Vampires Understand Compound Interest. Do You?

Welcome to the weekend! We deserve a couple of days off after that rollercoaster. Of course, I say that it was a rollercoaster, but it was really just a rip-roaring ride upwards. The S&P 500 gained  2.92% and is now down just 3.31% for the year and 7.50% off the all-time high set in February.

Jason’s Diary

I had the privilege on Thursday of sitting in for Doug Kass and steering the Diary through a choppy day that started strong and ended near the low of the day. You can read it here: https://pro.thestreet.com/dougs-daily-diary/2025-05-01

I shared a lot of things including this analysis of the Fear & Greed Index. We turned it into an article available here. The summary version is that the current move off the low is a bear market rally. I still don’t trust it but things are improving, including market breadth.

META Earnings Trades

I also shared an article from Stephen Guilfoyle, aka Sarge, titled Where to Buy Meta After Blowout Earnings Turn Heads on Wall Street. He provides a nice summary of the company’s earnings report that’s worth a read. Sarge also noted the $588 level as possible resistance and that a close above there could bring a rush of portfolio managers to increase exposure to the stock. Well, Friday’s close is above that level, so we’ll be watching to see if this one turns into a winner.

I should add, I shared Helene’s comment from her Wednesday evening TopStocks column and that was the win of the week! On Wednesday, she wrote:

I have no strong view on Meta (META) , but I would note that the first trip up to resistance at 588 was that Wednesday, April 9th, so that’s going to be resistance again should it get up there.

At least one of our Diary members commented that he shorted the stock for a quick profit. Here’s a chart:

For those who may not be familiar with shorting a stock, it's a bearish bet that the stock will decline in price. When you go short, you ask your broker to borrow shares that you then sell to the market. You then hope to buy the shares back at a low price.

Instead of buy low, sell high, it's sell high and then buy low. Get it? It's a difficult strategy and really only for experienced traders.

I’m no Doug Kass, but I’m happy when I can point our subscribers towards a good trade.

As I said above, the stock closed above 588 Friday, but Helene’s point was only that the first trip to 588 would be met with selling. Friday would mark the second trip to resistance, which could now become support. At the least, it’s an area to pay attention to.

Vampires

Perhaps most importantly, I talked about vampires. You know how vampires are always portrayed as living lavishly? They have castles, and servants, and other trappings of wealth. I’d always wondered how they could do that. I mean, most don’t hold jobs.

Well, yesterday, we put some math to the question and figured out that the vampire community is much wealthier than Elon Musk. In fact, vampires might have more money than all of the wealthiest people in the world combined. If you want to read more, you’ll have to go back to the diary to read how. Or, wait until next week’s edition of Filthy Rich Animal, when I ask this same question as our question of the week.

The Economy

In these turbulent times, Peter Tchir is a voice of reason. He's not necessarily comforting, but I enjoy his analyses because he presents the facts in an unemotional way.

This week, he wrote that Trump Avoids High-Speed Train Wreck, but Economy Sliding Towards Recession. In it, Peter tells us that it's becoming more likely that trade deals get done. So, the high-speed train wreck has been averted. But unless we get better deals or a pivot from the administration, a recession is a virtual certainty.

I mean, I guess that's good news?

Podcast

Reminder. We have a new podcast, TheStreet's Stocks and Markets Podcast, with Chris Versace and other members of our team (and Jay Woods)! This week's episode featured Chris with Bob Byrne talking about how to manage risk like a pro. It's a good listen.