Markets

Investors are looking past almost all bad news, anywhere, and becoming downright giddy.

Last week, Investors Intelligence tallied the percent of bullish investors it surveyed at 59.6%. That’s up slightly from the previous week’s tally of 59.2%.

At the same time, bears continued to retreat into the bushes, with only 18.2% of surveyed investors feeling bearish, down from 19.4% the week before.

All that giddiness, however, didn’t lift all equity benchmarks last week.

The Dow was down a slight 0.7% on the week. The S&P 500 was down 0.8%. But the Nasdaq Composite edged 0.2% higher.

Then there’s the Russell 2000. It rose a very robust 2.4% on the week, notching a new all-time high.

And that’s where the story is…

The world’s changing, quicker than ever.

And yes, that includes COVID-19 changing our future, but probably not in the ways you’re thinking.

The pandemic’s an accelerant; it’s speeding up societal, commercial, and moneymaking trends most people never saw coming.

But those trends are already here, gathering momentum – some because of COVID, some because we’re stepping into our ineluctable future anyway, and there’s no turning back. Not now, not ever.

I call the increasingly rapid adoption and implementation of trends, that with unimaginable speed will accelerate changes in how we live, work, play, and make money “Hyperdrive events.”

Here’s just one example of what’s happening, and how to profit from this trend going into hyperdrive…

I like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA)’s stock down here; it’s a buy.

But not everyone would agree with me, starting with the investors who wanted to buy into Ant Group’s IPO, but now must wait for who knows how long.

Ant’s botched IPO, courtesy of the financial giant’s founder Jack Ma insulting Chinese regulators days before it was about to debut, hurts Alibaba, which owns 33% of Ant Group.

Alibaba shareholders bid up shares of the e-commerce giant, China’s largest-listed company, anticipating its value would soar when shares of Ant Group started trading and skyrocketing as they were expected to do.

With the scrapped IPO and Alibaba tanking, investors are wondering if Alibaba shares will sell off more and when, or if, Ant will ever IPO.

Here are the short answers to those questions, and what it all means for you…

Last Monday, the Dow soared 834 points (2.95%), the S&P 500 rose a robust 1.17%, and the Russell 2000 rose a crazy 3.7%, all on the news that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was 90% effective.

For the week, the Dow ended up 4.1%, the S&P 500 notched a new all-time closing high at 3,585, up 2.2% on the week, and the Russell ended the week up a stellar 5.4%.

The Nasdaq Composite didn’t fare so well. It was down 1.53% last Monday and down 0.6% on the week.

This morning we’re off to the races, again. It’s now Moderna Inc. (NasdaqGS:MRNA)’s turn to wow markets.

The company announced its COVID-19 vaccine looks to be 94.5% effective. That’s staggering.

For some perspective, the measles vaccine was 93% effective and essentially wiped out that plague.

Investors are taking profits in tech stocks and buying “value” and “reopening” stocks like never before.

Even if the “rotation” isn’t unexpected, the speed at which it’s happening is unprecedented.

Here’s what it all means for you, your money, and what you should do next…

It’s often said when equity markets rise in the face of negative news, economic worries, and other impediments to investor sentiment and earnings prospects, that the market’s climbing the “wall of worry.”

Newsflash! The market hasn’t just climbed a wall, it’s knocked down every wall in its path and isn’t worried about anything.

But that doesn’t mean everything’s coming up roses.

Global virus cases just topped 51.5 million. The infection rate in the U.S. is skyrocketing. Over 143,000 new infections were announced on Monday. The average daily rate of new infections in the U.S. in now north of 900,000 a day over the past 30 days.

As bad as that is, and it’s worse than investors realize, is that hospitalizations just hit a record 61,964 as of last night; that’s 2,024 more than the peak 59,940 hospitalizations in April.

How many of the newly infected millions of Americans are headed for hospitals remains to be seen, but doctors expect them to overwhelm healthcare systems faster than they’re prepared for.

Still, equity investors are all risk-on and damn the torpedoes.

Here’s what you need to know…

It’s over. Even though there are some logistics that still obviously need to be taken care of, it’s over.

I’m talking about the election being called in favor of Joe Biden. That’s over, at least as far as the market’s concerned.

Whether President Trump continues to challenge votes and contest results remains to be seen.

But as the results of the 2020 Presidential Election blow over and news of a potential successful vaccine candidate spreads, there’s much to look forward to.

Here’s what’s on my radar this week…

There’s no shortage of crazy things happening in the U.S. and the world today.

But, it’s crucial to break down each event and analyze it individually, because if you don’t, you’re going to be caught in false narratives and will inevitably be overwhelmed.

So, here’s what’s on my radar today:

This morning, Americans are rolling their heads.

Former V.P. Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump 238 electoral college votes to 213 votes, as of this morning’s latest count. It takes 270 votes to win.

Important “swing states” Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada hang in the balance as I write this, with races in those states too tight to call.

But not exactly.

In the past, candidates with even the slim leads each is showing in states this morning, would have been declared “winners.”

This time around, the more than 100 million mail-in and absentee ballots cast by mail are being counted after polling-both data’s been calculated.

And that’s a problem, though others are sure to arise.

I have a ton of questions I’m asking about the election process, and I’m sure you do, too.

I want to hear from you. What questions are on your minds for me? Make sure you leave comments in the comment box at the bottom of this article on the website. I’ll address them all in Monday’s issue.

Here’s what’s eating me this post-Election Day morning…

Well, today’s the day. November 3, 2020. Election Day.

Amidst the swirling of COVID spikes and market dips, we’re at the threshold of a critical moment in history.

Every so-called expert is sending mixed messages, from “Everything’s great!” to “Get out NOW,” and it’s extremely difficult to know what exactly is the right thing to do now. Do you stay in the markets? Buy the dip? Take profits and run? Sell puts? It’s almost impossible to hear any sort of real guidance amidst the noise.

But, over the past few months, ever since Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate back in August, we’ve been doing something special here at Total Wealth: The Election Stock Watch.

Covering everything from what to buy if President Trump is reelected, to if Joe Biden enters the White House once again, only this time as President, the Election Stock Watch has been a hub that I’ve devised to help you make the best possible decisions with your money right now.

And today, one of the most important days this year, possibly in the last decade or so, I’ve compiled it all in one big 2020 Election Master Survival Guide.

Here’s everything you need to know…

Alphabet Inc. (NasdaqGS:GOOG)’s Google division has a heavyweight fight on its hands, defending itself against Justice Department (DOJ) claims that the search giant is a “monopoly gatekeeper for the internet” and uses “anticompetitive tactics” to maintain and extend its monopolies in search and search ads.

The lawsuit’s prosecutors, alleging Google stifles competition and innovation from smaller upstarts and harms consumers by reducing the quality and variety of search options, will undoubtedly draw on Google’s losing battles with European Union competition regulators and on the outcome of the monopoly case the DOJ waged against Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqGS:MSFT) twenty years ago.

Unfortunately for Google, it’s not likely to prevail. But neither is the Justice Department.

Here’s how the DOJ will lean on previous outcomes to make its case, how Google will defend itself, and how the lawsuit will impact Google’s stock and other tech giants’ share prices…