Yes, I did say it, but I kinda pulled back from it, meaning, I did not want to come off as saying I really was in a rut, even though sometimes the market boxes me in with the news, so it feels as if I am in a rut, and maybe that is enough to actually put me in a rut, but, hey, what is a “rut” after all – a state of mind?
That opening sentence would be enough to take anyone out of a rut, if they were in a rut, which I am not. And the reason is that today, hold on … I feel as if the market is behaving normally again. It could be that end of this day, I regret those words, but a market showing slight jitters with Greece and Ukraine thrashing about seems quite normal, even if neither really matters in the end to the market.
Just in case I am in a rut, though, I decided to switch it up today. I want to go where the unreal seems real and the real seems, well, unreal. First up, thanks to the news, is Apple (AAPL).
Apple has come a long way since it lost most all of its PC computer market share to an inferior company way back in the old days. Apple has always made better computers (actually a superior operating system), but because of the resistance to go generic, the company ended up with a cult following that adamantly refused to buy into the generic market.
Well, that following has kept Apple in the top five of computer makers, but, more importantly, it has allowed Apple to pursue other revenue-generating sources, enough other revenue-generating sources that allows for a heading such as the one below to appear. Think iPhone.
Can Apple Reach the $1 Trillion Market Cap Milestone?
Admittedly, the company is tightly run, profits are healthy, and Apple’s stock is not diluted, so the milestone is understandable in terms of stock price. Yet, there has to more to this company than just iPhones and computers. As it turns out there, a good portion of that stock value is going on the line in another revenue-generating source, as Apple turns the corner from making iPhones and computers to …
- Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Tuesday the technology company is investing $850 million to build a solar farm in California with solar panel maker First Solar.
It was, and now is more so, inevitable that the big kids will be investing in alternative energy sources. The handwriting is on the wall. Just ask GE about its $2 billion solar plant in Texas. Anyway, it is food for thought …
The second reason I am not in a rut is Miggie. Oh, you don’t know her, but she is dear, and she told me yesterday how to get out of my rut, which I am not in. She told me to look at the news about smart TVs. So, I did, and what I found is quite astonishing. It has little to do with the market, but it has everything to do with 1984, George Orwell’s once horrific view of our back-then future.
- Samsung is warning customers about discussing personal information in front of their smart television set.The warning applies to TV viewers who control their Samsung Smart TV using its voice activation feature.
- When the feature is active, such TV sets “listen” to what is said and may share what they hear with Samsung or third parties, it said.
- Privacy campaigners said the technology smacked of the telescreens, in George Orwell’s 1984, which spied on citizens.
Yup, this is weird to think that our TVs are listening to what we say and watching what we do, and the latter is possible because the smart TVs come equipped with cameras. Shouldn’t there be a law against this?
So, back to the market …
- The U.S. economy is set to record its best performance in a decade this year as a rapidly strengthening labor market buoys domestic demand, giving the Federal Reserve the confidence to start tightening monetary policy, a Reuters poll showed.
As always, we will see, but me thinks the poll is right on, and the market is now and will be reflecting this reality.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
