2023 at 7:04 am

The Man Charged With Steering the Yuan Through China’s Economic Turmoil

US, China Seek Detente on Climate as Extreme Heat Bakes World

Wheat Prices Seesaw After Russia Pulls Out of the Black Sea Grain Deal

Euro Set for Longest Rally in Almost Two Decades as Dollar Sinks

The $236 Billion Enigma Dominating Abu Dhabi’s Stock Market

Jerome Powell’s Prized Labor Market Is Back. Can He Keep It?

Yellen Sees Disinflation Pressures at Work as Hiring Surge Fades

Goldman Sachs Cuts Odds of a U.S. Recession in the Next Year

BofA’s Wall Street Beat Drives Second-Quarter Earnings Gain

PNC Financial’s Interest Income Forecast Trim Clouds Upbeat Quarter

It’s Official: Silicon Valley’s Entire Business Model is a Scam

Tesla Directors Will Return $735 Million to Company to Settle Shareholder Suit

Tesla Investor Rode a 14,800% Gain Thanks to 27-Year-Old Analyst

Wall Street Banks’ Residential Mortgages Face US Mandates Exceeding Global Standards

More Americans Are Getting Turned Down for Loans, Fed Data Shows

Big Four Accounting Firms Pare Their Consultant Ranks in Postpandemic Reversal

Lead Cables Will Be a Dead Weight for Telecom Carriers

A Blessing and a Boogeyman: Advertisers Warily Embrace A.I.

Chipotle Signs First-Ever Franchise Partner to Open Locations in the Middle East

In Manchester United Bidding War, Ratcliffe’s $16 Billion Fortune Might Not Be Enough

What Benjamin Franklin Learned While Fighting Counterfeiters

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Morning News: July 17, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 17th, 2023 at 7:05 am

Russia Pulls the Plug on Ukraine Grain Export Agreement

Why Deep-Sea Mining Is the Next Battleground in the Energy Transition

Massive US Oil Caverns Sit Empty in Threat to Energy Security

Can Solar Power Save the Crumbling Electric Grid During Heatwaves?

Europeans Are Becoming Poorer. ‘Yes, We’re All Worse Off.’

‘We Must Go Faster’: Yellen Says Rich Nations Must Speed Debt Relief

One Reason China Is Willing to Engage Again: Its Troubled Economy

Wall Street Cuts China Growth Forecasts as Economy Disappoints

Tight Credit Doesn’t Slow Economic Growth, It’s a Consequence of It

UniCredit to Deepen Cuts as Inflation Costs Run Over $1 Billion

Vanguard Struggles to Win Over the World

Dollar’s Busted Bull Run Has Bears Calling End of an Era

Regional Banks Battle for Deposits With Tougher US Rules Ahead

How Whistleblower Andrew Left Became the Short-Selling Villain of the Meme Stock Market Craze

Pay Raises Are Finally Beating Inflation After Two Years of Falling Behind

US Homeowners Are Tapping $9 Trillion in Real Estate Wealth

America’s Foreign Vacations Tell Us Something About the U.S. Economy

What Threads Needs to Beat Twitter

Drugs Like Ozempic Created a Gold Rush. These Drugmakers Want In.

How Allbirds Lost Its Way

We Are All Background Actors

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Morning News: July 14, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 14th, 2023 at 7:03 am

Surging Food Prices Spur Nigeria to Declare a State of Emergency

Uruguay Saw Opportunity in China. It Got Schooled in the Hazards of Trade

China’s Central Bank Signals More Policy Support for Economy

The Real Fed Debate This Month: What Would Prompt a Rate Hike This Fall

Investors Look for Reasons the Market Could ‘Grind Higher’

