Dundee Downgrades Packaging Corporation of America to ‘Neutral’

InvestorPlace
SafeMoon, Shiba Inu, Dogecoin: The 2021 Crypto Bubble Is Unlike Anything We’ve Seen
On Wednesday, Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated some $1 billion in Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD) crypto to help India fund its Covid-19 response. Source: shutterstock.com/JFunk The strange thing? Buterin never bought the Shiba coin himself. Instead, the Shiba community had gifted him the crypto as a joke. By sending him 50% of the outstanding coins, the gag went, the currency would become immune to a “rug pull” where controlling stakeholders hijack the coin for personal gain. Other joke cryptos — from Akita Inu (CCC:AKITA-USD) to Dogelon Mars (CCC:ELON-USD) — have since done the same.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips At the time, the 505 trillion Shiba coins were worth precisely $0, according to CoinMarketCap. Their first recorded price five months later — a princely sum of $0.0000000013 — would have valued Buterin’s coins at just $560,000. Fast forward to today and his SHIB coins alone are worth well over $9 billion. His other holdings add several billion more. 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks for Your Reliability Short List Already in 2021, cryptocurrencies have become one of the strangest financial manias in human history. Since January, digital currencies have added more than $1.3 trillion in market capitalization, growing far faster than the Nasdaq bubble of 1999. Traders have bought and sold trillions of dollars in cryptocurrency in the first five months of this year, even more than Americans spend on housing annually. As financial institutions start jumping into the fold, things will only get stranger. Much like the media giants of 1999, the U.S. banking sector of 2021 has begun rushing into an industry for fear of missing out. Whenever banks have run into an industry they don’t quite understand, the results have always been the same: historians look back and ask, “what on earth were those morons thinking?” The 2021 Crypto Bubble: Echoes of 1999 So far, the rise of cryptocurrencies has followed the same pattern of most asset bubbles: A grain of truth emerges (the idea that cryptocurrencies can help grease the wheels of finance). As the dominant players win (i.e., Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) and Ethereum rise), the initial grain of truth gets stretched to extremes (the idea that all cryptocurrencies must win). The bubble bursts, leaving speculators with severe losses. The 1999 tech bubble followed this arc to a tee. For example, in 1999, one University of Pennsylvania study counted no fewer than 1,500 online marketplaces, as companies scrambled to join the internet revolution. Legacy firms like Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) and Time Warner (now owned by AT&T (NYSE:T)) went on to splash out billions in buying these unprofitable tech moonshots. But the bonanza didn’t last. By 2004, only 31 had survived. Of those, only one public company — 1-800Contacts — ended with a price above its initial public offering. The remainder would spend years recouping lost share prices. (It would take Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) almost a decade to break out of its $90-range.) As for the legacy firms that bought in on fear? Time Warner would eventually write down 97% of AOL’s value, while Mattel would sell The Learning Company for a “catastrophic $27 million.” Fools Rush In Legacy banks have already started feeling the echoes of 1999. Much like the rise of digital media companies, today digital currencies pose an existential threat to existing players. Every dollar of deposits lost to Bitcoin or central-bank digital currencies means less available for lending. Many point to Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) Libra as the “Sputnik Moment” for banks. If a tech firm could issue a currency, why would customers need commercial banks? In response, bulge-bracket banks have rushed to develop in-house crypto platforms. Those without the means have started splashing out on acquisitions instead. According to PwC, a global consultancy, crypto deal-making already doubled in 2020 to $1.1 billion — a minor but rapidly growing figure. Now, 2021 has turned out even stranger. This week, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed Internet Computer Price (CCC:ICP-USD) quickly hit a $45 billion valuation. Today, it is the ninth largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap. Few developers back the new currency, but its star-studded team