Topley’s Top 10 – November 16, 2020

1. Naz 100 Vs. Dow Outperformance Stops Dead at 1999 Level

Bloomberg

https://ritholtz.com

2. U.S. Dollar at Lowest Levels in 2 ½ Years

Dollar Down, Internationals Up-Bespoke Investment Group

While risk assets are continuing their recent move higher today, the US dollar (as proxied by Bloomberg’s dollar index) is also reversing higher as it looks to end a four-day losing streak.  As shown in the chart below, last week saw the dollar drop 1.93%; its worst stretch of five days since June 1st. While today’s rally is reversing some of those losses, last week’s move resulted in a break below support from the consolidation that had been occurring since mid-summer when the dollar fell below late 2019 lows.  Although it is off the lows today, the dollar is currently around some of its lowest levels of the past two and a half years.

https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/dollar-down-internationals-up

3. Online Shopping ETF+88%YTD

sc%3fs=ONLN&p=W&b=5&g=0&id=t5324956602c&r=1605473731280

©1999-2020 StockCharts.com All Rights Reserved

www.stockcharts.com

ONLN Top 10 Holdings

Total Top 10 Weighting69.04

https://www.etf.com/ONLN#overview

4. 30 Year Treasury Yields Break Above June Highs….

30 Year Treasury Yield up 30% Since June

sc%3fs=%2524UST30Y&p=W&b=5&g=0&i=t3191885588c&r=1605474289487

www.stockcharts.com

5. Visa Stock+1000%in 10 Years…The End of Cash

Card adoption is already climbing—to 82.1% of in-store transactions from 78.7% in January, according to industry researcher The NPD Group

 Today, Visa links 70 million sellers with 3.5 billion account credentials issued by 13,000 banks. It collects fees per transaction for authorization, clearing, and settlement, and it sells add-on services for things like detecting fraud and increasing customer loyalty.  BARRONS

Pandemic or Not, Visa Remains a Growth Stock Stalking Its Biggest Rival, Cash

Jack Hough

https://www.barrons.com/articles/pandemic-or-not-visa-remains-a-growth-stock-stalking-its-biggest-rival-cash-51605310110?mod=past_editions

sc%3fs=V&p=W&b=5&g=0&i=t5219242323c&r=1605475002429

www.stockcharts.com

6. SPACS Keep Trucking in 2020

Special purpose acquisition companies, which raise funds based on acquisition goals, have become an increasingly popular mechanism for IPOs. (Silicon Valley Bank, State of the Markets, Q3 2023.)

GEEK WIRE BY TODD BISHOP on July 31, 2020 at 6:25 am

https://www.geekwire.com/2020/porch-go-public-523m-valuation-spac-deal-marking-new-era-real-estate-tech-company/

7. How RNA Vaccines Work

From Barry Ritholtz blog

How RNA Vaccines Work

Source: Washington Post

https://ritholtz.com/2020/11/weekend-reads-443/\

8. The Highest Number of Green Card Holders in 11 Years Took the Oath of Citizenship

SUMMARY

The number of U.S. naturalizations rose to 843,593 persons in 2019, up 11 percent from 761,901 in 2018 (Table 1) (Figure 1).3The number of applications for citizenship in 2019 was down to 830,560 from 837,168 applications in 2018. The number of naturalizations exceeds the number of applications due to previous adjudicated application denials and delays in application processing (Figure 2).4The leading countries of birth of newly naturalized citizens were Mexico (122,286), India (64,631), the Philippines (43,668), the People’s Republic of China (China) (39,490), and Cuba (36,246). The largest number of persons naturalizing lived in California (148,765), Texas (97,675), and Florida (96,149) (Table 2).

Persons Naturalized: Fiscal Years 1907 to 2019

page1image4185624432

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/naturalizations_2019.pdf

More Green Card Holders Are Becoming U.S. CitizensJo Craven McGinty

https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-green-card-holders-are-becoming-u-s-citizens-11605263402?mod=itp_wsj&ru=yahoo

9. Breakdown of American’s Mortgage Costs

Chart of the cost of owning a mortgaged home in America

Data source: Census Bureau. Chart by author.

Here’s the Size of the Average American’s Mortgage

by Millionacres Staff

https://www.fool.com/millionacres/real-estate-financing/mortgages/heres-size-average-americans-mortgage/

10. 4 Traits Found in Psychologically “Healthy” Individuals

Researchers identify the personality markers found in well-adjusted individuals-Mark Travers Ph.D.

There are hundreds if not thousands of traits psychologists use to describe someone’s personality. A person can be gentle, nervous, modest, or conscientious. Someone can be demanding, independent, vain, or risk-taking.

Which traits are most likely to be found in psychologically “healthy” individuals? A team of researchers led by Weibke Bleidorn of the University of California, Davis attempted to answer this question in a new paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. They found that high levels of openness to feelings, positive emotions and straightforwardness, combined with low levels of neuroticism were most indicative of a healthy personality.

“Scholars have been interested in characterizing a healthy personality prototype since the beginning of the scientific study of personality,” state Bleidorn and her team. “The father of modern personality trait theory, Gordon Allport, distinguished the ‘mature person’ based on their intentional pursuit of long-term goals. […] Erik Erikson famously claimed that Sigmund Freud described the healthy person as someone who can love and work.”

Bleidorn and her team added a contemporary twist to this age-old question. In their first study, they recruited 137 personality experts to rate which of 30 commonly used personality traits would appear in psychologically stable individuals. They found that experts rated openness to feelings, warmth, positivity, and straightforwardness as the traits most likely to appear in well-adjusted individuals. Hostility, depressiveness, vulnerability, and anxiousness, on the other hand, were rated as least likely to be found in well-adjusted individuals.

Below is the full list of personality traits, ranked high to low on their likelihood of describing a psychologically “healthy” individual:

1.   Openness to Feelings

2.   Warmth

3.   Positive Emotions

4.   Straightforwardness

5.   Competence

6.   Altruism

7.   Activity

8.   Openness to Values

9.   Tender-Mindedness

10.          Dutifulness

11.          Gregariousness

12.          Self-Discipline

13.          Order

14.          Achievement

15.          Deliberation

16.          Openness to Aesthetics

17.          Assertiveness

18.          Trust

19.          Compliance

20.          Openness to Ideas

21.          Modesty

22.          Openness to Fantasy

23.          Excitement-Seeking

24.          Openness to Actions

25.          Self-consciousness

26.          Impulsivity

27.          Anxiousness

28.          Vulnerability

29.          Depressiveness

30.          Hostility

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-instincts/202011/4-traits-found-in-psychologically-healthy-individuals

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