1.Nasdaq Trades at 31% P/E Premium to S&P 500 vs. a 5 Year Average of 17%
The Nasdaq currently trades at a 31% P/E premium to the S&P 500 vs. a 5 year average of 17% and 10 year average of 14%. Just a reversion to the 5 year mean implies 14% relative downside for the Nasdaq vs. the S&P 500 (and significantly more relative downside vs. cyclical assets).
Percy AllisonJefferies LLC
2.Utilities Stocks -8% Off Highs…..See Some Technical Damage.
-8% from Highs….Close below 200 day …Close Below July Low
3.Travel and Leisure Stock Index Holding On.
Travel Stock Index hanging in near highs.
4.Commodities Break-Out….
There’s Inflation Central Banks Want And There’s Inflation We Get
BY TYLER DURDENBy Ven Ram, Bloomberg markets live commentator and analyst
There is inflation in our midst, and it seems insidious. It’s the type that adds up quickly, works its way through the economy and finds it way straight and ominously into your wallet.
Price of goods and services in some of the biggest G-10 economies are rising at a pace not seen in years, challenging even a very liberal definition of what constitutes “transitory”.
Central banks led by the Fed and the European Central Bank have decided that they would rather let consumers grapple with higher prices for now than slow an economic recovery. Norges Bank, on the other hand, has already raised its benchmark for the first time in the current cycle even though underlying inflation is low, for fear of letting asset-price imbalances build. The Bank of England, for its part, fired its first shot across the bow after retail-price inflation surged in the neighborhood of 5% in August.
Clearly, the reaction function of central banks to rising prices is different; it may also be that with rates as low as they have ever been, policy makers want to create a buffer for yet another rainy day by pitching up their benchmarks at the first available opportunity.
While it’s reassuring that inflation is alive and kicking, it seems to be driven by bottlenecks in getting a good or service through the last mile of its journey to make sure it reaches the hands of the consumer. That’s definitely the case in the U.K. where supermarket shelves are sparsely stocked and queues outside gasoline stations are serpentine.
In other words, this is the kind of inflation that isn’t quite the demand-led variety that central banks would love to see. With the median age of populations in many developed economies rising, the propensity to consume is dwindling. That means demand-pull inflation may prove yet elusive, but whatever the quality of inflation, it’s best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
https://www.zerohedge.com/
5.Oil and Gas Exploration Companies Breakout.
XOP ETF Breakout
See Clearly on Point and Figure Chart
6.Share-Buyback Queens …10 Stocks Bought Back $85B in Debt Since 2014
by Wolf Richter Funded by Debt: Since 2012, share buybacks totaled $5.5 trillion, corporate debt soared by $4.7 trillion.
They’re back big time. Three of the big four banks are back – while Wells Fargo keeps getting slapped on the wrist – after all four were out of it last year due to pandemic-rated financial restrictions. Intel fell out of it. But the rest of Big Tech is in, and Apple bigger than ever. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, after rightfully dissing share buybacks for years, has become one of the largest share buyback queens. And Charter Communications has jumped into it massively.
The top 10 companies – ranked by their cumulative buybacks over the past five years – bought back more of their shares than ever in Q2: $85 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices this week, accounting for 43% of the total share buybacks by all S&P 500 companies. Since 2014, these 10 companies bought back $1.13 trillion of their own shares.
The two surges in the chart below – first after the corporate tax cuts in 2017, and second after Q2 2020 – quadrupled the quarterly rate of share buybacks for these 10 companies from around $20 billion a quarter in the four years through 2017, to $85 billion in Q2 (data via YCharts.com):
The top 10 share buyback queens, based on their share buybacks in Q2 2021:
| Top 10 Companies, Share Buybacks in Billion $ | |||||
| Q2 2021 | 12 months | 5-year total | |||
| 1 | Apple | [AAPL] | 25.6 | 89.7 | 334.1 |
| 2 | Alphabet | [GOOG] | 12.8 | 40.0 | 87.7 |
| 3 | [FB] | 8.4 | 19.2 | 51.1 | |
| 4 | Oracle | [ORCL] | 8.0 | 21.6 | 93.8 |
| 5 | Microsoft | [MSFT] | 7.2 | 27.4 | 92.4 |
| 6 | JPMorgan | [JPM] | 6.2 | 11.0 | 81.5 |
| 7 | Berkshire Hathaway | [BRK.A] | 6.0 | 30.5 | 43.5 |
| 8 | BofA | [BAC] | 4.2 | 8.1 | 78.5 |
| 9 | Charter Comm. | [CHTR] | 3.5 | 14.9 | 42.8 |
| 10 | Union Pacific | [UNP] | 3.1 | 5.2 | 28.1 |
https://www.barrons.com/articles/robinhood-crypto-wallet-51632527047?mod=past_editions
7.Robinhood…Payment for Order Flow in Crypto Growing.
