Banc of California Inc

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is a Dangerous man

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I wrote to clients in the February update that  Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is a dangerous fellow.  Last week he proved that causing a run on the banking system.  Ironically if the creation of a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP)had been in place the week before, Silicon Valley Bank might have avoided failure and bankruptcy. Powell’s rapid hike in interest rates as a cure for the supply-side inflation shock is likely to be as successful as the ancient but now discredited medical practice of bleeding the patient. If Powell was the CEO of a public company, activist shareholders would … Read more

Animal Spirits and the Doomsday Clock are on a Collision Course-Insider Buying Week 1-27-23

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Not one of the many podcasts and pundits I listen to predicted a rally of 16% magnitude since the October lows. The January rally to date has been raw animal spirts. Obviously, this can’t keep going with the Fed dangling 5% risk-free returns out there.   Insider buying is incredibly scarce, even considering the seasonal effects of quarterly earnings blackouts.  This is what interested me last week in the thinly populated world of insider buying. The most exciting event is the new bubble forming around AI, capped off by Microsoft’s $10 billion in investment in OpenAi’s and  their overnight ubiquitous quantum … Read more

‘t In Yet

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  Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll the significant buys of the last year.  Last week was a predictable short-covering rally in the most savaged part of the market, high flying cloud stocks and a smattering of nonprofitable tech players. NASDAQ stocks shellacked the most typically and predictably bounced back  10-15%. But don’t kid yourself. This isn’t the real deal, at least not for most of the bag holders. Every market correction for the last 20 years or as long as we have data for ends and only ends with a tsunami of insider buying. Whether … Read more

Pick of the Week-Palo Alto Networks Insider Buying Week Ending December 6 2019 $PANW

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  It’s not often and I’m not even sure it’s advisable to buy a  wunderkind stock when it has a big sell off but we have to give the CEO of Palo Alto Networks credit for going big.  But then that’s how they roll in Silicon Valley.  Chairman of the Board, Aroram, bought $4.5 million of his stock when it stumbled? Is is a good buy, reasonable valuation?  Not hardly but that’s not how the game is played. That’s our pick of the week and former Jim Cramer favorite. The stock that worked though, is Expedia. We didn’t put enough … Read more