Gas, Stocks and The Hack

 

It's still high but gas has fallen by 10 cents a liter where I live where Oil is down below $100 USD for now. That's a break on the ol' wallet expenses but general Shop prices remain high and continue to climb despite what the Feds do to try and control it, groceries especially.

In general, the past few days starting August of 2022, has been slow moving in stock and crypto land. 

It's kind of the norm for Bitcoin watchers to see it sell off some when it hasn't moved up in several days, or stalled. Not always, but a dip in price brings on 'Bottom Price" buyers and BTC has risen beyond it's past short term high.

The De-Fi sector of crypto ... I tested that when it first started but soon found out it wasn't for me for various reasons. On of the biggies was ... I'm gaining interest but if a token drops in price too much there is no gain, which of course happened big time this year. Fees to move or exchange coins also factored in to my dislike.

These days there is even more added risk as crooked hot shots that know programming and coding spend their days trying to break into these automated De-Fi or Exchanger/Wallet Provider scripts. People monitoring the scripts for errors probably see these hackers get quickly get in and out, while syphoning a few million or more out. What just happened? as they try and close the entry points the crooks use.

Like bank robbers planning and breaking into sophisticated vaults. Once in, the hard part is over and then have access to money, jewels, etc. Like crypto thieves, the clock is ticking to get out with the loot before they are stopped.

                        Courtesy of Cointelegraph

There is constant speculation from big firm money analyst's, fund/ETF managers, to DIY investors concerning the stock market. Is it getting better today, worse or is a recession coming? ... or is it already here? Online and on TV it's the constant debate that creates the greed and fear that moves the markets.

On my end, I just concentrate on dividends/cash distributions and prefer to buy the premier companies/banks that have a history of steady distributions plus the bonus of increases over time like the top ten in yield on the TSX and other decent stocks below that.

It's always ideal to buy at a lower price than I bought before but timing the market can't be done on a consistent basis although some say they can.

Overall, not the August breakout I would like to have seen so far. What will mid August bring? I'm also looking forward to the end of these high humidity heatwaves here on the east coast of Canada. 

The Bounce in Closing Out July, 2022

 

It's the end of July, 2022 and when I would like to fast forward to the cooler Fall amid high humidity hear waves here on the East Coast of Canada but it will come fast enough. 

What's happening in the Markets now? Reading the news, it's full of speculation and forecasting based on past history fluctuations but it looks like there is a sense that some investors feel we've bounced off the "Bottom" of the crash that started back in mid April. 

I'm seeing more "green" in indexes like the Canadian TSX, which is a good sign for now but it's anyone's guess if the Markets (depending on sectors) will continue to move up gradually and depends on a lot of factors as usual. 

One of the primary factors is the Feds and are they getting control of inflation with interest rate hikes and will these hikes slow down in the near future? No way of calling that yet. Some feel they are getting a grip on high inflation although I don't see it in the Shops where things cost even more this week.

Although I live in Canada, the commodity scene is influenced by international supply and demand. Oil and natural gas are up because of the Russian/Ukraine war. China with it's changing intake quota on imports from Canada, metals like iron, etc. and now tensions are up with China wanting to convert Taiwan to fall under communist rule while the US disagrees with that move. 

By staying invested through the bad and good times, the above doesn't matter much to me although I stay informed where the stocks I buy go on sale during down times.

In August, my interest is in adding to oil/pipelines and insurance with Enbridge (ENB) and Manulife (MFC) going ex-dividend and both being holdings in the BTSX strategy.

The highly volatile crypto scene made a recovery this month with some of the negative feedback/fear falling to the wayside as Bitcoin and Ether make gains in price so far. Stats show the number of folks holding less than 1 Bitcoin is growing once again.

Always something to watch for is what Miners are doing with their Bitcoin and their overall selling of BTC (they planned to hold for long term) to pay for expenses is slowing after Bitcoin began moving up from 18 grand USD to around the 24 grand level for now. Those that are big into stats, believe this is a positive thing and possibly generate more BTC buying. 

It's something like the oil business. Companies are into larger cash gains now as oil stays in the price price range it currently has these past months and can go down to $70 a barrel USD but falling below that, those that haven't planned for it tend to get into financial woes spending their excess cash and look to cutbacks/layoffs to pay for expenses.

Will the rest of 2022 show more positive numbers and gains in the Markets? It will be interesting to see what develops in August moving forward.