June 22, 2020 | Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Violence has erupted in Seattle, Washington D.C. and some other cities Monday night, a development that is likely to fuel a continuation of the rally that kicked off with a short-squeeze late Sunday. There were other factors present that Wall Street seems to love, include a resurgence of Covid-19 nationally and a some dreadful news concerning the disease itself. It would seem that many of the newly infected are young people who have not shown symptoms. They are turning up at hospital emergency rooms in droves nonetheless, leaving care facilities in a quandary about whether to send them home. This trend could all but negate the value of contact tracing, since it will open hospital doors to millions of hypochondriacs.

Investors might need a little more bad news to jolt stocks into a yet another bullish frenzy, but this could come as early as this week if the rioters and looters return in force. The move to de-fund police departments may have gained a step with news of the gang-related shooting deaths of two three-year-olds who lived, respectively, in Baltimore and Chicago.  [Late-breaking bulletin: Index futures have begun falling, but probably not because investors fear America is coming unraveled. More likely, it is just the usual sleazeballs pulling their bids so that stock can fall hard enough to exhaust sellers. That is how nearly all big rallies are propagated — with short-covering that would continue unalleviated even if trumpets sounded from on high.]

Rick Ackerman June 22nd, 2020

Posted In: Rick's Picks

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