Focus Distribution

Debunking some common myths about stock buybacks: Myth 1: Companies Shouldn’t Buy Back Stock When it is Overvalued Myth 2: Buybacks Spike in Bull Markets and Disappear in Bear Markets Full article from Aptus Capital Advisors: https://lnkd.in/gb9qcMJx #invest #investing #buybacks #dividends #stocks

Charlie Munger's three principles emphasize integrity, respect, and collaboration as keys to long-term career success: #work #respect #value #advice #career #wisdom

In a research note on Friday, Bank of America's head of US equity strategy & quant strategy, Savita Subramanian, highlighted that since a promising inflation reading on July 11, more than 70% of stocks have outperformed the S&P 500. The equal-weighted S&P 500, which isn't as influenced by moves in larger stocks given every member of the index holds the same sway, has outperformed the cap-weighted index. From July 11 to Aug. 29, the Magnificent Seven — Apple, Alphabet Inc., Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and NVIDIA — fell a cumulative 10.2%. Meanwhile, the other 493 stocks in the S&P 500 gained 4.1%. As Charles Schwab senior investment strategist Kevin Gordon pointed out, this has resulted in the Magnificent Seven having its two worst months compared to the S&P 500 since December 2022. #invest #investing #markets #stocks #technology

The most unlikely companies employing AI. Nobody wants to miss the AI hype train, even if they only make bath bombs or beans. https://lnkd.in/g4ExxBZY #ai #invest #investing #comedy

The states with the lowest rates are found in the north, with the Dakotas recording extremely low levels at around 2%. Vermont also ranks well (2.1%), as does New Hampshire (2.5%) and Nebraska (2.6%). At the other end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia has the highest share of job seekers at 5.5%, more than Illinois (5.2%) and Nevada (5.4%) — home to Las Vegas, the city that was hit hardest by the pandemic, where jobless rates hit a staggering 34% in 2020. California, the country’s largest state by economic output, also has much higher than average unemployment, at 5.2%. Full article: https://lnkd.in/gkXna2cJ #labor #economy #economics #employment #USA

Nvidia announced a $50 billion share #buyback as part of their earnings announcement. This follows on the heels of its previously announced $25 billion share buyback as part of its fiscal second-quarter results. On the other hand, Nvidia #insiders have been selling shares at an accelerated pace with 13.5 million shares being sold by insiders YTD. (Jensen Huang accounted for approximately 35% of the sales.) Average daily volume overall for Nvidia has been approximately 350 million shares traded per day. NVIDIA #stock #trading #invest #investing Chart from GuruFocus, LLC

Two of the largest financial assets for US households are pensions and direct holdings of stocks. Pension funds, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, tend to be less liquid, as they generally have restrictions on converting the assets to cash. Of course, they often include tax benefits and contributions from employers. More direct participation in the stock market (either through direct holdings of corporate equity or through mutual funds) provides more liquidity, since the assets are easier to sell and convert quickly to cash. In the FRED graph above, the blue line shows US households’ pension entitlements (including IRA and 401(k) holdings) as a share of their net worth; the red line shows their holdings of stocks (corporate equity plus mutual fund shares) as a share of their net worth.* * In the 1950s and 1960s, stock holdings exceeded pensions. * In the 1970s, this relationship reversed and stock holdings remained consistently below pensions for most of the time. * In the 1990s, stock holdings began steadily increasing and have exceeded pensions since about 2018. This trend may be related to the rise of mutual funds and the decline in trading commissions, which would lower the transaction costs in holding stocks. #invest #investing #ira #pension #stockmarket Data from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

‘T-Bill and Chill’ Is a Hard Habit for Investors to Break. Of the $6.24 trillion of cash parked in money market funds, roughly 60% of that is from corporations that have been stockpiling cash following the pandemic, while the rest is from mom-and-pop investors who are content to continue earning more yield than what they can earn by merely keeping that money in the bank. Full article: https://lnkd.in/gakgNEtk #cash #interestrates #fed #money #volatility

Wonderful report from UBS. Some pages we would highlight: Page 5: Markets Dashboard Page 13: Inflation Page 18: CHIPS Act has resulted in a manufacturing surge Page 21: AI investment is already large and set to accelerate Page 24: Operating environment dashboard Page 45: Financial Conditions: Healthy backdrop for corporate bonds Page 47: Real Estate Key Points Page 50: Commercial Real Estate: Worst may be behind us Page 60: Equities: A concentrated first half of the year experiences a rotation Page 70: Sector Views: Tech, and Industrials in CIO Most Preferred #investing #invest #UBS #markets #economy

Got plans? As of July, over 44 million US passengers had departed from American airports on international flights in 2024, up ~10% on last year’s Jan-Jul tally, and 43% on the same period in 2022. While it’s obviously difficult to nail down the proportion of those flights that were for pleasure rather than business — corporate trips have reportedly made a comeback. Image from Chartr source International Trade Association #travel #international #airline #vacation