1.CLOU-Cloud Computing ETF Trades at 7x Sales.
Theme Based ETFs seeing massive increase in money flows driving up stocks
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CLOU Fund Description
CLOU provides exposure to a market-cap weighted global equity index of companies involved in the cloud computing industry.
CLOU Factset Analytics Insight
CLOU offers equity exposure to cloud computing firms. It holds firms that license and deliver software over the internet by subscription, provide a platform to create software via internet, provide virtualized computing via internet, own or manage data centers or make or distribute related hardware. Firms must have revenue of at least 50% from these activities to make the cut. The index also allows any firm that earns more than $500M from such actions, regardless of revenue percentage. Aggregate exposure to such firms is capped at 10%. The index selects firms across the cap spectrum and in developed and emerging markets. It applies no additional filters beyond those defining the space. Stocks are cap-weighted.
CLOU Top 10 Holdings [View All]
- Dropbox, Inc. Class A4.69%
- Zscaler, Inc.4.67%
- Twilio, Inc. Class A4.60%
- Xero Limited4.50%
- Workday, Inc. Class A4.15%
- Shopify, Inc. Class A3.99%
- Akamai Technologies, Inc.3.89%
- Paycom Software, Inc.3.84%
- Paylocity Holding Corp.3.74%
Total Top 10 Weighting44.27
https://www.etf.com/CLOU#overview
2. IBUY +130% One Year
IBUY Online Retail ETF
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IBUY Top 10 Holdings [View All]
- Revolve Group, Inc Class A4.87%
- TripAdvisor, Inc.4.33%
- Groupon, Inc.4.12%
- Lyft, Inc. Class A3.80%
- Qurate Retail, Inc. Class A3.64%
- IAC/InteractiveCorp.3.45%
- RealReal, Inc.3.23%
- Expedia Group, Inc.3.15%
- Etsy, Inc.2.71%
- Booking Holdings Inc.2.56%
Total Top 10 Weighting35.86%
https://www.etf.com/IBUY#tradability
3. Copper Miners $9.50 at Covid Bottom….$44 Last
New Highs for Copper Miners
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4. More Dow Transports Stats …35% Above Previous High…13 Straight Weeks of Gains
Barrons-The Transports are at a new all-time high—35.5% above the index’s previous all-time high of September 2018. According to the Wall Street Journal, the last week of April marked the 13th straight week of gains, the longest wining streak since 15 successive weeks of gains for the index that ended in January 1899—that’s right, a record that has stood for 122 years.
—John F. Collopy
Transports Chart….See RSI top of chart overbought short-term
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5. 2021 Crypto Returns by Coin…Dogecoin??…Played Golf Saturday…All the Caddies are Long Dogecoin going into Saturday Night Live….Enough Said.
Charlie Bilello @charliebilello
Saturday Night Live Dive
It ultimately dumped as low as 42 cents at of 8:05 a.m. ET…
… a 35% decline in 24 hours and a disappointment for all those who had expected that Musk’s SNL appearance would be the catalyst that pushes the “dog” above parity with the dollar. Or, as Baird’s Michael Antonelli put it, “bad jokes and no funny memes leading to a Doge crash absolutely makes sense to me. It’s like an earnings miss but for a new era.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dogecoin-demolished-after-musks-snl-snafu
6. Retail Sales Jumped 23.3% in April
Retail sales jumped 23.3% in April, according to a report this past week from Mastercard SpendingPulse, a data unit of the payments processor. That isn’t just a bounce back from pandemic levels—spending was up 10.8% from the total two years ago.
Source: Charles Schwab, Bloomberg, as of 3/31/2021. April 2021 estimate is based on Bloomberg consensus survey of economists.
7. Airline sales taking off
As the U.S. economy reopens, consumer spending has increased in travel-related sectors. Transaction data shows sales for air travel, hotels, and travel arrangement services have increased since plummeting in March 2020, and rose dramatically in March 2021, while the cruise industry’s recovery remains sluggish.
Within the airline industry, both full-service and low-cost airlines have been cruising towards recovery, though budget airlines are closer to pre-pandemic levels.
