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Friday, March 29, 2024

Just Another Mueller Monday – Let the Indictments Begin!

The new Watergate?

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After almost a year of interviews and investigations, the first indictments are coming for Team Trump and the markets, so far, are very complacent about it.  Of course we don't know who is being indicted or where it will lead but, having gone through Watergate when I was young, this is following a very familar path.  So much so that our President is putting out angry 5-part (a new record!) tweets seeking to shift the focus to his usual punching bag – Hillary…

I find it interesting that very few people forwarded or commented on his middle tweet but interest picked back up on tweets 4 & 5.  It seems very odd to me that 33% of the people who didn't retweet part 3 would then retweet part 4.  Maybe it's the use of all caps that gets people excited about a tweet?  We report, you decide whether or not Trump's account is tweeted by Russian Robots.  

Actually, that's one of the things Robert Mueller will be deciding on that.  Apparently, the anwser isn't no involvement as members of Trump's team are going to be ARRESTED (tweet that) and that's a bit awkward because, as Trump himself has said, regarding Hillary's FBI investigation, "We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office" while PRAISING the FBI and DOJ for having "the courage" to pursue the truth.  He also said:

Trump lied about Doug Schoen, by the way.  Schoen worked for Hillary in 2008, not 2016, he had flipped Republican in 2010 after he was hired as a Fox News analyst and even wrote a book with Republican hit-pollster, Scott Rasmusen about the Tea Party movement.  Trump was right though, about a protracted legal battle that ties up the Oval office being a disaster for our country.  Hopefully he'll take his own advice and step down…  

The special counsel, meanwhile, has taken up several strands of inquiry, including into the business affairs of Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, claims that members of the President's campaign team, like former national security adviser Michael Flynn, transgressed in their alleged contacts with Russian officials and whether the President's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey amounted to obstruction of justice.  The President's political vulnerability is becoming more acute as well — an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll Sunday put his approval rating at 38% — the lowest point of his presidency. 

We just got word that the winners today are Paul Manafort, who ran Trump's campaign and Rick Gates, one of Manafort's business partners, who has been asked to surrender to Federal Authorities this morning, likely regarding payments they allegedly recieved from the Russian Government through a dummy corporation in Cyprus which is, if nothing else, money laundering.  This is normal with this kind of investigation – you get people who are certainly guilty of something who may be willing to flip and turn witness on other things they have done – as the little fish point to the big fish – and the guy who ran Trump's campaign is a pretty big fish to start with!  

And notice Trump's approval numbers look a little like a fish.  Coincidence???  

Stocks-WatergateDuring the Watergate investigation, 66% of the country thought the press was out to get Richard Nixon with 49% of the voters, as late as June of 1974, telling pollsters the whole thing was "just politics."  Clearly we've learned nothing in 43 years.  Clearly investors have learned nothing either as the Watergate scandal cost the S&P almost 50% of its value in 18 months while the price of gold doubled.

Bitcoin already hit $6,300 this weekend – perhaps the new gold?  Our GreenCoins (GRE) have shot up 472% (you're welcome) since we last discussed them in July, but miles and miles to go before they even get to a penny – so we're hanging on but, of course, taking some profits on those crazy spikes (don't chase)!

Playing the cryptocurrency market is something to be done with FUN MONEY ONLY but it was fun money when people used 10,000 Bitcoins to buy 2 pizzas in 2010 – a transaction that is now worth $63M or about $4M per slice!  So PLEASE, keep that in mind when investing in Digital Currencies – if you get a winner, you can make a fortune, so don't bet a fortune on it – there's no need – and you are VERY likely to lose the money instead.  It's like roulette but with worse odds.  Check our out Digital Currency section for news and commentary on this fast-paced sector.   

As to the markets, it's another huge earnings week, with about 20% of the S&P 500 checking in, highlighted by Apple (AAPL) on Thursday.  Our AAPL positiion in the Long-Term Portfolio (LTP) is fairly aggressive, with 50 of the 2019 $150/180 bull call spreads covered with just 20 of the Jan $155 short calls (and 15 short 2019 $120 puts) and AAPL is already ramping back towards $165 in anticipation of huge numbers.  FaceBook (FB) is Wednesday's big deal but we'll be watching Tesla (TSLA) with great interest as it's put up or shut up time for that Ponzi scheme.  

It's also going to be a busy, busy data week, puncutate by a Fed Meeting which begins tomorrow with the statement released Wednesday at 2pm – during our Live Trading Webinar – so that will be exciting.  Other than expected comments from Yellen on Weds, we only hear from Atlanta Fed's Bostic on Thursday and Neel Kashkari on Friday so it's all about earnings and data for the next two days – which is probaly bearish but, on the other hand, we're not expecting much selling until they year rolls over – as the pending tax cuts make profit-taking in 2017 a huge waste of money.  

 

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