was enough for investors to buy in. This Time It’s Worse: The Rise of ScamCoin It’s no surprise that the 2021 crypto bubble has inflated far faster than the 1999 tech one. Unlike dot-com companies, a skilled programmer can create a new cryptocurrency within minutes. Many tokens on the Ethereum or Binance (CCC:BNB-USD) blockchain don’t even bother with innovation — coins like SafeMoon (CCC:SAFEMOON-USD) copy their code directly from existing tokens. CoinMarketCap now counts over 5,000 different digital currencies. Adding in Ethereum and Binance’s token contracts puts that figure well over 700,000. In April, one TikTok creator made a coin called “SCAM” to highlight the absurdities of these copycats. “I just made the coin as a joke,” said Andre Lewis. The internet had the last laugh, sending the coin to a $70 million valuation within an hour. Within four days, the token would reach a peak value of almost $12 billion before Lewis shut the entire project down. How did this happen? In their rush to adopt digital currencies, institutional investors have created an aura of legitimacy around cryptocurrencies. Today, firms from JPMorgan to Citibank publish glowing reports on six-digit price targets for Bitcoin. That means legitimate cryptocurrencies like Ethereum now trade alongside jokes like Shiba Inu. As more cryptocurrencies join the fold, it will become increasingly difficult to tell them apart. Will Any Crypto Win? To a certain extent, all cryptocurrencies essentially serve the same purpose — to help investors record monetary and real-world transactions. Ethereum and its “Ethereum killer” competitors — like Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD) and Polkadot (CCC:DOT-USD) — track nonfungible items in the real world. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and competitors like Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) and Litecoin (CCC:LTC-USD) act as stores of digital value. That means the survival rate for cryptos will likely be lower than those seen by 1999 e-commerce companies. When coins like Litecoin and Dogecoin have practically zero technological differentiation, there’s no practical reason for both to exist. Like past bubbles, retail investors will be the first ones to lose. Currencies like Dogecoin, SafeMoon and Shiba Inu have already lost traders billions from peak to trough. Copycats like Dogelon Mars, SafeMars (CCC:SAFEMARS-USD), and Akita Inu will likely keep these miniature boom-bust cycles going. But institutional investors will eventually inflate the broader bubble to a breaking point. From the Savings and Loan (S&L) Crisis of the 1980s to the mortgage-backed bonanza of the mid-2000s, financial institutions have a long history of taking good ideas to terrible extremes. Just like one Citigroup (NYSE:C) executive said in 2007, “as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.” In the near term, that means Bitcoin and its blue-chip altcoin counterparts will continue to see their values inflate. Financial institutions seem intent on keeping up with central banks and tech firms in adopting digital currencies. In the longer term, however, most cryptocurrencies will implode. Like Amazon’s competitors that went bankrupt, most of the 700,000 tokens today will disappear. Just like the 1999 bubble, we’ll look back at 2021 — a year where billions in Dogecoin rested on a single SNL performance — and wonder “what were those morons thinking?” On the date of publication, Tom Yeung did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Tom Yeung, CFA, is a registered investment advisor on a mission to bring simplicity to the world of investing. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post SafeMoon, Shiba Inu, Dogecoin: The 2021 Crypto Bubble Is Unlike Anything We’ve Seen appeared first on InvestorPlace.
2d ago
MoneyWise
You may get a surprise stimulus check from the IRS if you recently filed taxes
Now that the IRS knows more about your earnings, you may be eligible for more support.
1d ago
USA TODAY
Unemployment $10,200 tax break: Single taxpayers who lost work in 2020 could see extra refund money soonest
The IRS detailed on how it will handle a mixup involving a tax break for jobless benefits that became law a month after many already filed returns.
2d ago
MarketWatch
A bitcoin battle of the billionaires ensues as Jack Dorsey faces off with Musk on ‘green’ merits of world’s No. 1 crypto
Two of the world's most prominent billionaires Tesla Inc.'s CEO Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are facing off over the merits of bitcoin, with the future of the world's No. 1 crypto likely hanging in the balance.
