Topley's Top 10 Tuesday - January 17, 2024

1. Japan Stocks Beating China Stocks Since 2004 on Annualized Basis

2. Nvidia Forward P/E Lower than Semiconductor Index?

WSJ Nvidia currently trades about 26 times projected per-share earnings—near its lowest range in at least five years and well below its average of 40 times over that period, according to FactSet. Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein noted last week that Nvidia was also recently trading at a discount to the peer PHLX Semiconductor Index “for the first time in almost a decade, and is now (amazingly) the cheapest AI play, and likely already pricing in some prospect for an ‘air pocket’ scenario.”

WSJ Dan Gallagher https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/what-nvidia-does-for-an-encore-01c4347f

3. Record Spread in P/E Ratios Between S&P vs. International Makes New Highs. Reversion to Mean for International has not Worked

Torsten Slok Apollo Comparing the P/E ratio of the S&P500 with the P/E ratio of the rest of the world shows a record difference, see chart below. In other words, US equities have never been more expensive relative to international equities

4. Crypto Trading Volume Post New ETFs

The Daily Shot Brief–Cryptocurrency: Trading volumes surged for US spot-bitcoin ETFs on Thursday.

Source: @EricBalchunas

https://dailyshotbrief.com/

5. Lumber Prices Sideways for Over a Year

Lumber is the number one material for homebuilding

6. If Americans are Working, Then They are Spending

Irrelevant Investor Blog Total spending from BofA customers was $4.1 trillion in 2023, 4% higher than it was in 2022, and 35% higher than it was in 2019, the full year before the pandemic.

7. S&P 500 Has Diverged from Job Market

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-14/asia-set-for-mixed-start-after-taiwan-elections-markets-wrap?srnd=premium&sref=GGda9y2L

8. Ecuador Conflict…Murder Rate Rise Leading into Current Drug War

Zerohedge Blog The following chart tries to capture a sense of where Ecuador sits within the context of its Latin American neighbors.

Venezuela’s homicide rate was the highest of the region in 2022 at 40.4 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants – that’s even with a fall of 20 percent since the 2019 figure, when it had been a rate of 50.6 per 100,000 people.

As indicated here, many of the countries in Latin America have seen decreases between 2019 and 2022, with Ecuador as an outlier for its 288% increase from 6.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019 up to 26.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2022.

You will find more infographics at Statista

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ecuadors-homicide-rate-skyrocketing

9. These are the Unhealthiest States in U.S.

By Ashleigh Jackson A new study has identified the region with the unhealthiest population in the United States.

Forbes Advisor conducted the analysis and ranked each state based on several factors, including rates of drug abuse, unhealthy lifestyle habits, and chronic disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic diseases are health conditions that last a year or longer and require ongoing medical treatment.

The CDC notes that these illnesses – such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes – are the nation’s leading causes of death and disability.

As for the unhealthiest state in America, West Virginia claims the No. 1 spot. The Mountain State, considered ground-zero for America’s opioid crisis, stands out with the highest drug overdose death rate in the U.S., according to the Forbes Advisor analysis. Lately, the use of fentanyl and the so-called “zombie drug” xylazine has fueled the state’s epidemic, NewsNation reported.

Here is where home prices have increased the most in California

West Virginia also has the highest percentage of adults who smoke (21%), the highest percentage of adults who are obese (41%), and the second shortest life expectancy nationwide (73.9 years).

Mississippi, deemed the second unhealthiest state, has the shortest life expectancy at 73.63 years, the study found. The Magnolia State faces elevated rates of chronic diseases, including the highest cancer mortality rate in the country (17.37 deaths per 100,000 state residents).

The data also shows that Mississippi has higher rates of diabetes and hypertension, with 43.9% of adults in the state diagnosed with high blood pressure and 13.7% diagnosed with diabetes.

Aside from West Virginia and Mississippi, six other southern states are among the top 10 unhealthiest: