A Topic You Might Hate

Doc Eifrig's 'favorite stat'... He says the truth is it doesn't matter... How to profit from the fear... A real-money demo with a pro golfer... The latest on the economy and 'Fed speak'... Investor Hour: Alex Epstein... [Stansberry Research Logo] Delivering World-Class Financial Research Since 1999 [Stansberry Digest] Doc Eifrig's 'favorite stat'... He says the truth is it doesn't matter... How to profit from the fear... [A real-money demo with a pro golfer](... The latest on the economy and 'Fed speak'... Investor Hour: Alex Epstein... --------------------------------------------------------------- Let's talk about politics... No, I (Corey McLaughlin) am not here to preach about one side or the other. But the other day, my colleague and Stansberry Research senior partner Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig shared his "favorite stat" about politics and the markets with readers of [his free Health & Wealth Bulletin](... And I don't want you to miss it. In the same issue, Doc said he doesn't blame anyone for feeling so much uneasiness about the upcoming election in November... but explained that it can actually play out in your favor. All it takes is his favorite options-trading strategy, which we've talked about here the past few days. Fear sparks volatility in the markets. And volatility is perfect for this strategy. As Doc revealed in [a Masters Series essay on Sunday]( his strategy focuses on selling options, specifically "covered calls" and "puts" to other traders who are nervous about what might be ahead. Without further ado, we continue today's edition with Doc in his own words... and I'll pick things up when he's done with some other reporting on the markets... I (Doc Eifrig) learned long ago that political talk doesn't belong in my newsletters... The fastest way to cut engagement would be to bring up my own political views. But the 2024 presidential election is just months away. It would be irresponsible of me to pretend otherwise. You see, pundits love to explore whether stock markets do better under Democratic or Republican leadership. You may have had this debate with friends or family as well. You may not want to hear this, but the truth is... it doesn't matter... Depending on your leanings and how you count or how far back you look, you could get different answers. Not to mention, each president inherits a different economy from his predecessor. Shouldn't you adjust for that? And by how much? Here's my favorite stat... Since 1926, the U.S. has had 13 years of unified Republican government (with the GOP simultaneously holding the House, Senate, and presidency). In those years, the market returned an average of 14.52% per year. There have also been 34 years of unified Democratic government. In those years, the market returned an average of... 14.52%. The machinations of the Federal Reserve, the economy, and the thousands of businesses and millions of individuals wash out most of the effects a president might have on the stock market. Sometimes, something like a big tax cut can boost stocks, but that's a rarity. We will forgive you if this election feels more important than others... The world feels more polarized, and the parties seem further apart than they have been in a long time – even more than they did back in 2020. While we wish the country would be unified and rally together on many topics like less government and more freedom, we know turmoil will continue in the months to come. Republicans are worried about what will happen if Joe Biden is reelected. Democrats are worried about Donald Trump returning to the White House. And projections tell us that this race will be as tight as it gets. Uncertainty and fear are everywhere... But if you've been following my Retirement Trader strategy, you couldn't be more excited. The upcoming election is giving us a tremendous opportunity for profits in the months to come. Now, we know what you might be thinking... Options are too complicated and too risky. But I've taught thousands of folks how to use options to safely generate income. To prove that anyone can sell options, I flew all the way down to South Carolina to teach (Stansberry Research-sponsored) professional golfer Kevin Kisner all about this strategy. In a special video, I walked Kevin through the basics of how to make these types of trades. And I even got him to put his money to work with his very first trade. (It's off to a great start already.) Kisner can drive the golf ball a mile. You've probably seen him in contention at PGA Tour tournaments. And now, with the tools I gave him, he can collect hundreds and thousands of dollars of income each month. [Click here to watch my sit-down demo with Kevin now](. Give it a shot... Corey here again... If you're interested at all in generating extra income, as Doc mentioned – and profiting from other folks' fears (or maybe even protecting against your own) – consider giving Doc's options strategy a try... Since launching the service for subscribers in 2010, he has posted a 94% win rate, recently went on a personal-best 200-plus-trade win streak, and has delivered around a 