2d ago
Bloomberg
Stocks Finish Volatile Week Higher; Oil Rallies: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose and Treasury yields declined for a second consecutive day as more-tempered commodity prices helped allay concerns about inflation risks.Energy and technology shares led the S&P 500, which tumbled Wednesday by the most since February. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 outperformed the broader index, suggesting a market recovery is gaining momentum, after a bruising week that saw gathering price pressures hit equities. Both indexes still finished the week in the red. An advance in European stocks was led by cyclical industries. MSCI Inc.’s Asia-Pacific share gauge advanced more than 1%.“People are very optimistic economically,” said Simon Maughan, head of trading alpha at Liquidnet. “Between now and the end of the year, the market is still on the upward trajectory. Clearly sentiment is extremely optimistic about pent-up demand.”Markets appear to be regaining their equilibrium at the end of their biggest retreat in 11 weeks, with the focus of the benefits of an economic rebound overriding worry about the negative side-effect of inflation, for now.The Federal Reserve’s policy is in a good place right now, said Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, while playing down signals from data that she warns will be volatile as the economy reopens.That may help to reinvigorate the reflation narrative of picking value shares tied to economic growth over pandemic stay-at-home favorites. Walt Disney Co. fell after results that showed a faltering in growth at streaming service Disney+.Treasuries gained after a report showed U.S. retail sales stalled in April following a sharp advance in the prior month. The dollar remained weaker against all of its Group of 10 peers.“The disappointing retail sales numbers shouldn’t really come as a huge surprise given that last month encompassed stimulus money hitting bank accounts,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial. “It probably supports the point of view that the dip we experienced this week is a buying opportunity as all sectors march toward full recovery.”Iron ore continued its fall from a record amid efforts by China to clamp down on surging prices, with the metal set for the biggest two-day plunge since 2019. Oil erased an earlier decline, paring its weekly loss.Bitcoin traded above $50,000, reversing some of its slump on Tesla Inc.’s decision to suspend purchases using the digital currency.The MLIV Question of the Day is: When Can Crypto Reach Mainstream Investing?These are some of the main moves in markets: StocksThe S&P 500 rose 1.5%, more than any closing gain since March 26 as of 4 p.m. New York timeThe Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%, more than any closing gain since March 11The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%The MSCI World index rose 1.6%, more than any closing gain since March 1CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%, more than any closing loss since May 7The euro rose 0.5% to $1.2143The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.4098The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 109.35 per dollarBondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 1.63%Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point, more than any closing loss since May 4Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points, more than any closing loss since May 4CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.4%, the most since May 4Gold futures rose 1% to $1,843 an ounceFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
Benzinga
Why Gamble on Dogecoin When you can use a Trading Strategy That Stands the Test of Time?
Last week, we witnessed a classic “buy the rumor, sell the news” event with the cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE). Many Dogecoin enthusiasts were hoping that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s stint hosting the television show “Saturday Night Live” would lead to higher prices. After all, Musk has been known to pump the price of this cryptocurrency on Twitter and has been one of its biggest supporters. With so many Dogecoin holders anxious to see what the Dogefather had to say Saturday, the price of cryptocurrency rallied hard into the event to hit a record high of $0.74. Unfortunately, Doge investors learned that sometimes these types of events simply cannot live up to the hype. The price of Doge dropped more than 30% following the premiere of the show after Musk failed to deliver the praise for the cryptocurrency investors were hoping for. Traders can learn a lot from this story, particularly since this “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario repeats itself time and time again in financial markets. It highlights just how difficult it can be to trade based on the news and should be viewed as a cautionary tale. With that said, perhaps the most important lesson here is that instead of gambling on Dogecoin, why not learn a trading strategy that can deliver real results? For example, Mindful Trader has created a data-driven swing-trading strategy that can potentially help you grow your account. Because he has analyzed and dissected historical stock market price data to test his trading strategy, you won’t have to worry about trying to guess right on binary events like the one mentioned above. Instead, you can use a statistical approach with proven results to take your trading to the next level. Signing up for the Mindful Trader service gives you access to tutorials and all the trading rules he uses for successfully generating returns with stocks and options trading. He also provides data-driven stock picks that he trades himself, which allows you to learn while following his suggestions. Whether you are a beginner trader or a seasoned veteran, Mindful Trader has something for everyone. Since Mindful Trader uses a swing-trading strategy that relies on price movement, not hope, you will always be confident in making a trade. That means you won’t have to trade the news and rely on hype to potentially generate returns like those unfortunate Dogecoin investors mentioned above. Check out this link to learn more about Mindful Trader’s trading strategy and why it’s such a smart alternative to gambling with Dogecoin. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaThese OTC Securities Had the Most Trading Activity in April3 Advantages to Binary Options Trading with Nadex© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
2d ago
MoneyWise
Mortgage rates sink deeper below 3%, but experts say the dip won't last
An improving economy and rising inflation are likely to pull rates higher before long.
5h ago
MarketWatch
Dogecoin prices surge 40% higher but here’s one sign the crypto is headed for a lasting breakout, analysts say
Here's how to tell if dogecoin's rebound is more bark than bite, according to technical analysts following the popular crypto.
