Today’s services ISM was dovish. So, bonds are up, yields are down. Prices paid, which is a leading indicator for inflation, was off by a country mile.
New vehicle sales were up almost +5% from Jan to Mar, but EVs were down. Drivers are concerned about limited range and a lack of charging stations. I just did a long road trip with my kids to visit colleges, and it was easy-peasy, for those on the fence. Also, prices are down -3.6% y/y, the largest recorded decline for the mo of Mar. Discounts were about $2,800. Tesla’s sales were down a lot.
If you’re just waking up to the news, Taiwan had a big earthquake (7.4 magnitude). We wish everyone their safety. In terms of investments, TSMC temporarily halted chipmaking, with the overall impact still uncertain, per BBG.
The Cyber Safety Review Board faulted inadequate lapses at MSFT that led to the China hack last year of US officials’ emails, per BBG. In other news, I had to look up what the Cyber Safety Review Board is. It’s a White House mandated group that looks at major cyberattacks.
While the BOJ’s decision to end negative rates hasn’t stopped the yen from weakening, analysts now wonder if the weakness will make them hike even further. The yen is around the upper 151 range against the USD for the 1st time in ~34 years. A weaker yen makes import prices higher, which is not what the BOJ wants.
It’s been smooth sailing in the markets for the most part. Yesterday the S&P slipped -0.7%, which is the 10th time in the past 3 mo that it has dropped -0.5% or more. Recently everyone has been waiting for a pullback, though, so they’ve kept the ship calm on these waters on down days.
You want the green bars to be big when above zero, not the copper bars. Earnings growth begets multiple expansion. Multiple expansion without earnings growth tends to be less permanent (and riskier).
Don’t expect your Tesla to hold its value. So, expect to drive that thing for a while.
EZ stocks are close to their largest discount to US stocks in history.
My teens were laughing at a video showing dancing Boomers with a caption about how their second and third homes are your main rentals. Well, it looks like they’re staying put in their main homes for now, so they’re probably still line dancing at your expense.