Barrons-Robinhood makes money from crypto just as it does with stocks and options: It sends trades to market makers that complete transactions, take a cut of the spread, and then send a rebate back to Robinhood. Just how big a spread is a mystery; unlike stocks and options, Robinhood doesn’t have to report on crypto payment for order flow, as it does with stocks. For now, much of crypto lives outside the purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Robinhood’s Crypto Wallet Could Open Another Front in the Fee Wars-Avi Salzman
https://www.barrons.com/
8.S&P companies in the United States that receive the highest percentage of revenue from China in 2020
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1219615/sandp-companies-china-exposure/
9.Highest and Lowest Cities in Bidding War for Homes
Is the Seller’s Market Over? By Michael Kolomatsky https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
10.How to Harness the Life-Changing Power of Sleep in 2020 and Beyond
Groundbreaking advances in digital health are changing the way we sleep.
By Shelly Ibach, President and CEO of Sleep Number; Sleep Editor-at-Large, Thrive Global
Courtesy of Sleep NumberAs we head toward spring and look forward to fresh opportunities and challenges, I am issuing a wake-up call. Now is the time to make quality sleep your priority. This exciting new decade we’ve entered is full of possibilities, and sleep is at the root of all of them; it’s the key to thriving and realizing our goals. Science has shown unequivocally that it’s vital to our well-being. Getting the right kind of zzz’s can help prevent illness, ease pain, increase productivity, and make us kinder — and happier. In short, quality sleep is life changing. Now, with astounding breakthroughs in technology, everyone can achieve it. At Sleep Number, we hold ourselves accountable for delivering meaningful benefits to consumers that move society forward. We are forging the future of sleep by utilizing data to inform innovation, research, and the science of sleep. We are dedicated to our mission of improving lives by individualizing sleep experiences. We are making quality sleep effortless and achievable to improve everyone’s health and wellness. Digital health must be simple, meaningful, and accurate. Innovators like us need to do our part in defining the future and taking on big health challenges like sleep deprivation.
According to the C.D.C. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), one in three adults don’t get adequate sleep. And the problem goes deeper. Sleep disorders are so pervasive in the United States that they constitute a public health epidemic. A study conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that one in four Americans develop insomnia each year. In particular, people say that they aren’t comfortable at night, so their shut-eye is disrupted. And many people still don’t understand that quality sleep involves much more than the number of hours spent in bed. It’s important to get not only the right amount, but the right quality of sleep.
The good news: Sleep is finally at the forefront of the well-being conversation. Now more than ever, people want to understand how they can achieve higher quality sleep, and they value the important role sleep plays in their health and productivity. Technology is giving people access to digital tools that provide valuable information about their well-being. In fact, new CES research shows that 59% of millennials are interested in sleep technology.
While it is great to see this adoption of technology, all the data can be overwhelming and confusing, especially if it isn’t accurate. There’s no shortage of data available related to wellness, however, often much of it doesn’t result in meaningful improvements. In other words, data for the sake of data doesn’t do anything to improve health: It isn’t always productive.
