MidSouth Week in Review
April 29, 2022

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

For the week the S&P declined 3.5% and was down 8.9% for the month.  Year-to-date, the S&P has had its worst start since 1942.  The economy shrank 1.4% in the 1Q mainly due to a record trade deficit.  Amazon declined 14% today on its first quarterly negative earnings report in seven years.  The Dollar rose to almost its best high since 1989 and hit a 5-year high against the Euro.  The NASDAQ and the S&P registered their 4^th consecutive week of declines.  Wholesale gas rose to $3.49 from its earlier month low of $3.00.  65% of Americans and 75% of children have been infected with the coronavirus.  Sources:  Wall Street Journal and New York Times

BuzzBits

Election Year Returns – since 1900: year one 12.7%, year two 3.1%, year three 14.8%, year four, the election year, 7.4% - New York Times

Ever Wonder – about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little water bottles of Evian water?  Try spelling Evian backwards.

Netflix – For the first time in 10 years, the company reported it has lost 200,000 subscribers and projected another shrinking in the 2Q of 2 million customers.  NFLX (-68%) is the worst performing stock in the S&P this year – Bloomberg

Ty Cobb – A reporter once asked him what he would be hitting if he were playing today.  Cobb, who was at one time a .367 hitter, said, “about .290, maybe .300.”  The reporter said, “That’s because of the travel, the night games, the artificial turf and the new pitches like the slider, right?”  “No,” said Cobb, “it’s because I’m seventy.”

Home Sales – in March were 763,000 vs. 835,000 in February and down 12.6% vs. the last March number of 873,000 – U.S. Census Bureau ….. Last month 33,333 properties across the U.S. faced foreclosure, a 181% jump from March 2021 and a 29% pop from February.  The first quarter saw 78,271 properties with a foreclosure filing, a 39% increase from the previous quarter and up 132% from last year - Attom

Teen Mental Health Issues – Between 2009 and 2021, the share of high school students who said they feel persistent feelings of sadness jumped from 26% to 44%.  By 2018, suicide rates for those ages 10-24 jumped 60%.  Covid and reservations on socialism took rising feelings of loneliness and depression and supercharged them.  Self-injury and suicide cases in 5-to-17 year-olds rose 45% in the first half of 2021 – Morning Brew

Government Bond Index – declined 5.5% in the 1Q and has since fallen a further 2.4% - Wall Street Journal

The Big Nickel – The cost of the government making a nickel has now gone up to around 8 cents.  Why?  Because of Covid and the growth of electric cars, the price of copper and nickel have soared.  A nickel is 75% copper and 25% nickel.  The government is planning a meeting to discuss changing the metal contents – Buzz

Social Security Checks – Everyone got a 5.9% cost-of-living check this year, the highest increase in 40 years.  The Senior Citizens League expects the 2023 COLA increase to be around 8.9%.

Ouch! – If you had picked up $1 million of Venezuelan Bolivar currency 10 years ago and converted it back to U.S. Dollars, today you would be receiving only $100.  The Venezuelan currency has declined 99.99% over the period – Buzz ….. The Bolivar has depreciated about 279% over the past 12 months – Buzz

Constitution Signers – 39 men from 12 states gathered to sign the constitution in 1787, including eight from Pennsylvania and five from Delaware.  New York had only one signer (Alexander Hamilton) – Turning Point USA

Nonessential Purchases – declined in March.  Rising prices for household items have left consumers with little choice but to spend more on essential items like gas, food and housing.  Recreation spending had the biggest drop in spending which included travel categories and alcohol.  Home furnishings and apparel also registered declines – Morning Consult ….. Amazon posted its first quarterly loss in seven years due to a slump in online shopping, higher costs of inflation and supply-chain woes – Wall Street Journal

Surging Mortgage Rates – The double whammy of high mortgage rates and high home prices means the typical household would now have to spend 31% of their monthly income to make payments on the average price U.S. home.  That puts housing at its least affordable level since 2007, when mortgages caused a collapse in residential real estate - Fortune

Bill Haley & His Comets – Rock Around The Clock - https://youtu.be/-eJOJhwgluE

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