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5 charts from the past week that tell an interesting story in markets and investing…
1) All is Calm Again
The $VIX has finally moved back to pre-pandemic levels, down 80% from its record-high close last March.
2) The Other Side of Mania
Shares in Nikola ($NKLA) hit new lows this week, down 87% from their high last June.
How are the fundamentals looking?
Nikola reported another quarter of $0 revenue back in February with a $147 million net loss. Even after the 87% decline, it still has a market cap of nearly $5 billion.
3) Desperate Reach for Yield
With the Fed promising not to raise rates for a few more years, investors are becoming increasingly desperate for yield.
That desperation has pushed High Yield credits spreads down to 3.22%, approaching the lowest levels in the last 10 years (3.16% in October 2018).
4) Inflation Remains Subdued?
The Fed released the minutes from their last meeting this week saying “underlying inflationary pressures remain subdued.”
Meanwhile, in the real world, prices continue to surge higher. PPI came in at +4.2% overall with a 3.1% increase excluding food and energy (core PPI).
With record demand and little supply in the housing market, Lumber prices continue to hit record highs, more than tripling in the past year.
5) Vaccination Boom
1 out of every 3 Americans (110 million people) have now been vaccinated with at least 1 dose of the covid-19 vaccine. Over 3 million shots per day are being given out in the US with 38 states now offering vaccines to anyone 16 and older and the remaining 12 states set to do so by April 19.
Here are the vaccination rates around the world…
And that’s it for this week. Thanks for reading.
Have a great weekend everyone!
-Charlie
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