Monday, March 18, 2024


Notes today:

  • China reported stronger industrial activity than expected, with production up by 7% YoY in January and February - fastest rate in two years. 

  • Bloomberg: The car’s most extraordinary feature, though, is its $9,698 price tag. That undercuts the average price of an American EV by more than $50,000 and is only a little more than a high-end Vespa scooter. 
  • 20 years from now the only people that will remember that you worked late are your kids. 

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

Checking out rocks.


Thursday, March 07, 2024

Notes today:

  • Fed Chair Powell: "We’re waiting to become more confident that inflation is moving sustainably at 2%. When we do get that confidence — & we’re not far from it — it’ll be appropriate to begin to dial back the level of restriction” ..  
  • Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he expects to see some banks fail due to their exposure to the commercial real estate sector.
  • German industrial production rose in January for the first time in nine months, though its protracted weakness has probably already dragged the economy into a recession.
  • El Niño Scorches Southern Africa With Driest February on Record
  • United Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Japan loses a tire as it takes off from San Francisco - crushing cars below.

  • It’s official – Sweden is now the 32nd member of NATO.

  • Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom : Who secures the port? Who distributes the aid within Gaza? And if you answer those questions and this works at scale, America winds up absolving Israel of its own responsibility to provide aid to civilians in areas it controls.
  • António Guterres @antonioguterres  :  I was deeply moved by the horrifying testimonies I heard of family members of victims of the war in Gaza today. Some lost over a hundred relatives.
  • This horror must stop now.   A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait.


Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

"Everything will be all right. And, even if it won't be, we'll have the consolation of having lived honest lives." Alexei Navalny

US Corn Area in Drought


 US Soybean Area in Drought.


Silver production from Mexico and Peru, the world's two largest producers, is at its lowest point in 14 years.




Sunday, February 25, 2024

12 Month YoY Performance

NVIDIA

238.47%

Meta Platforms

184.07%

Eli Lilly

139.37%

Builders FirstSource

135.77%

Uber Tech

134.13%

AMD

126.05%

Broadcom

124.38%

Arista Networks

97.49%

PulteGroup

97.31%

Lam Research

94.00%

 

Sunday, February 18, 2024


Notes today:

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class A

 $535           in 1982

$610,086     in 2024

 


  • $1 in 1982 has the same purchasing power as $3.12 in 2024. Over the 42 years this is a change of $2.12. The average inflation rate of the dollar between 1982 and 2024 was 0.15% per year.
  • Berkshire  Shareholder Letters

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Sunday, February 11, 2024


Quick Overview
is up to date

Can AI Unlock the Secrets of the Ancient World?

Almost 2,000 years ago, a volcano preserved Herculaneum’s vast library of scrolls but left them unreadable. A volunteer army of nerds has been racing to decipher them.



Saturday, February 10, 2024


Notes today:

 

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉


Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Notes today: 

 

  • Due largely to an unexpected surge in immigration, the U.S. economy will be about $7 trillion larger - & federal revenues about $1T bigger - the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.
  • Jeff Stein @JStein_WaPo
  • Chinese shares gained after authorities signaled a stronger resolve to stem a $7 trillion rout via a surprise move to replace the head of the country’s securities regulator.
  • Morgan Stanley says that India to become world’s 3rd largest economy in 5yrs surpassing Japan & Germany.

  • Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida said Thursday that the bank is getting closer to sustainably achieving its 2% inflation goal and reviewing its ultraeasy monetary policy.


  • The US government on Thursday outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated.

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Monday, January 29, 2024

Elon Musk said the first human patient has received a brain implant from Neuralink


Notes today:

  • Shrinking population. Record property downturn. Rising trade tensions. And now a $6 trillion stock market wipeout. The list of problems just keeps growing for Xi Jinping’s China. (Bloomberg)
  • China's Evergrande Group, the developer at the center of the country's property crisis, is heading for liquidation after a Hong Kong court ordered it to be wound up.

  • “All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.” John Steinbeck


Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Saturday, January 27, 2024

..the U.S. is a pretty lousy place to die. In an analysis of how well countries around the world deliver end-of-life care, the U.S. was ranked 43rd out of the 81 countries assessed, despite being one of the wealthiest nations. The U.K., whose hospices are generally not-for-profit, took first place.

