The Hoot #33

Scatt's Seeds for Thought:

🌱 2023 So Far… 📊

🌱 Michael Saylor Buys MORE Bitcoin 😳

🌱 Elon’s Plans for X 👀

🌱 Buffett’s Secret to $5bn+ Per Year 💰

Meme of The Week

Year-to-date Market Performance:

• S&P 500: 16.63%

• Dow: 5.79%

• Nasdaq Comp: 32.89%

• Bitcoin: 75.25%

• Ethereum: 52.36%

• Scatt Capital’s Fortune Strategy: 6.41% (Since Inception (12/22): 2.07%)

Market News:

• 7-Day Change in Crypto Market Cap: -$22bn

• JUNE PCE INDEX WAS 3%: SLOWEST IN 2+ YEARS

• FITCH DOWNGRADES US LONG-TERM RATING TO AA+

• HOME SALES COME IN LOW: HOUSING MARKET TROUBLE

• US JOB OPENINGS FALL TO LOWEST IN 2+ YEARS

• TWITTER (X) HITS ALL TIME HIGH IN MONTHLY USERS

• EUROZONE GREW 0.3% IN Q2:

• EU JULY INFLATION: 5.3%

• CHINA HOME SALES FALL 33% YoY AS SLOWDOWN WORSENS

• EXXON TO SUPPLY LITHIUM TO TESLA & FORD

• EUROPEAN IPOs FALL TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 2009

• BITCOIN IS NOW MORE STABLE THAN STOCKS & GOLD

• BILL ACKMAN IS SHORT U.S. 30-YEAR BONDS

• THE WEEK AHEAD: 

  • Job Openings

  • Construction Spending

  • CPI (Inflation)

  • PPI (Inflation)

2023 So Far… 📊

Can you believe we’re in August already?! Nuts.

Let’s take a look at 2023’s financial events so far:

• Mortgage rates pass 2008 highs at 7.2%

• Credit card debt is on track to hit $1 trillion for the first time ever

• Regional bank crisis leads to 2nd & 3rd largest bank collapses ever

• More than 30 events hint at a shift away from the USD

• Fed raises interest rates to highest since 2001

• U.S. debt ceiling crisis nearly leads to default

• Most U.S. bankruptcies since 2020 lockdown

• Interest expense on US debt set to hit $1 trillion/year

• Fitch downgrades US credit rating for first time since 2011

And in spite of ALL of that… the S&P 500 & Nasdaq are up 20% & 36% this year so far.

Defying the odds.

Michael Saylor Buys MORE Bitcoin 😳

‘Can’t stop, won’t stop’ seems to be Michael Saylor’s motto.

 Saylor’s company, Microstrategy, acquired 467 Bitcoin for $14.4m in Q2.

This brings their total holdings to 152,800 BTC, worth about $4.4 billion.

These guys are literally selling their own stock ($MSTR) to buy Bitcoin…

Absolute madness. And I’m a fan of it all.

Elon’s Plans for X 👀

Sometimes I’d love to be a fly on Elon’s wall.

Musk has openly stated that he wants X to become the “biggest financial institution in the world”.

They’re now looking to partner with/build a trading app WITHIN the X app.

They previously partnered with eToro on $Cashtags, which gives real-time prices on stocks & crypto.

Elon is also part of the ‘PayPal Mafia’ who originally founded the company.

Time to place your bets 🤝🏼

Buffett’s Secret to $5bn+ Per Year 💰

The Main Man is back at it… killing it, as usual.

“Interest rates are to asset prices what gravity is to the Apple”

Higher interest rates are usually a warning sign for market valuations.

As of their latest filing Berkshire had $130bn cash-on-hand, which speaks volumes.

Additionally, they have AT LEAST $103 billion in 1 and 3-month treasury bills.

These are offering 5.48% and 5.53% yields respectively.

Adding this all up, they’re generating $5bn+ a year in INTEREST INCOME.

He makes it look too easy… even in tough times.

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See you next week 🦉

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own researche Wo