20% annualized return since 2020. This recent run spanned the end of a bull market... a bear market... and the past year's turbulent stretch of stocks going up, down, and up again... And Doc is confident his strategy will continue to pay off. It will only be helped if volatility picks up over the rest of 2024 – because of the election or anything else. Check out Doc's demo with Kevin Kisner for more information. I will also mention ahead of time that the only "drawback" is that, as Doc points out, you need a decent chunk of capital to put toward this strategy to get started. He explains all about that [in the presentation](. Before we go, here's the latest in data and Fed speak... Today, retail-sales data from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed 0.1% growth in May. That's less than mainstream economists expected, though sales were still up 2.3% year over year. One could take this as an incremental data point in favor of the idea of a slowing economy and the "Fed rate cut" trade. If retail sales slow further and the unemployment rate continues to tick higher while the pace of inflation levels off or eases (though it's still high, yes), the central bank will be inclined to cut the federal-funds rate – "eventually," as we wrote last week. In last Wednesday's edition – the day of the most recent Federal Reserve policy announcements – we wrote about the latest projections from Fed members. Most of its 19 committee members project one or two rate cuts by the end of the year. Yesterday, we heard from one of them – Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, who spoke at a Fed-hosted event – and he reiterated that messaging. He said, "If all of it happens to be as forecasted, I think one rate cut would be appropriate by year's end." However, as we know, things don't always go as forecast – in fact, they usually don't when it comes to Fed projections. To that point, Harker left open the possibility of revising his stance and said he could also see "two cuts, or none, for this year." This afternoon, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was relieved about last week's inflation-data release – the consumer price index for May – but would like to see "more months" of similar data suggesting easing inflation before the Fed cuts rates. A multitude of Fed folks are speaking at events this week. We'll keep tabs on anything more that's notable to share. As for the market action today, after the retail-sales data this morning, fed-funds futures traders slightly bumped up expectations for one or two cuts this year. The major U.S. stock indexes leaned slightly higher much of the day, bond yields were a touch lower, and gold and oil prices went slightly higher. In this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan Ferris and I talk with Alex Epstein, author of Fossil Future. Alex describes his "human flourishing" framework when thinking about climate – and why folks should consider that the benefits of using fossil fuels far outweigh the negatives... [Click here to watch the interview now](... and to hear the full audio version of this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, visit [InvestorHour.com]( or find the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. --------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Links: [Real Money Demo of Our Most Successful Research Service]( PGA Tour professional golfer Kevin Kisner will try to collect $4,000 in 60 seconds, without touching stocks, bonds, or any conventional investments up front. Win or lose, you can watch his entire transaction... and see how we've booked a 94% success rate since 2010. [Click here (includes free recommendation)](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Obama's 2024 Surprise: His Secret Plan to Finish What He Started]( The ONLY way Democrats can keep the White House is to bring back Barack Obama. And there's a sneaky (yet 100% legal) way to achieve this. In fact, this disaster scenario is already under way. See what they're up to and see how you can get ready today. [Here's the full video exposé](. --------------------------------------------------------------- New 52-week highs (as of 6/17/24): Apple (AAPL), Applied Materials (AMAT), Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box Fund (BOXX), Brown & Brown (BRO), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Costco Wholesale (COST), Crocs (CROX), Cintas (CTAS), Commvault Systems (CVLT), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Eli Lilly (LLY), Microsoft (MSFT), Motorola Solutions (MSI), Micron Technology (MU), Neuberger Berman Next Generation Connectivity Fund (NBXG), Oracle (ORCL), ProShares Ultra QQQ (QLD), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Technology Fund (RSPT), VanEck Semiconductor Fund (SMH), ProShares Ultra S&P 500 (SSO), The Trade Desk (TTD), ProShares Ultra Semiconductors (USD), Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO), and Verisk Analytics (VRSK). Before we get to the mailbag, a quick housekeeping note... The U.S. markets and our offices will be closed tomorrow for the Juneteenth federal holiday. We'll resume our regular Digest fare on Thursday. In today's mailbag, thoughts about Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig's options-selling strategy, which our colleague Jeff Havenstein wrote about [in yesterday's edition](... