TLC Weekly Update August 26, 2023

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What a week for the stock market – NVidia blowoff earning midweek and Powell hawkish statement on Friday gave the world completely opposite outcomes based on normal expectations. Nvidia earning sent its stock price up 11% on Wednesday night but then on Thursday all that gain were wiped out during normal market hours. Powell hawkish statement initially was thought to have pressured stock market lower on Friday but then the stock market went higher in the afternoon. Media and gurus keep trying to give an after the fact explanation of what happened. But does that matter?

Here is a video discussing Burry’s bearish bet in better context. For those of you who want to ride his coattail, watch it to gain a better understanding of the macro situation. But keep in mind that the real reason why Burry made the bet can be something else completely. And also remember that the reporting of one’s positions for each quarter has a 45 days time window. So between end of June and now, Burry’s position may have changed already.

I find this video has a more balanced view of the macro factors that will shape the near future of world economy. If you don’t want to watch this hour long video, I can summarize it here – we are f$#ked.

Back to work for me. No point overthinking much on what to do when the financial system collapse or reset.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update August 19, 2023

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Option expiration week ended with SPX closing at the lowest level over the past few weeks. It is not something unexpected because of the largest technology companies had a huge rally earlier this year. Even if they are not crashing down, taking a breather for a few weeks is reasonable.

The biggest news in the financial world this week must be Michael Burry’s 13F filing. It is reported that he has positioned himself on a bearish outlook for the SPX and NDX indices using put options on SPY and QQQ. It is the largest position he has put on over the past few years. First, we do not know the expiration dates of these options. Second, we do not know the strike prices of these options. Most important of all, we do not really know if it is just a short term trade for a normal market correction which many pros expected, or a conviction trade that Burry thinks that something way worse is coming.

So no point to speculate why he is doing that. And more importantly, you can’t mimic what he does without more details. I am positioned since July on a major pullback for the big techs. I even posted charts on Twitter with the reasons and the expected downside targets. It is not that hard to figure this out.

An interesting discussion of our ever increasing demand of electricity by Patrick Boyle. His takes on EV and electrify everything are very reasonable and the expected eventual taxing on everything electric will come sooner than later. Here is my warning to anyone who think EV is the future, think of the flooding in China – the moment the power grid is down, all things electric are f$#ked.

Just search online for portable solar electric car charger and you will see all kinds of “promises” that in the future, it will become possible, but not now. I think the better answer is never. Many months ago I discussed this topic in detail from the astrology view point. In short, better expect a completely new energy source being developed than to believe whatever we have now will solve this forever increase in demand of electricity problem.

The doomers are thinking the sky is falling – an honest discussion of what to expect in the near future on the economic front.

And of course, there is David Hunter, who tells everyone that the melt up has not happened yet, and that sky is the limit for gold.

In a way, I agree with him, as long as the “one-two punch” I always refer to has not happened, the only solution for the governments and central banks worldwide is to keep printing. So hyperinflation will persist and of course, all risk assets will go through the roof.

Another busy weekend for me – can’t even take a break in the cottage country here the whole summer so far … I miss my cottage.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update August 12, 2023

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After 2 weeks of volatile swings in the stock markets, we had a relatively quiet Friday to conclude the week. Next week we have option expiration week again for the month. I think another volatile week is coming so get ready to deal with it my fellow traders.

For those of you tracking many markets, here is the weekly take from Gareth Soloway on David Lin’s show.

Here is a funny clip of Cathie Wood on Bloomberg TV. It is very clear comparing this latest clip of her vs the ones from her good days when ARK was flying higher thanks to the bubble stocks she bought, that her words are no longer coherent. In the past, she bullshit her way using completely illogical garbage with ease and confidence. As a minimum, we know she does not know what is going on and obviously no idea what to expect next.

Here is a clip of Jordan Peterson’s statement regarding the future of his license in Canada. My take on this is clear – there is no future for countries like US, Canada or the West thanks to this path they are going down. I an see that these countries will crumble into chaos within a decade. How people will survive in these countries going forward can be very challenging.

Another weekend full of unexpected issues to deal with. As a start, one of our servers just suddenly stopped working middle of the week. Luckily I have backup servers ready for such situation. But then we have to build another backup server to stand-by. That’s the life of a CEO, when there are problems beyond the workload of your team, you are the last resort to solve the extra problems.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update August 5, 2023

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The first week of August was also the end of July 2023. What a week!

The extreme opposite reactions to the earnings of Apple and Amazon is a sight to behold. funny thing is, they kind of offset each other and leaving the stock market indices mostly going nowhere on Friday.

To understand better how we arrive at this dysfunctional world of stock market indices, check out Patrick Boyle’s latest video. His dry rumor helps. His example of Sun Microsystem from 1990s hits home. Back then I have to use their computers to do more advanced research.

Another bout of bull vs bear here.

First a bear who believes that there is easily a new high coming before a 50% crash. Since I do not agree with most of the technical analysis out there so it is not my view on what may unfold in the future.

