The Markets
- With everything the market had thrown at it the performance was pretty, pretty good. Long positions still got spanked but no one was really crying hard.
- S&P 840 looks to be support; 19 points below today’s close.
- Tomorrow is Turn Around Tuesday so we should expect a reprise. Lets see if traders can absorb all the news. Should the flu gain momentum over night then all bets are off.
- Here is a wacky result of flu scare. Smithfield Foods (SFD) is US’ largest pork producer. Shares were crushed, down 12%+.
- I was going to write about Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, TIPs, today. Am thinking that we are getting ever closer to inflation. But the flu scare is likely to dampen consumer spending even more, as folks stay home. So, I will write about TIPs in more detail later. Anyway, if you are convinced inflation is at hand you should explore TIP. This is the ETF which owns TIPs. It is more economical to buy TIPs directly from the Fed’s web site, there is no management fee. But I find the ease with which TIP trades to be worth the expense. Oh, TIPs should be held in tax deferred accounts.
- One thing the flu created is more information in these areas. Did you know we have 36,000 deaths in US because of flu? I didn’t. And, did you know we had 20 million doses of vaccine in storage? Me neither. Wonder how it is decided who gets them.
Great weather has spread across the country. Get out and enjoy it! Then, wash your hands!