Prior to the pandemic, full-service airlines enjoyed slightly higher sales versus budget airlines. The former enjoyed a 10 percent year-over-year increase in sales in January 2020, compared to a 3 percent decrease for budget airlines. However, in March 2021, year-over-year sales for budget airlines were up 66 percent, and only 42 percent at non-budget airlines.
Transaction volume also rebounding
Customers of budget airlines made on average 1.6 transactions in March 2021, whereas customers of full-service airlines made on average 2.3 transactions.
A closer look at share of transactions by price point revealed that the distribution has shifted since March 2020. Transactions under $250 have fallen 17 percent, while transactions between $250-$500 and $500-$750 have both increased roughly 11 percent. Similarly, the number of transactions over $750 have increased 5 percent. This increase in spending on higher priced tickets, combined with higher average number of transactions in March 2021 could signal a willingness from consumers to travel a longer distance as reopening continues.
Found at Abnormal Returns Blog www.abnormalreturns.com
8. Cruise Stocks Running Aground-Bespoke Investment Group
Thu, May 6, 2021
The CDC issued guidance this week on how cruise operators can run test cruises in order to move closer to returning to ‘normal’ cruising operations. At the surface, one would assume that anything that moves the industry closer to returning back to business would be a positive for the sector, but when the cruise stocks have already bounced so much off their lows, a lot of the good news appears to be priced in.
A key sign of good news being priced into a stock happens when you start to see selling into strength, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen over the last several weeks in the cruise operators. The charts below show the performance of Carnival (CCL), Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCLH), and Royal Caribbean (RCL). In each chart, we have included red arrows over days when the stocks saw strong intraday gains only to reverse lower from their highs into the close. Not only have we seen a number of these types of reversals in the last several weeks, but in most cases, each successive intraday high has been lower than the prior peak. The fact that investors are selling strength at progressively lower levels suggests a degree of eagerness to exit positions. If you’re willing to sell something for $38 today that you were selling for $40 last week, you’re what they call a motivated seller.
While the selling into strength in these cruise stocks may be disheartening if you are long, at this point the cruise operators haven’t yet shown any meaningful signs of breaking down. CCL still remains comfortably above its highs from last June and December, and each recent sell-off has been met with some buying at higher levels (motivated buyers) causing a series of higher lows. For NCLH, it’s a similar story. Of the three stocks, the only one that has been experiencing lower lows from each reversal has been RCL, but while it is currently modestly below its late 2020 high, it has yet to show a meaningful breakdown.
https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/cruise-stocks-running-aground
9. Report: China emissions exceed all developed nations combined
China emitted 27% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019
China emits more greenhouse gas than the entire developed world combined, a new report has claimed. The research by Rhodium Group says China emitted 27% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019.
The US was the second-largest emitter at 11% while India was third with 6.6% of emissions, the think tank said.
Scientists warn that without an agreement between the US and China it will be hard to avert dangerous climate change.
China’s emissions more than tripled over the previous three decades, the report from the US-based Rhodium Group added.
The Asian giant has the world’s largest population, so its per person emissions are still far behind the US, but the research said those emissions have increased too, tripling over the course of two decades.
China has vowed to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 with a peak no later than 2030.
President Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge at a climate summit organised by US President Joe Biden last month.
“This major strategic decision is made based on our sense of responsibility to build a community with a shared future for mankind and our own need to secure sustainable development,” President Xi said at the time.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57018837
10. 4 Ways to Grow Your Intelligence — at Any Age-Dave Asprey Blog
- It’s a common misconception that your intelligence levels are fixed, and you’re as smart as you’ll ever be. That’s a myth.
- You might assume that your memory, cognition, and focus will decline as you age. Also, not the case.
- There are brain-training exercises that you can do to stay sharp and even improve your brain power.
- Key supplements protect your brain from oxidative stress, and even build new brain cells.
It’s pretty much accepted that brain health and all that goes with it — memory, intelligence, and complex decision-making — declines with age. But new research suggests this doesn’t actually have to be the case. Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at UT Dallas found that a cognitive training program used for one hour a week, alongside two hours of homework, reversed cognitive decline in older adults.[1]
The program, called Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (or SMART for short), teaches you how to block irrelevant information so you can focus on the bigger picture without getting caught up in minor details. It also teaches you to analyze issues from different viewpoints, which helps with mental flexibility. Over the course of 12 weeks, these techniques helped the study’s participants (all over age 55) develop better focus and stronger reasoning skills. (Download the app here.)
