MidSouth Week in Review:
July 05, 2019

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

The S&P 500 closed down 0.3% for the day and up 1.6% on a holiday shorten week.  Both the S&P and Dow hit new all time highs Wednesday as China and the U.S. resumed trade negotiations.  The Labor Department reported this morning that the U.S. economy added 225,000 jobs in June, which exceeded economists’ expectation of only 170,000 jobs added.  The strong job report decreases the probability the Fed will cut interest rates at their July meeting.  Have a great weekend!

BuzzBits

Value Investing – “There has never been a worse time to be a value investor.  Value is currently trading at the biggest discount ever and offers the largest premiums over the next 30 years.  For value to make a substantial comeback, the following developments are likely needed:  regulations that foster competition, less policy uncertainly, either a reacceleration of global growth or a full-blown recession that forces a repricing of growth stocks” – Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, J.P. Morgan Chief U.S. equity strategist

Working Women – put in longer hours on the job last year, spent more time caring for their children and did more work around the house.  They also spent less time relaxing or socializing and less time sleeping.  Women worked 7 hours, 20 minutes a day vs. slightly less than 8 hours for men.  Working women spend a half-hour more a day on household chores than men and a half an hour more per day with the kids.  Men spend around an hour more per day on leisure, relaxing and exercising (4.66 hours a day vs. 3.5 for women).  Working women got 8.5 hours of sleep per night, slightly more than their husbands – American Time Use Survey

Social Security – Almost all American retirees claim Social Security at the wrong time, which means they will miss out on a collective $3.4 trillion in benefits before they die.  While they can tap their benefits as early as age 62, retirees could boost the size of their checks for every year they wait until age 70, when the maximum benefit accrues.  The advantage in waiting is substantial:  A person eligible for a $724 monthly check at 62 could get a $1,280 check if they wait to start at 70.  Only 4% of U.S. retirees are waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security; some 57% should be doing so, the report calculated.  The lost income from these less-than-optimal decisions amounts to about $111,000 per household, the researchers estimates – Bloomberg …. A retirees wealth and health situation could justify taking early Social Security benefits - Buzz

Supersonic Flights – An FAA proposal would streamline the process for testing a new generation of fast aircraft.  New aircraft will be faster and quieter than the Concorde.  The Concorde was never profitable, primarily because the jet’s sonic booms ruled out operations over the U.S. heartland.  Travel times will be halved.  A flight from New York to London: Three hours, instead of seven – Kiplinger Letter

The Top SAT Scores – If the top 200 colleges and universities based their entrance requirements only on test scores, the SAT acceptance scores would rise by 70 points to 1326 and half of the students would lose their seats to students who performed better on the test.  The biggest losers would be black and Latino students, whose numbers would be cut from 19% to 11% - Georgetown University study

Earn Extra Money – The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting thousands of people to assist with the 2020 count.  Applications for temporary jobs paying $12 to $28/hour are available at www.2020census.gov/en/jobs

Costco – How Costco gained a cult following, by breaking every rule of retailing (Link) 

buzz@msifund.com

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