Skip to main content

SuperBowl: Harbaugh Bowl?

This weekend is best of NFL sports when two teams who would be playing Superbowl in two weeks would be decided. This time, 4 best teams have come to championship games - each one of them could be Superbowl winner. Last Saturday was great Saturday for Harbaugh brothers whose teams (Jim Harbaugh - 49ers and John Harbaugh - Baltimore Ravens) won their places against tough teams. Question is - would this year's Superbowl be Harbaugh Bowl. There is real chance that this could happen (if luck plays some role in helping both these teams). Current favorites for Superbowl matchup is between SanFranciso 49ers and New England Patriots. But if luck plays some role, Baltimore Ravens could sneak up a victory similar to what they did against Denver Broncos last week.
I am rooting for Colin Kapernick's 49ers to win tomorrow against Falcons and then eventually Superbowl. And given 80% co-relation between stock market returns and Superbowl win by original AFL team, any team except Patriots win would be good for 2013 returns on Stock Markets (source: Article from WSJ).
In general this year would be good for stock market returns with DOW crossing 14000 and S&P crossing 1500 before Apr. After that it could bring some turbulence to the markets but by year end, DOW could close at all time high (over 14000) and S&P finally closing above its all time high (1560).  After all first year returns on 2nd term for recent Presidents (Bush, Clinton, Reagan) have been good years for stock markets.
I am bullish on housing and banking sectors. In particular I like BAC, MS, MTG and NCT in these sectors. Each of these could provide 10-15% returns (counting dividends) over 12 months. In technology sectors, Nokia sounds interesting since it could be turning around in its handset business and could turn out to be good long-term bet. If they have some good handsets and win back some market share, it could return 30% over next 12 months. Could it become Apple of 1997 would be another question. I doubt any company could be Apple (even Apple could not repeat its own performance in years ahead).
That's all for now. Have a great football and Presidential Inauguration Weekend.
President Obama - Wish you best of luck for your 2nd term. Make this term historic so history could compare you with other great presidents.
/Shyam


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2025 = Is it going to be 1997 or 2000?

Happy Holidays... After 5 months of hibernation with no real reason than writing block, I decided to use quiet morning of Christmas day to start writing again. Lot has happened in last 5 months - in particular release of Animal Spirits with Fed starting interest rate reduction cycle and historic victory of President Trump for 2nd term. As the year turns into 2025 and stock markets at all time high, one would wonder, what's next?  To answer this, one needs to look back at 1920s and 1990s to give us some context on where markets may be headed. 1920s saw invention of televisions, radio, wider adoption of cars, vacuums, penicillin and many other which we consider household items now. These inventions created roaring 20s with markets going up by 500% eventually leading to crash of 1929. However during mid-20s, markets keep going up due to excitement of these inventions and end of World War-1 and Spanish Flu Pandemic. 1990s also saw many inventions - the key being launch of Netscape in 1...

And the Oscar goes to...

It's Oscar Sunday and time for predictions for few categories - before I digress into talking about drama in DC or markets.  First of all, I want to recognize the damage LA fires have done to the beloved areas of Los Angeles and impacted families across all spectrums. My heart goes out to them and wish them recovery and rebuilding of their lives... This year's Oscar nominees and post nomination period had been interesting to say the least. Due to this, the field is wide open in almost all categories and that's what makes prediction game so interesting. Just to set expectations, I would consider a win if I get even 50% predictions correct given the dynamics of nominees this year. So here are my predictions - "And the Oscar goes to..." Best Picture - Anora (surprise could be "The Brutalist") Best Director - Sean Baker for "Anora" (Surprise could be Brady Corbet for "The Brutalist") Best Actor - Adrien Brody for "The Brutalist"...

The Politics and Gamesmanship of TikTok!

TikTok is less than 3 hours from going dark on USA's east coast if TikTok owner Bytedance (and Chinese Government) follows thru its "bluff" to honor the law " Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" which goes into effect on Jan 19, 2025. And suddenly there is lots of politics and gamesmanship around TikTok.. Let's look at the players and their positions US Congress: The " TikTok Ban" law was passed by congress with bipartisan support and coincidently it goes into effect one day before new administration takes charge. Everyone knew the exact date and time of oath taking ceremony of new President...but maybe the congress did not think that there would be change of President and did not bother to put effective date post new government taking charge...that created a window of 36 hours of "law being in effect" unless... President Biden: Biden himself did not think that he won't be President for 2nd term. S...