Stock Market Losses Worsen, The NASDAQIRI Reverses Into the Red

Many of the defensive names in utilities and REITs are higher today, alongside government bonds (extra TLT). I understand the Fed wants to hike rates. But this should not affect long term government bonds, as long as Japanese bonds keep plunging into deeper negative territory. Treasuries are the new Swiss Bank accounts, a safe haven for large amounts of cash. With more than 2/3rd’s of government bonds donning negative yields, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why TLT’s 2.6% yield is attractive to Joanne (née) Billionaire with $300 million to park.

Whether the market is bound to trade higher or lower is immaterial to the seasonal aspects of the market now. Most accomplished traders and investors go on cocaine binges during the summer months, traversing the genteel streets of the Hamptons to La Jolla. No one really knows where markets will end up by Labor Day, nor do most care. The primary goal for asset managers, during summers, is to preserve gains and to survive through the alcohol imbued nights. Live to fight another day, wildly swinging at the markets without a fucking clue in the world.

Interestingly, defensive consumer staples are soft today, with the market lower and bonds higher. This is a notable change in market character, which might be the start of profit taking amongst a consumer staples group trading at historically high levels.

Worst case scenario, markets begin to decline, in earnest, and traditional safe havens drop in sync–leaving investors nowhere to hide but in cash. This is a recipe for true, delicious, disaster.

Indian doctors were just giving blood transfusions without running rudimentary screens to test the blood for HIV. Why were they doing this? Well, the technology was available to them. The short answer is, they simply didn’t care about the repercussions.

The highest number of patients who had been infected with HIV as a result of contaminated blood in hospitals, were from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with 361 cases, Mr Kothari’s RTI (Right to Information) query revealed.

The western states of Gujarat with 292 cases and Maharashtra with 276 cases rank second and third respectively.

The Indian capital Delhi is at number four with 264 cases.

“This is the official data, provided by the government-run Naco. I believe the real numbers would be double or triple that,” Mr Kothari told the BBC.

This has all occurred over the past 17 months alone. God knows how many people the Indian government has killed with HIV, by denying facilities with the very available technology to screen for HIV.

According to the nonsense I am reading, just 3 hospitals have HIV testing facilities in India. Most government owned hospitals do not screen for HIV before giving transfusions. More than 2 million Indians are infected with HIV.

India’s economy is growing at a 7.9% clip, none of which includes the sale of equipment to test blood for life ending diseases.

Earlier this year the IPO market was inexorably shut down. Investment bankers went home depressed, drinking from the bottle, sleeping in the woodshed because their wives put them there. Now with markets lifting again, the pipeline of shit has been lodged from inside the investment banks, spewing a fresh batch of IPOs onto an illiterate public.

Here are some of 2016’s standouts.

China Customer Relations (CCRC), +129%- outsourcing call centers in China. Trump will shut this shit down.
Editas Medicine Inc (EDIT), +120%- a genone editing company. New World order shit right here.
AveXis Inc (AVXS), +114%- gene therapy nonsense.
Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc (PTI), +99%- treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Acacia Communications Inc (ACIA), +65%- high speed network equipment.
Intellia Therapeutics Inc (NTLA), +63%- gene editing.
BATS Global Markets Inc (BATS), +46%- electronic stock trading services.

I won’t bother delving into the negative performers. I am trying to filter out all of the negative stuff in my life now and will only report good, happy news (extra namaste). Moreover, whenever the markets trade lower, I will simply turn off the computer, which is the same as the market never declining in the first place.

The NASDAQIRI is bucking the trend, higher by 0.1%. Both the SPY and Dow are off, with the Dow feeling the brunt of the sell off–down 90. Breadth is strong at around 56%. Gains are to be had in precious metals, biotech, energy stocks and tankers. Most of the weakness is in banks and a sundry of risk off related names, which bodes well for the risk on crowd.

With stocks like CLF shooting higher and the biotech sector rife with speculation, one could only surmise that this pullback is nothing more than a waystation for higher prices.

All in all, with crude hugging recent highs, natural gas soaring by 6%, and an overall bullish sentiment to the tape, I wouldn’t put much credence into this decline, unless of course it was paired with a sharp reversal in crude.

A business partner and friend of the future President of the United Steak of America weighs in on ‘The Donald’, offering insight into the man behind the elaborate hair style design.

Will the real Barack please stand up? (sorry, I had to)

It’s a grueling process, one that I’d eschew like the plague. There are those who do and others who plan to do. The CFA exam candidates, although an accomplishment unto itself, falls firmly in the latter of people who’d rather study than dial for dollars. But that’s just one jaded person’s opinion.

Upwards of 170,000 people plan to sit for the exams, which comes in three levels–sort of like a video game. After you beat the first monster, the 2nd and the 3rd level monsters get progressively more difficult. The pass rate varies between 40-50%, depending on the genetic make up and socio-economic backgrounds of the applicants.

It’s funny to see so many people race towards becoming a CFA, considering that investment banks no longer require their services.

Who named him Harambe anyway? I’m sure he’d disagree with that name. If you’re unfamiliar with the news, a monstrous gorilla was seen dragging a 3 year old child around in the water the other day, like at 100mph–much to 3 year old boy’s chagrin. Employees of the Cincinnati zoo, who happen to be most familiar with the temperament of this Harambe character, opted to kill the gorilla in order to save the boy’s life.

Activists charge ‘HARAMBE’ was merely playing with the boy and was more attentive to him than his parents, who permitted the boy to be dropped into the gorilla exhibit. They feel, in a sense, that perhaps the young boy deserved what was coming to him and should’ve thought about the consequences of his actions BEFORE falling into the gorilla den.

In response to these charges, the 3 year old boy said ‘goo goo, ga ga. BIG gorilla, ROAAAAAR’.

Post Harambe’s death, lunatics who live on the edges of sanity have taken to social media to voice their disdain. Moreover, they’re planning vigils and protests too, because #GORILLASLIVESMATTER and all that jazz.

Rumor has it that Harambe was very much interested in undergoing a sex change operation and actively cross dressed at the zoo, prancing about the cage with high heels and a skirt, which might’ve been the motive to kill him by one of the scurrilous zoo keepers.

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this before. I also doubt it will be upheld or honored. A Delaware judge ruled in favor of investors holding more than 30 million shares of DELL, who opposed the deal because it was too low.

Well, good news has befallen these craven lunatics this morning, as a Delaware judge has set the price $3.87 higher for the true value of DELL, paving the way for more legal action to order DELL to pay them MOAR.

Bleak house.

Carl Icahn has to be insane to keep this dog and pony show going at his age. Why the fuck does Carl have a Twitter account anyway? He’s 80, worth more than $20 billion, and the media would spread any press release statement from his office, regardless of his social media savvy.

At any rate, Carl just tweeted he took down a large position in AGN. The shares are mildly higher. Here’s his statement.

It looks like the rumors were true. MKTO is going private, by Vista Partners, in an all cash deal valued at $35.25. It’s a mild premium of just 10%. But the stock is much higher for the year and has been one of the best performers in the software sector for 2016.

Here are the best performers in the application software sector this year.