MidSouth Week in Review
November 24, 2023

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

For the week the S&P was up 0.9%, even though the stock markets was closed yesterday and half of today.  Gold make a $2k+ high today.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Source: Wall Street Journal

October – was the hottest on record globally, about 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit above the pre-industrial average for the month.  It was the fifth straight month to shatter temperature records – New York Times

College Basketball Classic – From 1966 to 1973 UCLA went 205-5 and won the National Championship for seven straight years.  There has never been a greater stretch of success in college basketball history – Bo Dones

Mortgage Rates – plunged last week by the biggest amount in a year.  The average fixed rate was 7.50% for the week ending Nov. 9, down from 7.76% the previous week.  The drop is the largest in a single week since November 2022 – CNN

Recreational Marijuana – More than half of Americans live in states where it is legal or soon will be legal.  Seventy percent of Americans, including 55% of Republicans, now say marijuana use should be legal – Axios

Weight Loss Drugs – There’s starting to be a bit of price relief for high-cost weight loss drugs.  The weekly injectable drugs have list prices of about $1,000 per month, but rebates are regularly used – The Kiplinger Letter

Biden – Odds are growing that he will be the fourth president impeached by the House, joining Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Biden’s predecessor, Trump, who was twice impeached by the lower chamber, in 2019 and 2021 – The Kiplinger Letter

Flu – 300,000 to 500,000 die from the flu each year.  Most of them are unvaccinated.  In the worst flu pandemic, 50 million to 100 million died.  Our imperfect flu vaccines saved 40,000 lives in the U.S. between 2004 and 2014 – Harvard Health Letter

Cash Home Purchases – accounted for 34.1% of all sales in September.  That is up from 29.5% a year earlier and the highest in nearly a decade – Redfin

Gas Prices – The national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline dropped Saturday to $3.32, the lowest since February – USA TODAY ….. Wholesale gas has declined from $2.98 in August to a $2.10 low this month – Buzz

Domestic Flights – Surveys this month found that domestic flight prices for holiday travel were down as much as 18% vs. a year ago.  A record number of passengers, nearly 30 million, or about 9% more than last year are expected to take domestic flights this Thanksgiving – New York Times

Country Real Estate Fees – Japan 6.2%, Argentina 6.0%, U.S. 5.5%.  The lowest include:  China 2.5%, Australia 2.5%, Netherlands 2.0%, U.K. 1.3%.

Joe Biden – In a recent New York Times/Siena College Poll of battleground states, 71% of respondents said Biden was “too old” to be president, including 54% of his own supporters.

Mick Jagger – who is 80, has eight kids.  He is now getting ready to be a dad again – THE WEEK

Retail Sales – fell 0.1% in October, the first monthly decline since March.  Car sales dipped 1.1% and furniture sales fell 2%.  Americans kept spending at a higher pace at restaurants, bars, supermarkets and online – CNN

The Office Sector – By one measure, it’s now worse than during the 2008-09 global financial crisis.  Only one out of every three securitized office mortgages that expired during the first nine months of 2022 were paid off by the end of September – Wall Street Journal

Argentina – Their president plans to ditch the nation’s peso and adopt the U.S. dollar as the national currency.  Union trolled money – portions have fueled 143% inflation for them – Wall Street Journal

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The material was prepared by MidSouth Investment Management LLC, and 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.