From the Wall Street Journal’s "Stock Futures Point to Gains Ahead of Fed Chairman Decision" posted early Monday:
U.S. stocks headed for opening gains as investors awaited data on the property market and a decision on the next Federal Reserve chairman...
Major stock indexes stand close to record highs, buoyed by strong corporate earnings and optimism about the economy. Some investors expect volatility in the coming months, however, as central banks globally rein in the stimulus measures that have powered markets higher.
“This is a very difficult time for central banks,” said Lyn Graham-Taylor, senior rates strategist at Rabobank. He pointed to a weekend interview in which Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey said the central bank would likely raise interest rates but that the outlook for inflation was highly uncertain.
Money managers are waiting to find out whether Jerome Powell will be reappointed as Fed chairman or replaced by Gov. Lael Brainard, who has backed the central bank’s interest rate policy over the past four years. President Biden is expected to announce his decision before leaving for a holiday trip Tuesday evening.
Charts: Yahoo!Finance sees a bullish momentum pattern (no kidding). Max pain stays at $150 with a craggy mountain of calls that peak at $160.
UPDATE: Since this was posted, Max pain moved up to $152.50 and the mountain moved down to $155.
What I think will be big news is that Apple decides to produce a fully drivable vehicle at all with semi-autonomous driving systems and a fully integrated Apple ecosystem built directly into its infotainment and augmented reality systems for all passengers. The vehicle could fit 2, 4, or 6 passengers in comfort, style, and practical luxury along with sufficient cargo space.
Driver has options of heads up displays for driving and navigation. Or each passenger could use an Apple View ™ or Apple Vision ™ glasses device with interconnected AirPods Pro for an immersive AR experience for all kinds of media or content. You could even watch the car’s journey from an onboard or overhead roof mounted camera and correlated with a Maps view.
Users who desire a more standard experience can access the 15” iPad or M1 iMac with optional polarized display (for privacy) on a detachable or swivel mount in front of them on seatback or dash. Of course, it uses a MagSafe charging system. All displays are tied into the vehicle security system and become inert outside of 30 feet unless unlocked and passcoded or FaceID’ed. Users could easily bring their own compatible Apple devices and be securely added and hooked into the onboard 5G or wireless network as desired. Quad Apple M1 MacMobility ™ computers provide vehicle system redundancy while easily handling any computing tasks users need.
IMO, surely the chassis dynamics and Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) control must be top notch for road handling and comfort, plus performance up there but not necessarily top top. Range and easy recharging plus usability and comfort should IMO be the base and added sport and performance in the Pro or Max (natch) models. And of course SAFETY and trustworthiness above all. Easy repairability?? Perhaps, depending on how robust a service network Apple builds to support its vehicle ambitions.
Self parking is almost a given, as is accident avoidance and impaired operator detection. Conservative and cautious driving algorithms should consult the driver/user in the cases of unexpected road closures, hazards and obstacles if detectable within line of sight or crowd reporting.
As for numbers, $45-70K per vehicle plus options, shoot for 20-40K units on the first year and ramp up from there. That’s only 350-700 vehicles per week. Feedback and iterative improvements follow.
Why would that single out AAPL? And I’d note that the markets in general aren’t partiicularly high, and the Nasdaq is actually decidedly in the red…..
Robert and Gregg don’t like my low volume thesis. [shrug] Not the first time folks have disagreed with me. But I see a decided light at the end of the tunnel. I’m guessing some of the smarter money is taking advantage of this opportunity to by AAPL on the cheap, and sock it away. Also, my thesis says it’s going to get harder and harder for manipulators to wiggle the needle on AAPL going forward.