Reflection

"We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives." - John F. Kennedy

Reflection:

I spent the weekend traveling to see family for Thanksgiving so I didn’t have time to put together a thinkboi piece. However, I do want to say a few words in the spirit of the holiday season.

I am extremely grateful for all of you who read, subscribe, share, follow on Twitter, respond via email, DM, text, and interact in some fashion—even through memes or shitposting. We’ve built a fun little community where we can share ideas openly and have some laughs along the way. I know firsthand how hard it is to attract and keep attention these days so I truly appreciate you spending time reading my own thoughts about markets and life and everything in between.

I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now in some capacity and I’ve enjoyed every step of the way. And it’s all because of you. No one likes talking in a vacuum—we crave interaction. I’m excited to see what the future holds for us.

Thank you for being a part of it.

Market and Performance Update:

Now let’s see how the People’s Portfolio did this week…

The market shit the bed on Friday after the new Covid variant (omicron) was detected in South Africa. The Dow suffered its worst day of 2021 dropping 2.5%. Stocks, oil prices and government-bond yields were all down as the new strain triggered concerns that travel restrictions and other curbs will slow down the global economy’s recovery.

We will surely find out more in the next week or two if this new variant of concern is going to be more or less transmissable and deadly. There was some hope over the weekend as a South African doctor commented that the new variant has only shown mild cases so far but it’s too early to tell if that’ll be the case moving forward and throughout the remainder of the year as it continues to spread worldwide.

On Friday, we voted Target (TGT) out of the portfolio and locked in literally a 20 cent gain over 10 weeks. At one point we were down nearly 10%, then up 10%, ultimately ending flat. The people voted to replace Target with Ethereum (ETHUSD). This is the 2nd week in a row we’ve thrown in a crypto asset into the portfolio. We gotta make some last minute moves if we want to try and catch up to the indices before the end of the year. Buckle up kids.

Waste Management (WM) is on the chopping block next week for the 3rd time. We’re currently holding onto a 15.59% unrealized gain over the past 29 weeks. The trash business has been a slow and steady performer for us this year.

Keep an eye out for the new Twitter poll every Friday. Follow along in real-time with nearly 300,000 others on Public.

Quick PSA: We are running a sale on the Ramp store for Black Friday/Cyber Monday/whatever made up holiday you want to pick. Use code BEARMARKET at checkout for 25% any order.

Portfolio News Highlights:

The biggest stories affecting our portfolio this week:

• Nvidia at risk of $1.25bn loss if Arm takeover falls through (Telegraph)

• Expedia, Airbnb, and other travel stocks drop amid discovery of new COVID-19 variant, market selloff (Yahoo)

• Crude oil price tumbles amid fears of new COVID-19 variant (Yahoo)

What Else We’re Reading:

Blogs/Articles:

1. Gratitude, Desire, and a Money Paradox - Frederik Gieschen (Neckar Value)

2. How This All Happened - Morgan Housel (Collab Fund)

3. The Attention Span. “The Magic Octopus.” - Tom Morgan (The KCP Group)

4. Can quantum mechanics explain consciousness? - Marcelo Gleiser (Big Think)

Books:

Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life - Luke Burgis

Need new reading material? Visit my Amazon page for my most purchased book recommendations.

Tweets of the Week: