Monday, December 23, 2024
In a recent interview with Chuck Butler, we concluded, short of dumping the FED and a ballot box revolution, inflation is here to stay. Individual investors can control where/how we invest to protect our life savings. Chuck summed up his feeling about a market fraught with risk: “I recently had some bonds mature. These maturities brought me […]
Since the 2008 bank bailouts, readers regularly ask, “what the hell is going on?” I’m not an economist, but I’ll try to explain things – and it isn’t pretty. A major plank in problem-solving is, “Look at the consequences of your decisions, don’t let your solutions cause bigger problems.” Since Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall act, the […]
Since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, the role of the Federal Reserve has changed. The Fed used to be owned by banks while high-risk investment houses were separated and not considered part of the banking system. Since the repeal, banks have consolidated where the top four banks now account for 50% of all US […]
With earnings season coming up, we’re seeing some unusual action in big bank options. The expected rate increases from the Fed in 2022 mean that banks could see greater profitability from their interest rate spreads. This is leading to expectations of strong guidance from banks during earnings season. One strategist is using a covered call […]
The banking sector can be challenging to trade when interest rates are near zero. On the one hand, banks tend to earn more profits when interest rates are higher. On the other hand, if low interest rates lead to economic improvement, that’s good news for banks. The reason ultra-low interest rates are typically not the […]
Of the largest 20 stocks (by market cap) in the U.S., which one do you think has the best performance year-to-date? Is it Apple (AAPL), the world’s largest company my market capitalization? Is it electric vehicle powerhouse and crypto-investor Tesla (TSLA)? Given the semiconductor shortage that’s pushing up chip prices, maybe it’s NVIDIA (NVDA)? Despite […]
It’s not often that you hear investors talking about a bank stock as exciting. Well, it may be more accurate to say, it’s not often you hear investors talk about a bank stock at all. Bank stocks don’t tend to be all that interesting in terms of growth (although they can be excellent dividend stocks). […]
The economy may be improving, but last week’s Federal Reserve statement made it clear that there will be no tapering anytime soon. In other words, the Fed will continue to purchase bonds, and interest rates will remain near zero. It’s not all that surprising as the Fed has made it clear they don’t want to […]
Recently, my wife—who does not follow the financial world—asked me how a hedge fund works. She read about the immense loss suffered by Credit Suisse due to the Archegos hedge fund meltdown. She wanted to know if the losses would affect customers of the bank. The discussion started me thinking about how complicated our financial […]
On a day when the markets were down, banking stocks like Bank of America (BAC) generally had positive performances. BAC traded almost 2.5x the usual number of options with about two-thirds of the action in calls. This is generally a bullish sign for the stock (which was up 2% at the time). One very large […]
