Only Two Things Changed Since Last Night -- October 28, 2022

Don't you just love it? Link here.

Holy mackerel:

• 148 tickers hit 52-week highs
• I could be wrong, but I think I posted on the blog that I said this was a stock-picker's market;
• if not on the blog, in an e-mail to a reader
• it will continue to be a stock-picker's market
• two, of course, were XOM and CVX
• but no less than six Big Pharma companies (and related)
• CAH, AMGN
• PFE is well off its highs but had a great day today
  
• not only inflation-proof but do well with inflation
• Campbell Soup Compnan hit a new 52-week high;
• Kellogg and General Mills
• this I know said on the blog: some companies were going to benefit greatly from inflation;
• and that explains CPB, Kellogg, General Mills
  
• I was agreeing with a Robert Reich tweet
  
• in fact, take out dot-com-like companies and this has been a great market?
• I have literally no complaints about the market
• I'll bet some mutual funds have one of their years ever

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What Changed Overnight? Two Thinngs

Apple's conference call: stellar.

Oil.

Period. Dot.

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Not Ready For Prime Time

A reader sent me a note on politics, Biden's political future, the next president of the US and some investment comments.

My not-ready-for-prime-time reply:

1. The mid-terms will be most interesting. I am pretty much withholding all prognostications until the mid-terms are over. My hunch: there will be a lot of surprises.

2. Pennsylvania has already voted and they have already elected their next senator. That early voting. Oz lost. [My only prognostication .]

3. I don't pay attention to anything any politician says -- I used to but about six months ago, Biden's comments were so egregious and yet the mainstream media never seemed concerned, so now, I ignore his comments completely. Occasionally I learn something substantive from the Biden administration on twitter.

4. The biggest disappointment is Cramer. Probably the smartest guy in the room in terms of knowing the market and personally knowing / meeting more CEOs than anyone else and yet he is being portrayed as a doofus. I don't know. Much of what he mentioned could not possibly have been predicted -- particularly the policy change on semiconductors and the persistent supply chain shortages. The Fed and Janet Yellen missed the "persistent" in "persistent inflation" but mom-and-pop retail investors did not.

5. As for me, as I've mentioned on the blog where I'm focused and it's on investing and dividends. These will be the best two years of investing that we've had in a long time. For me it's a win-win: if the market struggles, it simply continues to be a period of accumulating shares. If the market takes off, I feel quite well-positioned.

6. Schwab has non-company-generated graphs to show the history of the market following every period when the Fed began to raise rates. Data since the Fed was established. History suggests 500+ days for the market to get back to its previous highs. Two years of buying beat-down stocks.

7. Last note on Apple: once folks actually go through the earnings call, they will be amazed how great that company will continue to be.