This Week in Barrons – 2-28-2016:
Thoughts:
“Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” … John Dalberg-Acton
Dear Ms. Yellen:
I remember a quote by Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World War 3
will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones.” Our lives revolve around electricity. Last week
we talked about abolishing cash, and making everything digital – which works as
long as there is power to run it. What IF:
clocks stopped, refrigerators went silent, no heat, no microwave ovens, lights went
out, no dial tones on cell phones, no cars at gas stations, and nobody picked
up 9-1-1. What IF: you arrived at your
work place and it was dark, there are no streetlights, and everyone was outside
looking confused. Then someone (who
commuted from 30 miles away) told you that they didn’t have any power back
there either. Then it hits you -
something BIG has happened.
Did an EMP
(Electro-Magnetic Pulse) hit our power grid?
An EMP can come from a low-level nuclear explosion that enters the wires
and ‘blows up’ everything in its path from transformers on poles, to circuit
boxes in your home, to your TV and appliances. Experts have said that (as a nation) we are
extremely vulnerable to such an attack. It’s
my belief that if our power grid goes down, life (as we know it) grinds to a
halt in a short period of time. You will
have enough gas in your car to get around for a week. You won’t be able to cook. There's no water because the town pumps are
down. Freezers and refrigerators are down – so food is rotting. And people (although they may have $15,000 in
the bank) only have $10 in their wallet – and the ATMs (like the banks) are closed.
After 30 days, roving bands of people would be scouring neighborhoods looking
for food. Police protection would be gone,
as they would be ‘staying home’ to try and save themselves.
But I’m not at all worried
about someone launching an attack via an EMP style nuclear shell. My concern is someone ‘hacking’ into the
power grid. After all, the power grid
runs on software. Imagine someone
implanting a virus (such as Stuxnet) onto our power grid.
Stuxnet
is a malicious computer virus believed to be jointly built as an American-Israeli
cyber weapon. Although neither state has
confirmed, anonymous U.S. officials (via the Washington Post) claim that the
worm virus was developed during the Obama presidency in order to sabotage
Iran's nuclear program. The goal was to
disable Iran’s program – all the while making it look like a long series of unfortunate
accidents. Stuxnet specifically targets PLCs (programmable logic
controllers) that allow the automation of processes such as those used to
control machinery on factory assembly lines, or centrifuges for separating
nuclear material. Stuxnet reportedly
compromised Iranian PLCs, collected information on industrial systems, and
caused the fast-spinning centrifuges to tear themselves apart. Stuxnet's
design and architecture could be tailored to attack modern SCADA (supervisory
control and data acquisition) and PLC systems – just like those used in power
plants.
Given our government has
the ability to: (a) create a worm virus, (b) deposit it into a factory, (c)
spiral things out of control until they blow up, and (d) all the while giving every
indication to the operators that everything is okay. Imagine what ‘real hackers’ could do.
John MacAfee created the first
commercially available anti-virus software.
In the 1980’s (while employed by Lockheed Martin), John received a copy
of ‘The Brain’ computer virus and began to develop software to combat it.
John has said on numerous occasions that incredibly bright hackers
already have the ability to shut down our entire power grid. He said
that the U.S. Government is 20 years behind in technology. He said: “Nobel prize winning mathematicians
can figure out complex equations in their heads - that take us years on a
computer. These types of computer geniuses
don’t fit the corporate mold. You don't
see Uncle Sam hiring a kid with a red mohawk hair-do and facial tattoo's. But it's that very genius that can look at a
full page of code, decipher it in his mind, and change it to do whatever he
wants. Uncle Sam does NOT have those
kinds of kids."
So when I hear the word
‘power’ – it doesn’t mean who is going to be elected as our next President of
the United States. To me, ‘power’ means
electricity – or lack of it. I worry
about the new push to abolish cash, and use smart phones. What cheaper, better
and faster way could you ever envision to take over a nation, than to: (a) get
them addicted to electricity, (b) abolish their money so that they are entirely
digital, and then (c) pull the plug on the juice? It would be the
ultimate take over strategy and unfortunately, we could be ripe for it.
