SCOD Stock Market Report 2

[SCOD Stock Market Report 1 audio was recorded on Facebook]

July 23, 2020 – Another Covid Crash happened today on the Stock Market

Stocks fell, with a selloff accelerating into Thursday afternoon as investors focused on the U.S.’s unchecked covid crisis and a new rise in jobless claims. Tech shares led declines, with each of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet and Microsoft falling during intraday trading. New weekly unemployment insurance claims rose by more than 1.4 million last week, with the level of new claims increasing for the first time since mid-March. The new claims brought the total to 52 million, underscoring the devastating impact of the crisis and measures taken to contain it on the labor market.

Mike Wilson, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley, is growing more optimistic. – “I think people are too cautious on the economic and earnings recovery. Just go back to the original question at the beginning of this — the quality of the earnings. I think the story for the next 12 months is we’re going to be surprised at the earnings power of the average company into next year because of the cost cutting that’s going on and how fast things snap back.” So Morgan-Stanley is saying stocks will bounce back because companies are firing more workers and cutting more jobs, which still remain a substantial part of their inflated budgets. To serve the rich bosses better, companies will have to throw costs on to consumers; unfortunately for them the poor will have less to spend.

Given signs of a weakening labor market, analysts are nervously eyeing another round of crisis-related fiscal stimulus talks in Washington, with hopes building for a compromise on unemployment payments. Economists are warning that the recovery could be jeopardized by the failure of Congress and the White House to extend a lifeline to cash-strapped consumers. The neo-fascist politicians in power are stalemated on helping the lower classes because lobbyists and donors who represent companies are not interested in giving money TO consumers, even if it is the consumer’s own tax money. There is a proposal set to be about $1 trillion, but it will cut social security and further aid the rich more than help the poor. In fact more people will probably be made poor after the next covid bail-outs, because it will help companies more than consumers (everyone not a mega-company owner). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, among other enhancements; although she still will fund Trump’s DHC thugs who are attacking protesters.

Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” says investors are holding tightly onto their positions. – “There’s a lot of people who are being hogs, pigs, they should sell some [positions]. We had to sell some Amazon from my charitable trust because we were the Amazon fund, we had to sell some Facebook because we were the Facebook fund. We refuse to sell Apple because you have to own Apple, not trade it. But I think a lot of us are stuck thinking about, ‘What else am I supposed to buy?’”

Tech shares led the market lower, dropping more than 2.6%. Apple (APPL) lost 4.6%, and Microsoft (MSFT) fell 4.4%. Intel (INTC) retreated 1.1%. Consumer discretionary shares ended 2% lower, weighed down by Amazon (AMZN), which fell 3.7% loss. Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) slid 5.4%, and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) lost 4.2%. Communications services shed more than 1.9%, pulled lower by Alphabet’s (GOOGL) 3.1% slide and Facebook’s (FB) 3% fall. Netflix (NFLX) slid 2.5%.

Apple (AAPL) has obtained the commitment of its suppliers from China to use entirely renewable energy in the production of the US technology giant’s products, Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. The move is part of Apple’s broader plan to become carbon-neutral across its businesses by 2030, the report said. Apple has partnered with the US-China Green Fund to invest $100 million through 2023 to speed up the adoption of clean energy projects for the company’s suppliers, the report quoted a statement from the American company. The investment is apart from the $300 million Apple and its suppliers committed for renewable energy projects via the China Clean Energy Fund, it said. Apple fell the most today possibly because it was announced that multiple states have consumer protection fraud lawsuits against the company, and Chinese tensions abroad means their expansions seem risky.

Days like this we call ‘Covid-Bear Scat Markets’. Only an over-abundance of shit is for sale, and no one is buying. There is a projected rebound, like the last crash in March; but the V-shape recovery slope might stay at a lower floor as the Depression deepens. Trump’s militant crack-downs (DHS troops in addition to police) in multiple cities against protesters is not helping anyone.