Next is a bull who thinks new highs coming.

Notice that both bulls and bears are actually agreeing that a new high is coming … the bears are actually bulls in disguise.

I will repeat this again – the financial system worldwide is a fuckery of numbers at this point that completely behave like an American football game. Knowing who is in control of the tape at the moment will tell you where the particular market is heading. Few people understand this.

Such a dynamic system (or better called a chaos system) is very unstable. Anytime a critical event happens, the whole system will collapse.

One such concerning event is the flooding in China. It exposes how fragile it is with the modern technologies people all praising as the future. Cell phones, electric cars, etc. all render useless. The disaster hitting China is also the near future of US and the western countries as Earth changes continue to reshape the world. The financial impact of the flood in the world will be felt very soon. So embrace for the impact while you can.

I picked the story because it is posted by Reuters so not at risk of being removed suddenly.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update July 29, 2023

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FOMC did another rate hike this week and immediate reactions to that was absolutely nothing burger. What happened the day after got even more interesting as S&P rushed to a new year high and collapsed straight back down. Some said the selloff was due to Bank of Japan’s failure in containing their government bond problems. Some said it is all okay and that the stock market will go straight up from here.

Same old theme continues – as long as there is no external shocks to this very fragile system, it will keep on grinding higher. Those who try to short the overall market over the past few months are the ones who pushed the market higher. They are the ones who need better education in understanding how financial market works – it is all a f*ckery of American football.

Here is an interesting discussion on China’s near term future. All the premises discussed in the video have not taken into account of some basic risk factors that I always emphasis on. For example, if there is a 1% chance of the Three Gorges Dam to collapse any year from now, what is the proper evaluation of Chinese stock market? The answer is at most 50% of the current level.

On the other hand, there are talks of the financial system will be destabilized thanks to central bankers not doing their jobs. Chicken Little’s sky is falling mentality is also not helping if you are an average investor that needs to navigate this tough environment. I do not agree with Tucker’s take mainly because the real problem is not what the Fed is going to do, but what a completely messed up US government will do to the world.

Anyone who pay attention to what Biden has done lately knows that since the US debt ceiling is removed, he has used his executive power to spend like a trillion dollar already. It is something no central bank can do to counter the effect. So welcome to the hyperinflation world.

Here is a video from a “conspiracy theory spreader” on NASA lying about climate science. If you believe what he said is true, or as a minimum, that the environment changes are real and accelerating, the future of the global financial system is already set in stone. I like to give NASA idiots who author these lies credit though because they are trying to do their jobs to lie to the public where things really matters.

By the way, it is now proven scientifically, the planetary alignments of our solar system indeed predict earthquakes and volcano eruptions. If you still think that these alignments do nothing to Earth, you need to seriously update yourself if you consider yourself someone who “believe in science”.

Another busy weekend for me. Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update July 22, 2023

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Option expiration Friday for the month ended up printing another year high for major indices. Many people keep crying that the market is very over valued and a crash is coming. But what they have been preaching for months now has not happened.

I am not saying that the bears are wrong and the bulls are right. I am saying both sides are wrong as their fundamental understanding of financial markets like the stock markets is wrong. Otherwise why would people looking at the same thing arriving at exact opposite views?

Here is a bull looking for new record high while this bear sees the risk of a steep correction coming soon.

I prefer checking out video like this to learn something I don’t know. This gives me a reason to look forward to go to Spain again to try out this delicacy.

Or that watching a podcast of Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray to tell myself this world still has normal people who have common sense.

There is really no need to overthink about the financial markets at this stage of the financial system. Take it one day at a time will make life much easier.

I had been spending many hours reviewing resume and talking to candidates to fill my company’s important positions. However, I am quite disappointed so far. Maybe I have not been able to state the hiring criteria more precisely. Maybe I have set my expectations too high. This is something that has to be taken care of so my near future will continue to be consumed by this task …

Outside of that, of course, is my forever growing list of projects to take care of. That’s the life of a CEO, to solve the problems that your team can’t.

Enjoy this weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update July 15, 2023

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Another funny week of pushing the stock market indices higher. People rush in to explain why it is happening but all their explanations are after the fact kind of response. None of them can foretell what to expect before it happens.

Sometimes things are as simple as some squiggly lines I draw randomly on a chart.

Next week is option expiration week, so traders should be prepared to handle increased intraday volatility. No need to guess the direction. Just follow your trading strategy should do the job.

So many people on latest economic predictions are pretty much all the same on the bearish side – bearish on stocks, bearish on real estates, and bearish on economy. But if you listen to them carefully … they don’t really agree with each other. Obviously it is very confusing time for all these experts out there.

Personally I prefer the dry humor Patrick Boyle does with his video on East vs. West. Enjoy!

For those of you interested in astrology, an important astro cycle is coming to an end and a new beginning is starting this week. This cycle is the moon’s nodal cycle finally moving back into Aries / Libra after 18-19 years. In case you are wondering, Aries is considered the first sign of the zodiac, hence we call this the start of a new cycle.

