Wall Street Brunch- July 7
Seeking Alpha Analyst Since 2010
Over thirty years experience with the stock market and investing. Enjoy actively managing several portfolios. Looking for diversification in portfolios. Research and homework on stocks are enjoyable: BS Ed./MS- Thirty years of coaching HS Varsity Football- Proud husband to my beautiful wife - Dad to five amazing children- Keeper of two stunning Bengal cats and a handsome Cavapoo.
Summary
- Daily comments on Wall Street Breakfast, Google Finance, history, and investing. Asking that all political comments not be posted here. Please refrain from such comments.
- This Day in History brought to you by www.history.com.
- Stock an Investing news brought to you by Seeking Alpha and Google Finance.
Let's start with a little history, shall we?
On July 7, 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest manmade structures in the world. Once preparations were made, the Hoover Dam’s construction sprinted forward: The contractors finished their work two years ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget. Today, the Hoover Dam generates enough energy each year to serve over a million people, and stands, in Hoover Dam artist Oskar Hansen’s words, as “a monument to collective genius exerting itself in community efforts around a common need or ideal.”
On this day in 1865, Mary Surratt is executed by the U.S. government for her role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Surratt, who owned a tavern in Surrattsville (now Clinton), Maryland, had to convert her row house in Washington, D.C., into a boardinghouse as a result of financial difficulties. Located a few blocks from Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was murdered, this house served as the place where a group of Confederate supporters, including John Wilkes Booth, conspired to assassinate the president. It was Surratt’s association with Booth that ultimately led to her conviction, though debate continues as to the extent of her involvement and whether it really warranted so harsh a sentence. Many expected President Andrew Johnson to pardon Surratt because the U.S. government had never hanged a woman. The execution was delayed until the afternoon, and soldiers were stationed on every block between the White House and Fort McNair, the execution site, to relay the expected pardon. But the order never came.
On July 7, 1912, Jim Thorpe wins the pentathlon at the fifth modern Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. At the time, Thorpe, a Native American who attended Pennsylvania’s Carlisle Indian School, was only beginning to establish his reputation as the greatest all-around athlete in the world. Competing against the best athletes in the world in the Olympic pentathlon, Thorpe placed first in the broad jump, 200-meter sprint, discuss throw and the 1,500 meters, and third in the javelin throw to win the gold easily. Later in the day Thorpe failed to medal in the high jump and long jump competitions, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. His second medal of the games would come in the decathlon, which he won nearly as easily as he had won the pentathlon, breaking the world record in the event. At the closing ceremonies, where the medals were presented, Thorpe was introduced to King Gustaf V of Sweden. According to legend, the king said, while shaking Thorpe’s hand, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world,” to which Thorpe replied “Thanks, king.”
Now for some investing and stock news-
The futures roll into Tuesday down fractionally. Crude is down 1.3% and Gold is down 0.5%.
Disney (NYSE:DIS) Plus downloads jumped 72.4% over the weekend in comparison to the average of the four weekends in June. The live musical version of Hamilton featuring the original cast premiered on Friday and generated a huge amount of positive social media buzz. Shares of Disney are up 0.77% to $113.04. I have to say that, in my opinion, Hamilton was fantastic. My wife and I enjoyed it and plan on watching it again this week.
E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP) has been shopping Stitcher for several months, but is now close to selling the podcast platform to SiriusXM (NASDAQ:SIRI) for $300M, sources tell the WSJ. The jump into podcasting would follow similar moves by Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) and iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) and would broaden the reach of SiriusXM after its expansion into internet-radio streaming via the $3B purchase of Pandora Media.
While Seeking Alpha's focus seems to revolve around all things Tesla, $NIO was up 22.71% yesterday. Proof that there are other EV stocks in the world. I am long $NIO as a speculative play. Anyone else invested in EV stocks? $F shares could be counted in this sector as Ford pushes ahead with more electric vehicles. Still a niche market, in my opinion, as EVs make up only 2.7% of all vehicles in the world. The "EV Revolution" will take some time, so it seems. The Motley Fool has an article out titled: Tesla's Big Deliveries Beat is Irrelevant- a good look at the company, IMO. Link is here: Tesla's Big Deliveries Beat Is Irrelevant | The Motley Fool
Not that anyone at SA cares, but I wish the editors would stop posting "Latest News" and "Trending News" headlines that, when clicked on, are only accessible to Premium Members. The latest one was about Trucking companies that good investments. Let's keep Premium Member only content in the Premium Member section on the homepage. Apologies for my rant.
Off to Google Finance-
The latest powertrain offering in the recently revamped 2020 Ford F, +2.31% Escape is also its most efficient, rated at an eye-popping 100 mpg. Technically the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid earns 100 MPGe, with the last letter signaling “equivalent” by the EPA. That’s the rating the government agency gives vehicles such as this when they use an electrified powertrain.
Where is Jon Corzine and will MF Global be buyers of EV stocks today?
Where is Marissa Mayer and how is her online sports betting company doing?
Where is Elizabeth Holmes and how is her money raise for Theranos coming along?
Have a great day everyone. Stay safe out there.
This is the day The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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