The 24th of May Long Weekend

 

Although the '24th of May' doesn't always fall on the long Victoria Day holiday weekend here in Canada, in Newfoundland ... it's the traditional start of camping for the summer despite snow or rain and called the 24th of May long weekend.

It used to be mostly about tents once upon a time but now it's more like the start of RV season. Kind of roughing it? But certainly not the same like getting out the ol' Coleman stove and having breakfast, cookups by the fire, trail walks and fishing. Usually, lots of fun to be had and a good break from work.

In the Crypto world, Bitcoin is once again hanging around the 30 grand USD range. With always lots of volatility, the coin seems to reset to that range for now, waiting for direction that buyers and sellers will take it while rolling with the US stock market ...  more with the tech related Nasdaq market.

Ethereum or ETH is evolving with another phase happening in early June on the path to some major changes to occur in August such as moving away from Mining and hopefully making fees for users cheaper overall but I don't expect transaction ETH gas fees to go down much. This could boost the price some as those events get closer. 

June is another busy month for the dividend paying stocks I watch and hold with some top companies nearing ex-dividend dates, which is the date buyers must own the stock to receive the cash distributions paid. I'll highlight a few in my next post.

Mid May 2022 and Hold On

 

Hold ... is the word for May so far as extreme volatility has hit the stock and crypto markets. 

There are slight rebounds as investors ponder on where the bottom is in the stock or asset they currently hold or buy at bargain prices.

In the US and Canadian market place there are stocks below their average price heading into 2022. On my side of the border in Canada, one of interest is Manulife Financial Corporation, a multi-billion dollar insurance company, currently priced around $23 CDN with a pre-May price of around $25 to $26, which pays a decent quarterly dividend with an upcoming ex-dividend date of May 24th. 

The aim here is to get in on the stock gain when the markets bounce back and collect the cash dividends. That "buy low" thing. 

Amongst all the doom and gloom, there are always companies in sectors that are making money and also increasing dividends to share holders that come up in the financial news.

Crypto, dominated by the price fluctuations of Bitcoin followed the stock market down, especially, the US Nasdaq and continues to flounder currently but seems to be holding it's head above the water line as of today.

Again, bargain hunters are watching for the low and rebound. 

The big story this week that caused a huge amount of selling, is the collapse of Terra's LUNA and it's (no longer) Stablecoin, UST. There had been prior warnings from the crypto community watching and holding LUNA and/or UST, that UST is backed by Bitcoin to keep it pegged ( or even) with the US Dollar, However with the fall of Bitcoin from the 40 grand level down to 25 grand recently, that affected the UST and it fell from the $1 USD threshold it is supposed to maintain.

Bitcoin alone is too volatile for an outfit to use to "back" a Stablecoin with and that also caused LUNA to suffer a 100% loss as Terra tries to stop the bleeding and recover some.

That drama affected holders of Bitcoin as well that panicked and sold. While most loose in this hysteria, selling in a panic is something I never bothered with while I wait it out for better times. It's not wise to put all your eggs in one basket.

Eventually, that will fade into the past but there's certainly more caution in the air now so it will probably take awhile for the crypto market to rebound while it also follows the uncertainty in the overall stock market for now.

Goes with that saying, although there are several versions ... plan for success, but be prepared for the unexpected. I'm full of oldie quotes today