Mark Quarter Investment News

JANUARY 22, 2017

In 1789 George Washington was elected the first U.S. president. The United States' capital was New York City. He had to settle for the first presidential residence at 1 Cherry Street, since the Trump Tower up the road had not been built yet.

Those were the days when if you needed directions, you could reach in your pocket and instead of an iPhone, you could pull out your compass. Instead of an app you'd be using a map.

George Washington like Donald Trump was a part of his family's real estate business. It was The Ohio Company... 

"To Doctor Hugh Martin

(From) Verplank's Point October 20, 1782

Sir, I have received and thank you for the two Copies of your narrative of a discovery for the cure of Cancers; one of which argeeably to your request I have transmitted to Mrs. Washington. The discover is as beneficial to mankind as it would be regretted by them, if the secret, being only known to one man, should die with him. I am, Sir, &c. G. Washington"

JANUARY 14, 2017

You can not make something great again, that was never great to begin with.

The above letter from George Washington to Dr. Hugh Martin was written eight years and two months before he was elected president. Washington wrote several letters to the doctor at Fort Pitt, during the American Revolution, to help his mother ailing from breast cancer.

Hugh Martin, the doctor at Fort Pitt, thought he had an effective medicine for cancer. However, back in 1782 things were slightly different. Twitter had not been invented yet for one.

There were disorders that are now considered simple, that struck towns and claimed hundreds of lives. Though medicine has advanced, in regards to several devastating diseases some are nearly as incurable today as they were in 1782. 

JUNE 26, 2016

Politics of Disparity vs. Politics of Prosperity

The referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union went from a footnote in modern politics to center stage on Friday. On Thursday June 23rd the U.S. markets gained, and some analysts predicted that the U.K. would remain in the European Union. However after-hours as the results continued to spell a narrow victory for those who wished to leave the E.U. the international markets fell.

Brexit begs the question, are the top levels of the E.U. focused on the actual best interests of each member state? If not, then it is imperative to work towards prioritizing that focus. Because time and again nations that siphon from constituents instead of providing strong foundations for constituents lose stability. Where the latter concept generally raises the standards of those who would, out of inexperience presume the former method is easier and selectively beneficial. When arguably the establishment of a strong foundation for all regions within a union increases quality of living above the capacity of the former practice.

U.S. Big Tobacco Owned By British Tobacco

One of the only industries to gain on the news of the British Exit, on Friday, was U.S. Big Tobacco. Reynolds (RAI) and Altria (MO) each gained around 1%, while international tobacco companies moved in line with the market. Reynolds is largely owned by British Tobacco (BTI) and a private holding company, Louisville Securities, based out of London, U.K.

In the classic comedy Zoolander main characters Hansel and Derek Zoolander are tasked with stoppping evil-doers, who use supermodels as pawns in a political scheme to alter the balance of power. In one scene Hansel and Zoolander sneak into an office to obtain information about the international plot secreted in an unassuming Apple iMac.

The only problem is Zoolander and Hansel have no clue how to turn the computer on. Zoolander tries pushing the Apple logo on the back of the iMac, Hansel tries tapping the iMac with the keyboard, the same way people jostle vending machines when soda or candy is stuck.

Hansel is told the secret files are inside the iMac. However he thinks they are like tangible valuables in a safe. So he tries throwing the iMac to the ground, thinking the files will spill out when the computer's casing is broken.

Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of New York Mellon, trace their history to early American finance. Though Wells Fargo, Chase and J.P. Morgan were founded in the mid to late 1800s, they ultimately, through mergers and acquisitions bought older banks.

Wells Fargo acquired, what was originally, the first central bank: Bank of North America, founded 1781. Chase bought Bank of the Manhattan Company, forming Chase Manhattan in 1955, then merged with J.P. Morgan in 2000.

The Manhattan Company was founded by Aaron Burr in 1799.

Whereas Bank of New York was founded in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton.

