Tag: gold

Has the Nasdaq just saved the stock market? | Responsible Investor Weekly Newsletter, March 18th, 2023

Responsible Investor is a weekly newsletter and an Apple/Spotify podcast for those who are interested in investing responsibly. Go to responsibleinvestor.dk for more information and to read our disclaimer. This week’s newsletter is titled “Has the Nasdaq just saved the stock market?”, and was written on March 18th, 2023.

Weekly summary in a paragraph

The US stock market indices were mixed in a week which was dominated once again by the banking sector being under pressure despite notable interventions on First Republic in the US, and on Credit Suisse in Europe. The Nasdaq was very strong partly due to a golden cross finally forming on Wednesday, and joins all the other major US indices who already achieved the mother-of-all technical signals weeks or months ago. Europe experienced the second week of decline as the ECB raised interest rates by 0.5%, with more hikes seen ahead due to inflation still being high: this move may help the Fed justify at least a 0.25% hike at next Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. The 10-y yield staged a sharp reversal to the point that the 2-10y spread dropped to -42 basis points. In corporate news, Adobe and Fedex beat Q4 2022 estimates while Dollar General reported in-line.

Asset classes weekly performance

This week the Dow finished -0.15% lower (-3.9% year to date) while the S&P500 gained +1.43% (+2.0% year to date), the Nasdaq shot up +4.41% (+11.12% year to date) and the Russell 2000 lost -2.64% (-2.01% year to date, we have a 3x short position). Gold finished +4.33% higher (+7.07% year to date, we are long) while Silver gained +3.22% (-6.8% year to date). Oil tanked -7.0% (-14.15% year to date). The 10-y US treasury yield finished a whopping -6.68% lower (-10.49% year to date). The European stock market gave up -2.5% (+7.4% year to date). The Euro finished -0.12% lower against the US Dollar (-0.36% year to date).

Weekly pitch

I am fundamentally a value investor but like using technical analysis to guide entry/exit points in my positions from time to time. According to technical analysis a ‘golden cross’ occurs when the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average. Many algorithms use this event as a prompt to buy an asset. Conversely, a ‘death cross’, ie when 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average, is seen as a bearish sign. As mentioned in the weekly summary, the Nasdaq finally saw a golden cross form this week, and is the last of the major US stock indices to do so after the Dow (mid December 2022), the Russell 2000 (late January 2023), and the S&P500 (early February 2023). The flows in equities were stable this week, and it is possible that had the Nasdaq not experience a golden cross the markets may have had another sharp decline.

Weekly Portfolio Update

Here are this week’s movements: we took profits on our Williams-Sonoma short position (+6.5%); we initiated new short positions on Adobe, Pinterest, Snapchat and Five Below. Cash, precious metals and hedges amount to 40% in our portfolio (reduced compared to last week).

Top 5 Weekly Portfolio Performers

Newmont Mining Corp +14.26% (Precious metals)

ACI Worldwide +13.38% (Technology)

Google +12.58% (Technology)

Microsoft +12.41% (Technology)

Silver +9.38% (Precious metals)

Portfolio Asset Allocation

US Long stock positions 51% (increased)

EU Long stock positions 9% (unchanged)

US Short stock position 4.5% (increased)

Hedges 7.5% (increased)

Silver & Gold 5% (unchanged)

Cash 23% (reduced)

1-year Portfolio Performance

Our portfolio performance over the last 12 months is -3.5% (excl. dividends) vs the S&P500 loss of -11.2%, which corresponds to a +7.7% market beat.

…in case you missed it…

Check out our first 2023 weekly newsletter to read the 5 things I got right in 2022…and the 5 I got wrong.

Invest responsibly!!!

THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE BULLS AND THE BEARS: HERE IS WHAT TO DO | December 10th, 2022 | $LIT $SIG $TSM $NUE $HZNP $PLUG $TELL $DIS $THO $MP $KSS $GL $WMT $TGT $GILD $AIG $ORI $USB $CNC $SH $GLD $SLV $SON $NEM $HLT $NXPI $DEN $GPS $FIVE $JPM $CMG $MSFT

Weekly summary in a paragraph

Sure, everyone is expecting a slowdown in the rates hike next week, but the November headline and core PPI both hotter than expected may indicate that the Fed is not going to pivot any time soon. It was a horrible week on the global stock markets which finished markedly lower with the US indices declining for the first time after 3 weeks.

China was the exception as the reopening narrative gains strength and property support optimism sent Chinese stocks higher. The European stock market did a U-turn and contracted this week as cold weather exerts pressure on its frail energy sector.