As Inflation Goes Down, Soft Landing Odds Improve

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard Steps Down

JPMorgan Notches Record Revenue on Rates, First Republic Deal

An Arrest, a Ruling, a Rally: Crypto’s Wild Day in the Courts

F.T.C. Opens Investigation Into ChatGPT Maker Over Technology’s Potential Harms

Microsoft, Activision Eye UK Rights Sale to Get Merger Done

BlackRock Beats Second-Quarter Profit Estimates on Robust Inflows

Wells Fargo Profit Surges 57% as Interest Payments Climb

For Many Small-Business Owners, a Necessary Shift to Digital Payments

Insurer’s Retreat in Florida Signals Crisis With No Easy Fix

Bob Iger Isn’t Having Much Fun

Actors Go on Strike in New Blow to Struggling Hollywood Studios

The Wealthy New York Enclave Fighting Against ‘Ugly’ 5G Towers

Aspartame Is a Possible Cause of Cancer in Humans, a W.H.O. Agency Says

Tucker Carlson Is Creating a New Media Company

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Morning News: July 13, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 13th, 2023 at 7:05 am

Looming U.S. Investment Restrictions on China Threaten Diplomatic Outreach

China’s Exports Fall Most in Three Years as Global Economy Falters

Xi Gets Serious About Boosting Private Sector as Economy Slumps

This Part of Bidenomics Needs More Economics

Inflation Cools Sharply in June, Good News for Consumers and the Fed

Small Business Distress Index Hits Mid-2020 High

U.S. Takes Third Shot at Shoring Up Money-Market Funds

Wall Street Results Expected to Take a Hit From Cost Pressures, Rate Struggle

Fund Titans Are Betting on Everything Gaining Against the Dollar

Lina Khan Is Taking on the World’s Biggest Tech Companies—and Losing

China Takes Friendlier Approach to AI in Finalized Guidelines

The A.I. Wars Heat Up as Elon Musk and Meta Enter the Ring

Relics of the Last Property Crash Are Starting to Wobble Again

The Luxury Tower Built for New York’s Elite Still Sits Half Empty

Ultra-Rich Are Betting the Next Big American Sport Is Cricket

How Netflix Plans Total Global Domination, One Korean Drama at a Time

Bob Iger to Remain as Head of Disney Through 2026

Hollywood Actors Set to Join Writers on Strike After Contract Expires

Delta Says Travel Boom Drove Record Revenue

Anchor Brewing, the Oldest Craft Brewer in the U.S., Will Close After 127 Years

Corporations Aren’t Your Friends. Yield at Your Peril

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Morning News: July 12, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 12th, 2023 at 7:10 am

Saudi Arabia’s Wealth Fund Takes $11 Billion Investment Hit

Wall Street’s Recession Warning Is Flashing. Some Wonder if it’s Wrong

‘Pivotal’ US CPI Report to Show Lowest Core Inflation Since 2021

Measure It Differently, and Inflation Is Behind Us

Detroit Marks 10th Anniversary of Bankruptcy With a Bond Sale

Why Private Equity Is Chasing Plumbers and Lumber Yards

Goldman Breaks Its Own Rule to Flag Results Much Worse Than Rivals

Bank of America Fined $150 Million Over ‘Junk Fees’ and Fake Accounts

Wall Street Is Fighting New York’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements

Negotiators See Global Deal on Taxing Big Tech Companies Within Reach

What the Microsoft-Activision Ruling Means for the Future of Deal-Making

‘An Act of War’: Inside America’s Silicon Blockade Against China

Why the Early Success of Threads May Crash Into Reality

Illumina Hit With €432 Million EU Fine for Hasty Grail Deal

The Energy Transition Is Underway. Fossil Fuel Workers Could Be Left Behind

Shopify Fuels Meeting Purge By Shaming Employees With Cost Calculator

Broadcom’s $61 Billion VMware Deal Wins Conditional EU Antitrust OK

Disney Explores Strategic Options for India Business

The Barbie-Oppenheimer Double Feature Is Really Happening, Data Shows

AT&T and Verizon Knew About Toxic Lead Cables—and Did Little

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CWS Market Review – July 11, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 11th, 2023 at 6:53 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

The U.S. Economy Added 209,000 Jobs in June

On Friday, the government released the big June jobs report. According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy created 209,000 net new jobs last month. That was a little below Wall Street’s estimate for a gain of 240,000. June was the slowest month for job creation since December 2020.