The stock market took a dive Monday morning, falling to 15,370 from Friday's 16,459 close. As stocks dropped precipitously in the first half hour of trade, the overall bond market jumped, before both calmed slightly by afternoon. The bond prices settled, while the stock market tested the upper limits of its range. At the end of the day the 10-year treasury yield dropped to 2.01% from 2.05%, the 20-year fell to 2.42% from 2.44% and the 30-year dipped from 2.74% to 2.73%. While, according to the Treasury the 3 month yield jumped back up to 0.06% (where it was mid last week) from 0.03% at Friday's close.

From 15,370 the Dow Jones Industrial Average gradually lifted to the 16,000 mark, before jumping to 16,215 around 12:00pm. Monday mornings have exhibited a similar, albeit less drastic trend in recent months. Whereby the market either opens high, or low, then has moved in the opposite direction. By the end of the day the Dow dropped 3.52% to 15,871 and the Nasdaq fell 3.82% to 4,526.

Colgate (CL) dropped from $64.98 to $50.84, before rapidly ascending to the $62 range. Procter & Gamble (PG) took a dive from $71.84 to $65.02, before returning to the $70 range.

Recently Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) lost approximately $239 billion dollars in value. While competition, oversupply and alternative energy and transport have weighed; one factor is conservative oil usage resulting from some municipalities seemingly heavy-handed revenue strategies. Where small traffic infractions appear to be a basis for some municipalities to use constituents as sources of revenue, because they drive and for example, allegedly: Fail to use a turn signal.

There is a complex balance between legitimate use of force and what is perceived by public opinion as unnecessary use of municipal powers. Some politicians have written bills, that appear to get ignored, that effectively call out municipalities engaging in seemingly harsh, overreactions to traffic infractions. Ultimately, the overall effect has hurt Big Oil, retail and local / state economies. Municipalities frequently defend their practices, because they depend on both legitimate and illegitimate financial penalties.

Soon after Google (GOOGL) announced plans to form an overarching parent company named Alphabet, several journalists drew comparisons to Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B). Since 2010 Google and Berkshire Hathaway's stocks have traded at similar market caps and increased at a similar pace, with rankings of the top most valuable companies listing Berkshire third and Google fourth in the first quarter of 2015.

In 2006 Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) bought Pfizer (PFE) Consumer Healthcare for $16.6B. One product included in the acquisition was pseudoephedrine (Soo-doh-EF-eh-drin) based Sudafed a decongestant which is also the number one product associated with the manufacture of meth.

Before the acquisition, Pfizer was working on a remedy for the "Sudafed Problem." In Johnson & Johnson's hands the Sudafed brand introduced an alternative: Sudafed PE (which is not pseudoephedrine based and can not be made into meth.) Though, customers with common colds and congestion responded Sudafed PE is not as effective as regular Sudafed.

Twitter agreed to issue TellApart owners 12.6M shares of stock, at the time priced at $42.27 a share. It's one of those tricky issues in the investment world, for a new company like Twitter to use stock this way. Basically investors don't like to cross their fingers, so clear explanation as to logic makes sense and in their call Twitter does appear to voice explanation, however it may not be the assurance investors wanted.

Amazon has performed extraordinarily well in the past 6 years. In August 2008 Amazon traded at $80 a share, and dropped to $42 during the market downturn. From Q3 2008 to Q4 2008 Amazon's market cap decreased from $33.1B to $21.6B. From November 2008 through April 2009 Amazon jumped right back up to $80 and kept climbing.

Apple (AAPL) stock price ran up before Q3 earnings, then took a dive after reporting after market close on Tuesday July 21st. Shares traded down 8.3% to $120.33 before stabilizing, slightly, after-hours. With approximately 5.7B shares outstanding, amidst ongoing share buybacks, the $10.92 drop represented a market cap loss of around $60B dollars.

On Friday July 17, 2015 Google Class A shares closed up 16.26% and added nearly $65B in overall value to the company. While those numbers are fridge worthy, it is even more important to recognize what makes this company worth, now in the ballpark of half of a trillion dollars?