Seeking Alpha by Adding Beta

Happy Earth Day! In following Stotra, we remember Mother Earth every morning before touching feet to the ground. समुद्रवसने   देवि   पर्वतस्तनमण्डले   । विष्णुपत्नि   नमस्तुभ्यं   पादस्पर्शं   क्षमस्वमे   ॥ Samudra-Vasane Devi Parvata-Stana-Mannddale | Vissnnu-Patni Namas-Tubhyam Paada-Sparsham Kssamasva-Me || Meaning : 1:  (Oh Mother Earth) O  Devi , You Who have the  Ocean  as Your  Garments , and  Mountains  as Your  Bosom , 2:  O  Consort  of  Lord Vishnu ,  Salutations  to  You ; Please  Forgive my Touch  of the  Feet  (on Earth, which is Your Holy Body). (source: Green Message site) So let's make sure that we honor Earth every day and preserve her for millions of years..After all we have only ONE! It has been six weeks since I wrote about markets. During that time, markets reached all time highs (almost touching 5300) and down by 5% from those levels. What's worrying markets? Back in August of 2023, I wrote about three "i" influencing markets (Interest rates, i

Last summer was filled with the buzz of "Barbenheimer" with the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer , which gave both movies tremendous box-office success. It was American and Hollywood marketing at its best. This single event revitalized the post-pandemic theatre-going experience. However, as awards season started, the Academy and other award committee members side-stepped the glitter of Barbie and heaped tons of nominations on Oppenheimer (personally, I feel that Barbie deserved nominations in at least a few categories). Oppenheimer got 13 nominations - one of the highest-matching records of movies like Gandhi , Titanic , and Lord of the Rings . It may end up winning in 7-8 categories. As has been the tradition over the last few years, here are my predictions for the top 7 categories: Best Picture: Oppenheimer Best Director: Christopher Nolan ( Oppenheimer ) – This would be Nolan's first win despite giving some of the all-time best films like Inception ,

Finally the markets have reached the S&P 5000 milestone target last week, as predicted in my last blog " Are we there yet? ". It was a forgone conclusion that it would happen sometime sooner than later. The question is what's next since many investors are feeling anxious to keep invested or get into the market (by some accounts trillions are on sidelines) but at the same time are getting FOMO (fear of missing out). To answer this question, we would have to look at the Nineties... But before that, let's look at the biggest US sporting spectacle of Super Bowl on Feb 11. This year it is going to be the biggest event, with two of the best NFL teams (Niners vs Chiefs) playing. Each of these have storied quarterbacks (Mr. Irrelevant Brody and 2 times Super Bowl winner and MVP Mahomes). It's a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl when Chiefs beat Niners. Here are some the records: Record estimated TV viewership of 118 million Record cost of $7 million for 30-second adverti

NFL championships games are today and first month of new year is almost over...While first week of new year was bumpy for markets, it soon recovered its footing and reached new all time highs and itching towards breaking milestone of 5000. Almost 6 weeks back I wrote about " Goldilocks economy taking S&P to 5K "...depending on mega-cap tech earnings in next two weeks, it could happen by the time America gets glued to Super Bowl...The expectations are rematch of  2012 Super Bowl between Ravens vs Niners (Ravens won that year 34-31).  This game was also called "Harbaugh Bowl" since two Harbaugh brothers were head coaches of two playing teams. But one could never predict what could happen in today's games since all 4 teams are great teams and deserve to play Super Bowl. In the end it would come down to showing up and playing their best games...Only Lions is the team had not won Super Bowl yet (one of the 12 teams) even though it had won 2 pre-Super Bowl NFL cha

Wishing you a joyful New Year filled with laughter, love, and unforgettable moments, surrounded by cherished family and friends. May the 2024 bring similar gains as in 2023! I had great 2 weeks break with travels to Turkey with family and then solo trip to Palm Springs. Both places are amazing and definitely worth a visit if you get chance. Talking about gains in 2023 - Here is recap of 2023.. Inflation fallen below 4% and heading towards 3% Unemployment firmly below 4% Real wages growing above 4% GDP growth around 3% Markets: S&P notching one of the best year with 24% gains while Nasdaq doing even better with 40% gains thanks to Magnificent-7 (or TAMMANNA) many of which had triple digit gains My personal recommendations did exceptionally well - many of which were up by high double digits (e.g. INTC) and some of them had triple digit gains (e.g. META) All in all - 2023 was great year.  As calendar changed to 2024, what's in store for new year? This is election year in many coun

Markets are having a record breaking dream run of 7 weeks of positive returns since Nov CPI report came out. Last week's Fed meeting confirmed already well known fact that interest rates have peaked and there are at least 3 rate cuts coming in 2024. Economy feels like "Goldilocks" economy - not too hot, not too cold...it's just perfect the way Goldilocks would have liked. Let's look at some of the key economic indicators. Unemployment dipped to 3.7% but wage growth has slowed down. Good Inflation dipped to 3.1% and all indicators pointing to further reduction. In fact if recent declining hosing rents are taken into account, the inflation may already be closer to 2.5%. Good Earnings were better than expected. Good Q3 GDP report was hot but Oct/Nov trends show that there is slowdown coming but enough to cause recession. Good Holiday shopping season had good start. Good Interest rates coming down. Fed is indicating 3 rate cuts. Good Small caps have finally started ca