Asset classes weekly performance

This week the Dow lost -2.8% (-7.04% YTD) while the S&P500 fell -3.4% (-17.45% YTD, we are 1x short), the Nasdaq retraced -4.0% (-29.17% YTD, we have a 3x inverse position) and the Russell 2000 tanked -5.0%% (-18.715% YTD, we are 1x short). $Gold finished marginally lower -0.1% (-2.63% YTD) and has been overtaken by silver which is the clear winner with its +1.2% gain (-1.39% YTD). $Oil tanked -10.9% and is now in negative territory for the first time this year (-4.99% YTD). The 20-y fell -0.7% this week (-26.33% YTD). The European stock finished -1.5% lower (-14.62% YTD). The Euro finished flat on the USD (-7.17% YTD).

Weekly pitch

While 2022 has clearly seen a bear market, from time to time the battle between the bulls and the bears does not have a clear winner. The bearish narrative is based on sticky inflation, uncertainty in terms of terminal rate, recession risk and the revision of earnings forecasts to the downside. Conversely, the bullish narrative centres around the Fed pivoting on interest rates, disinflation, sustained strength in the labour market and positivity around China’s potential reopening. One may consider not taking sides and using hedges + cash to reduce their exposure to the downside as we are doing in our portfolio.

Weekly Portfolio Update

Here are this week’s movements: we took partial profits on $WMT (+5.1%) and sold our short position on $ISF.L (-9.9%). We initiated short positions on $TSM and $SIG. Cash, precious metals, hedges and short stock positions amount to 43% in our portfolio (unchanged compared to last week).

Top 5 Weekly Portfolio Performers

$SQQQ +11.25% (3x inverse Nasdaq)

$VXX +6.40% (Volatility ETF)

$IWM +5.01% (short position on Russell 2000)

$SH +3.57% (1x inverse S&P500)

$SLV +1.27% (Silver ETF)

Portfolio Asset Allocation

– Long stock positions 57% (unchanged)

– Short stock position 2% (increased)

– Hedges 7%, though equal to 10% considering leveraged ETFs (reduced)

– Silver & Gold 4% (unchanged)

– Cash 30% (reduced)

YTD Portfolio Performance

Our currency-adjusted YTD portfolio performance is -6.6% (excl. dividends) vs the European market loss of -7.5% (+0.9% European market beat, expressed in €) and the S&P500 loss of -17.5% (+3.7% US market beat, expressed in $).

Invest responsibly!!!

November 12th, 2022 | Zero earnings growth for 2023: is this week’s rally short-lived? | $META $FTNT $THO $KSS $GLD $SLV $MP $GILD $AIG $GL $USB $ORI $AJRD $NEM $FCX $DIS

Weekly summary in a paragraph

A mildly positive inflation data point on Wednesday was all it took to send the global stock markets higher and induce weakness in the US dollar. I don’t want to be the Cassandra of the situation here, but one month on month data point does not seem enough to justify a reversal of the general trend though technical analysis would suggest further strength ahead at least in the short term.

It was an even stronger week for the European stock market which was further amplified by strength in the Euro.

Asset classes weekly performance

This week the Dow gained +4.1% (-7.2% YTD) while the S&P500 went +5.6% higher (-16.2% YTD, we are 1x short), the Nasdaq skyrocketed +8.0% (-29.0% YTD, we have a 3x inverse position) and the Russell 2000 gained +4.6% (-16.7% YTD, we are 1x short). $Gold rose +5.2% (-4.4% YTD) while silver finished +3.6% higher (-7.2% YTD). $Oil gave up -4.0% (+18.3% YTD). The 20-y recovered +3.9% this week (-33.7% YTD). The European stock market outperformed the US market indices and finished +9.6% higher (-19.2% YTD). The Euro recovered as much as +4.0% relative to the USD (-11.5% YTD).

Weekly pitch

As most of the S&P500 companies have reported Q3 earnings, there is now sufficient data to update earnings forecasts. This week Goldman Sachs revised their S&P500 earnings forecast to the downside ($224 USD) to conclude that they now expect zero earnings growth for 2023. Because stocks follow earnings and earnings expectations, investors will now have to look to 2024 (current estimate is $237 hence +6% compared to ’22 and ‘23) to justify staying invested on the long side.

Weekly Portfolio Update

We initiated three new positions on $NEM, $KSS, and $USB which are already profitable trades. We have also increased our position in gold: if dollar continues its weakness this will send its price higher. Cash, precious metals and hedges were reduced to 37% in our portfolio which rose +2.77% this week.

