Q: What appeared to spur the rally to all-time highs on the major equity indexes this week?
A: Inflation eased in April below March and February levels. Although producer prices spiked .5% in April, the trailing 12 months at 2.2% is close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. Consumer inflation increased at .3% for April, trailing 12 months at 3.4%.
Q: “Roaring Kitty” or Dead Cat Bounce? And what caused GameStop and AMC to spike nearly 200% at the peak this week?
A: In 2021, Keith Gill rose to social media prominence as “Roaring Kitty”. With his Reddit group of rookie traders, they identified major short positions of hedge funds and instituted strategies to create short squeezes which raised prices of the identified securities. After three years of silence, Roaring Kitty posted a series of X posts over the weekend spurring buying sprees in AMC and GameStop despite questionable financials.
Headline Round Up
*Walmart Posts Impressive Growth & Raises Earnings Forecasts After Sales Rose 3.8% in Q1.
*Tesla’s Board Chair, Robyn Denholm, & Others at the Company Will Hit the Road to Convince Shareholders to Pay Elon Musk $46B?
*Home Shortage Over? In April, Texas and Florida Reported Inventories of Homes for Sale Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels According to Realtor.com.
*The Copper Futures Frenzy! Another short squeeze?
*Under Armour to Restructure as Updated Earnings Forecasts Include a 17% Sales Drop in North America This Year?
*Power Shortage for High Tech Ambitions?
*Electric Vehicle (EV) & Hybrid Vehicle Sales Drops in Q1.
*San Francisco Federal Reserve: Corporate Greed Not to Blame for Price Pressures?
*$7.5 Billion Later Just 7 Charging Stations According to OilPrice.com? $5 Billion allocated to individual states to build out networks. Department of Motor Vehicles are in charge?
*Chevron Passes Tesla as Most Shorted Large Cap Stock in America This Past April?
*Solar Panel Capacity to Quadruple Over the Next Decade?
*Buffett’s Insights from the Famed Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.
Skid Row
*The Story of Fort Worth’s Tallest Skyscraper. Once valued at 137 Million now worth 12.3 Million, what happened?
*Fisker’s Doomed Attempt to Take on Tesla.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (12/29/2023 – 05/17/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index – Quarterly Earnings Analysis by Sector (02/16/2024 – 05/15/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
U.S. Consumer Price Index – Urban Consumers Month over Month, Seasonally Adjusted (05/17/2021 – 04/30/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. 13F Holding Analysis – Equity Filing Summary (03/31/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
Generic Copper Futures Contract Spot Price (05/19/2019 – 05/17/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
GameStop Corp. & AMC Entertainment Holding, Inc. (05/13/2024 – 05/17/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
GameStop Corp. & AMC Entertainment Holding, Inc. (05/20/2019 – 05/17/2024)
– Courtesy of Bloomberg LP
Profit Report
Wall Street Journal’s Success Stories from Happy Retirees.