The figure for May was revised downward by 33,000. April’s was reduced by 77,000.

The unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% to 3.6% but that’s still close to a multi-decade low. The broader U-6 rate fell to 6.9%. Importantly, the labor force participation rate for prime working age people (ages 25 to 54) increased to 83.5%. That’s a 21-year high. This suggests that people have largely returned to the workforce, undoing the mass exodus we saw during Covid.

The weak spot continues to be wage growth, although that’s improved a little. Last month, average hourly earnings increased by 0.4%. Over the last year, average hourly earnings are up by 4.4%, but there are some key details in the jobs report.

Job growth would have been even lighter without a boost in government jobs, which increased by 60,000, almost all of which came from the state and local levels.

Other sectors showing strong gains were health care (41,000), social assistance (24,000) and construction (23,000).

Leisure and hospitality, which had been the strongest job growth engine over the past three years, added just 21,000 jobs for the month. The sector has cooled off considerably, showing only muted gains for the past three months.

The retail sector lost 11,000 jobs in June, while transportation and warehousing saw a decline of 7,000.

Friday’s report was a mild disappointment especially after the very strong ADP payroll report from last Wednesday. Still, the overall signs look quite good.

The next test for the economy and markets comes tomorrow when the government releases the CPI data for June. Inflation has consistently trended lower for the last year. We’ll find out if that trend continued.

The consensus for Wednesday’s report is that inflation increased by 0.3% in June and prices are up by 5% over the last year. This could be the first report in several months where inflation accelerated.

Fed officials think that getting inflation below the current rate could prove to be a very difficult job. Chairman Powell has consistently stated his intention to get inflation down to the Fed’s goal of 2% per share.

So far, the Fed’s hawkish stance seems to be justified. The central bank won’t meet for another two more weeks, but it appears that another 0.25% is virtually a certainty. As of Tuesday, traders said there’s a 92% chance that the Fed will hike. This would bring the target range for the Fed funds rate up to 5.25% to 5.50%. After that, traders think the Fed will be on pause for the next eight months. The CPI might change that outlook.

The fact is that the forecast for the economy has improved. Not that long ago, Wall Street fully expected the economy to be off the rails by now. That hasn’t happened. Actually, the stock market has been signaling a stronger economy for a few weeks, for those willing to pay attention. For example, the S&P 500 Industrials Index has rallied quite nicely since early June.

It’s interesting to bring this up because Industrials are a key component in the cyclical sector. In our issue from June 6, I told you about the then-recent downturn in cyclicals. I even said that cyclicals would regain their leadership before the end of the year.

Apparently, I was too pessimistic because cyclicals have been acting much better, basically since the day I mentioned it to you. It’s not just Industrials, but Energy and Materials stocks have also rebounded quite well.

The chart below shows that Industrials, Materials and Energy stocks have all been leading the S&P 500 (black line) since early June. Financials have as well.

Take this as a signal that Wall Street is growing skeptical of the recession hypothesis. If pricing pressures remain in the economy, the Fed’s job may not be done. It’s as if everyone was prepared for a recession except the economy.

The Nasdaq 100 Is Due for a Rebalance

The Nasdaq 100 is a stock index of the 100 largest nonfinancial companies on the Nasdaq. It’s basically become a good proxy index for the large-cap tech sector. The ETF for the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) became one of the first breakout stars in the ETF universe. It now has $200 billion in assets under management.

The problem the index has is that it’s grown too far too fast. The three largest stocks now make up 30% of the index. The index has largely become an index of Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and Tesla.

Earlier this month, Nasdaq said it will do a special rebalance to address this. They already rebalance the index once a quarter just for mechanics, but this will be a special rebalance. In other words, they’re actively tinkering with a passive strategy.

The top five stocks make up more than 40% of the index, and the top 10 make up 59% of the index. QQQ has been crushing it lately.

This brings up an important issue that I think many investors don’t realize which is how distorted by size Wall Street is. A small group of stocks comprises a very large part of the market while many hundreds of stocks barely make a peep.