Among so many videos posted on the subject, this is one of the earlier ones that was posted more than six months ago. The early posting of this video shows the content creator is a thoughtful person who understand that such useful information should be shared ahead of time so that people can better utilize the information.

Disclaimer: As usual, I may not agree with everything in videos I linked to.

More work to get done here.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update July 8, 2023

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Another Non-Farm Payroll report is out and not much reaction to that comparing to the last few ones. This stock market is waiting for the next event to drive it higher or lower. Without one, it does not know what to do.

Gareth Soloway on David Lin’s show talking about bitcoin and stock market in general. One thing I find very interesting is that a whole new generation of traders are created from the covid lockdown and they are not going away. From my observation of many comments on various trading communities, they have very strong opinions on everything as if they are experts …

A short video from a Christian talking about Bill Gates and his evil deeds. If you are easy offended by those who believe in God, don’t watch it.

One of the biggest news this week obviously is Yellen visiting China. Before the trip, majority of those who pay attention to these things said that it is a waste of time. And in fact, it is. MSM we are allowed to watch here all showing the same script to describe what happened.

It is the same old bullshit we are seeing these days with the Western politicians. If you want to understand China better, here is a video of Keyu Jin on China. As usual, I don’t agree with everything she’s saying but it is a good start to understand the situation better.

I like this comment a lot from Douglas Murray on who’s going to and continue to spread and defend fucked up beliefs. The world of normal people with common sense need to fight back and stop this from ruining our societies.

Time for me to work on my projects.

Have a great weekend all!

TLC Weekly Update July 1, 2023

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Second quarter of 2023 ended with a bang printing another new year high for S&P500. How high can it go is the buzz all over this weekend.

Macro guys like Alf are bearish for a good reason. However, without better timing, many macro players are deep in red and can only hope the recession will eventually arrive.

Some others, like Prof. Hanke, raised an interesting point about the population issue.

As usual I don’t agree with many of these videos I link to but then being able to see what others are thinking can help me discover any blind spot that I have not thought about.

One of the biggest news in financial world this week was the flood of applications to create bitcoin ETFs by several big names. Well, all of them are rejected for now. But it does not mean that these firms will not try again after they improve their applications. This development will significantly impact the crypto space so if you trade or invest in cryptos, remember to stay on top of this.

Eurodollar university has a new video up on China’s yuan. It matters because China is the second biggest economy in the world. Any shock in Yuan’s value relative to other major currencies can create a ripple effect shocking all the major financial markets. This problem is still unfolding and can be a catalyst in forcing the US stock markets to correct suddenly.

This is first of the month. So it is chores time in addition to my normal workload. Back to work for me.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

TLC Weekly Update June 24, 2023

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Post option expiration week gave us a pullback in the stock markets. It is reasonable and expected. What changed however is the sudden turn of events with Russia over the weekend. Reports keep comin in and we can’t tell if this will turn into someone endangering everyone in the world.

On the surface it is only a matter affecting Russia. I am no political expert so I have no idea what the outcome would be. I could only wish this problem being resolved quickly.

Brent Johnson talking about his take on the future of US dollar. The video is almost an hour long so find the right time where you can sit down to watch the whole thing. What he said matters as this is pretty much the backdrop of the whole conflict between US (and its allies) against the rest of the world.

I find the pronunciation of the China “Yuan” by many people interesting. It looks like the Western journalists have somehow standardized their way to pronounce the term as “You-an” with two syllables. It should be pronounced simply as “Yu” ending with “n” sound, a single syllable.

Not that I am offended by the practice in anyway since I don’t speak Mandarin myself unless absolutely being forced to. I just can’t help to notice that the current generation of reporters and journalists are of lesser quality when in comes to seeking the truth. Case in point – they don’t care in the details like being correct with their pronunciation, why would they be interested in reporting the truth on more complex subjects?

Sorry for my rant on this subject.

Let’s look at a new story from Bloomberg on the dark side of Huawei. I am not pointing this out as if Huawei is the only big corporations that plays dirty. If I were one of the investigators, I would be scared to death too.

We’ve learnt from non-MSM reporting of firms like Microsoft, Google and Amazon were doing something similar to each other to secure their US Department of Defense contracts. But obviously Bloomberg is not interested to report how dirty they are …

So it all comes down to China being a threat. Specifically, the governing party of China is feared like the governing power of Russia.

And here is another video of spy espionage by a Chinese spy trying to steal technologies from US companies.

All these ongoing wars behind the scene reminds me of US itself of what it did to the Western world when it first started out, way back when. I am not the only one who noticed. Here is a piece on the subject from 2019.

Could we call this karma? Or is it just the repeat of the cycle of superpowers, as Ray Dalio puts it.

For me, I hope somehow the world can stay peaceful in coming decades. The fight among superpowers only hurt the general public and benefits a small group of people.

Too much overthinking this weekend. I should concentrate on my projects.

Have a great weekend all!