Notes From All Over -- Sunday Night Edition -- December 20, 2020

Updates

December 23, 2020: how to buy "slices." -- Motley Fool.

Original Post

“Focus on Fracking” posted: http://focusonfracking.blogspot.com/2020/12/opec-report-global-oil-shortage-at.html.

Biggest disappointment: the Covid-19 relief bill. 

Conundrum: wow, talk about a conundrum for fund managers. Fund managers are paid to "beat the market." With Tesla now part of the S&P 500, these fund managers have another wrinkle with which to contend. This will be absolutely fascinating. It's hard not to see this as an incredible positive feedback loop: as fund managers buy Tesla to goose their yields, it pushes both Tesla and the S&P 500 up, which forces fund managers (who are paid to "beat the market") to buy more Tesla. I don't often link to CNN Business but this is interesting.

Staggering: some data points from the above linked article:

• Tesla is the largest company ever to be added to the index. 
• With a market value of more than $625 billion, it will immediately become the sixth most valuable company in the S&P, trailing only Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google owner Alphabet, and Facebook. 
• Tesla is currently worth over $100 billion more than Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway — and Musk's personal net worth is also higher than the Oracle of Omaha's. 
• In fact, Musk is now the second wealthiest person on the planet, trailing only Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Tesla's market value is also higher than the combined valuations of GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, Honda, and Nissan. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

Tea leaves: COVID relief bill — too little (way too little) — too late. All this for a half-hearted bill and a one-day authorization to keep the government running past midnight. Huge disappointment. The market will run on its own merits tomorrow. And right now, it appears traders are not impressed. I know I'm not. 

What do "they" mean, to prevent "brief" shutdown? If they don't pass another spending bill tomorrow, how do they know how long the next shutdown will be? Last time the government shut down, correct me if I'm wrong, the only thing shut down were the federal parks. Due to Covid, most federal parks are shut down now, anyway.

Roku: I can't remember if I posted this story from a couple of days ago. Roku struck a deal with ATT-owned WarnerMedia to give Roku users access to HBO Max streaming service, which will now be available on Roku devices. The service has already begun, effective December 17, 2020. Link here. 

"MAX" debacle: after the Keystone XL (for "extra long) debacle, the Boeing 737 Max debacle, the Warp Speed rollout debacle, and now this (HBO Max), I'm beginning to think companies and agencies might be better off under-promising and over-delivering. 

Barron's best stocks for 2021: on the list for next year -- AAPL and BRK. The list: GOOG and BRK (repeaters); new to the list: AAPL, KO, MRK, Eaton, Goldman Sachs, Graham Holdings, Madison Square Entertainment, and Newmont. Overall, color me unimpressed. It appears BofA agrees with me -- BofA' list shows no similarities at all to the Barron's list.

The stock market is ending a remarkable year, with the S&P 500 index returning 17%, as investors see an end to the pandemic in 2021 and corporate earnings rapidly improving.

This year also featured one of the biggest disparities ever between growth and value strategies: growth stocks in the S&P 500 have returned 31% including dividends, while value stocks are down 1%.

The BofA list: DIS (heartily agree); Hilton Worldwide (maybe); WMT (absolutely); CVX (whoo-hoo); Allstate (even Sophia knows all about Allstte); HCA Healthcare (?); Alaska Air Group (coincidentally I just flew on Alaska Airlines today); Qorvo (no idea); Vale S. A. (recently mentioned on Fast Money, CNBC; and, Realty Income Corporation (have no idea).