Yesterday, ORCL announced terrible headline earnings, if you are someone focused on the numbers. They missed analyst estimates and admitted that their adjusted earnings shrank by 1%. However, the CEO and management team talked about “AI” deals on the earnings conference call and that created a surge in buying interest for shares of the stock all day long, which went up 13.32%, to be the top gaining stock in the entire S&P 500.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve made no change in interest rates. Inflation data before the opening bell was deemed to be an improvement, even though annualized CPI is still above 3%, and was talked about all day in the financial media. But, when the day ended, the Fed Fund futures were exactly where they were yesterday - pricing in a rate cut by December and making the odds of one before that very low, basically 40% in September.

So, nothing really changed when it came to the outlook for interest rates yesterday. As I wrote the other day, everything is pretty much locked in now and the economic data is basically a bunch of noise.

In a way, when it comes to Wednesday’s market action we can say that the market went up again and “AI” fascinated again too, but in the end nothing really happened. It was a dull trading day. The Federal Reserve folks just are sticking to their script.

And…..

Very few people devote 30 minutes a day to read a book or a magazine today, while the masses spend hours every day scrolling through social media feeds, looking at memes. That behavior has created a generation of stock traders that now simply gambles it up in the markets, with very little strategy at all. If they would just turn off the feed and read a few classic trading books they would do so much better. The adulation of “Roaring Kitty” and gurus like Cathie Wood are a direct result. The masses now think in terms of memes, because that is how the social media feeds focus their minds.

Memes aren’t only dumbing people down, but they are being created to manipulate and program people. Social scientists even have a term for it - “memetic engineering” and the national security folks in the DC area and the think tanks see a risk that sinister groups could use them to create chaos.

The Rand Corporation has released a report listing “memetic engineering” as a threat against the American financial system:

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2533-1.html

I don’t talk in memes or communicate much at all with people on social media feeds. Yesterday, I wrote a piece on how I am planning for my investments and positioning ahead of the November Presidential election, which could easily bring some chaos and volatility to the markets. You can find it here:

https://wallstreetwindow.beehiiv.com/p/initial-trading-plan-markets-november-election

If you haven’t done so yet, upgrade to WSW Pro.

-Mike

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