TESLA 5:1

For Trading August 12th

TSLA 5:1 SPLIT

GOLD / SILVER COLLAPSE

DJIA CLOSES 450 OFF HIGH

Today’s market got off to a slightly higher start on DJIA and S&P-500 but general weakness in the NASDAQ, again. By the end of the day the DJIA -104.53 (.38%) was well off its +363 high and the NASDAQ was the big loser -185.54 (1.69%). The S&P 500 was -26.78 (.80) after being withing a few dollars of a new high, the Russell -9.57 (.6%), and the only winner the DJ Transports +24.59 (.23%). Market internals were 1:1 on the NYSE but 1.5:1 down on the NASDAQ. Volume was slightly higher than average for an August day. The major feature of the day was the massive selloff in the precious metals. Gold was down $125/oz. at the low and finished $1946.30 -93.40 (6%) while the Silver was lower by $3.21 to $26.049 after hitting an intraday low of $24.48. The change at the close was 12%. I would assume that we would see some follow-thru tonight and tomorrow early, but I bought the NEM September $65 / 70 call spread for $1.45. This is basically the same trade I made last month on the August expo $60/65 spread @ $1.30 that we sold @ $3.20. We also had the TBT 9/18 15 calls @ $ .40 that we sold today half @ $ .68, and the second half @ $ .74 just before they fell back to $ .55. Not bad, with YTD now back to +34%.

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 https://youtu.be/EvsCZy_K1sw SECTORS: We didn’t have much corporate news today but QCOM won an appeals court ruling on an anti-trust case and the stock ignored the selloff and finished the day $108.83 +2.47 (2.3%). That made it a standout as the rest of technology was hit hard again today. It was the 3rd day down for the NASDAQ since its new closing high at $11,108.07 last Thursday. The biggest news of the late day was the announcement that TESLA (TSLA) declared a 5:1 stock split. While this is really just straight arithmetic, it does create some demand for the shares now, since when the stock split becomes effective at the end of August you would have 5 times the shares at 1/5 of the price. But it does promote the purchase of “round lots” as opposed to “odd lots.” Does it really increase demand? Not really, but most stocks (like AAPL) do seem to rise on the news. TSLA certainly did, closing $1374 -44, and then on the news rallied to its current $1467.20, over $90 higher. FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN was LOWER with TSN +.82, BGS -.46, FLO +.20, CPB -.63, CAG -.49, MDLZ -.49, KHC -.16, CALM +.19, JJSF -.35, SAFM +2.10, HRL -.31, SJM -.84, PPC +.27, KR -.58, and PBJ #33.32 -.37 (1.13%).

BIOPHARMA was LOWER with BIIB -10.32, ABBV +.19, REGN -9.38, ISRG -8.00, GILD +.35, MYL +.39, TEVA -.07, VRTX -6.87, BHC +.16, INCY -1.32, ICPT -.25, LABU -6.96, and IBB $132.28-2.59 (1.92%). CANNABIS: was LOWER with TLRY -.95, CGC -.54, CRON -.06, GWPH -3.52, ACB -.14, NBEV -.02, CURLF -.38, KERN -.29, and MJ $12.95 +.01 (.08%).

DEFENSE: was HIGHER with LMT +3.03, GD +2.94, TXT -.18, NOC +6.27, BWXT +.22, TDY +1.75, RTX +.16, and ITA $172.14 +.91 (.53%).

RETAIL: was HIGHER with M -.16, JWN +.07, KSS +.55, DDS +.66, WMT -1.33, TGT -1.22, TJX +1.08, RL +1.77, UAA +.27, LULU -8.95, TPR +.12, CPRI +.31, and XRT $50.60 -.39 (.76%).

FAANG and Big Cap: were LOWER with GOOGL -12.81, AMZN -63.15, AAPL -10.52, FB -5.50, NFLX -14.89, NVDA -10.20, TSLA +50.43, BABA +.87, BIDU +.08, CMG -11.00, CAT +1.23, MSFT -3.,85, BA +.98, DIS +1.86, and XLK $112.00 -1.42 (1.25%). PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THESE PRICES ARE LATE MARKET QUOTES AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE 4:00 CLOSES.

FINANCIALS were HIGHER with GS +2.42, JPM +3.58, BAC +.47, MS +1.22, C +1.17, PNC +3.32, AIG +.52, TRV +.80, AXP +1.70, V +1.46, and XLF $25.31 +.29 (1.16%).

OIL, $41.61 -.33. Oil was higher in last night’s trading before we rallied in the morning on news of production cutbacks from Iraq. The stocks were HIGHER with XLE $38.20 -.13 (.34%).

GOLD $1,946.30 -93.40, was a continuation rally and a new recovery high of $2,089.20, but we collapsed and fell as far as $1,919 -124 before coming back slightly. Tonight, we are currently trading lower again at $1,915.70 – 30.00. While I like the gold down here, I will have to wait and see how it acts overnight.

BITCOIN: closed $11,435 -580. After breaking out over $10,000 we have had a “running correction” pushing prices toward $12,000, reaching a recovery high of $12220 yesterday. We had added 350 shares of GBTC @ $10.02 to our position of 400 @ $8.06, bringing our average price to $8.97, but sold 250 shares today @ $13.93. GBTC closed $12.54 -1.15 today.

Tomorrow is another day.

CAM