1. The Markets for Now Making Lower Highs.
Stock markets need to break pattern of making lower highs….3 in play right now
QQQ—same pattern
2. Bitcoin -47% Correction High to Low….But Held Lows Twice in Last Month
3. KWEB Chinese Internet ETF -67% from Highs…Breaks to new lows.
Chinese Internet Stock ETF–50day just breaking thru 200day to the downside….BABA had mediocre earnings pushing stock and ETF to new lows
4. SPACS—105 SPACS from 2021 Yet to Find a Target Company
Barrons-A little more than half, or 58%, of those SPACs have found and closed acquisitions, an analysis by Barron’s has found. That means that 105 SPACs, including 33 that have deals pending and 72 that have yet to find a target, haven’t been able to complete a merger.
SPACs become wildly popular during the second half of 2020—the 247 SPACs that went public that year was, at the time, the most ever. That record was toppled in 2021 when 613 blank-check companies began trading, according to Dealogic.
SPACs Are Scrambling to Find Mergers. What That Means for Investors.-By Luisa Beltran Foo w https://www.barrons.com/
https://www.barrons.com/
5. Moderna Stock -65% Correction….They hold 13x more cash than pre-covid when stock traded at $20
6. After Russian Invasion of Ukraine…Europe (VGK) Still Outperforming S&P Year to Date
SPY -9.2% vs. VGK Vanguard Europe -7.6%
7. Aluminum and Nickel Spike to New Highs on Huge Exposure to Russia/Ukraine
JJU Aluminum ETF
JJN-Nickel Index
8. Americans are No Longer Moving Every 6 Years….Percent of Americans Moving Hits New Lows
https://www.vox.com/22939038/rents-rising-home-prices-americans-moving-residential-stagnation-stuck-mobility-freedom
9. Ukrainian Opinion of Russia Changed Dramatically After Crimea
One interesting chart we’ve seen, originally in the NYTimes, was of Ukrainian public opinion towards Russia. As shown above, before Russia’s annexation of Crimea — the peninsula in the south — Ukrainian public opinion towards Russia was overwhelmingly positive.
Respondents to surveys from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed that more than 80% of Ukrainians polled had mostly positive views towards Russia. After the annexation that figure dropped dramatically, and hadn’t recovered even prior to Russia’s latest invasion.
Regional variation
Not every region of Ukraine feels the same. Residents of western Ukraine are a lot less likely to have a positive view of Russia (21% of respondents) than their counterparts in the east — where 53% had a positive view.
Putin’s attack on Ukraine echoes Hitler’s takeover of Czechoslovakia
Michael Ruane – Yesterday 1:15 PM
By 1939, parts of Czechoslovakia had already been carved off and taken over by Nazi Germany, which claimed that millions of ethnic Germans were being persecuted there.
The previous September, European powers, seeking to avoid war, had acquiesced and done nothing.
But six months later, German troops were massed on the Czech border, as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler railed and threatened the country with destruction.
On March 15, 1939, the sickly Czech president, Emil Hacha, was in Hitler’s study surrounded by the Führer’s henchmen.
“Hitler was at his most intimidating,” historian Ian Kershaw wrote in his 2000 biography of the Nazi leader. “He launched into a violent tirade against the Czechs.” The Nazis needed to take over Czechoslovakia to protect Germany. Hacha must agree or his country would be immediately attacked and Prague, its capital, bombed.
Hacha fainted, according to Kershaw, but was revived and gave in to Hitler’s demand. German troops marched in a few hours later. Hitler said it was the happiest day of his life.
Russia strikes Ukraine from multiple directions; Biden vows ‘consequences’
Russia’s Vladimir Putin did not bother to speak with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, before launching his assault Thursday. But some observers see brutal similarities to Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia just before World War II.
“This is all truly dictated by our national interests and dictated by care for the future of our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday after the Russian assault began.
Putin on Monday claimed pro-Russian residents of Ukraine faced “genocide.”
“The killing of civilians … the abuse of people, including children, women and the elderly, continues unabated,” he said. “There is no end in sight.”
“Neanderthal and aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism … have been elevated in Ukraine to the rank of national policy,” he said. “How much longer can one put up with this?”
In March 1938, during the run-up to World War II, Hitler had first engineered the Nazi takeover of Austria, which already had strong pro-Nazi sympathies.
Seven months later, he was plotting the seizure of part of Czechoslovakia, claiming that ethnic Germans in the Sudeten regions bordering eastern Germany were being mistreated.
“I must also declare before the German people that in the Sudeten German problem my patience is now at an end,” Hitler said on Sept. 26, 1938. Czechoslovakia must “give the Germans their freedom, or we will get this freedom for ourselves.”
Four days later, during the famous Munich conference — now known as the centerpiece of the “appeasement” of the Nazis — Great Britain, France and Italy agreed to the handover of the Sudeten region to Germany, hoping it would prevent further aggression.
“It is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe,” Hitler said. Within six months, he took the rest of Czechoslovakia, and on Sept. 1, 1939, he attacked Poland, starting World War II.
10. Patience is not Passive
Farnum Street
“Patience is not passive, on the contrary, it is concentrated strength.” ― Bruce Lee
People wait in different ways. Some are passive. Others are active. These two approaches are as different as the results they yield.
Passive patience is waiting for the world to give you the thing you want. A lot of people live their life with passive patience. Rather than go after the promotion at work they expect it to fall in their lap. Rather than go after the love of their life, they sit back and expect to be courted. Rather than chase their dreams, they wait for just the right opening that always seems around the corner but never comes. These people have the wrong kind of patience.
Active patience is different. Active patience demands action and intention, even while waiting for results. Active patience means not only applying for the promotion but taking your time to build the skills you need to put yourself in the best position to succeed. Active patience means starting the business, writing the book, going after the love of your life.
Active patience puts you in the best position to get what you want. There is almost always an action you can take to improve the odds.
Active in the moment but patient with the results.
Active patience.