Top 5 Weekly Portfolio Performers

$META +24.49% (Technology-Social Media)

$FTNT +19.17% (Technology-Software-Security)

$THO +17.38% (Building-Mobile Manufacturing/RV)

$DUE.DE +15.52% (Industrial – Germany)

$KSS +15.24% (Consumer-Dept. Stores)

Portfolio Asset Allocation

– Long stock positions 63% (increased)

– Hedges 9%, though equal to 14% considering leveraged ETFs (unchanged)

– Silver + Gold 4% (increased)

– Cash 24% (decreased)

YTD Portfolio Performance

Our currency-adjusted YTD portfolio performance is -2.2% (excl. dividends) vs the European market loss of -7.7% (+5.5% market beat).

Invest responsibly!!!

October 29th, 2022 | Should you still be invested in Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon? | $GOOG $AMZN $MSFT $AAPL $META $GILD $TLT $GL $AIG $CHTR $ORSTED.CO $PINS $BWA $FIS $CMG $V $MBG.DE $CARLB.CO $EL.PA $DSV.CO $GMAB

Weekly summary in a paragraph

It was a tale of two stock markets in the US: while all the major indices continued to rally for the second week in a row, major tech companies reported poor earnings and most importantly week outlook which limited gains for the Nasdaq. Given the hotter than expected inflation data (core PCE came in at 0.5% vs 0.4% consensus) this recent optimism seems largely unjustified although we are heading towards a period of positive seasonality coupled with favourable technicals.

Asset classes weekly performance

This week the Dow gained +3.9% (-11.9% YTD) just like the S&P500 (-18.2% YTD, we are 1x short) and the Nasdaq limited its advance to +2.2% (-31.0% YTD, we have a 3x inverse position). The Russell 2000 skyrocketed +6.0% (-19.5% YTD, we are 1x short). $Gold lost 0.6% (-9.5% YTD) while silver finished flat -0.1% (-16.4% YTD). $Oil rose 3.4%. The 20-y recovered +5.7% this week (-34.2% YTD). The European stock market rose +4.9% (-26.5% YTD). The Euro recovered 1.0% against the USD (-10.9% YTD).

Weekly pitch

The four biggest tech companies in the US stock market all reported earnings this week. There are clear signs of weakness in all four although $AAPL appears more resilient. These are all companies full with an incredible pool of talented individuals though more short-term pain ahead is likely. We had exited our position in $AMZN and $AAPL at the beginning of August, just before they peaked. $META’s earnings were particularly concerning especially the reported losses from investments associated to the metaverse.

Weekly Portfolio Update

After the blowout earnings report $GILD rose sharply and finished with a 19% weekly gain: we have taken partial profit (+26.45%) on our long position. We have also taken partial profits on our short-term $TLT trade (+3.8%). Finally, we initiated long positions on $MP and $AJRD. Cash, precious metals and hedges were reduced to 37% in our portfolio which finished 1.64% higher this week.

Here are the top 5 performers of our portfolio this week:

$GILD +16.93% (Drug-Biotech)

$CHTR +11.45% (Telecom Services)

$BWA +9.55% (Auto/Truck-Original Equipment)

$ORSTED.CO +9.54 (Green Energy)

$FIS +9.08% (Financial)

This is our asset allocation as things stand:

– Long stock positions 63% (increased)

– Hedges 9%, though equal to 15% considering leveraged ETFs (unchanged)

– Silver + Gold 3% (unchanged)

– Cash 25% (decreased)

Our currency-adjusted YTD portfolio performance is -3.8% (excl. dividends) vs the European market loss of -15.6% (+11.8% market beat).

Invest responsibly!!!

Responsible Investor Portfolio Update, August 15th, 2020 | $TCEHY $NEM $BK $SYF $GILD $GRUB $SQQQ $SCO $PCG $LVMUY $LRLCY $PEUGF $ELC.MI $WBD.MI

Another positive week for the global stock markets with Europe over-performing the US. The Italian stock market jumped almost 5% while the Stoxx index gapped 2.77% higher. The Dow and the S&P500 were up 2 and 1%, respectively. The Nasdaq was very quiet and closed marginally higher.

There are increasing calls from investment banks for a potential future over-performance of the Stoxx versus the US Stock Markets which have run a lot: YTD, the S&P500 is up 4.7% while the Stoxx index is down 10% and the FTSE MIB lags behind with a -13,82%. There are exceptions within Europe: for example the Danish stock market being up 15% YTD and currently has a P/E of 31. With our portfolio consisting of European stocks for 68% at present, we are geared to benefit from a possible mid-term rise of the European stocks.