2d ago
MoneyWise
IRS staff and equipment shortages mean delays for millions of tax refunds
The agency is plagued with setbacks that are causing a major backlog of returns.
1d ago
Bloomberg
AT&T Is Preparing to Merge Media Assets With Discovery
(Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. is in talks to combine its media business with Discovery Inc. in a deal that would create a new entertainment powerhouse, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a surprising move for a company that spent $85 billion to acquire the assets less than three years ago.A deal could be announced as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.The idea is to combine Discovery’s reality-TV empire with AT&T’s vast media holdings, building a business that would be a formidable competitor to Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. Any deal would mark a major shift in AT&T’s strategy after years of working to assemble telecommunications and media assets under one roof. AT&T gained some of the biggest brands in entertainment through its acquisition of Time Warner Inc., which was completed in 2018.The deal would underscore the difficulty telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. have had finding a payoff from their media operations. Through its WarnerMedia unit, AT&T owns CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT and the Warner Bros. studio. Discovery, backed by cable mogul John Malone, controls networks such as HGTV, Food Network, TLC and Animal Planet.Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav has helped Discovery grow through acquisitions, including a purchase of HGTV owner Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. that closed in 2018. Discovery’s class A shares have risen more than 18% this year, valuing the company at almost $24 billion. AT&T has gained 12%, giving it a market capitalization of $230 billion.The companies are still negotiating the structure of a transaction, and details could change or the talks could fall apart, the people said. Representatives for AT&T and Discovery declined to comment.Selling AssetsAT&T CEO John Stankey has been cleaning house at the sprawling telecom titan, cutting staff and selling underperforming assets. The company has been funneling money into rolling out its 5G wireless network, which requires billions of dollars of investment, as well as expanding its fiber-optic footprint.The carrier has been boosting movie and television production to attract subscribers to its HBO Max streaming service. It also needs cash to pay down debt. AT&T became one of the world’s most indebted companies after an acquisition spree, and though it’s been paying down what it owes, it now has bills from a recent spectrum auction.Any move involving AT&T’s content assets would come just months after it reached a deal to spin off its DirecTV operations in a pact with buyout firm TPG. AT&T also agreed in December to sell its anime video unit Crunchyroll to a unit of Sony Corp. for $1.2 billion.And the company has parted with its Puerto Rico phone operations, a stake in Hulu, a central European media group and almost all its offices at New York’s Hudson Yards.Stankey’s predecessor at AT&T, longtime CEO Randall Stephenson, spent his 13-year tenure bulking up the company. He was obsessed with deals and kept a color-coded roster of companies he wanted AT&T to buy, leading to 43 acquisitions.But critics such as activist investor Elliott Management Corp. have complained about the strategy, urging AT&T to focus on its core business. And now that’s just what Stankey is doing.In wireless services, AT&T is playing catch-up with Verizon, the market leader, and T-Mobile US Inc., which became the No. 2 carrier after gobbling up Sprint Corp. Verizon has made its own efforts to slim down. The company agreed this month to sell its media division to Apollo Global Management Inc. for $5 billion, a move that will offload online brands like AOL and Yahoo.The Discovery deal could give the combined company enough programming to compete with Netflix and other streaming services in a global battle over the future of entertainment. In 2019, Disney bought 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainments assets for $71 billion, largely to gain enough muscle to constantly refresh its streaming services. It launched Disney+ in November 2019 and already has more than 100 million subscribers.Both Discovery and AT&T’s media unit, WarnerMedia, have recently made their own forays into streaming. Discovery has debuted Discovery+, which has a vast array of unscripted reality shows. AT&T, meanwhile, has made a big bet on HBO Max, which launched a year ago and includes HBO programming and movies from AT&T’s Warner Bros. studio. Both companies are quickly expanding their streaming services around the world.Cable NetworksDiscovery and WarnerMedia also own a portfolio of cable channels that remain profitable but are losing subscribers as more people abandon pay-TV service and adopt streaming. And AT&T’s CNN is looking for new ways to maintain