From the Wall Street Journal’s "Stock Futures Waver as Bond Yields Rise" posted early Wednesday:
U.S. stocks were poised for muted opening moves following Tuesday’s selloff, and government-bond yields extended their advance, as investors prepare for central banks globally to raise interest rates...
Investors kept selling government bonds, pushing up yields. Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 1.893%, compared with 1.866% Tuesday, which was their highest level since January 2020. Yields on interest rate-sensitive two-year notes rose to 1.063% from 1.038% Tuesday...
In Tokyo, Sony Group lost 13% following gaming rival Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision Blizzard, maker of games including World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The drop was Sony’s biggest since 2008...
Investors have stepped up bets that the Federal Reserve and other major central banks will tighten monetary policy in the coming months, withdrawing a pillar of support for markets. Mounting expectations of interest-rate rises follow evidence that the drivers of inflation have broadened beyond the supply-chain shock that fueled price gains for much of 2021.
Recent volatility is “really all about inflation and how aggressive central banks are going to be to counteract it,” said Brian O’Reilly, head of market strategy at Mediolanum Asset Management, adding that inflation could also curtail economic growth by knocking consumption. ”Certainly, the market is nervous at the moment.”
Charts: Yahoo!Finance sees a neutral commodity channel index pattern. Max pain seems to be stuck at $150 with a call mountain at $170.
That’s the bad news. The good news, as Robert said above, is that this is also shaping up to be an opportunity for long term investors to pad their AAPL holdings, very much including the biggest buy and hold investor of all; Apple Inc.
That Max Pain number, btw, is a train wreck waiting to happen – and not for AAPL longs!
As always, IMHO.
Besides buying back its own shares, what else can Apple do that doesn’t run afoul of SEC rules?
“MSFT is somewhat similar but has a much smaller float…”
By definition, the largest market cap will have the largest float. As you say, what is Apple supposed to do, reduce its market cap?
But when Milenko speaks of market manipulation, I think he’s referring to things like the present “slingshot” gambit. It’s possible that there’s some collusion going on, but that would have to be proven. Short of the SEC getting involved, or someone being really stupid/arrogant, I don’t see that happening.
But really, that’s why Apple started the buybacks in the first place. If someone’s going to drive the price down to absurdity, then why not use their huge cash flow to suck up all that cheap stock? In the last analysis, it increases the value of any remaining shares, thus countering the negative aspects of short-selling the stock.
Bottom line: To sleep easier at night, go with the flow and trust Apple’s buybacks to keep your investment on an even keel. I.e., become a long term AAPL investor.
Yep.