MidSouth Week in Review
December 24, 2020

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

The S&P 500 was flat this holiday shortened week.  U.S. lawmakers blocked attempts to alter a $2.3 trillion COVID aid and government spending package where direct payments to Americans in the bill would go from $600 to $2,000 per person.  In an open letter to world governments, medical experts this week said there is scientific evidence that higher levels of vitamin D reduces infections, hospitalizations and deaths to COVID-19.  Fidelity Investments has decided to lower their fees on their Fidelity Government Money Market Fund, a sign of how low yields have put pressure on products this year.  Without doing this investors would have faced a negative return on their holdings.  Bitcoin, the digital currency, has more than tripled this year closing today above $23,280.  We hope you have a happy holiday!

BuzzBits

The Year Ahead – Even as the market hits new highs, our experts see the S&P 500 gaining another 10% as Covid is vanquished and the economy reopens – Barron’s

Kids Will Be Kids – When my youngest nephew was seven, he came home confused about whether or not to believe in Santa because some kids at school told him there was no such thing.  When my brother asked my nephew what he thought, his response was, “There has to be a Santa, because you could never afford all this stuff.” – Carol Freeley ….. Christmas is now gonna be mid-January due to Santa having to quarantine for 14 days when he arrives in this country.

Baby Aspirin – is no longer recommended for heart attack prevention.  However, low-dose aspirin may reduce Covid complications.  After examining the medical records of 412 patients who were hospitalized for Covid, researchers discovered that those who were taking a daily-dose of aspirin for cardiovascular protection had a significantly lower risk of complications and death vs those patients who were not taking aspirin.  Aspirin use was associated with a 43% lower risk of admission to the intensive care unit and a 47% lower risk of dying - Anesthesia and Analgesia journal ….. Covid is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (217,3348), behind heart disease (647,457) and cancer (599,108) – CDC.gov ….. Because I am heading to Boston for Christmas for a couple of days, I went to Kroger for a Covid test.  It took only 15 minutes to get back my results.  Nice! – Buzz ….. Kroger announced it will provide the Covid vaccine nationwide across its 2,200 pharmacies and 220 clinics – PR Newswire

Golf – 63% of potential golf club members want to live in a gated golf community vs. 51% pre-pandemic.  The number of golf rounds played increased 20.6% in August vs. 2019 – Wall Street Journal

Crazy! – Minneapolis City Council voted to cut 4.5% from the police department’s annual budget last week.  Year-to-date their homicides have risen 85% to 61 – THE WEEK

Longevity – A Mayo Clinic study suggests that you’ll add more years to your life if you play a team sport or work out with a friend.  The more social the activity, the better the result.  Those who played tennis added 9.7 years to their life span.  A study by Boston University and Harvard found that those with greater optimism tended to live longer.  The study found that the optimistic participants had a 50% to 70% chance of living to 85 or beyond vs. the least optimistic.

Student Debt – averages $47,671, that is owed by U.S. households that have student debt.  62% of the 2019 class graduated with student debt with average outstanding debt of $28,950.  The average debt load of professional degree programs:  dental school $292,167, medical school $201,490, pharmacy school $179,514, vet school $149,877, business school $140,00, grad school $82,800 – PLANSPONSOR

Museums – The American Alliance of Museums reports that a third of U.S. museums may not survive another 12 months without additional financing at a result of losses incurred throughout the pandemic.

Church Giving – The average giving by adults who attend U.S. protestant churches is about $17 a week.  37% of regular attendees and evangelicals don’t give money to church.  17% of families have reduced the amount that they give to their local church – Nonprofitssource.com

Lexus Christmas -  https://www.thebigshow.com/vod_html5/videos/20201215/high.mp4

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