Emmanuel Martinez • May 17, 2021

Alphex Munchies Newsletter 05-17-2021

Good Morning!

Quick News:

NASA picks SpaceX on New Lunar Lander!

Now to the markets:

Markets Last Week Performance

*As of Markets Close on 5/14/2021

Market's where red last week being lead by the Nasdaq and Bitcoin Plummeted after Elon Musk made some announcements.

Last Week Recap

Real Estate Market Reaching All-Time Highs

In the ever-changing market, one thing that remains sure is that housing prices will steadily rise over time. But housing prices have spiked at the fastest pace we’ve seen in about 15 years.

Just as the median existing-home price has touched record highs just above $300,000, the month's supply of existing homes for sale has touched lows.

The interesting trend we’ve seen is that buyers have little to no interest in where the property is, whether it be in a metropolitan area or smaller cities. New & existing homeowners are eager to scoop up properties, as interest rates have remained low. As well as mortgage debt steadily falling, bringing about a rise in price to U.S. properties.

What Happened with Gasoline: A Cyberattack and Panic

Driving Road Trip GIF by SoulPancake

Much of the northeast US might be in for a surge in gas prices.

On Friday May 7th, the Colonial Pipeline was forced to shut down their systems after being hit with a ransomware attack. Last week, the FBI confirmed the hacking group Darkside is responsible for the cyberattack. They've set a ransom which has not been publicly announced as to what’s been requested. The highly professional group released a statement stating that it is apolitical and that it did not mean to cause widespread disruption. The Colonial pipeline is 5,500 miles long carrying nearly half of all of the East Coast’s fuel supplies.

This attack caused panic buying and hoarding of gasoline in many areas around the country. Widespread panic buying even caused shortages in some areas not served by the pipeline.

Thousands of gas stations ran dry as supplies failed to arrive and drivers fearing a prolonged outage filled tanks and jerry cans. Refiners and fuel distributors are racing to recover before the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May, the traditional start of the peak-demand summer driving season.

Huge Tech Sell-off leading to Reflationary Trade

The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives in 2020 - The New York Times

A steep sell off has been occurring in the last week's as tech shares are the head of discussion. Leading the way with all major indexes in deep red, causing the S&P 500 to come down from record highs. Tesla shareholders are seeing a big and steady drop in price, with the tech company down about 21.82% in the last month.

But we’ve seen the biggest selloff in the tech industry come from Europe, with the Stoxx 600 index falling 2.3%. This comes as we've reached a 15 year high investor inflation expectation. A global sense of fear can be felt as Taiwan and Japan’s equity markets are down 2-3% , and fleeing out of their positions in electronics and semiconductor manufacturers. Which has already stunted the tech market’s growth in previous months.

Bitcoin Bubble Beginning to Burst Because of Elon?

After months of rapid growth, Bitcoin now sits around $45,000. Sliding down $4,000 after Elon Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla wouldn't accept the Cryptocurrency anymore due to environmental concerns. This stems from the majority of concern on emissions when mining Bitcoin, and transactions.

Although Bitcoin mining will not last forever as they're only about 2.2 million left to be mined. There has been a significant increase in Bitcoin energy consumption.

He did disclose that Tesla has not yet sold the $1.5 Billion Bitcoin which they had bought but is considering it;

AT&T to Merge Media Business

AT&T's WarnerMedia is merging with Discovery | Engadget

AT&T and Discovery Inc. reached a deal to combine their media assets into a new, publicly traded company, unwinding the telecom company’s big bet on entertainment after less than three years.

The new business, which isn’t yet named, will be led by current Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav. The companies said Jason Kilar will retain his title as CEO of AT&T’s WarnerMedia division but declined to say whether he would remain with the newly combined company after it secures regulatory approval.

Shares of both companies leapt early Monday. Discovery’s market value traded above $17 billion. AT&T, which draws most of its revenue from the telecommunications business, had a roughly $240 billion market value. The new media business will hold a little more than $55 billion of debt, Mr. Zaslav said.

Other News

Week Ahead

Top 4 Best Free Stock Charts for 2020 - Warrior Trading

Upcoming Earnings and/or News

MONDAY

Companies that Report Earnings
- Fisker
- Purple
- Lordstown
Tax Day

TUESDAY

Companies that Report Earnings
- Walmart
- The Home Depot
- Macy's
- T2
- Baidu

WEDNESDAY

Companies that Report Earnings
- Target
- Lowe's
- Cisco
- TJ Maxx

THURSDAY

Oatly IPO
Companies that Report Earnings
- Ross
- Kohl's
- L Brands
- Tencent
- Manchester United
- Petco
- Applied Materials
- Palo Alto
Weekly Jobless Claims
McDonalds Annual Shareholder Meeting

FRIDAY

Companies that Report Earnings
- John Deere
- Foot Locker
- VF Corp

Huge Earnings Week Ahead! Retail Earnings on the Spotlight