OT - Dow plunges 1,175 - worst point decline in history

[C40_guy]

For a child starting out, supercharge their interest (pun intended) by offering a partial or full match of their monthly contribution.

[verticaldoug]

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020...-them-out.html

I read the FT article on CLOs yesterday. This is an interesting take on it.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020...-them-out.html

I read the FT article on CLOs yesterday. This is an interesting take on it.

Do you recommend this site Doug?

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Do you recommend this site Doug?

While I'm not Doug, I spent some time on this site. It *looks* pretty well researched and very well written....but it presents a set of messages difficult to digest. The authors/publishers have an agenda, one that probably has roots in reality...but the messages are harsh and maybe overstated, perhaps dramatically overstated. Perhaps not.

I certainly wouldn't use it as my primary source of information.

Sometimes it's better just to turn the tv off and pick up a back issue of Dirt Rider.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

While I'm not Doug, I spent some time on this site. It *looks* pretty well researched and very well written....but it presents a set of messages difficult to digest. The authors/publishers have an agenda, one that probably has roots in reality...but the messages are harsh and maybe overstated, perhaps dramatically overstated. Perhaps not.

I certainly wouldn't use it as my primary source of information.

Sometimes it's better just to turn the tv off and pick up a back issue of Dirt Rider.

Thanks Doug.....

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Thanks Doug.....

You're welcome Janet...

[verticaldoug]

Naked Capitalism was founded by a woman in the industry Susan Webber. She thinks fraud was at the heart of the 2008 financial meltdown. She writes under the pen-name Yves Smith so wrote the article I linked.

I like her stuff as she is always takes the WC Fields line when looking at the financial press- if you don't know who the sucker is, the sucker is you.

This site tends left of center. So somedays, it reads like Elizabeth Warren is guest editor. Not necessarily bad in my opinion.

Zerohedge is another site like this but it is right-hard right. It's editor's pen name Tyler Durden of Fight club, is a banned ex-hedgie from a former Soviet State. Sometimes the articles here are interesting, but often it is just a gateway drug to alt-right..

You need to be really skeptical when reading things on these sites.

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by echappist

Not to get overly political, but it's less urgent for you

You live in a country with a strong safety net. Sure, perhaps you could save more of your post-tax income, but a lot of that saving has been done for you, in terms of contributions to the national safety net.

The U.S. has comparatively lower taxes; more of whatever that doesn't get taxed ought to be stashed away, b/c we don't have much to fall back on.

But this is also the land of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, one predicated upon consumerism (to quote Oscar Wilde, the nation that went from barbarism to decadence without having civilization in between). Add to that the notion any type of "personal freedom" is an unalloyed good and general disregard for "rules", few pays attention to wisdom derived from experience. End result being, despite the fact that few has a defined-benefit pension, retirement account for those 60-69 has an average balance of ~$200k (the median balance is lower at $62k).

Again, not to exculpate the various forces responsible for the massive number of low paying jobs without much benefits, but this is also a country not known for personal responsibility.

C40 is fortunate, that his son buys into wisdom distilled from experience (though more likely is that this is by education, and not luck); by the same token, his son is fortunate to have parents who could impart such wisdom.

Those are good and valid points. Its true.

Its strange that personal economy is such a small part of school here.
I mean chemistry is interesting and all but how is that Important enough for 3 years for everyone in mandatory schooling (here atleast) whilst lm not sure we even have 1 whole hour devoted to learning about your own economy.

Its weird beyond belief and will cost lots of heartaches down the line. But they can atleast recite part of the periodic table tho not usually all that well tbh

[kookmyers]

What the heck is going on?

[makoti]

Originally Posted by kookmyers

What the heck is going on?

Favorable vaccine news.

[Tony T]

The vaccine news was very good, and I hope that the positive tests on the vaccine continue into phase II

Stocks climbed after encouraging data about the first coronavirus vaccine tested in people.

The drug maker Moderna said Monday that the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in people appears to be safe and able to stimulate an immune response against the virus.

The findings, which helped prompt a rally on Wall Street, are based on results from the first eight people who each received two doses of the experimental vaccine, starting in March.

Those people, healthy volunteers ages 18 to 55, made antibodies that were then tested in human cells in the lab, and were able to stop the virus from replicating — the key requirement for an effective vaccine. The levels of those so-called neutralizing antibodies matched the levels found in patients who had recovered after contracting the virus in the community. Two more age groups, 55 to 70, and 71 and over, are now being enrolled to test the vaccine.

Though encouraging, the findings do not prove that the vaccine works. Only larger, longer studies can determine whether it can actually prevent people in the real world from getting sick. Moderna’s technology, involving genetic material from the virus called mRNA, is relatively new and has yet to produce any approved vaccine.

Moderna produced the vaccine in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the institute led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, which has been leading the clinical trials. That institute, a part of the federal National Institutes of Health, is also involved in research on other experimental coronavirus vaccines.

Moderna’s announcement came just a few days after President Trump named leaders for the federal government’s effort to speed up development of a vaccine, and the company has said that it is proceeding on an accelerated timetable. The Food and Drug Administration gave Moderna the go-ahead for the second phase earlier this month.

If those trials go well, a vaccine could become available for widespread use by the end of this year or early 2021, Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. How many doses might be ready is not clear, but Dr. Zaks said, “We’re doing our best to make it as many millions as possible.”

Despite the uncertainties, the company’s announcement rapidly encouraged investors, who also welcomed a pledge from Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, that there was “really no limit” to what the central bank could do with its emergency lending facilities.

The S&P 500 rose more than 3 percent by early Monday afternoon, and Moderna’s shares surged more than 25 percent.

Monday’s rally had all the characteristics of one focused on the prospects for a return to normal. Travel stocks, like United Airlines, Expedia Group and Marriott International, were among the best performers in the S&P 500.

Oil prices also moved higher, with West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. standard crude, rising above $30 a barrel for the first time since March, and government bond prices fell.

[Clean39T]

...

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Still makes zero sense to me. A vaccine, even if miraculously effective, just means people going back to work and an end to Fed stimulus. Neither of those seems particularly bullish to me. The long-term implications for consumer spending are still awful - as are the jobs impacts.. I can see no fundamentals supporting anything other than a deep recession out of all this. And that's why I still feel good about sitting on the sidelines right now. Anything else feels more like a Vegas bet than an investment call.

You called it.

The potential availability of a vaccine, maybe 12 to 18 months out, will have no discernible impact on the economy this year.

Sure, it's an early signal that things may return to manageable at some point in the future, and the wholesale and professional traders are grasping at straws. They always do...they love any positive signals that the market will go up.

It may be difficult to sit on the sidelines now, as the market resumes its upward trajectory. But you're doing the right thing. Sixty to ninety days from now you'll be in a good position to cherry pick solid stocks at firesale prices. Make your list, do your research, and sit tight.

[mg2ride]

I'm sure it will be a fight but we should see the S&P back over 3000 by June.

What ever happened to you guys that were planning on shorting the market last month?

[Tony T]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/25/stoc...lose-news.html

American biotech company Novavax said Monday it started the first human study of its experimental coronavirus vaccine. The company said it expects initial results on safety and immune responses in July. Last week, another biotech Moderna reported positive development on its vaccine trial where all 45 participants had developed coronavirus antibodies.