Market Snapshot

What's Ripe?

Allied Healthcare Partners ($AHPI) – That’s it, I’m burning my textbooks and demanding a refund for my tuition. It is now confirmed that simply buying below average companies is not only a legit investment strategy, but delivers returns that make Jim Simons look like a rookie. Yesterday, Allied Healthcare did nothing, said nothing, and then exploded up a ridiculous 129%. For all you current and future CEOs out there, let me give you the playbook for higher returns; 1. Do and say nothing 2. Make retail traders like you. 3. Collect checks.

Didi ($DIDI) – Didi’s wild ride continues, making another U-turn up 11% yesterday. Driving this move is a collective ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ towards the Chinese government’s big tech crackdown. Most notably, private investment firm Temasek took a very Kanye West “we don’t care” stance, and others seemed to agree. Maybe CEO Cheng Wei will get a 5-star rating after taking investors on this bumpy ride.

Atossa Therapeutics ($ATOS) – By now, we’ve learned that stocks only go up, and after dropping almost 40% in two and a half weeks, shares in Atossa Therapeutics appear to have finally figured this out. $ATOS, a classic Reddit-inspired biotech play, shot up 13% Tuesday despite a quiet news day for the company.

What's Rotten?

Conagra ($CAG) – Our friends Chef Boyardee and Orville Redenbacher must be miserable after watching their parent lose 5.4%. Conagra, the CPG company you buy products from but didn’t know existed, has shareholders fleeing on lower guidance from management and a higher than expected inflation reading for June.

Tesla ($TSLA) – Elon Musk was a stone-cold fox in the courtroom yesterday, battling off alleged claims of forcing shareholders to bail out his relative’s company, SolarCity. Basically, all he said was “hey man, I didn’t even set the purchase price” and he lives to see another day. Traders weren’t as impressed, however, sending shares down 2.5%

Grayscale Eth Trust ($ETHE) – The big daddy of DeFi has had it rough over the last 24hrs, and Grayscale’s trust was beaten down even worse, sliding 5.9%. As $ETHE is nothing more than a public trust that holds Ether, its price is going to move with ETH and really the whole market. Apparently, absurd speculation is way less cool now than it was last year, but you already know that won’t stop us. See how we’re playing this with WSO Alpha.

Macro Monkey Says

CPI: You know when all your friends are having a good time and that one guy has to just take it too far? Well, to the economy, inflation is that one guy. Everyone’s having fun - consumption, manufacturing, and earnings are all showing signs of a strong economy and inflation has to come in and kill the vibe. While I’ll take a 5.4% YoY spike in prices over a nightmare-fueling deflationary spiral, make sure you don't stop your Peloton addiction -- your bike may be your best bet when you get forced to commute to the office (used car prices are up an insane 45%).

YOY % Change in CPI

Cash Taking & Deal Making: Investment bankers at the top U.S. banks had their best quarters ever as M&A and underwriting spiked amidst public and private market frenzies. JP Morgan and Goldman, who reported Q2 earnings earlier this week, announced a 25% and 36% bump in IB revenue, respectively.

Despite stellar numbers in IB, total revenues weren't enough to impress investors. Most notably, trading revenue at JPM and GS plummeted. Maybe the retail baboons they profited off of went back to their real jobs (or went back to in-person high school)?

"It's not whether you're right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you're wrong." - George Soros