its audience after the busy news cycle of the Trump years. TNT and TBS have some general entertainment shows, but their most attractive assets may be their sports rights to air professional baseball, basketball and hockey. Discovery, meanwhile, has the rights to broadcast the Olympics and professional golf outside the U.S.Combining such assets would be complex, as the two companies have numerous long-term deals in place with pay-TV companies. A merged company would also have to choose a leader between WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and Discovery’s Zaslav.The deal would be an acknowledgment by AT&T that it hasn’t delivered on the promise of owning distribution and media assets. The strategy has been criticized before, with analysts suggesting the two could be more valuable if kept separate.‘Fool’s Gold’Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners, has argued that AT&T and Comcast Corp., the cable provider that owns NBCUniversal, should spin off their media assets and combine them in a new company. He has called the promise of owning distribution and programming “fool’s gold.”On Sunday, Greenfield tweeted that he could “certainly imagine the secularly declining Turner assets merged with Discovery for scale,” but added that it was “harder to imagine” HBO Max and AT&T’s Warner Bros studio being part of a combined company.At an investor conference last week, WarnerMedia’s Kilar defended the need for WarnerMedia to be owned by AT&T, saying the telecom company had invested billions of dollars in HBO Max and broken down silos within the company to create a single operating unit. He added that AT&T’s phone and broadband customers were less likely to cancel if they got HBO Max, and many of HBO Max’s subscribers were AT&T customers.Kilar irked the Hollywood establishment with his decision in December to release all of WarnerMedia’s movie slate on HBO Max at the same time the films hit theaters. But its recent movies have performed well at the box office, helping soothe concerns.Now he may face a more daunting challenge: helping piece together a patchwork of media businesses to create a new entity that can thrive in the streaming age.(Updates with with spectrum auction in eighth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
26m ago
Bloomberg
UBS Asset, Pictet Seek Out Inflation Safe Havens in Stocks
(Bloomberg) -- With the global inflation debate intensifying, equity investors are fine tuning their portfolios to guard against the impact of price pressures.A preference for companies with the greatest pricing power is one approach adopted by investors from JPMorgan Asset Management to Pictet Wealth Management. While cyclical stocks remain in favor, fund managers are becoming more selective, as pockets of the economically-sensitive asset class may have run too far, too fast.“You hide in pricing power companies -- those companies that will be able to pass higher raw material costs and wages to the end customer,” said Cesar Perez Ruiz, chief investment officer at Pictet Wealth Management in Geneva. “Luxury, concessions companies linked to inflation are some of the sectors that will benefit, but even some cyclical or commodity companies have now more pricing power than several years ago too.”A jump in U.S. consumer prices in April by the most in a decade has intensified an already-heated debate about how long inflationary pressures can last. Higher-than-expected factory prices in China last month and the surge in commodity prices, have added to the concerns.The worries have begun to weigh on stocks. MSCI Inc.’s global equity benchmark slipped 1.6% this week, its biggest drop since February. Technology shares bore the brunt of the weakness as investors bet the return of inflation will bring with it higher interest rates that could hurt stocks with elevated valuations.Wall Street Can’t Agree If Inflation Is Good or Bad for StocksPrice SettersStocks like U.S. railroad companies and paint manufacturers have historically been good at passing on price pressures, though usually with a time lag, according to Richard Saldanha, a portfolio manager at Aviva Investors.Yet there are differing views about how much this applies right now.“Consensus believes that cyclical areas such as banks and industrials are the place to hide in an inflationary environment,” said Caroline Keen, a portfolio manager of JPMorgan Global Growth Fund. “We would counter that banks are generally not price setters and many industrial companies such as autos are struggling with cost increases, with an inability to pass these on to consumers.”Getting PriceyCyclical names are also getting more expensive. Banks now trade around 1.1 times their book value, above the sector’s 10-year average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The equivalent for materials stocks is even more extreme after recent surges in commodities like copper and iron ore.That has made UBS Asset Management portfolio manager Max Anderl “slightly wary” of classic inflation hedges like financials or miners after a strong rally