Fitch Says U.S. on ‘Rating Watch Negative’ The ratings firm said failure to raise the debt limit would erode U.S. creditworthiness TThe U.S. government’s reputation for paying its bills on time is a cornerstone of the global financial system. Photo: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg News By Andrew Duehren May 24, 2023 7:53 pm ET Fitch Ratings is reviewing whether the U.S. should retain its top credit rating as the White House and Republicans struggle to reach an agreement on raising the debt limit. Fitch said Wednesday evening it had placed the U.S. triple-A credit rating on “rating watch negative.” While the ratings firm said it still expects Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on raising the debt limit, it said there was a greater risk it could fail to do so in time. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the U.S. could begin missing payments as soon as June 1. “The brinkmanship over the debt ceiling, failure of the U.S. authorities to meaningfully tackle medium-term fiscal challenges that will lead to rising budget deficits and a growing debt burden signal downside risks to U.S. creditworthiness,” Fitch said. Fitch said that a missed payment after June 1 would likely be inconsistent with a triple-A rating. The ratings firm also said that potential workarounds—like invoking the 14th amendment to ignore the debt limit—would undermine U.S. creditworthiness.
I have noticed this happening and wonder is the stock moves just on the Friday or does this influence the next week-- Friday Is Now an Options Feeding Frenzy as Big Tech Meets Zero-Day Options In this article: AAPL +0.16% (Bloomberg) -- An end-of-week feeding frenzy in options of the world’s biggest companies has emerged as two of the hottest trends on Wall Street collide. Rampant demand for Big Tech exposure is combining with the boom in fast-expiring options to fuel an explosion in bullish bets in the first few minutes of Friday trading. That’s the day that weekly contracts on individual stocks like Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. expire, effectively turning them into the zero-day options that have become a trader obsession. Total call volume of the seven most-valuable tech firms — also including Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Nvidia Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. — last Friday spiked to 5 million contracts, doubling over the week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. So frenzied is the late-week demand that some analysts see evidence it is moving the underlying stocks. “Friday should be known as megacap tech call option day,” Brian Garrett, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., wrote in a note last week. “There have been days where hundreds of thousands of calls have traded in the first 10-15 minutes of the session.” The activity is the latest twist on the 0DTE phenomenon, which has until now been confined to options linked to major indexes and ETFs. At the moment, those are the only instruments which can expire any day of the week, providing the bulk of 0DTE trading opportunities. For single stocks whose derivatives mature weekly, Friday’s deadline effectively makes those contracts 0DTEs for a day, offering a lucrative way to bet on a cohort of stocks whose returns have averaged a stunning 58% this year — a gain eight times as large as the S&P 500. The appetite is evident in a chart tracking the total call volume of the Big Seven. Like clockwork, trading has reliably spiked on Friday. Fueling the pattern are retail investors whose options activity has shown a tendency to pivot toward the second half of a week. Take Apple, Amazon and Tesla. Over the past year, retail’s options transactions at Citadel Securities usually began the week in a subdued way and increased as the days went by. The volume peaked on Friday, when it was 1.7 times more than Monday’s, according to an analysis by Layla Royer, the firm’s senior equity derivatives salesperson. Notably, the trio’s share returns have evolved in a similar fashion over the course of a week. On average they’ve fallen 0.6% in the first two days then risen 0.7% over the final three sessions. “Positive stock performance appears to correlate to these retail options volumes spike in the latter half of the week,” Royer wrote in a note. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, likens the rage in zero-day options to sports gambling in that both offer the potential for highly leveraged returns in a very short period of time. Yet unlike sports bettors whose action has no impact on the outcome, he posits, options traders can influence the movement of the underlying asset. A similar dynamic was theorized during the 2021 meme-stock craze, when large-scale purchases of bullish options for certain shares were used as a weapon to force actions by market makers that would turn small gains into big ones. Whether driven by euphoria over artificial intelligence or the perceived safety during the latest banking turmoil, Apple and other tech behemoths have been the only game in town in 2023’s equity market. Hedge funds, for instance, have boosted their tech holdings to 15.5% of their overall single-stock net exposure, up from 9.7% at the start of the year, data compiled by Goldman’s prime brokerage show. The love affair has found its way to the derivatives market. Last Friday, the Big Seven saw their total call volume outpacing puts by a ratio of 1.7 to 1, a three-month high, data compiled by Bloomberg show. For all Fridays, that’s the most bullish reading since 2021, when tech was similarly ascendant because of the pandemic lockdown. “With options, if enough punters show up on one side of the action, they can indeed influence the outcome,” Sosnick said. “And that’s why we see buyers jump in when the momentum seems favorable.” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Back when the Meme stocks were flying around this same tactic was used to great success. But I am surprised it works on such liquid names> When we don't see the buying on a Friday is that an indicator of a big fall?
