MidSouth Week in Review
October 09, 2020

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

Oct. 14, 2020 | RedChip Companies


This week stocks climbed to their highest levels since early September.  The S&P was up 3.8% for the week, its second consecutive up week, and its best week in three months.  The Regional Bank Index (KRE) surged around 18% over the past three weeks, benefiting from long-term Treasury yields rising from the 1.40% yield level to 1.60%.  Stocks of cannabis producers Auro Cannabis, Tilray and Hexco all rose 10%+ for the week after Kamala Harris in the V.P. debate, said that the Biden administration would decriminalize marijuana at the Federal level.  The trade deficit for August hit $67.1 billion, its largest decline since 2016.  Oil rose 12% from last week’s low over worries that hurricane Delta would be responsible for slowing oil production.  Sources:  Wall Street Journal and New York Times

 

BuzzBits

 

S&P October Advances – has often resulted in an incumbent victory.  Of the ten incumbent victories since 1944, the S&P had advanced seven times, declined twice and was unchanged once.  Of the nine occurrences when the incumbent lost, there were six S&P declines and just three advances – Stock Traders Almanac ….. Through today, the S&P is up 3.3% for the month of October.

 

Middle Age – is a time of life that a man first notices in his wife – Richard Armour

 

Unbelievable – Out of 70,000 reported COVID-19 cases at 50 colleges, there were only three hospitalizations and no deaths.  The University of Georgia with 3,363 cases had the most reported cases – Bespoke Investment Group ….. The incubation for coronavirus is typically 4 to 5 days but can last for 14 days.  Most people recover within a couple of weeks – New York Times

 

95-Years Ago – in 1915, the city of Nashville was placed in receivership and only the second U.S. city to be placed in that position.  The first was Nashville in 1867.  Since then there have been several U.S. cities that have filed for bankruptcy, including Detroit in 2013 – E.D. Thompson, Buzz

 

U.S. Home Sales – were up only 5% in July.  In multiple metros, including Chicago, Denver, Seattle and New York, more sellers are being compelled to reduce their asking price.  By year-end, several millions who have received mortgage forbearance will have gone nine months without a mortgage payment.  When this ends, we could see a flood of homes on the market – Market/Watch.com ….. 3.8 million have reported they will be evicted in the next two months – Census Bureau

 

Zoom – saw a 20x increase in daily users from December 2019 to March 2020.  Zoom has been used by 100,000 schools in 25 countries – Fortune

 

October Rent – 34% of business owners couldn’t pay their October rent, headed up by beauty salons, restaurants and gyms – Aligable

 

Health Care Coverage – for employer health plans rose 4% to $21,341.  On average, employees paid $5,588 of the total – Kaiser Survey

 

2019 SAT Scores – Asian 1,223, White 1,123, Hispanic 990, Black 946.  On the math section of the SAT, Asians averaged 635 vs. 557 for Whites, 489 for Hispanics and 463 for Blacks – U.S. Department of Education  ….. Yesterday the DOJ sued Yale for violating civil-rights law by discriminating against Asian and White applicants in undergrad admissions – Wall Street Journal

 

Movie Theaters – About 57% of movie theaters were open this past weekend, generating only $12 million of box office receipts vs. $150 million a year ago.  On Monday, Cineworld, parent company of Regal, announced the temporary closing of its 663 theaters – New York Times

 

The Democracy – will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not – Thomas Jefferson

 

Rubik’s Cube – was created in 1974 by Hungarian Erno Rubik.  Mathematicians have calculated that there are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways to arrange the 54 squares but just one of those combinations is correct.  In 1980, Ideal Toy brought Rubik’s Cube to New York to a toy fair.  Sales exploded.  In three years Ideal sold 100 million Rubik’s Cubes – New York Times

 

Coronavirus – creates a heavy toll on individuals sense of well-being, triggering worries about health, finances, and the future.  In a Centers of Disease Control survey, 40% disclosed struggles, including suicidal thoughts and/or substance abuse.  Nearly a third of hospitalized Covid-19 patients experienced some type of altered mental function, ranging from confusion to delirium to unresponsiveness – New York Times

 

buzz@msifund.com

 

This material does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates.  This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate.  Please note – investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.  The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services.  If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.  This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty.  This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such.  This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results.  Investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than when originally invested.  All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results.  Market indices discussed are unmanaged.  Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices. 

 


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