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com. "Something Doc should mention when selling put options is that in addition to the money you receive from the option, you also earn interest in your money market account from the cash you have to hold on the sidelines. It's a great strategy." – Subscriber Rob W. All the best, Corey McLaughlin with Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig Baltimore, Maryland June 18, 2024 --------------------------------------------------------------- Stansberry Research Top 10 Open Recommendations Top 10 highest-returning open stock positions across all Stansberry Research portfolios Investment Buy Date Return Publication Analyst MSFT Microsoft 02/10/12 1,429.1% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter MSFT Microsoft 11/11/10 1,426.1% Retirement Millionaire Doc ADP Automatic Data Processing 10/09/08 893.9% Extreme Value Ferris WRB W.R. Berkley 03/16/12 726.8% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway 04/01/09 622.2% Retirement Millionaire Doc HSY Hershey 12/07/07 452.6% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter AFG American Financial 10/12/12 439.4% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter TT Trane Technologies 04/12/18 436.4% Retirement Millionaire Doc NVO Novo Nordisk 12/05/19 406.4% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Gula TTD The Trade Desk 10/17/19 374.5% Stansberry Innovations Report Engel Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any Stansberry Research publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio. --------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 Totals 5 Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter/Gula 3 Retirement Millionaire Doc 1 Extreme Value Ferris 1 Stansberry Innovations Report Engel --------------------------------------------------------------- Top 5 Crypto Capital Open Recommendations Top 5 highest-returning open positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolio Investment Buy Date Return Publication Analyst wstETH Wrapped Staked Ethereum 12/07/18 2,291.8% Crypto Capital Wade BTC/USD Bitcoin 11/27/18 1,668.3% Crypto Capital Wade ONE/USD Harmony 12/16/19 1,174.0% Crypto Capital Wade MATIC/USD Polygon 02/25/21 776.8% Crypto Capital Wade AGI/USD Delysium AI 01/16/24 301.2% Crypto Capital Wade Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 5 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the Crypto Capital model portfolio. The buy date reflects when the recommendation was made, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if it's still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber and refer to the most recent portfolio. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stansberry Research Hall of Fame Top 10 all-time, highest-returning closed positions across all Stansberry portfolios Investment Symbol Duration Gain Publication Analyst Nvidia^* NVDA 5.96 years 1,466% Venture Tech. Lashmet Microsoft^ MSFT 12.74 years 1,185% Retirement Millionaire Doc Inovio Pharma.^ INO 1.01 years 1,139% Venture Tech. Lashmet Seabridge Gold^ SA 4.20 years 995% Sjug Conf. Sjuggerud Nvidia^* NVDA 4.12 years 777% Venture Tech. Lashmet Intellia Therapeutics NTLA 1.95 years 775% Amer. Moonshots Root Rite Aid 8.5% bond 4.97 years 773% True Income Williams PNC Warrants PNC-WS 6.16 years 706% True Wealth Systems Sjuggerud Maxar Technologies^ MAXR 1.90 years 691% Venture Tech. Lashmet Silvergate Capital SI 1.95 years 681% Amer. Moonshots Root ^ These gains occurred with a partial position in the respective stocks. * The two partial positions in Nvidia were part of a single recommendation. Editor Dave Lashmet closed the first leg of the position in November 2016 for a gain of about 108%. Then, he closed the second leg in July 2020 for a 777% return. And finally, in May 2022, he booked a 1,466% return on the final leg. Subscribers who followed his advice on Nvidia could've recorded a total weighted average gain of more than 600%. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stansberry Research Crypto Hall of Fame Top 5 highest-returning closed positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolio Investment Symbol Duration Gain Publication Analyst Band Protocol BAND/USD 0.31 years 1,169% Crypto Capital Wade Terra LUNA/USD 0.41 years 1,166% Crypto Capital Wade Polymesh POLYX/USD 3.84 years 1,157% Crypto Capital Wade Frontier FRONT/USD 0.09 years 979% Crypto Capital Wade Binance Coin BNB/USD 1.78 years 963% Crypto Capital Wade You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to Stansberry Digest. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from Stansberry Digest [click here](. Published by Stansberry Research. You’re receiving this e-mail at {EMAIL}. Stansberry Research welcomes comments or suggestions at feedback@stansberryresearch.com. This address is for feedback only. 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