Juggling Dynamite

Finally, thanks to Tesla’s leadership, all of the world’s major vehicle companies are racing to evolve to cleaner technology that is much more energy-efficient and cheaper to run for owners.  See Ford plans to nearly double production of its new all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup by mid-2023:

The increase is a positive sign of demand for the F-150 Lightning as well as electric vehicles in general but also shows Ford significantly underestimated demand for the truck, causing it to now scramble to boost manufacturing of it. This is the second time Ford has said it plans to double production of the vehicle, which is due out in the spring. Initial output was set for about 40,000 units.

“The reception of this vehicle has been absolutely incredible,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford president of the Americas & international markets, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Electric vehicles that go as far as a tank of gas on one charge are the final death blow for ICE vehicles, and smarter tech is just getting started here. Plant-based and recycled materials for interiors are the new standard too. See Daimler’s concept car has over 621 miles of range and solar tech on roof:

Daimler has released details of a concept electric vehicle which uses solar technology and bio-based materials, with the German automotive giant saying it has a range of over 1,000 kilometers (around 621 miles) on one charge.  The Vision EQXX has 117 roof-based solar cells — the idea is that they can help to boost the car’s range — while the vehicle’s interior incorporates materials including a leather alternative called Mylo.  Mylo is produced using mycelium, which Daimler described as being “the underground rootlike structure of mushrooms.”

Worthwhile overview as we enter a year of transition in 2022.

David Rosenberg, chief economist at Rosenberg Research, joins “Closing Bell” to discuss the market’s performance on the last trading day of the year and the outlook for 2022.  Here is a direct video link.

More than $1 trillion of trend-following capital flowed into global equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the past year–exceeding the combined total of the past 19 years (data: Bank of America Corp. and EPFR Global.)  The chart below offers a visual courtesy of ISABELNET.com.  Passive funds tracking U.S. equity indexes accounted for most of that inflow.

Funds held in ETFs globally have now moved toward $9.5 trillion and more than twice the amount at the end of 2018. Under the surface, half of the index gains between April and December, came from just five companies–Microsoft, Alphabet, Nvidia, Tesla and Apple–while the majority have fallen.  The average S&P 500 company closed 2021 -11% from its 52-week high.

Meanwhile, those who have become billionaires starting and running companies have been using the opportunity of frenzied retail and institutional buying to reduce their risk and raise cash by selling into the retail flow.

This is the number one best way to get rich using the stock market:  start or help build a company and then cash out by selling a whack of your equity to the public when outsiders are optimistic about your story.  There’s a reason this cycle has long been dubbed from strong hands to weak.  See Mark Zuckerberg sells stock every day, as billionaires cash out:

Super-wealthy Americans including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg unloaded $42.9 billion in stock through the start of December. That is more than double the $20.2 billion they sold in all of 2020, according to an analysis of transactions by U.S. billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ben Steverman reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia.”

Here is a direct video link.

The best way for company outsiders (the public) to make money in the stock market is to build their cash during the mania of retail FOMO-buying and wait to be one of the few able to buy from the masses when they are liquidating in a panic once again.

All of the excesses of the last decade assure us that a historic liquidation cycle is coming–of that, we can be confident.