Promoting Useful Knowledge

Some news out of last week that caught my eye. Tesla Battery Day was a complete dud. Penn National Gaming issues 14M additional shares valued at about $900M, but in reading the S-1 I found they also upped their Q3 revenue guidance and a few analysts have followed by increasing estimates. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) entered phase three with a single dose COVID vaccine. For this week, we’re already off to a fast start with the NY Times article on the President’s Taxes. That should add some spice to the debate on Tuesday. Cleveland Cliffs also announced that it has agreed to purchase ArcelorMittal USA for $1.4B Going forward, airlines are waiting on a possible stimulus package. There are nine possible IPOs pricing this week. The most followed will be Palantir Technologies (PLTR.K), which is expected to start trading on the NYSE on Wednesday around the $10 range or a $22 billion market cap. As we’ll read about below, Tortoise Acquisition Corp shareholders will vote on the merger with Hylii...

  Last week was fun on the news front, but ended on a sad note. There were a ton of deals on Monday, then the Snowflake IPO was just crazy. For me, as a former person who traded these events, the fun was watching Friday’s close. I can’t believe I didn’t cover this in last week’s note, but Friday was quad-witching and a big day for index changes. I’ll cover this a little more below. After the close of Friday, it was learned that we lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a big proponent of women's rights. The sad part is now we’ll see everything get political around trying to appoint her successor. This week is already off to a quick start. As I’m writing this, I see that Nikola founder, Trevor Milton, will step down. That should make trading intense in the former SPAC in Monday’s session. Banks in Europe are trading lower on a list of suspicious transactions leaked from government files There are also some US Banks on the list that CNBC is reporting on this morni...

I’m a little later than normal today, as I was up late watching the first week of NFL football. Nothing really on the line, but was just super happy to be watching sports. I saw a blurb that last Thursday was the first day in history that all major American sports were played on the same day. Professional football, baseball, basketball (Men’s & Women’s), hockey, and soccer all had games. Plus, there was a PGA event and US Open Tennis. It was a great day for sports. Well enough useless info. The title today comes from something I heard from NFL quarterback Russell Wilson. I think it sets the theme for the rest of the blog this week. From the looks of the last couple of weeks, traders, investors, and even speculators are preparing for the upcoming election. Many seem to feel there will be increased volatility, but I'm not sure why. 😉 Softbank moving into options spreads instead of being just long stock, increased vol spreads in the calendar. It all says vol is coming. Are you pr...

I hope you are all enjoying your Labor Day holiday weekend. This weekend marks the unofficial end of the summer. While the US is on holiday today, the rest of the world is trading. I wanted to get this out according to my regular schedule. This post is a little less market info than usual, but I am including a few more long form articles and podcasts this week. The ‘Best of the Week’ is a collection of articles around some wonky options trading last week. It’s noting nefarious, but it is moving the markets. There are no other focused sections this week.  Last week started and ended with news for Telsa (TSLA.O). As many predicted, the split was an interim high. While the stock saw some strength on Monday, it was mostly under pressure for the remainder of the week. The real move negative came after the close on Friday when it was announced that the company would NOT be added to the S&P 500 for the Q3 rebalance. Apple (AAPL.O) responded similarly with a down week. Actually, many ...