1. VIX Volatility Index Third Largest Rise in History
VIX had its largest increase in history (to 65.73 from 23.39 on Friday) and reached its 3rd highest (crisis) reading in history. Only the Lehman and Covid Panics had higher (crisis) VIX readings. Several brokerage firms’ systems crashed. From King Report http://thekingreport.com/
2. VIX History
Dave Lutz Jones Trading
Since 2000, the VIX has closed above 28.5 just 12% of the time. But when the VIX has been that high, the S&P 500 has produced an annualized return of greater than 40% (vs an annualized return of less than 1% when the VIX has been below 28.5) – Bloggers note.
3. 40% of World Population is on META Products Daily
META sideways pattern…+42% 2024
4. The AGG Bond Index +7.7% One Year vs. T-Bill 5.4%
The Aggregate Bond ETF ($AGG) is now up 7.7% in the past year, outperforming Treasury Bills ($BIL +5.4%).
Bonds non-correlated again…Returns since July 16th highs in stock market.
5. S&P Best Performing Stocks Since 7/16 High in Market
What is impressive is that in looking only at the S&P 500’s 20 best performing stocks since the 7/16 high, the two sectors with the largest representation are Health Care and Industrials. However, looking more closely, a number of those Industrial stocks are also in the Aerospace & Defense industry with stocks like Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), and RTX (RTX) all posting double digit gains.
https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/defense-outperforms
6. Credit Spreads Widen
Credit: Spreads have widened sharply.
Source: The Daily Shot
7. Used Car Prices Falling Month Over Month for Past Year
Barrons
8. Best and Worst Cities for College Graduates -ADP
The 10 best cities for new graduates, according to ADP:
9. Ranking the Most Expensive Neighborhoods in NYC
NYT By Michael Kolomatsky
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/realestate/new-york-citys-most-expensive-neighborhoods.html
10. What Do Pommel Horse Guy and Jeff Bezos Have in Common? The Same Secret to Success
By Jessica Stillman, Contributor, Inc.com @EntryLevelRebel
Watching the Paris Olympics has been a blast — we’ve had it on basically all day, every day at my house. But following Paris Olympics memes has been almost as much fun.
There was the ultra-casual Turkish shooter (versus the badass Korean with action star vibes), the Italian gymnast sponsored by parmesan cheese, and just about everything Snoop Dogg does and says.
But obviously, the number one meme of the Games so far has been Stephen Nedoroscik, a.k.a. Pommel Horse Guy.
Unless you live under a rock, you don’t need me to tell you the story of the understated pommel horse specialist whose last-minute heroics helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team take home bronze in the all-around event (and also earned him an individual bronze). I have nothing to add to the internet’s hilarious response to Nedoroscik’s Clark Kent-like performance, except to point out that it has a surprising lot in common with the career of Jeff Bezos.
Pommel Horse Guy and the power of specialization
You’re probably thinking I have lost my mind. One guy is a mild-mannered electrical engineer who happens to be a world-class gymnast. The other is among the world’s richest men. They’re both kind of buff and nerdy, but beyond that, what’s the similarity?
In a sentence, both are spectacular examples of the power of clear-eyed self-assessment followed by strategic specialization.
This occurred to me when I was reading through reactions to the Olympics on social media (don’t judge me–I’m far from the only one wasting time this way) and came across a LinkedIn post celebrating Nedoroscik’s triumph from executive coach Stephen Courson.
Like everyone else, Courson was impressed by Nedoroscik’s humility and self-possession. But he also highlighted Nedoroscik’s unique career trajectory in gymnastics.
“His story is incredible and probably applies to more people on here than a Biles or Dressel story,” Courson insists. “Stephen didn’t progress in gymnastics like he wanted to, so he niched down into the one event he excelled at: the pommel horse. He started winning all sorts of competitions as an event specialist, and literally was put on the team because he scores so big on his ONE THING.”
“How many of us need to specialize a bit more to get to the next level of our journey?” he asks.
The secret ingredient to success? Brutal self-assessment
I’m not sure the answer to that question. Generalists have their strengths too. As star psychologist Adam Grant has noted, “We don’t need to debate whether it’s better to be a generalist or a specialist. The world needs both.”
But what Courson’s post did underline for me is the importance of being brutally honest with yourself about where your talents lie and making smart choices about how to direct your efforts for maximum payoff based on those observations.
That’s something Jeff Bezos famously did early in his life. The Amazon founder has spoken about how when he arrived at Princeton as a young man, he dreamed of being a physicist. “Halfway through, I figured out I wasn’t smart enough to be a physicist,” he admitted. A cold-eyed appraisal of his abilities led him to switch to business. We all know how that turned out.
There’s even a mathematical way to express the value of the kind of insight that led to Bezos’s early career switch. Physicist Albert-László Barabási, a Northeastern University-based expert on network theory, examined the careers of scientists and came up with this formula for success: S = Qr.
Put that back into plain English, and what does it mean? Your level of success in life (or S) is the product of the value of what you choose to work on (that’s r) and what Barabási termed your Q-factor, basically your innate level of skill at that activity. Or, in other words, it’s only when the right person is working in the right area for them that amazing things happen.
It couldn’t have been pleasant for Nedoroscik to face the fact that he just didn’t have the chops to be an all-around gymnastics champion, or for Bezos to concede his mind wasn’t built for quantum mechanics. But by redirecting their efforts to the kind of endeavors they did have real talent for, these realizations made both their later accomplishments possible.
This column isn’t an argument for any particular path. Some people are meant to be specialists, others generalists; some excel at pommel horse, others at parallel bars. Some will solve the mysteries of particle physics, others will found trillion-dollar companies.
There are as many ways to be successful as there are people on the planet. But what holds true for all of us is we’re more likely to reach our dreams if, like both Bezos and Pommel Horse Guy, we’re clear eyed about what we’re really good at and really enjoy, even if it seems initially less glamorous or flattering.
Dedicating yourself to what you’re suited to with humility and dedication might not guarantee you billions or an Olympic gold medal, but it is your best shot at true success.
What Do Pommel Horse Guy and Jeff Bezos Have in Common? The Same Secret to Success | Inc.com
