“Three cheers for the American auto industry and the American oil industry. This is a war that is fought with fuel and engines,” said Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference in 1943. The United States supplied 50% of Russia’s trucks, 80% of its oil, and 90% of its aviation gasoline during WWII.
When John identifies a strategic exit point, he will send you an alert with specific trade information as to what security to sell, when to sell it, and at what price. Most often, it will be to TAKE PROFITS, but, on rare occasions, it will be to exercise a STOP LOSS at a predetermined price to adhere to strict risk management discipline. Read more
Mad Hedge Bitcoin Letter
September 8, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(CRYPTO ARENA WAS THE PEAK)
(BTC)
Granted that crypto advertisement has no direct correlation with the price of Bitcoin, the amount of crypto advertisements is indicative of the ongoing health of the crypto industry.
In broad terms, when crypto prices are rising, the ad budgets of crypto companies swell.
The reverse is true in a down market.
It’s no surprise that November 2021 marked the high-water mark for crypto advertising spend as crypto.com signed a breakthrough deal for the naming rights to the home arena of the Los Angeles Lakers and ice hockey team LA Kings and called the venue Crypto.com Arena.
My sources told me the deal was a 20-year contract worth $700 million.
The price of Bitcoin has tumbled since then and the first shoe to drop were the numerous job cuts of reputable crypto companies like Coinbase.
The number of crypto exchanges that went bankrupt also has frightened investors as it highlights the unsecured and uninsured nature of digital investments on these platforms.
Individual accounts usually don’t receive their funds back if the exchange they use goes bankrupt, because these accounts aren’t insured.
As the textbook crypto investor has been busy getting impoverished, crypto companies have pulled back investment, wage, and advertisement spend signaling that the industry is in a “crypto winter.”
No industry is at its peak during a bout of extreme scarcity mentality.
This violent pullback of investment has hurt the image of the crypto industry while strengthening the case that fiat money still has validity.
I say that even as the President of Russia Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the U.S. Dollar and European-based Euro have “lost their credibility as a basis of international settlement.”
That’s not necessarily true.
Yet, this does signal that things are about to get wild in the currency markets and the sad fact that interest in digital currencies has, at least for the moment, been put on the back burner as we duck and weave from crisis to crisis.
Unfortunately, the incremental investor still isn’t willing to jump into crypto headfirst and the price of Bitcoin reflects this sentiment.
Just last week, we then got news of the same Crypto.com reportedly pulling out of a five-year sponsorship deal with the UEFA Champions League.
This UEFA Champions League competition is the most prestigious non-World Cup soccer tournament in the world and dominates global eyeballs.
The deal would have been worth just over $100 million annually.
Valued at just over $100 million per year, the contract had been under discussion but never signed, according to my sources.
The move follows the exchange's official approval as an official FIFA World Cup sponsor in March and several other audacious marketing plays in the world of sport.
Several other sports marketing opportunities have also been permanently shelved underscoring how lean times are in the world of digital currencies.
The price of Bitcoin has participated in the price action to the downside while missing out on much of the upside.
There simply is a lack of trust in this speculative asset class as hyperinflationary times have forced people to migrate into hard assets like food, energy, and housing.
Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter
September 8, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(WON’T GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT)
(CVS), (SGFY), (AMZN), (HUM), (UNH)
“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” — Said Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corp.
Bigger is better. At least, that’s what CVS Health (CVS) seems to believe.
Recently, the big news in healthcare is CVS’ move to acquire Signify Health (SGFY) for $8 billion, pushing it even nearer to its goal of becoming an integrated healthcare provider.
The deal, anticipated to close by the first quarter of 2023, is an all-cash deal with CVS paying $30.50 per share.
While this deal isn’t exactly something new, Signify has been known to be a great innovator in the fast-moving space.
The critical factor in how Signify is different from other companies lies in its strategy, which leans more on a technology- and data-focused model that caters to the gig economy. Under its scheme, clinicians are likened to Uber drivers in terms of independence.
Meanwhile, CVS’ move to swoop in and buy Signify actually threw a wrench in the plans of another company hoping to dominate in the healthcare space: Amazon (AMZN).
Just a few weeks before this announcement, Amazon’s entry into the healthcare industry felt unstoppable. The e-commerce giant started its journey with the $3.9 billion purchase of One Medical (ONEM), a doctor’s office chain, with the goal of continuing its expansion through a deal with Signify.
The encroachment of the retail giant seemed like a massive issue for existing players in the healthcare industry, particularly CVS, which was said to have lost out in the bidding war for ONEM.
Needless to say, this makes CVS’ success in buying Signify an even sweeter victory.
More importantly, this decisive move from CVS makes it apparent that it won’t go down without a fight. That is, Amazon’s march into the healthcare industry will not be completely unopposed.
Basically, Signify sends clinicians to patients’ homes to help them assess their conditions. However, the company does not offer home health services at all.
CVS’ decision to pursue this deal makes it clear that the company is veering toward primary care delivery. Signify’s services can integrate almost seamlessly with the CVS Health ecosystem, with clinicians being afforded the opportunity to simply direct patients to other CVS products and services.
However, not all plans are perfect.
One red flag in this deal involves the major clients of Signify: Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth (UNH).
Given that CVS is a competitor, they may be put off by the new arrangement and decide to pull out of their existing contracts. This is an understandable concern since one of the main attractions in availing of Signify’s services is its status as an independent entity. This ensures that it operates without any bias and allows equal participation among all payers.
While Signify execs claim that all stakeholders are “very supportive” of this deal, the effects of the plan remain to be seen.
Either way, home-based healthcare is emerging as a new and lucrative trend in the industry. Hence, more and more companies are expected to make similar decisions.
Earlier this month, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) executed a similar move when it acquired a majority share of CareCentrix. Even UNH shelled out a premium when it bought LHC Group, a home-health provider, for $5.4 billion this spring.
Whether it’s caused by an aging population battling mobility issues or healthier patients who realized the price of convenience during the pandemic, it’s undeniable that the demand for home-based healthcare is growing.
Obviously, companies like CVS are capitalizing on that trend.
So far, CVS’ strategy to develop a one-stop-shop for healthcare looks to be on track. The fact that it’s managing to build out a full-scale integrated model while practically doubling its stock price in the last three years makes it an excellent stock to own for the long haul.
If the company continues this trajectory and expansion into primary care, then CVS could quickly become one of the biggest healthcare stocks globally.
Global Market Comments
September 8, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(THE MAD HEDGE TRADERS & INVESTORS SUMMIT IS ON FOR SEPTEMBER 13-15)
A collection of the 28 best traders and managers in the world, or eight a day, each giving an educational webinar. Back-to-back one-hour presentations are followed by an interactive Q&A. It’s a smorgasbord of trading strategies, so pick the one that is right for you. Covering all stocks, bonds, commodities, foreign exchange, precious metals, energy, bitcoin, and real estate. It’s the best look at the rest of 2022’s money-making opportunities you will get anywhere. Oh, and you will have a chance to win $100,000 in prizes.
To view the schedule and speakers, and to register NOW, click here.
Mad Hedge Technology Letter
September 7, 2022
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(JUST A BLIP)
(ISO), (TSLA)
