This was another unprecedented week for the financial markets.
We saw an additional 5.2 Americans lose their jobs and file for unemployment (bringing the total to 22 million).
To combat the sudden halt in the economy, the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped in trillions of dollars to the economy. Its balance sheet has risen from $4.1 trillion to $6.4 trillion in less than two months.
And now, there are talks of additional stimulus.
It's too early to tell whether throwing money at every problem will solve them... or whether we're just kicking the can further down the road.
On the positive side, there's hope that we're taking our first steps to eradicate COVID-19. Some of the top biotech companies in the world have seen promising results in early tests to combat the disease.
Either way it plays out, our experts - Chris Johnson, Tom Gentile, and D.R. Barton, Jr. - are here to break down what they're seeing in the markets every day they're open.
And if you're able to join us live, they'll even answer your most pressing questions.
Here's what they saw today, Friday, April 17...
- Chris discussed the news that sent stocks higher in after-hours trading yesterday afternoon and this morning.
- Gilead Sciences Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GILD) early trial data shows patients are responding well to its potential COVID-19 treatment called Remdesivir.
- GILD shares rose 12% to $85 after hours, but Chris likes the stock at $80.
- Chris also likes Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) around the $122 level and thinks it should continue to outperform the broader market the longer COVID-19 threatens the economy.
- The company beat its latest earnings report by $0.04, reconfirmed full-year guidance for 2020, and announced strong growth across almost all product lines.
- Best of all, PG expects to pay investors over $7.5 billion in dividends and repurchase $7 billion to $8 billion of common shares in fiscal 2020. That's a huge advantage for PG because many companies don't have the liquidity to do that today.
- As he promised yesterday, Tom took a deep dive into Bitcoin on his live stream today.
- Tom got into Bitcoin in 2013, when he started mining the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency with a computer the size of a small refrigerator.
- After joining a mining pool, he was initially able to generate one Bitcoin every couple days. But then, it very quickly dropped to one Bitcoin every week. And the one per month as miner technology improved and Bitcoin became scarcer with subsequent "halvings."
- So today, Tom thinks mining is too competitive for the average person to consistently make money.
- Instead, he thinks the best way of making money over the long term is through buying, holding, and storing Bitcoin offline in "cold storage." Don't keep your Bitcoin on the exchange you buy it from. Instead, figure out how to secure your own private keys with a hardware wallet or by running a full node.
- Here's what Tom likes most about Bitcoin:
- The supply is finite - only 21 million coins will ever exist, and that can't be changed.
- The halving in May should drive demand and send the price of Bitcoin higher in the 16 months after that - well past the $20,000 highs made in 2017.
D.R. Barton, Jr. (1:30 p.m. EDT)
- D.R. covered why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is down today.
- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) downgraded the stock because it thinks iPhone sales will slow due to the coronavirus.
- D.R. told investors to keep an eye on Apple and buy it on any significant pullback.
- D.R. said the reason why the Fed is buying high-yield debt is because nobody else will. The Fed is doing this to keep the market propped up.
- The problem is, approximately 50% of all high-yield debt has been taken out by shale oil companies. D.R. thinks the Fed will NOT likely be able to solve all these underlying issues simply by throwing money at all the problems.
Catch us Monday - starting LIVE again at 8:45 a.m. EDT with Chris Johnson, right here.
Got a question you want our experts to cover? Send us a note.