DJ Trend Earnings (Fed Model) is up to date

  • No FEAR!




Notes today:

 

  • It's all about big tech next week with Meta, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet & Microsoft among those reporting. 


  • U.S. Total outstanding credit card balances – 2008 to now


  • North Carolina is cutting off coverage of anti-obesity medications for state employees, citing soaring costs and a lack of agreement on pricing from drugmakers.
  •  “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” Ernest Hemingway

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Notes today: 

  • China Containerized Freight Index 



  • What percentage of the S&P 500 is magnificent 7 stocks?

  • Add up those components and these seven stocks deliver a full 28 percent of the S&P 500's performance. Meanwhile, the S&P 500's other 490-some stocks deliver the remaining 72 percent. As great as this weighting is, it's even more lopsided in the Nasdaq 100: Apple – 8.945 percent. Jan 12, 2024
    • Amazon.com (AMZN) $155.34 1.84 1.20% ...
    • Apple (AAPL) $191.56 2.93 1.55% ...
    • Alphabet Cl A (GOOGL) $146.38 2.90 2.02% ...
    • Meta Platforms (META) $383.45 7.32 1.95% ...
    • Microsoft (MSFT) $398.67 4.80 1.22% ...
    • NVIDIA (NVDA) $594.91 23.84 4.17% ...
    • Tesla (TSLA) $212.19 0.31 0.15%

    Jan 2, 2024

     

  • The cheapest EV sold in China by BYD costs around $12,000, compared with $39,000 for the cheapest Tesla in the U.S.

  • Toyota versus Tesla



  • A Senator from Florida is warning that the recent expansion of BRICS threatens the SWIFT payment system and America’s ability to arm the dollar. 

  • China's population fell in 2023 for the second time in two years.

 


  • You may not have heard about it given non-existing press coverage, over 400,000 people converged on DC last weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza.
  • There’s a movement in New Hampshire for Democrats to write-in “Ceasefire” in the primaries on Tuesday. 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

In the year of the soft landing, here’s your guide to the risks — from Houthis to hyperinflation — that should be keeping officials awake at night in 2024

Thursday, January 18, 2024

 

S&P 500 Stocks at 52 week highs:

Instrument Name

Close

Symbol

Alphabet Ord Shs Class A

143.48

GOOGL.O

Alphabet Ord Shs Class C

144.99

GOOG.O

Arista Networks Ord Shs

257.56

ANET.K

Boston Scientific Ord Shs

61.05

BSX

Cadence Design Systems Ord Shs

279.01

CDNS.O

Costco Wholesale Ord Shs

687.31

COST.O

Ecolab Ord Shs

200.46

ECL

Fastenal Ord Shs

67.93

FAST.O

Hartford Financial Services Group Ord Shs

82.99

HIG

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Ord Shs

185.71

HLT

Huntington Ingalls Industries Ord Shs

260.19

HII

Ingersoll Rand Ord Shs

78.18

IR

Intuitive Surgical Ord Shs

371.93

ISRG.O

Loews Ord Shs

71.49

L

Marriott International Ord Shs Class A

232.68

MAR.O

Martin Marietta Materials Ord Shs

503

MLM

Mastercard Ord Shs Class A

430.72

MA

McKesson Ord Shs

493

MCK

Meta Platforms Ord Shs Class A

376.13

META.O

Microsoft Ord Shs

393.87

MSFT.O

NVIDIA Ord Shs

571.07

NVDA.O

O Reilly Automotive Ord Shs

1015.53

ORLY.O

Parker-Hannifin Ord Shs

465.7

PH

Progressive Ord Shs

169.91

PGR

Republic Services Ord Shs

167.75

RSG

Salesforce Ord Shs

274.46

CRM

ServiceNow Ord Shs

745.96

NOW

Stryker Ord Shs

314.72

SYK

T Mobile US Ord Shs

164.89

TMUS.O

Trane Technologies Ord Shs

247.33

TT

TransDigm Group Ord Shs

1053

TDG

Travelers Companies Ord Shs

198.35

TRV

Visa Ord Shs Class A

268.14

V

Waste Management Ord Shs

183.51

WM

Western Digital Ord Shs

53.55

WDC.O

WR Berkley Ord Shs

74.38

WRB

WW Grainger Ord Shs

872.2

GWW