So why is this news huge? “Innovative cognition — the kind of thinking that reinforces and preserves complex decision-making, intellect and psychological well-being — does not need to decline with age. This study reveals that cognitive training may help enhance cognitive capacities and build resilience against decline in healthy older adults,” said Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Center for BrainHealth founder, chief director, and lead author of the study.
Related: Reverse the Age of Your Brain With Dr. Daniel Amen
This study builds upon what’s already known about the brain — namely, that intelligence is not fixed. Numerous studies reveal that training, supplements, and even time can expand intelligence. That’s due to a big word called neuroplasticity – your ability to reshape your nervous system and brain. If you’ve caught yourself (or your parents) having “senior moments,” or just want to boost your IQ, here’s what you can do upgrade your brain function.
Use brain games to up your IQ
Besides SMART, there are other ways to stimulate your brain toward peak cognition performance. Dual N Back is a downloadable software program that requires 20 minutes of your time. They’re computer lessons that improve memory, problem-solving, imagination, and even REM sleep. If you’d like to read more, Dual N Back Training was the focus of our article titled “How To Add 2.75 IQ Points Per Hour of Training.” Or perhaps you are interested in trying it right now. Check out Brain Workshop, where you can download it for free. Be prepared to give yourself a daily dose of Dual N Back for about a month. It may not be easy at first — it might be downright dreadful as those neuronal circuits rewire — but soon enough, your brainy superpowers will kick in and you’ll be reciting your favorite Shakespeare sonnet in no time.
Practice memory techniques
People use a lot of different techniques to remember something. If you ask someone for a phone number, you might repeat it in your mind until you dial it, then you immediately forget the number. If you’re studying for a test, you might make up rhymes or mnemonic devices to memorize items for quick recall.
Bulletproof Radio podcast guest and accelerated learning expert Jonathan Levi (iTunes) explains a technique he uses called “memory palaces.” It essentially involves visualizing things or people in a physical space that you’re familiar with, the same way we would visualize placing furniture in rooms.
“[Spatial memory] is a huge survival advantage that our brains do naturally, which is why you’ll never forget every home you’ve ever lived in. You know the layout,” explains Levi. “You have all these empty memory palaces, and all you need to do is start putting your memories in there.”
Sharpen your smarts with brain-boosting supplements
If sharpening your cognitive powers nutritionally is your MO, these supplements have you covered. The following are known to have supreme brain benefits:
- Krill Oil (EPA & DHA): These two omega-3 fatty acids are crucial for proper brain function and development. They improve memory and thought processes. If you already have an optimal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats from your diet, you only need to take about 350mg per day.
- Medium Chain Triglyceride Oil: MCT oil helps your brain run more efficiently. It also happens to turn on your body’s fat-burning abilities. Start slowly with MCT oil, to allow your body to get used to this much energy this quickly.[2]
Consider Nootropics, aka “smart drugs”
Nootropics, aka “smart drugs” are substances that improve executive functions, like memory, creativity, and even motivation. There are a host of nootropics to explore—from Aniracetam for memory, creativity, and stress to Huperzine A for memory, nerve growth, and possible protection against Alzheimer’s. Two other notable ones are:
- Acetyle-L-carnitine (ALC): When crossing the blood-brain barrier, ACL acts on both acetylcholine and dopamine function, becoming a powerful antioxidant and cognitive enhancer. It’s true that most studies have been done on rodents, though there is a gamut of anecdotal evidence to suggest effectiveness in humans.
- Caffeine: Caffeine offers a massive boost in brain power. It improves short-term memory, alertness, and cognitive function. Caffeine improves the ability to perform simple math problems and organization and may improve mood. Upgraded coffee beans contain two potent brain anti-inflammatory agents, cafestrol and kawehol, which boost cognitive performance differently than caffeine. They are bite-sized brain winners for sure.[3]
For more on nootropics, read 13 Nootropics to Unlock Your True Brain.
https://daveasprey.com/improve-cognitive-skills/
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