this year. “We prefer to look at selected stocks in the IT and media sectors that continue to show exceptionally strong fundamentals but have corrected sharply in this factor rotation,” he said.Ricardo Gil, head of asset allocation at Trea Asset Management in Madrid, has chosen to exit industrial shares in favor of oil stocks and some banks.Idiosyncratic IdeasAnother approach is to sidestep the debate altogether and focus on single stock ideas or non-inflation related investment themes.With reflation bets triggering a sector rotation, equity correlations are falling, which is good news for fund managers looking to beat indexes through stock picking. If most equities are moving in different directions, it’s easier to choose one that stands out from the crowd.The S&P 500 Index’s three-month realized correlation -- a gauge of how closely the top stocks in the U.S. benchmark move relative to each other -- remains well below the average of the last 10 years.“Our way to cope is being overweight in equity alternatives such as Merger Arbitrage and CTAs and focus on idiosyncratic ideas rather than broader sectors,” said Bantleon AG portfolio manager Oliver Scharping.Transitory ShockStill, not everyone believes the world is set for a new era of higher prices and JPMorgan’s Keen isn’t making significant changes to her portfolio despite the recent inflation concerns.The portfolio manager sees inflation as transitory due to year-over-year base effects and temporary supply chain bottlenecks and is conscious of structural deflationary forces that remain in place such as technology, high debt levels and poor demographics.“Loan growth remains muted and fiscal stimulus comes with offsetting tax increases,” Keen said. “So far we have seen no evidence to suggest that we are entering a new inflationary regime.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
Benzinga
Meet The Dogecoin Millionaire Who's Holding Onto His Bag
When in February Glauber Contessoto decided to invest his life savings in Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), his friends questioned his mental soundness. Now that this decision has made him a millionaire (on paper), many may also be bewildered by his decision to not liquidate the investment. What Happened: Contessoto told The New York Times that his friends and family called him "crazy" when he made the decision that made him a millionaire. “It’s a joke coin. It’s a meme. It’s going to crash," he said his friends told him. Still, the markets are hardly following good sense these days, and Dogecoin has grown to become a network more valuable than blue chip companies Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC). Like many others, Contessoto read about Dogecoin on Reddit. Then he made the unusual decision of going all-in on the coin: He maxed out his credit cards, borrowed money on Robinhood and spent everything he had. The value of Contessoto's investment is now about $2 million, making him a perfect example of what the article describes as "a new kind of hyper-online investor who is winning by applying the skills of the digital attention economy — sharing memes, cultivating buzz, producing endless streams of content for social media — to the financial markets." Such investors aren't interested in investing rationally. Instead of deciding what to invest in based on fundamentals, they invest according to what is funny or futuristic-looking or by how many celebrities are tweeting about it. “Memes are the language of the millennials," Contessoto said. "Now we’re going to have a meme matched with a currency.” Playing The Story: Contessoto explained that he believes that "Dogecoin has the best branding of all cryptocurrency" and that all the other coins appear "super high tech and futuristic," while Dogecoin "just looks like: 'Hey, guys, what’s up?'” While that may not be the most scientific of explanations, he believes that this is a big plus given that newbies investing in cryptocurrency for the first time might prefer investing in something more fun and recognizable. This Dogecoin millionaire believes that the coin's price will continue its ascent and does not want to miss out on future profits. He has already lost hundreds of thousands since the coin was at its all-time high, but he plans to continue holding and only liquidate 10% next year, once his earnings will be classified as long-term capital gains and taxed at a lower rate. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaCardano And Polygon Skyrocket To New All-Time Highs As Investors Seek Elon Musk's Next Favorite CryptoHere's How You Can Get Shiba Inu For Free© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
22h ago
MarketWatch
Dogecoin will migrate from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake to make it viable, predicts head of crypto lending platform
Dogecoin will likely transition from a proof-of-work protocol to proof-of-stake, speculated Alex Mashinsky, the chief executive and founder of The Celsius Network on Friday during a webcast hosted by his lending platform on YouTube.