I do hope that John
MacAfee is wrong. I also hope that the
next time we are talking about ‘Power’ in the White House – it’s not someone
searching for a light switch that works.
The Market:
Factually:
-
Crude
inventories are at a new, weekly, record high.
-
New home sales collapsed
– down over 5%.
-
The Purchasing
Manager’s Index came in 7% below expectations.
-
An interesting
quote was: “With the exception of the Oct 2013 government shutdown, this February
has been the worst month for business since the recession.”
I happen to be a big fan
of Brad Lamensdorf’s Market Timing Report (www.lmtr.com)
and would encourage you to subscribe - because of the interesting ways he
analyzes data. Here are a couple examples:
His ‘Smart Money / Dumb
Money Confidence’ chart shows that the ratio is now as wide as it was during
September’s correction. This indicates major
pessimism and fear in the marketplace by the ‘dumb money’. Once this fear dissipates, it will serve as a
contrarian indicator for a large decline.
His Selling vs Buying
Climaxes Chart tracks when stocks make 12-month lows, but close the week with gains
(selling climax). In mid-January there
were almost 1,100 selling climaxes, which rivals the number that occurred
during the September low. Be careful not
to use this price increase as a trending indicator, but rather as a warning.
This is a typical bank
stock chart – showing a January break in support and dropping nearly 20% after
that break. Such a dramatic drop often
foretells: recession, exposure to sovereign debt, or possible energy loans
going bad. This price action is
worrisome from a historical perspective.
The big G20 meeting (in Shanghai, China) is still
going on. The two-day event brings all
the heads of the big nations together to chat about the global economy. A lot of people are waiting to hear that they
have agreed on a form of coordinated global economic stimulus (similar to 2008)
to ward off the slowing economy. But the
talk on Friday was that they did not see the need for that.
The Friday market started out by running higher, with the DOW (at one point) being up 130 points. But as the day wore on, the market went from being up 130 to closing 50 points in the red. Technically, the S&P needed to cross the 1950 level and it did, but it couldn't hold it. While it is true that they stopped the bleeding by getting above the 50-day moving average (at 1944), I tend to think that the G20 will determine whether the market will go higher and challenge 1975, or if it will roll back to the 1900 level. If the G20 comes up with some global stimulus plan, we could rocket higher on Monday. But if they come away with handshakes, we could see the market fading back down to the 1900 level.
The Friday market started out by running higher, with the DOW (at one point) being up 130 points. But as the day wore on, the market went from being up 130 to closing 50 points in the red. Technically, the S&P needed to cross the 1950 level and it did, but it couldn't hold it. While it is true that they stopped the bleeding by getting above the 50-day moving average (at 1944), I tend to think that the G20 will determine whether the market will go higher and challenge 1975, or if it will roll back to the 1900 level. If the G20 comes up with some global stimulus plan, we could rocket higher on Monday. But if they come away with handshakes, we could see the market fading back down to the 1900 level.
Secondly be aware that corporations cannot buy
their own stock back 5 weeks prior to their earnings announcement, and 2 days
following their announcement. Therefore
with the banks reporting earnings again in mid-April – it’s likely that the
banks will begin to cool-off from now until then.
Let's be patient and see what the G20 comes up with over the weekend.
Let's be patient and see what the G20 comes up with over the weekend.
TIPS:
To prepare for a downturn, and if you would rather not use options –
remember the following ETFs work in reverse.
That is to say when the DOW goes down, DOG (an inverse ETF for the DOW)
goes up. There are also ‘double’ and
‘triple’ leveraged ETFs as follows:
-
For the DOW: use DOG = 1x, DXD = 2x, and SDOW = 3x.
-
For the S&P: use SH = 1x, SDS = 2x, and SPXU = 3x,
and
-
For the Russell 2000: use RWM = 1x, TWM = 2x, and SRTY = 3x.