To be sure, I’m not advocating for a different kind of distribution. After all, we have to deal with the market we have, not the one we wish to have. But there are a few important lessons to be drawn.

For example, it’s fairly easy to build a “good enough” index fund by yourself. I’ve run the numbers and you can track the S&P 500 reasonably well with as few as 10 stocks. You’ll need to rebalance every six months or so to be close.

Conversely, you can build a large portfolio of stocks that have little to no correlation with the rest of the market. On the Nasdaq in particular, there are hundreds of little banks that are barely noticed. If these banks theoretically all merged together, they still wouldn’t be as powerful as JPM.

Stock Focus: Farmer Mac

This week, we’re going to look at a stock known officially as the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AGM) but it is better known as Farmer Mac. Farmer Mac was chartered by Congress in 1988, and five of the 15 members of the Board of Directors are appointed by the President.

The idea of Farmer Mac was to create a secondary market for agricultural loans like mortgages in rural areas. The company has a close working relationship with the Department of Agriculture. AGM was founded after the farm bust of the 1980s. The idea was to build an alternative source of credit for farmers, and it would be in the mold of Fannie Mae.

While Farmer Mac’s debts are not guaranteed by the federal government, much of the farm sector is protected by the government. In fact, farming may be one of the most state-protected industries in America.

Fannie Mae, of course, was thrashed by the big Financial Crisis of 2007-08. Farmer Mac got hit hard as well. The company owned a lot of shares of Fannie Mae before Fannie was taken over by the Feds.

In a 15-month span, shares of AGM fell from $37 to $2.28. Since then, AGM has been a huge winner. Last month, the stock reached a new high of $153 per share.

One side note: I don’t like to cherry-pick numbers, which is easy to do in finance, but I’ll note that AGM has grown at a steady clip since its low. The chart above begins after AGM plunged in 2007. I didn’t think including it added much. A steady chart often a good sign of a strong underlying business. Thanks to its close relationship to the government, Farmer Mac is able to have far lower interest-rate-risk than many major banks.

Farmer Mac’s quarterly dividend has steadily increased from a nickel per share in 2011 to $1.10 per share in 2023. The stock currently yields 3.1%.

This is a cool little stock to watch. Only two Wall Street analysts follow AGM and it has a market cap of just $1.5 billion. That’s tiny in Wall Street’s eyes. JPM is about 300 times the size of AGM. Still, you can’t argue with success.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

P.S. If you want more info on our ETF, you can check out the ETF’s website.

Morning News: July 11, 2023
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 11th, 2023 at 7:08 am

China Signals More Economic Aid After Property Debt Relief

UK Mortgage Rates Surge to 15-Year High After Surpassing ‘Mini-Budget’ Peak

Italian Banks See Deposits Plunge, Credit to Firms at 8-Yr Low

America’s Biggest Banks Are Going to Need More Capital

Gensler Asserts SEC Authority Over Crypto as Opponents Waver

CLO Market Set for $20 Billion Reset Spree in Sign of Thawing

Short Seller Andrew Left Is Living in Fear of the Feds

Americans Prepare for Tighter Budgets as Student Loan Payments Resume

No, ‘Socialism’ Isn’t Making Americans Lazy

Berkshire Buys Bigger Stake in LNG Facility. It Doesn’t Fear Fossil Fuels

Jeff Bezos and Bob Iger Top Sun Valley List, With AI and Streaming in Focus

The Next Challengers Joining Nvidia in the AI Chip Revolution

China Gallium Curbs Raise Chip Questions for Future EV Models

Foxconn Pulls Out of $19 Billion Chipmaking Project in India

The Rapid Rise of Threads Appears to Be Hurting Twitter

iQuit: My Hellish Attempt to Leave Apple’s Walled Garden

A Tiny Fish That Fuels an Atlantic Ecosystem Now Fuels Industry Debates

Facing a Battle for Armored Steel, This Tank Maker Bought the Factory

At Auction, American Cars Are Often Not Valued as Highly as their European Counterparts

PGA Tour Will Tout Minimal Saudi Influence in Golf Merger at Congressional Hearing

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