We have had 3 winners this week as $SYF , WeBuild and Elica rose between 5% and 7%. This week’s sell off in gold has negatively impacted on $NEM , down 7%, however this precious metal is expected to rise further in the near future.

$TCEHY continues to be hit by anti-China US policies and, more recently, by the dispute between $AAPL and $GOOG vs Epic Games, the company behind popular video game Fortnite in which Tencent has a stake.

Two of our positions hit the SL price, namely $SCO and $GILD. For the latter it might have just been bad timing as the fundamentals and the valuation remains strong: we might get back in if the earnings continue to grow and the technicals suggest an entry point.

The table below summarises the portfolio performance since inception.

2000814 RIP

If you don’t want to miss my alerts, please subscribe to Responsible Investor or follow me on Twitter. I also run an eToro portfolio which currently has 25 positions and can be accessed via this link.

Responsible Investor Portfolio Update, August 1st, 2020 | $TCEHY $NEM $BK $SYF $GILD $GRUB $SQQQ $SCO $PCG $LVMUY $LRLCY $WBD.MI $IMA.MI $ELC.MI

It is surprising how the global stock markets are capable of shrugging off just about any news headline recently. This week was no different. The pandemic keeps wreaking havoc in many developing countries and of course in the US as a second wave in Europe seems inevitable now. Check out these great graphs from the Financial Times.

On Wednesday the CEOs of the largest 4 tech companies, Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook appeared before a US Congress Committee to be “grilled” on anti-trust accusations. You can’t say anyone of them lost their cool, really, and when the same companies all reported their Q2 earnings after the close the following day on the one hand it seemed that as if there is nothing to stop them from hoarding cash, and on the other it does reinforce the point of whether there is fair competition and reasonable profit.

The US markets were up this week, especially the Nasdaq, while the World Stocks Index was mostly flat. Italy saw a sharp decline, just shy of 5%, and the European stock markets in general were also down (Stoxx index fell by 2.6%). The other stock market we watch closely, the Nasdaq Copenhagen, was less badly hit with a 1.4% loss and continues to outperform most European stock markets.

We keep finding great investment opportunities in the Italian stock market. A classic  rule when it comes to personal finance is to invest in what you know. This past week I have sent two new buy alerts, one for mid-cap in the Industrial sector called IMA (which is already up 14% since my buy alert) and another one for a Consumer Cyclical stock called Elica, both traded on the Italian stock market.

I am disappointed by the recent weakness in WeBuild which tanked 21% this week. This is a good example of why focusing only on valuation is not sufficient to pick (or deciding to stick with) a stock: if the market is against it, you won’t see it grow. With the 38.2% fib level broken, there is the risk of further depreciation. I will look into it more closely in due course and send an alert if I sell/reduce/accumulate.

WBD.MI_YahooFinanceChart

I realised that one of our SQQQ position was incorrectly reported despite the ETF having hit our SL price of 8.1$: apologies for the inconvenience.

So far we have not included dividends in the total return and I will endeavor to add this information in a future update as some of our stocks have already paid a quarterly dividend since the inception of the RI portfolio.

The table below summarises the portfolio performance since inception.

200731 RIP

If you don’t want to miss my alerts, please subscribe to Responsible Investor or follow me on Twitter. I also run an eToro portfolio which currently has 20+ positions and can be accessed via this link.

$NEM $BK $SYF $GILD $GRUB $SQQQ $SCO $PCG $LVMUY $LRLCY| Responsible Investor Portfolio Update, July 4th, 2020

Q2 ended with a bang and Q3 started on a positive note. All major markets were up this week as the sentiment continues to be positive despite the concerning news about C-19 in the US and other non-European countries. Note the typical behaviour of the “momo crowd” erroneously reading certain news like the jump in new jobs in the US which however reflects events which occurred in the past rather than focussing on the future like “smart money” does.

Once again the US markets gapped higher, led by the Nasdaq (+4.6% weekly gain), while Europe lagged behind whilst delivering a gain, with the Italian stock market staging at 3.2% gain (#Stoxx +2.0% and #OMXC20 1.8%). Note however that most European indices have a lot more room to recover compared to the US stock market and this may affect the relative weight of our positions going forward. The Copenhagen stock market is up 10%+ YTD and its valuation is getting expensive.

Gold has passed a key resistance level and opened the opportunity for further appreciation: our position on $NEM enabled us to benefit from this move.