I am watching:
-
MO – buying the stock & writing a covered call,
-
SPX – buying the 1900 – March / + April Calendar spread,
and
-
XLF – shorting it over 22.
I am:
-
Long various mining stocks: AG, AUY, EGO, GFI, IAG, and FFMGF,
-
Long an oil supplier: REN @ $0.56,
-
Long CRM – Mar – Call - 82.5,
-
Long FIT – Mar – Call – 21,
-
Long GLD – Mar – Call Debit Spread – 115 / 120,
-
Long HD – Mar – Call – 135,
-
Sold JPM – Mar – Call Credit Spread – 57.5 / 58,
-
Long NFLX – Mar – Butterfly – 90 / 95 / 97.5,
-
Long NKE – Mar – Call – 67.5,
-
Sold RUT – Mar – Call Credit Spread – 1100 / 1105,
-
Sold SPX – Mar – Call Credit Spread – 2025 / 2030,
-
Long STI, using a Mar 35 Covered Call to generate income,
-
Sold TEX – Apr – Put Credit Spread – 19 / 20, and
-
Long TSN – Mar / Apr – 62.5 Calendar
To
follow me on Twitter.com and on StockTwits.com
to get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: taylorpamm.
Please
be safe out there!
Disclaimer:
Expressed
thoughts proffered within the BARRONS REPORT, a Private and free weekly
economic newsletter, are those of noted entrepreneur, professor and author,
R.F. Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews. You can learn more and get your free
subscription by visiting: <http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com> .
Please
write to Mr. Culbertson at: <rfc@culbertsons.com> to inform him of any
reproductions, including when and where copy will be reproduced. You may use in
complete form or, if quoting in brief, reference <rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com>.
If
you'd like to view RF's actual stock trades - and see more of his thoughts -
please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower - "taylorpamm" is the handle.
If
you'd like to see RF in action - teaching people about investing - please feel
free to view the TED talk that he gave on Fearless Investing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Z9I_6ciH0
To
unsubscribe please refer to the bottom of the email.
Views
expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be
construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest and
is not in any way a testimony of, or associated with Mr. Culbertson's other
firms or associations. Mr.
Culbertson and related parties are not registered and licensed brokers. This message may contain information
that is confidential or privileged and is intended only for the individual or
entity named above and does not constitute an offer for or advice about any
alternative investment product. Such advice can only be made when accompanied
by a prospectus or similar offering document. Past performance is not indicative of
future performance. Please make sure to review important disclosures at the end
of each article.
Note:
Joining BARRONS REPORT is not an offering for any investment. It represents
only the opinions of RF Culbertson and Associates.
PAST
RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. THERE IS RISK OF LOSS AS WELL AS
THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAIN WHEN INVESTING IN MANAGED FUNDS. WHEN CONSIDERING
ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS (INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS) AN INVESTOR SHOULD CONSIDER
VARIOUS RISKS INCLUDING THE FACT THAT SOME PRODUCTS AND OTHER SPECULATIVE
INVESTMENT PRACTICES MAY INCREASE RISK OF INVESTMENT LOSS; MAY NOT BE SUBJECT
TO THE SAME REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AS MUTUAL FUNDS, OFTEN CHARGE HIGH FEES,
AND IN MANY CASES THE UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AND ARE KNOWN
ONLY TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER.
Alternative
investment performance can be volatile. An investor could lose all or a
substantial amount of his or her investment. Often, alternative investment fund
and account managers have total trading authority over their funds or accounts;
the use of a single advisor applying generally similar trading programs could
mean lack of diversification and, consequently, higher risk. There is often no
secondary market for an investor's interest in alternative investments, and
none is expected to develop.
All
material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to
its accuracy. Opinions expressed in these reports may change without prior
notice. Culbertson and/or the staff may or may not have investments in any
funds cited above.
Remember the Blog: <http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/>
Until next week – be safe.
R.F. Culbertson
<http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com>
No comments:
Post a Comment