Tale of the Tape:
Good evening friends. Equity markets do not care about your stinkin’ unemployment numbers.
Last week, an astonishing 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits. This is a record and double the number from two weeks ago. The chart below from CNN drives home the enormity of what is happening to the US labor market under coronavirus.
Stocks blew it off though and rallied with spirit! The S&P 500 closed up 2.28% on the day. It is now only down a fraction for the week and so tomorrow will tell the tale.
Oil went bizonkers with WTI Crude closing up 23% for the day on a tweet from President Trump. Business as usual. (See more below).
As such, energy was the leading sector closing 9% higher on the day while consumer discretionary stocks lagged closing up just a fraction.
Lukin Coffee fell 75% today. See below for the incredible details.
| S&P 500 | 2,526 | +2.28% |
| Nasdaq | 7,487 | +1.72% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,085 | +1.29% |
| Dow Jones | 21,413 | +2.24% |
*uckin Coffee
Luckin Coffee, “The Starbucks of China”, got slaughtered today. The stock dropped 75% after news broke that its COO and staff members reported fabricated numbers.
It went from the Starbucks of China to the Enron of China in one day. Unreal.
An incredible part of this story is the battle between short sellers that played out earlier this year. Citron was long the stock and loud about it across social media. Muddy Waters took the other side and published a scathing negative report claiming fraudulence. Looks like they nailed it too. Respect!
Here’s the Muddy Waters’ research report on Luckin. It reads like a Dickens novel.
Also, if you haven’t watched The China Hustle, it’s worth checking out.
Stocktwits Social Sentiment Index Update
Here’s the updated Stocktwits Social Sentiment Index. We have a pretty significant divergence with sentiment moving getting more negative even as the market rallied (See red circle). The last time we saw this, Stocktwits sentiment began falling way back in February before the market fell out of bed. Let’s see if this most recent divergence is a leading indicator…
Crude Had Itself a Day
The face ripper of the day goes to oil. In a span of 8 minutes WTI Crude ripped 22%. The rally came after President Trump tweeted:
We should note, there was 22 minutes between these tweets. Maybe the follow-up was a victory lap…? 😂
Here’s the 30 minute chart for this week. Holy cow…
Despite today’s rally, Crude futures are still down 59.6% YTD.
Tesla Heating Back Up
After the close, Tesla reported first quarter vehicle delivery and production numbers. They were better than expected and the stock jumped 17% after hours.
Deliveries: 88,400 vs 78,100 expected.
Here’s Bloomberg with more.
Notre Dame’s Critical State: A Visual Guide
Check out WSJ’s great visual guide of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. You’ll recall the cathedral suffered a great fire last April. The rebuild has been nothing short of transcendent.
This is fascinating…
Links That Don’t Suck
The Off-Grid CyberDeck Is a Computer for the Apocalypse
Super Practical Tips for Saving and Spending during the Isolation via Dasarte Yarnway
War Time – Friday Forward
The AlphaMind Podcast – Denise Shull: Performance Coach to Star Traders and Investment Professionals.
Financials versus Technology and Warriors Over Worriers
Apple Buys Dark Sky in an Android Worst-Case Scenario
