What can be said about this stock market?
Simple, it keeps rising. What goes up must at least take a breather, or a thoughtful plateau, or risk becoming overbought. Action here is primarily just staying with the existing portfolio choices, adding to some occasionally and trimming others, but also making some new bets on names that look interesting. Sucker bets or astute analysis, a bit of both probably but generally net positive outcomes with entertainment value.
For example the Chinese coffee chain Luckin(LK) was bought in mid December and sold with more than a 25% gain last week. If held until yesterday it would have been up more that 40%. No regrets on having a gain, but can't help but look at the recent price without a tinge of regret. One of the biggest losers here in 2019 was NIO, a nascent Chinese electric SUV manufacturer that was bailed out of with a material loss. Dived in again two weeks ago with a larger bet and up 20% now. Smile Direct Club, SDC, was bought two weeks ago and is now up 25%, it works, I'm smiling. DVA, a dialysis center network, probably not a club but with the same characteristics, is up more than 20% in two months. Meanwhile the market in general rises.
In the past, biotech has never been a strength of my investing "skill", over the years mixed results. A few painful losses, one large gain, but probably net negative. Those clinical trials make or break many stocks that by nature are not well diversified. Now with more than my toe in the water, investments over the last six months that have been made in companies, using ticker symbols, like ALXN, VRTX, ABBV, JAZZ, and NXPI, have been moving up, soaring was a thought, while new entries in the last week like BIIB, back again, and SAGE up slightly and NBIX is down 3% since purchase. A small investment was made a few days ago in HAPP, a Chinese start-up that is a maker of herbal health products, such as edible fungi powder. HAPP is Happiness Biotech. Is this legal, does it work? Is this a sign of overreaching? Will I be happy, or smile?
How about FTCH, a luxury clothing and accessory brand seller, trying again with that one too, with their biggest focus on the Middle East and Africa, or PDD, focused on household products and garments in a little market called China, both Amazon wannabes, PDD a more realistic bet probably. Don't forget YNDX, an innovator in self driving cars in Russia, vodka dispensed from the dashboard. Then there is SE, Sea Limited, a digital financial services and gaming platform in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. It loses money every year, every quarter, and has negative shareholder equity, something beyond my comprehension. Yet it has a list of well known niche U.S. hedge funds as top investors, and the stock keeps rising. Yes, own that one too.
Could this possibly be a bubble? Of course it is and I don't want to miss it.
For example the Chinese coffee chain Luckin(LK) was bought in mid December and sold with more than a 25% gain last week. If held until yesterday it would have been up more that 40%. No regrets on having a gain, but can't help but look at the recent price without a tinge of regret. One of the biggest losers here in 2019 was NIO, a nascent Chinese electric SUV manufacturer that was bailed out of with a material loss. Dived in again two weeks ago with a larger bet and up 20% now. Smile Direct Club, SDC, was bought two weeks ago and is now up 25%, it works, I'm smiling. DVA, a dialysis center network, probably not a club but with the same characteristics, is up more than 20% in two months. Meanwhile the market in general rises.
In the past, biotech has never been a strength of my investing "skill", over the years mixed results. A few painful losses, one large gain, but probably net negative. Those clinical trials make or break many stocks that by nature are not well diversified. Now with more than my toe in the water, investments over the last six months that have been made in companies, using ticker symbols, like ALXN, VRTX, ABBV, JAZZ, and NXPI, have been moving up, soaring was a thought, while new entries in the last week like BIIB, back again, and SAGE up slightly and NBIX is down 3% since purchase. A small investment was made a few days ago in HAPP, a Chinese start-up that is a maker of herbal health products, such as edible fungi powder. HAPP is Happiness Biotech. Is this legal, does it work? Is this a sign of overreaching? Will I be happy, or smile?
How about FTCH, a luxury clothing and accessory brand seller, trying again with that one too, with their biggest focus on the Middle East and Africa, or PDD, focused on household products and garments in a little market called China, both Amazon wannabes, PDD a more realistic bet probably. Don't forget YNDX, an innovator in self driving cars in Russia, vodka dispensed from the dashboard. Then there is SE, Sea Limited, a digital financial services and gaming platform in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. It loses money every year, every quarter, and has negative shareholder equity, something beyond my comprehension. Yet it has a list of well known niche U.S. hedge funds as top investors, and the stock keeps rising. Yes, own that one too.
Could this possibly be a bubble? Of course it is and I don't want to miss it.
posted by John Borden at 9:13 AM
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