Herbalife Shady AF.

Tale of the Tape

Good evening everyone and a joyous weekend to all!

Tonight, we’ll drink only virgin lime seltzer and a beet, celery, and spirulina juice concoction that’s supposed to be good for the complexion. 

Feel free to spike it with the vodka if you must!

Coca Cola and MGM announced significant lay-offs today and both stocks rallied. The market loves it when a company cuts costs. It’s nothing personal, just business.

Workday ripped 12.5% after reporting earnings last night and closed at another all-time high. It’s up 33% for the month of August. 

Ulta Beauty also reported a fine quarter and cranked 6% higher on the news. The stock still has some work to do but at least it’s off its derriere. 

Peloton rallied 8% and closed at an all-time high. What a monster.

S&P 5003,306+0.36%
Nasdaq10,941+0.35%
Russell 20001,517+0.69%
Dow Jones26,828+0.62%

SHADY.

Turns out Ackman was “right”. Herbalife is shady af.

Today it was reported that the company will pay $123M to resolve foreign bribery charges.

Herbalife was bribing Chinese officials with the goal to boost its business in the country. 

This is a beautiful lesson about the markets. 

Ackman was “right” but he still lost $1B. 🤷‍♂️

The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.

$HLF was halted this morning trading down as much as 13% before closing flat. 🤣

Here’s the absurd intraday chart.

Japan’s PM Resigns

Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe will resign due to chronic health concerns.

Abe took over as PM back in 2006 at age 52, making him the youngest prime minister in the nation’s history.

Here’s what he had to say:

I cannot continue being prime minister if I do not have the confidence that I can carry out the job entrusted to me by the people.

I apologise from the bottom of my heart that despite all of the support from the Japanese people, I am leaving the post with one full year left in my term.

Here’s Reuters with more.

Will the Dow Turn?

We’ve talked about the underperformance of the Dow all year.

Here’s the YTD performance of the major indices:

Nasdaq Composite +30.74%
S&P 500 +8.90%
Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.67% 

Featured below is a 20-year ratio chart of the Dow Jones ETF, $DIA vs S&P 500 ETF, $SPY. 

$DIA vs $SPY is trading at levels not seen since 2006. 

This area has acted as support in the past. Will history repeat itself? Place your bets… 

The World Is Breaking Out

This from the inimitable Steven Strazza at All Star Charts. 

Strazza chalked up a 3 year chart of the MSCI All-Country World Index ($ACWI).

$ACWI is a benchmark global index maintained by Morgan Stanley Capital International ($MSCI), including over 3,000 companies across 23 developed and 26 emerging markets.

The iShares ETF version trades under ticker $ACWI.

Don’t look now but the index is breaking out like a global champ. Have a look at Strazza’s chart below and check out his killer as usual blog post.

Note: The Index was up another .5% today after this chart was posted.

Links That Don’t Suck

👻 Stunning Rolls-Royce rebrand is a detail-driven triumph

📚 Snøhetta, Studio Gang and Henning Larsen unveil designs for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

🧠 Neuralink Progress Update, Summer 2020

Alternative Forms of Wealth · Collaborative Fund

🔻 ‘I lost 10 grand in 10 minutes’: Sports stars become traders in lockdown

🛒 Amazon’s latest grocery store concept opens, with high-tech carts

🏀 NBA Players Reportedly ‘Optimistic’ After Call with Owners amid Playoff Protest

🎾 Zoom announce VIP Virtual Experience Partnership