2d ago
InvestorPlace
5 Reddit Penny Stocks Seeing the Most Chatter Friday
It’s the end of the week and we’re closing it out right here at InvestorPlace with coverage of the most talked-about penny stocks on Reddit for Friday. Source: Shutterstock But don’t just jump right in. First, I have to warn you about the dangers of penny stocks. If you’re reading an article like this, then you likely already know, but penny stocks can be incredibly volatile. That’s due to the cheap prices making them easy to manipulate. However, that low barrier to entry is also what attracts fearless traders. Now, let’s dive into the Reddit penny stocks seeing the most chatter today.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Reddit Penny Stocks: Senseonics Holdings (SENS) All about the company: Senseonics Holdings (NYSEAMERICAN:SENS) is a Taiwanese company that makes power supplies for PCs. What the stock is doing today: Shares are heading nearly 12% higher today. What Reddit has to say: Users of the r/pennystocks subreddit are talking about the positive earnings report from the company. Reddit Penny Stocks: Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) All about the company: Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ATOS) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on breast cancer treatments. What the stock is doing today: Shares are heading more than 16% higher. What Reddit has to say: Reddit traders are discussing the withdrawal of a share authorization vote today. 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks for Your Reliability Short List Reddit Penny Stocks: Citius Pharmaceuticals (CTXR) All about the company: Citius Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CTXR) is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic products. What the stock is doing today: Shares are up 2.4%. What Reddit has to say: Redditors are debating the merits of holding the stock over using it for day trading. Reddit Penny Stocks: Clover Health Investments (CLOV) All about the company: Clover Health Investments (NASDAQ:CLOV) is a health insurance company founded in 2014 that operates out of Tennessee. What the stock is doing today: Shares are heading over 4% higher today. What Reddit has to say: Traders are chattering about picking up shares ahead of earnings on Monday. Reddit Penny Stocks: Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC) All about the company: Applied Genetic Technologies (NASDAQ:AGTC) clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on developing genetic therapies for patients. What the stock is doing today: Shares are rising 4.4% Friday. What Reddit has to say: Members of the penny stocks subreddit are talking about recent manufacturing expansion news from the company. On the date of publication, William White did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines. With only the rarest exceptions, InvestorPlace does not publish commentary about companies that have a market cap of less than $100 million or trade less than 100,000 shares each day. That’s because these “penny stocks” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. If we ever do publish commentary on a low-volume stock that may be affected by our commentary, we demand that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks. Read More: Penny Stocks — How to Profit Without Getting Scammed More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post 5 Reddit Penny Stocks Seeing the Most Chatter Friday appeared first on InvestorPlace.
2d ago
MarketWatch
Inherited $500K? Or $1 million? Here’s how to make that money act like a monthly pension
With the right asset allocation and withdrawal strategy, investors may not worry so much about the large sum of money in their accounts.
21h ago
InvestorPlace
3 ARKK Stocks to Throw Off Your Ship
The liquidation in growth stocks reached a fever pitch this week. On the index level, the Nasdaq is the poster child for the pain. From peak-to-trough, its retreat measures -8%. But even that masks the wholesale destruction beneath the surface. For the epicenter of the fallout, cast your eyes on the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK), which has fallen nearly 40%. ARKK houses the bubbliest of all growth stocks. The lot of them were uniquely positioned to profit from many of the themes that arose from the novel coronavirus pandemic. Shareholders bid their prices to the moon, creating sky-high multiples in the process. Unfortunately, this year they’re all witnessing the downside of momentum. 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks for Your Reliability Short List With so many support levels broken and overhead supply looming large, rallies for ARKK and its constituents are suspect. Here are three of the most vulnerable to further downside:InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Square (NYSE:SQ) Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) Let’s take a closer look at each chart and map out a trade to profit if the weakness continues. ARKK Stocks to Throw Off Your Ship: Tesla (TSLA) Source: The thinkorswim® platform from TD Ameritrade Tesla is the largest holding in the ARKK fund and thus accounts for more of its performance than any other stock. Its price trend turned lower in February, and short of one failed recovery attempt in April, it’s been bearish ever since. With this week’s whack, TSLA is now testing its rising 200-day moving average for the first time since last March. Horizontal support is also coming into play at $570, adding further significance to the test. If we break here, a swift drop to $500 could be in the cards. We are seeing oversold readings flashing, so ideally, Tesla will pause for a few days before the floor gives way. Options on the EV giant are expensive, so I like spreads over buying puts outright. The Trade: Buy the July $550/$520 bear put for $10.50. Square (SQ) Source: The thinkorswim® platform from TD Ameritrade Square has developed a choppy range in 2021, making it a difficult stock to trade directionally. Its current position provides an easy spot to build trade ideas, though. Like Tesla, SQ stock is testing its rising 200-day moving average. This is a logical spot for buyers to make a stand if they are going to help the stock maintain its neutral intermediate trend. The 200-day also sits at a key price threshold at $200. We’ve seen multiple prior selloffs terminate in this area. Friday’s 5% jump is confirming bulls are once again running to defend their turf. As long as the level holds, I’m not interested in bear plays. But if it breaks V then it’s game on. The higher price tag makes put spreads better than long puts. I would wait for a break of Thursday’s low ($192.29) before entering. 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks for Your Reliability Short List The Trade: Buy the July $190/$175 bear put for $3 to $4. ARKK Stocks to Throw Off Your Ship: Twilio (TWLO) Source: The thinkorswim® platform from TD Ameritrade The final ARKK stock to stalk for bear trades is Twilio. Its trend reversal is more developed than Tesla and Square. It’s also still way above last year’s low, so there’s plenty of room for prices to unwind if sellers want to press their bets. The 200-day moving average already gave way, and TWLO is consolidating beneath it near $300. A few more sideways candles would be ideal to allow oversold conditions to ease. This would also allow the current low base pattern to fully form and make a support break trade easier to play. For now, try using a break of $280 as the trigger/signal that the next downswing is beginning. The Trade: Buy the July $280/$260 bear put for around $7. On the date of publication, Tyler Craig did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines. For a free trial to the best trading community on the planet and Tyler’s current home, click here! More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post 3 ARKK Stocks to Throw Off Your Ship appeared first on InvestorPlace.
