|
|
| Home | Portfolio | Watch List | Newsletter | About | Contact Me | Stock Advisor |
The month that was:
2026 started with small gains for the big indexes. The Dow went up by about 1.8%, the S&P 500 went up by about 1.5%, and the Nasdaq went up by about 1%. Small companies did much better, as the Russell 2000 went up about 5.4%. On January 28th, the Fed kept interest rates the same, between 3.5% and 3.75%, after cutting them three times at the end of last year.
Underneath the surface, there were big moves. Memory chip companies kept soaring because AI data centers need so much memory that there is a shortage. SanDisk more than doubled in one month, and Micron went up about 45%. At the same time, many software stocks fell sharply. Intuit and ServiceNow each fell about 24% in January, as investors started to worry that new AI tools could do some of the work that their software does. Gold and silver also had a wild month, rising to record highs and then crashing on the last day of January, when silver fell more than 28% in one day.
On January 30th, President Trump announced that he would nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell's term as chair ends in May. The Fed chair leads the meetings where the Fed decides on interest rates, and speaks for the Fed in public. Even though the chair has only one vote out of twelve, the chair has a huge influence over what the Fed does.
That is why investors pay so much attention to who the chair is. A chair who cares most about keeping inflation low may be slower to cut interest rates, while a chair who cares more about jobs and growth may cut rates faster. Kevin Warsh worked at the Fed during the 2008 financial crisis. In the past, he has been known as someone who worries a lot about inflation, but recently he has said that interest rates could come down. Investors are still trying to figure out which way he will lean.
Buys -
Bought 15 NVO at $62.26
In early January, Novo Nordisk launched a pill version of its weight loss drug Wegovy, and the stock went up. I bought back some shares.
Bought 2 CASY at $637.33
Casey's runs more than 2,900 convenience stores, mostly in small towns in the Midwest, and it is famous for its pizza. It is very well managed, and it has raised its dividend for more than 25 years in a row. I started a new position.
Bought 1 MSFT at $480.57
Bought 3 WCN at $167.18
Bought 1 BAH at $95.13
I added one share of Microsoft, a few shares of Waste Connections, which collects garbage and recycling, and one share of Booz Allen Hamilton.
Sells -
Sold 12 ADBE at $298.07
Adobe fell along with other software stocks because of worries about AI. I sold some of my shares for a loss of about 12%.
Buys and Sells -
Bought 2 ROP at $404.51
Sold 2 ROP at $369.15
Roper Technologies owns many small software companies. I bought two shares right before its earnings report. The stock fell after the report, and I sold my shares for a loss of about 9%.
Thanks for reading my newsletter!