Our RI Portfolio was positive this week (+0,6%) but its growth was muted compared to the tracked stock markets because the hedges dragged it down. The markets are so buoyant and the valuations so high that I did not want to sell the hedges as things may change direction after the 4th of July weekend.

Five weeks after initiation we are showing a positive total return of 2.0% beating the Market by 0.6%.

No alerts this week ! I know it is nice to receive them but timing is also important.

This week’s winners in our RI Portfolio were both from Europe: Danske Bank (+6,4% gain) and Inwit (+5,7% gain).

No relative changes between the three currencies of the RI Portfolio.

We now have 15 open positions, 2 of which are leveraged hedges (inverse ETFs). Even in times of high valuations I keep finding cheap stocks and a possible further drop of the markets next week may offer an opportunity to initiate new positions.

The table below summarises the portfolio performance since inception.

2000703 RIP

If you don’t want to miss my alerts, please subscribe to Responsible Investor or follow me on Twitter. I also run an eToro portfolio which currently has 10+ positions and can be accessed via this link.

$NEM $LVMUY $LRLCY $BK $SYF $GILD $GRUB $SQQQ $SCO $PCG | Responsible Investor Portfolio Update, June 27th, 2020

This week was a roller-coaster for the global markets which pushed higher in the first two trading days to then loose strength and finish the week down. We still did not manage to have two consecutive negative days though !

In the US markets the #Dow suffered a 3.3% loss, followed by the #S&P500 which closed 2.9% lower than last week and the #Nasdaq which limited the loss to 1.9%. The weekly performance in Europe was no different, however all the three indices we follow more closely fared better than the US markets (#Stoxx -1.1%, #OMXC20 -1.3% and #FTSEMIB -1.6%).

Our RI Portfolio was nominally positive this week (+0,2%) and therefore outperformed these 6 indices by a weighted average of +2.6% thanks to selected stocks and especially to the hedges I had put in place during the preceding week, namely $SQQQ and $SCO.

We now have one full month of track record and I am pleased to see that we are showing a positive total return of 1.4% (+0,4% vs the Market).

There was only one Buy Alert this week, for precious metals stock #Newmont which benefited from the stock markets coming to a screeching halt. We also added to the triple inverse Nasdaq ETF $SQQQ position which proved to be the right move. With reduce and accumulate alerts the relative weight of the open positions change of course.

This week’s winners in our RI Portfolio were $SQQQ (+7,4% gain) and, once again, Grubhub (+8,1% gain).

No relative changes between the three currencies of the RI Portfolio.

We now have 15 open positions, 2 of which are leveraged hedges (inverse ETFs). Even in times of high valuations I keep finding cheap stocks and a possible further drop of the markets next week, especially around the quarter close, may offer an opportunity to initiate new positions.

The table below summarises the portfolio performance since inception.

200626 RIP

If you don’t want to miss my alerts, please subscribe to Responsible Investor or follow me on Twitter. I also run an eToro portfolio which currently has 30 positions and can be accessed via this link.

A potential takeover target: Nokia $NOK

This week saw the first group of earnings come in with the financial sector under the spotlight. The big US banks did rather poorly, for the most part: this is for example the case for Wells Fargo, which we own in one of our portfolios, who took a 14.6% weekly loss while the Dow was up 2.2%. On the flipside, our other bank stock, the Bank of New York Mellon Corp (ticker: $BK ) reported better an expected earnings and ended the week with a 0.6% gain. Even within a badly hit sector, there can be outperformers.

But our last week’s biggest winners were Danone (ticker: $BN.PA ) and AstraZeneca, both European stocks, one operating in the food industry and the other in the pharmaceutical sector, who boasted a 9.1% and a 12.1% gain, respectively !

We have made several buys and sells this week. For starters we have locked in a 5.41% gain on Dexcom (ticker: $DXCM ). This company is so promising that I am sure we will be back, but I don’t trust this overly positive sentiment at the moment and, feet to fire, I would guess that next week the market may pause.

The ETF we own which reproduces the German stock market has run a lot lately, after a period of consolidation (those who swear by technical analysis would say “bull flag”), and this week we have exited the position on $EWG with a 7.12% gain in just 2 weeks !

Finally, we have closed our long position on gold, via the $GLD ETF, with a nice 5% gain in less than two months.

From the buy side, we have initiated a long position on Nokia (ticker; $NOK ) which is a potential takeover target. We’ll keep a close watch on it and if it plays out it can result in a significant upside.

If you want to see all the positions of one of my portfolios, you are welcome to follow me on eToro here.