$SCHW

Insider Buying Week 07-19-24 Trump Survives Assassination Attempt but Republican Convention Kills Trump Rally

by

The assassination attempt on Trump failed, but the Republican Convention succeeded in killing the Trump stock market rally.  The week started on a positive note with almost a providential feel but began unraveling as market participants grappled with what a second-term Trump Presidency might really look like. Trump’s acceptance speech landed like a lead balloon on an increasingly nervous market. It didn’t help that Goldman Sachs said a 10% market correction might be underway.  Israel struck targets in Yemen in retaliation for a lethal Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv. Tensions escalated as the threat of a broader war in … Read more

The Bull Charges as Bears Run in Disbelief Insider Buying Week 3-31-23

by

It may be the calm before the storm but the bulls are running. The Fed’s rapid interest rate hikes came to a screeching halt last week. The Fed’s favorite inflation indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price (PCE) Index came in below expectations Friday.  Hiking interest rates has been one of the key policy tools used by the Fed to cool the economy and ease inflationary pressures. Many investors have been concerned about whether the pace of rate hikes and keeping rates higher for longer could drag the U.S. economy into a recession. That all came to a sudden and unexpected … Read more

Bye Bye Jay Time for Another Chair Insider Buying Week 3-24-23

by

We are deep in the darkness, the earnings blackout period in which corporate insiders are restricted from buying their own shares. It’s a perfect time for short sellers to prey on the frazzled nerves of investors that just experienced their first bank run since the Great Financial Recession of 2008. This time the run wasn’t caused by Wall Street and banks that sold liars loans to uncreditworthy customers but instead by the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve itself. Jay Powell left interest rates at zero far too long and raised them far too fast. He failed at running the … Read more

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is a Dangerous man

by

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

Ugly Ugly and then some Ugly week 4-29-22

by

  Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the significant buys of the last year. If you thought last week was ugly, this Friday took the cake. We’re now testing the lows set this year and if you’re not nervous about the market, you’re in denial. The S&P 500 Index slumped on Friday, capping its biggest monthly decline since March 2020. According to Bloomberg, the benchmark gauge closed down 3.6%. All 11 major industry groups declined, with the consumer discretionary, real estate, and information technology sectors leading losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell 4.5%, closing … Read more

Everyone is Following Insiders Now- Too Bad there is not much to Follow Week Ending 2-5-21

by

For trade details click on this link to the trades Now that everyone seemingly is glued to what insiders are doing, it struck me as ironic that they are doing very little.  Here are the notable buys from last week, in descending order of return: ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS CORP up 23.96% MSC INDUSTRIAL DIRECT CO INC up 9.74% ENTERPRISE FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP up 5.48% BROWN & BROWN Inc up 3.20% SCHWAB CHARLES CORP up 3.07% TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC up 1.81% CROWN CASTLE INTERNATIONAL CORP down -1.15%   Alliance Data Systems Corporation Director Gerspach bought 6000 shares of ADS at $68.46.  … Read more