Tesla > 2k

For Trading August 21st

INITIAL CLAIMS UP OVER 1MM, Again

LEI +1.4%

TSLA TOPS $2,000!!

Today’s market started on the downside but turned around and headed higher to close up on the day. Only the Russell couldn’t get with the program. There was some early disappointment brought on by the number of initial claims jumping back over 1 million after only 1 week under the magic number. LEI, leading economic indicators, were higher for the third month in a row at +1.4%. The DJIA was +46.85, NASDAQ at another new high +118.49 (1.06%), S&P 500 +10.66 (.32%, and the Russell -7.77 (.49%). Market internals were soft with NYSE 1.6:1 down and the NASDAQ 1.5:1, with a slight increase in volume. DJIA stocks were 19 down and 11 up with the leading gainer AAPL, adding 70 DP’s, MSFT +34, and V +23. On the downside we were led by HD and UNH both down just 14 DP’s.

Our “open forum” on Discord, which allows me to interact with subscribers and others to allow direct questions and chart opinions on just about any stock, continues to grow with more participants every day. It is informative and allows me to share insights as the market is open and moving. The link is: https://discord.gg/ATvC7YZ and I will be there and active from before the open and all day. It’s a great place to share ideas and gain some insights, and we’ve grown to almost 3000 members. I also did this video over the weekend on a day-trade, (actually 2) that I made in AAPL on Friday. I think it’s highly informative as a guide to under what conditions these kind of trades in expiring options make sense. The link is https://youtu.be/qIV0G-hP3aM Enjoy!!

Tonight’s closing comment video: No Closing Comment tonight

SECTORS: While it isn’t necessarily my focus, it’s difficult to not key in on TESLA breaking $2,000 today. A week ago, someone in the Discord room asked what I thought, and I gave them an opinion that once we closed over $1,643 that we were headed directly to $2,000-2,100 on a straight shot. I really had a high degree of certainty but thought it would take more than 4 trading days to get to that range! UBER and LYFT both threatened to “turn off the platform” at midnight tonight, and the State of California blinked, and is allowing them to operate with drivers still outside contractors instead of employees while the matter is being litigated in the Appeals Court process. One of the issues that most don’t mention is that the drivers being laid off can file and receive unemployment, even though the company has never paid into the plan. That leaves the taxpayers picking up the bill! Now do you understand how expensive it can get for the state? VERY sneaky.
On the earnings front we had BABA before the open with a beat on both top and bottom lines, but after trading as high as $265 and as low as $255, pre-open, it opened right in the middle and then fell to $254.18 before recovering and closing $257.92, right near the high of the day and -2.67 (1.02%). Estee Lauder wasn’t as fortunate with a miss, and the stock selling off and finishing $198.67 -13.83 (6.7%). INTC also announced an additional $10Billion in stock buybacks and after trading up to $50.40 last night it hit only $50.20 today and finished on the lows @ $49.17 +.84 (1.74%).

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN was HIGHER with TSN -.85, BGS +.34, FLO -.20, CPB +.02, CAG +.06, MDLZ +.48, KHC -.53, CALM +.72, JJSF +1.20, SAFM -.18, HRL +.35, SJM +.54, PPC +.17, KR -.27, and PBJ $34.23 +.01 (.02%).

BIOPHARMA was LOWER with BIIB -2.46, ABBV -.85, REGN -12.74, ISRG +1.64, GILD +.30, MYL -.17, TEVA -.20, VRTX +1.20, BHC +.28, INCY -.77, ICPT +.26, LABU _.08, and IBB $133.35 -.43 (.32%).

CANNABIS: was LOWER with TLRY -.13, CGC -.33, GWPH +1.93, ACB -.33, NBEV +.05, CURLF -.51., KERN -.23, and MJ $12.60 -.15 (1.18%).

DEFENSE: was LOWER with LMT -1.55, GD -1.55, TXT -.29, NOC -1.24, BWXT -.90, TDY -3.64, RTX -.64 and ITA $165.42 -1.23 (.74%).

RETAIL: was LOWER with M -.22, JWN -.63, KSS -.60, DDS -.91, WMT -1.89, TGT -2.02, TJX -2.42, RL -.28, UAA -.03, LULU +5.58, TPR -.64, CPRI -.59, and XRT $51.95 -.43 (.82%).

FAANG and Big Cap: were HIGHER with GOOGL +31.64, AMZN +37.52, AAPL +13.12, FB +6.82, NVDA +1.96, TSLA +132.47, BABA -2.57, BIDU +.75, CMG +18.66, BA +.41, CAT -.54, DIS +.37, and XLK $116.48 +1.55 (1.35%). PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THESE PRICES ARE LATE MARKET QUOTES AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE 4:00 CLOSES.

FINANCIALS were LOWER with GS - .80, JPM -.98, BAC -.42, MS -.57, C -.69, PNC +1.09, AIG -.73, TRV -.67, AXP -.16, V +3.39, and XLF $24.38 -.21 (.85%).

OIL, $42.82 -.29. Oil was lower in today’s trading before we rallied in the afternoon, closing down but at the top end of the day’s range. The stocks were LOWER across the board with XLE $3736.36 -.70 (1.89%).

GOLD $1,946.50 – 23.80, was a dramatic sell-off last week taking the gold down as low as $1,874.00 before a rally back to $1,950. I am still a bull on the metal, and we have a September bull call spread on using NEM 65/70 calls with a cost of $1.45, which closed today @ $2.43.

BITCOIN: closed $11,895 +205. After breaking out over $10,000 we have had a “running correction” pushing prices toward $12,000, reaching a recovery high of $12220 Thursday, and after a day of rest in between, we resumed the rally touching $12,635. We had 750 shares of GBTC and sold off 250 last week at $13.93 and still have 500 with a cost of $8.45. GBTC closed $14.16 +.45 today.

Tomorrow is another day.

CAM