That... or NVDA up'd their guidance by like a 1/2 Trillion dollars. Is your downgrade still in place?
How is it possible that NVDA gains almost 30%? Massive short covering? This is almost like tsla in it’s prime
ON NVDA Yes our downgrade to hold is still in place for now. We may go to short today, I'm waiting to hear back from HF.
Yeah it'll pull back some. I doubt by much though. Unless we go into default on the national debt. What's interesting is, IWM (the Russell 2000) is red pre-market. You'd think there'd be at least a small bump based on animal spirits alone. The Q's are gonna open above their August highs. I think the fact that the Russell is still way down from August speaks volumes about what's really going on. *** as i was typing the IWM popped $1. Hmph.
If you like channel investing Delta air is about as easy a case as you can find. $30---$35 was the norm. // then we up channeled to $35--$40 // Presently at the lower end of the up channel. Next move should create $40 as the new floor and $44 or so as the upside. DAL looks good here. If you like trying to spot bottoms. (who doesn't) Watch BNTX. It is currently $112 and is making a strong attempt at bottoming $102 being the low./ Using that $102 area as a mental stop--- One can most likely go long BNTX now. /
I think DAL will have super-pop, maybe north of $39 when news of a budget agreement is reached. Then it'll be a $40-$45 channel. Lots of bullish call buying the last 3 days. And they're gonna reach a budget deal. BNTX? That's a new one. I'll look.
Wearable Devices' Mudra Band for Apple Watch is Available for Preorder Wearable Devices Ltd. Thu, May 25, 2023, 8:45 AM EDT Wearable Devices Ltd. Thousands of preorders for the Mudra Band have already been received as the Company prepares for its first volume manufacturing batch YOKNEAM ILLIT, ISRAEL, May 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wearable Devices Ltd. (Nasdaq: WLDS, WLDSW) (“Wearable Devices” or the “Company”), a technology growth company developing AI-powered touchless sensing wearables, today announced that its flagship consumer product, the Mudra Band for Apple Watch, is now available for preorder at www.mudra-band.com, as the Company prepares for its first volume manufacturing batch. The Mudra Band, originally designed for the touchless operation of the Apple Watch using neural signals, has since broadened product features with Air-Touch,which enables users to operate products across Apple’s ecosystem of devices using intuitive subtle finger movements and hand gestures without the need for physical touch.The latest features allow users to toggle and switch between connected devices with a seamless transition between iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, and Apple TV devices, smart glasses, and various mobile gaming devices. “We believe that the Mudra Band is setting the input standard for connected devices, extended reality, and gaming by enabling immersive and intuitive user interactions that transform the ways that people interact with their electronic devices,” commented Asher Dahan, Chief Executive Officer at Wearable Devices. “As we prepare for our first volume manufacturing batch of the band, we are scaling our marketing and support capabilities to accommodate the considerable early demand we’re seeing for our products with thousands of preorders already received, and our objective is to begin shipments in the second half of 2023. This is a very exciting step for our Company, and we look forward to keeping you apprised of further progress.” The Mudra Band is compatible with various Apple Watch models and its functionality is being extensively tested and approved by a global community of thousands of Apple enthusiasts as the ultimate after-market accessory for the Apple Watch to control products across the entire Apple ecosystem. About Wearable Devices Ltd. Wearable Devices Ltd. (the “Company”) is a growth company developing AI-based neural input interface technology for the B2C and B2B markets. The Company’s flagship product, the Mudra Band for Apple Watch, integrates innovative AI-based technology and algorithms into a functional, stylish wristband that utilizes proprietary sensors to identify subtle finger and wrist movements allowing the user to “touchlessly” interact with connected devices. The Company also markets a B2B product, the Mudra Inspire, which utilizes the same technology and functions as the Mudra Band and is available to businesses on a licensing basis. Wearable Devices is committed to creating disruptive, industry leading technology that leverages AI and proprietary algorithms, software, and hardware to set the input standard for the Metaverse, one of the most rapidly expanding landscapes in the tech industry. The Company’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq market under the symbol “WLDS”. For more information, please visit https://www.wearabledevices.co.il/. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have a few questions here-- this seems very watch based but they claim to be able to use tech on other Apple devices. We all have seen that Tom Cruise movie where he does all this complex stuff with his hands to make a computer screen move around -- this seems to me to be that.- Visa vi- stylish wristband that utilizes proprietary sensors to identify subtle finger and wrist movements-- how does this communicate back to Apple -- Don't switch screens== Apple consumer is self pleasuring...
I actually looked at an Israeli stock yesterday that you would like, but I didn't mention it because it trades very low volume. ITRN ... Now don't confuse it with Itron (ITRI),, that's why it caught my eye, I thought it was Itron. Interesting company... vehicle location stuff. ITRN---> $23.27