Morning Brief – March 21, 2022

By Editor•

The pandemic is getting worse – again.

While COVID tensions cooled in the U.S. that may not be the case for much longer.

In fact, experts are warning the U.S. could see another spike in cases, with some wastewater samples showing an increase in infections.

According to the U.S. CDC, as noted by People, “The U.S. is also starting to see an increase of COVID-19 in wastewater samples, a strong early predictor of when the virus is about to spike. Between Feb. 24 and March 10, the presence of COVID-19 increased by 100% or more in 37% of U.S. wastewater sites, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s tracking system.”

Worse, New Jersey just reported two COVID deaths, and another 504 cases.  Plus, as of March 16, according to Global News, “New infections jumped by eight per cent globally compared to the previous week, with 11 million new cases and just over 43,000 new deaths reported from March 7-13. It is the first rise since the end of January.”

The best way to profit from the chaos… Read more here.

Markets

  • On Friday, the Dow closed up 274.17 points at 34,754.93
  • The S&P 500 closed up 51.45 points at 4,463.12
  • The NASDAQ closed up 279.06 points at 13,893.84
  • Gold prices are down $22.70 at $1,921.49
  • Bitcoin is up down about 2% to $41,122.79
  • Oil prices are up $1.72 at $104.70
  • The VIX was down 1.80 points at 23.87, as of Friday

 

Trading Tips

Inflation is a tad out of control.

With the cost of gas, food, and housing, consumer inflation rocketed 7.9% year over year – the worst spike we’ve seen since 1982.

And, according to MarketWatch.com: “The numbers are eye-watering, and there is more to come,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist at asset management firm AllianceBernstein. “The peak in inflation will be much higher than previously thought and will arrive later than previously expected.”

Unfortunately, the White House expects to see “substantially” higher inflation moving forward.  According to the Washington Examiner: “The White House Council of Economic Advisers noted that ‘there has been substantial run-up in energy prices since February resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ and that “energy and commodities prices will likely contribute substantially to inflation in the coming months.”

Insider Buying – SoFi Technologies (SOFI)

After dropping to less than $9 a share, SOFI CEO Anthony Noto bought 115,969 shares for $1.1 million.  He paid an average price of $9.06 for shares.

As reported by Barron’s: “SoFi’s fourth-quarter report, issued on March 1, was actually good, according to BofA Global Research analyst Mihir Bhatia. He wrote that the quarter was solid, and that guidance was better than expected. But Bhatia downgraded SoFi stock to Neutral from Buy because shares only had 6% potential upside to his $14 price objective.”