So, what is the solution? One crucial and formerly overlooked key to quality sleep is simple, yet far from simplistic. It’s your bed. What you sleep on matters. At Sleep Number, we have been pioneers in sleep monitoring sensor technology and on the cutting edge of the digital health era. The revolutionary 360 smart bed effortlessly adjusts throughout the night; it senses each sleepers movement and automatically adjusts to keep both sleepers comfortable for the highest quality of sleep. Additionally, SleepIQ® technology, the operating system of the 360 smart bed, provides personalized insights to improve sleep over time, as well as a nightly measure of quality sleep — your SleepIQ® score as well as your average heart and breathing rates. There is nothing for the sleeper to wear or do — you simply go to bed.
It all started back in 2012 when we met the founders of a Silicon Valley start-up, the world leaders in sleep monitoring and biometric hands-free technology that was being used in neonatal units. We recognized the potential of connected technology and how this technology would work with the adjustable firmness of our beds. My instincts told me that investing in this proprietary technology would add tremendous value to people’s well-being — it would be the smart bed. We acquired the start-up, transformed our company, and today, we are a purpose-driven company with 360 smart beds that deliver life-changing sleep.
Recent research we conducted has shown that people who routinely use the features of their 360 smart beds, including foot-warming and their SleepIQ® insights, improve their quality sleep by nearly 100 more hours each year. Studies have shown that an additional 15 minutes of quality sleep makes a considerable difference to your overall health.
As the sleep innovation leader, we recently introduced the next evolution of our award-winning 360 smart beds at CES, the largest consumer technology show in the world. Our new Climate360 smart bed uses sleep and biometric data to respond automatically and provide your ideal temperature, creating a personalized “microclimate” — as we call it. Designed to help you fall asleep faster, it keeps you asleep, with effortless adjustments throughout the night. It’s the ultimate sleep oasis. Our research showed that 84% of people struggle with being too hot or too cold at night. This is the first bed with advanced temperature technology that will understand and respond to your individual needs. It’s especially great for couples who disagree on their sleeping temperature. I often say we save marriages, bringing people back together in the bedroom.
We also announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Mayo Clinic to advance sleep science. Sleep deprivation has been linked to many diseases and health conditions including heart disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and depression. We will be combining Mayo Clinic’s clinical expertise and research with our own extensive consumer sleep knowledge and technology. As a crusader for sleep, I believe this is crucial because we need evidence-based solutions to advance the science and the clinical practice of sleep medicine. We’re establishing The Sleep Number Research Fund in Sleep Science with an emphasis on Cardiovascular Medicine, and the Sleep Number Research & Development Fund to Further Sleep Science. Our goal is that the collaboration will amplify our ability to impact society’s overall sleep and wellness.
My friend Katie Couric is also an advocate for well-being and highly engaged with the important advancements we are making to achieve life-changing sleep. We sat down for a discussion at CES and she shared the following sentiment: “When I started out in my career, people were bragging about not needing much sleep, as if it were a badge of honor. Now people are recognizing how critically important quality sleep is to overall health.” Katie went on to say, “I’m a big believer that one way we are going to alleviate some illnesses that are going to require medical care is by preventing them in the first place,” she said. “The future of this research is exciting.”
These are indeed exciting times. I’ve been thinking about how, five years ago, my friend Arianna Huffington — the founder and CEO of Thrive and, of course, a pioneer in so many ways — issued a wake-up call with her seminal book, The Sleep Revolution. It helped set in motion a sea change, making sleep a key element of the global conversation about well-being. Now the Digital Sleep Revolution is upon us, and in the future we expect SleepIQ® technology to play a significant, preventative role by detecting potential health conditions, like breathing difficulties, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome. I foresee a future where your bed will become your health hub.
It starts with great sleep, which leads to a healthy mind, body, and soul. I am counting on you all to make sleep a top priority. Whatever you sleep on and whatever your own bedtime routine is, it should be individualized for you — on your own terms. Sleep will support you in every way, and as a firm believer of quality sleep, I want to help you achieve it — so you can lead a healthier, happier life.
Sleep well, dream big,
Shelly
*Source: Based on internal analysis of 25 million sleep sessions assessing sleepers who use multiple features of Sleep Number products, including foot-warming, sleepers who routinely use their 360 smart bed features and SleepIQ® technology can improve quality sleep by over 15 minutes each night, nearly 100 hours each year.
— Published on March 3, 2020
Thrive Global
https://thriveglobal.com/