Jacob Wolinsky

Tesla stock has finally been tapped for S&P 500 inclusion, and investors have been buying it up as a result. The shares got another boost today in the form of a major upgrade from analysts at Morgan Stanley, who have shifted to Overweight after keeping them below that for over three years.

The world’s central banks have been buying gold for years, and that trend could drive the price up over $2,000 next year, according to some experts. The problem is the ever-growing pile of public debt, which could be exacerbated by inflation next year.

We’re also smack dab in the middle of earnings season. This is when companies tell the world how their business is doing. They reveal how much their sales grew and if they turned a profit.

A much larger volume of filings last week lifted the 3rd quarter financial statement update to about 33% complete. Still too early to make any macro measurements but anecdotally we are seeing a large frequency of rising gross and operating profit margins at companies with negative and falling sales growth. That is the opposite of the last quarter when profit margins fell very broadly. We suggested back in July that layoffs were being delayed but this has now become reality as shown in the recent financial reporting.

It was another very light week for financial statement filings as companies with fiscal quarters ended August passed their deadline. The larger volume of companies with begin to appear this week and peak on November 8. The election result will not be the only reveal in November.

Some have argued that if President Donald Trump loses the election, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be left in conservatorship instead of recapitalized and released. However, Tim Pagliara of CapWealth Advisors has argued that even if Joe Biden wins the election, he believes the government-sponsored enterprises will still be released.