Week in Review Episode 24

Earnings season is always nutty, but this one was a week for the record books, capping off the month to make it the best January since 1987.

While many stocks popped even after missed reports simply because they weren’t as bad as feared, some like Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA) and Amazon (AMZN) didn’t fare so well.

Here’s what happened this week:

Market News

• EARNINGS SEASON! Apple (AAPL) and Boeing (BA) gave decent and excellent earnings reports, respectively, with Apple’s earnings beating a revenue decrease was nearly historic (typically, companies can’t get great earnings with decreasing revenue) and Boeing’s report was out-of-this world. Jim Cramer (CNBC’s Mad Money) noticed an odd trend – stocks heading higher into earnings sell off while stocks selling off into earnings head higher.

• Friday’s jobs report was historic and we’re not exaggerating as 304,000 jobs were created versus the 165,000 expected – the largest monthly job increase in the history of the United States. This is good news for the economy but an argument for the Fed to consider increasing rates – more jobs with fewer workers equals wage inflation which terrifies the Fed. Friday’s market action was relatively sideways thanks to the news.

• Politics seemed to stay on the sidelines after Trump’s agreement with Congress to reopen the government for three weeks as democrats and republicans continue to fight over border wall funding.

• There may have been no politics except Trump tweeted, “Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!” Last time Trump tweeted about Dow 25k, the market topped and crashed shortly after. Anyone else have a feeling of impending doom?

• The Fed meeting on Wednesday revealed that Fed Chair Jerome Powell isn’t entirely crazy. Dovish remarks indicated that the Federal Reserve will continue to remain patient before raising interest rates again, and there were even indications that the Fed may slow its balance sheet management which has been adding to economic concerns.

• The cannabis stocks continue to climb but seem to be slowing a bit this week. Are they resting up before going higher or is the buzz wearing off? The farm bill permitting the use of hemp and CBD (the non-high element of cannabis) is pushing the sector higher.

• Earnings season isn’t slowing down next week. As the ups-and-downs of earnings continue, make sure to protect yourself. Consider using stop-loss orders or taking some profits to cover your gains.

Get Irked Updates

• We released a feature story about our view of the current state-of-affairs of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Our title for the piece pretty much sums it up: Bitcoin’s Road to Nowhere: Is cryptocurrency really dead this time?

• We discussed how sometimes a bad earnings report can be good, when other times a bad earnings report is simply awful.

• We’ve added a new section to our website – our Stock Shopping List – which we will keep updated with the positions we’re interested in and the prices we’re hoping to get them at – reinforcing the importance of keeping money available for possible drops.

• Finally, we reminded members to avoid slipping up on green days – resist the urge to buy the rally. Remember this simple rule to avoiding FOMO: SELL on GREEN days, BUY on RED days.

In Play

• It was another nutty trading week with lots of repositioning in our portfolios. Stay tuned later this weekend for Episode 4 of our Investments in Play and  Trades in Play for both our Core Holdings and our Speculative Holdings.