2d ago
MarketWatch
Don’t be a sitting duck when this stock market rally fades — here’s what to do now
Institutional investors do not take kindly to inflation and they sold. 1. If indexes fall below their moving averages, take action: Traders and investors alike should watch moving averages, especially the 50-, 100-, and 200-day. When the indexes were sliding a few days ago, the S&P 500 (SPX) for example, did not break its 50-day moving average at 4050.
1d ago
Bloomberg
Soros Bought Up Stocks Linked to Bill Hwang’s Archegos Implosion
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire George Soros’s investment firm snapped up shares of ViacomCBS, Discovery and Baidu as they were being sold off in massive blocks during the collapse of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management.Soros Fund Management bought $194 million of ViacomCBS Inc., Baidu Inc. stock valued at $77 million, as well $46 million of Vipshop Holdings Ltd. and $34 million of Tencent Music Entertainment Group during the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing released Friday. A person familiar with the fund’s trading said the company didn’t hold the shares prior to Archegos’s implosion.Archegos, the family office of former hedge fund manager Hwang, fell apart during the last week of March after amassing large leveraged positions in a concentrated portfolio of U.S. and Chinese companies. At its peak, the family office had more than $20 billion of capital and total bets exceeding $100 billion.Hwang was wiped out in just days after investments including ViacomCBS and Discovery tumbled, triggering margin calls from global banks, who then sold the stocks in the big block trades. The fiasco is expected to cost the finance industry about $10 billion, has prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and caused heads to roll at Credit Suisse Group AG, where the hit exceeds $5 billion.The 13F filing provides one of the first examples of how a hedge fund attempted to capitalize on the distressed remains of Archegos. It also offers an insight into Soros’s investment firm, which is run by Chief Investment Officer Dawn Fitzpatrick.She told Bloomberg in March that she was willing to jump on dislocations in the market, investing $4 billion during the pandemic-induced swoon a year ago, including buying residential mortgages on the cheap. Soros returned almost 30% in the 12 months through February and manages $27 billion across a range of strategies.“When there’s a dislocation, we’re prepared to not just double down but triple down when the facts and circumstances support that,” Fitzpatrick, 51, said in a “Front Row” interview on Bloomberg TV.Soros also increased its bet on Amazon.com Inc. and homebuilder DR Horton Inc., which is now its second-largest public equity position.The 13F, which money managers overseeing more than $100 million in U.S. equities must file quarterly, revealed that Soros held $4.5 billion of U.S. equities, down $77 million from the prior quarter.The biggest exit in the quarter was Palantir Technologies Inc. Soros sold 18.5 million shares valued at about $435 million. The firm originally revealed it owned a stake in the controversial data-mining company controlled by Peter Thiel in November, but rapidly issued a statement saying the original investment was made in 2012 and it regretted the decision.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
20h ago
FX Empire
U.S Mortgage Rates Fall Again, Leaving Rates at sub-3% for a 4th Consecutive Week
Mortgage rates fall again to hold at sub-3% levels for a 4th consecutive week. Inventories continue to push house prices higher, however…
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Barrons.com
Inflation Is Good News for Stocks With High Dividends
Rising bond yields and fear that rising prices will force the Fed to tighten monetary policy have slammed the broader stock market recently.
4h ago

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