The trade war is “on hold”???
That’s what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said over the weekend, and then he subsequently added that trade talks between the world’s two largest economies had made “very meaningful progress”. Needless to say, this would be a major advantage to the market moving forward since fear of a trade war with China is one of the big uncertainties that’s been limiting the advance of stocks.
Most investors will remain skeptical until something real happens, but the market still took the news and ran with it on Monday. The Dow reclaimed 25,000 today for the first time in about 2 months, gaining 1.21% (or nearly 300 points) to 25,013.3. The S&P jumped 0.74% to 2733 and the NASDAQ rose 0.54% to 7394.
“While all of this sounds great, nothing is set in stone yet. And I think the only thing that kept the market from taking off, is the potential for a deal with China to become derailed again,”said Jeremy in Counterstrike.
In the portfolios, Blockchain Innovatorsadded two companies that do very different things…but are both similar in their open minds to the possibilities of blockchain technology. (Hint, one of the new buys is Amazon.) Meanwhile, TAZR Traderpicked up a stock that was in the portfolio a couple of months ago, and brought a more than 50% profit when it was sold. Black Box Traderswapped out three names this week. Learn all about these moves in the highlights section below:
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
Blockchain Innovators:It’s a great shot in the arm for all of blockchain that a company like Amazon (AMZN) is so open to this burgeoning technology. Recently the e-commerce juggernaut announced that its cloud arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is partnering with the startup Kaleido to make it easier for customers to put their services on the blockchain. Therefore, Dave added AMZN on Monday.
The other buy is completely different…except for its acceptance of blockchain technology. Eastman Kodak (KODK) announced earlier this year that it was developing something called KodakCoin with Wenn Digital. It’s a token intended to be used for licensing digital images and paying photographers. The editor added KODK today on news that this coin is moving forward with the company raising $50 million for the offering. Read the complete commentary for more on these new buys.
TAZR Trader:Back in mid-April, the portfolio sold SMART Global Holdings (SGH) for a more than 50% profit on skepticism over the rally at that time. But these days Kevin feels more certain about the chip cycle, especially if a trade war is being put on hold during negotiations. The editor got back into this “lil’ Micron” today since he still can’t resist the value opportunity – or that “triple A” Zacks VGM Style Score. However, he’ll take a smaller 5% position for now because there are still question marks about the Brazilian economy and memory/handset demand. Read the full write-up for a lot more on this renewed addition.
Black Box Trader: The portfolio changed out three positions this week. The stocks sold this morning include: