Musk Master of Misdirection

Market Snapshot Futures were flat Friday morning, and we couldn’t stop reading about internal thrash within the Twitter deal as well as our favorite meme stock. The 10-year yield hovered around 3%, and Crude climbed back above $104. BTC and ETH held steady around 20.5k and 1100 bucks. Markets were mixed. The Dow was down 0.15%, the S&P was down 0.08%, and the Nasdaq finished up 0.12%. Certain skills are indispensable in Finance: using Excel without a mouse, a thorough understanding of the principles of financial statements, and PowerPoint Ninja skills to slay any pitch deck. Set yourself up for success and sharpen your skills with our [WSO Foundations Package](). Let’s get into it. Banana Bits - The saga continues: Musk wants to back out of the [Twitter deal]() - Certain skills are [foundational]() for finance professionals - If you thought your portfolio was down this year, check out how much [Zuck lost]() - Although we don’t recommend it, here’s [a new way to make $250]( - Pay equity makes sense and apparently [can make you dollars too]() Banana Brain Teaser Friday — Is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister? He’s dead. Today — For today's BBT, we will slash 100 'naners off of our [WSO Foundations Package](=) for the first 20 correct respondents. A man was walking in the rain. He was in the middle of nowhere. He had nothing and nowhere to hide. He came home all wet, but not a single hair on his head was wet. Why is that? Shoot us your guesses at [vyomesh@wallstreetoasis.com](mailto:vyomesh@wallstreetoasis.com?subject=Banana%20Brain%20Teaser) with the subject line “Banana Brain Teaser” or simply [click here to reply!](mailto:vyomesh@wallstreetoasis.com?subject=Banana%20Brain%20Teaser) Macro Monkey Says Stronger than Expected Payrolls— Friday, we saw nonfarm payrolls come in about 50% higher than the consensus estimate. Sure, this is only 125k jobs more than what the world was expecting, but it is a significant deviation from the trend. We’ve written this before: it’s hard to have a recession with 10 million open jobs. We would like to rephrase this quip. It’s hard for it to feel like we’re in a recession with 10 million open jobs. Sure, this June payroll pump makes it feel like the economy isn’t as bleak as you’d think, but there is still probably a rough patch ahead. The unemployment rate is 3.6%. That’s like historically low. I’m not sure if Parik Patel, BA, CFA ACCA Esq. would agree that this is full employment, but basically, if you don’t have a job right now and you want one, you’re probably looking in all the wrong places. It’s also noteworthy that strong payrolls could mean that demand is not being curbed quickly enough to actually fight off inflation. Without a little bit of demand destruction and more people making more money, the consumer is going to continue to inject inflation pressure into the overall economy. In other words, this kinda sucks. So much for our strong dose of tough medicine analogy. Perhaps there has been a fundamental shift in how the economy works that would preclude traditional monetary policy tools from working like they did back in the Volcker days. It’s hard to ask the old hats like Greenspan and Bernanke about such a shift because these economists are so old they probably have trouble answering calls on their smartphones. One thing that I would bet money on is this: while the future of the economy might be bright, there’s a dark and stormy period through which we need to navigate to get there. WSO Foundations Package [image](=) Certain skills are indispensable in Finance. Financial statements are the backbone of fundamental analysis, and Excel and PowerPoint are their love languages. If you want to be successful in this world, knowing the ins and outs of these three foundational topics will make you dangerous in any shop, from boutique to BB. Dive into more than 100 lessons put together by experienced finance professionals that will help you sharpen the skills you need to build your foundation in Finance. [WSO Foundations Package](=) What's Ripe Tesla ($TSLA) — I think Tesla and Elon simps would actually prefer if Elon stopped pulling his money out of Tesla and focused more on Tesla’s growth. On Friday, shares of $TSLA were up 2.27%. The stock has mounted a comeback, climbing over 10% last week. Rumor has it that June was a great month for production. We will see how their bottom line looks during their next earnings call. Enphase Energy ($ENPH) — People have been claiming that solar is the future for decades, and Enphase is part of that crowd. You’d think that when oil rips, solar energy companies too might rip, as more expensive oil would drive increased demand for solar power at lower price points. Shares of $ENPH climbed 4.65% on Friday. What's Rotten Disney ($DIS) — Disney is beaten down. After political thrash with the state, C-19 troubles, and controversy with local municipalities, the stock is down 38% YTD. Friday, the backslide continued, and shares lost another 1.61%. Even with a battered stock, is it still the happiest place on earth? Illumina Inc ($ILMN) — Biotech and genetic innovation are struggling of late, and $ILMN is on that train to nowhere itself. Shares retreated 2.55% on Friday as the company is more or less going out of favor with Wall Street analysts. The consensus rating is a HOLD, with more than two-thirds of its coverage thinking that the stock is more or less only going to move sideways in the near future. Thought Banana Musk Master of Misdirection — The Twitter deal is likely the only thing that Musk has pulled out of in a long time. (That’s a joke, you can laugh.) But in all seriousness, there are many new opinions about who will win in court, what Elon is thinking, whose lawyers are better, etc., etc. My thought is that Elon is using this as a negotiation technique. I’m not an attorney, but it would seem that he is up a paddle with a creek in his a** from a legal standpoint, given the analysis I’ve heard from multiple legal professionals on different cable news networks. But this would be a huge legal battle, with exorbitant legal fees. It also would thrash the Twitter stock in the meantime, and it could take years to fight in court. I think that Elon is basically bluffing here and that he wants to get a better deal now that he’s had a slight peek up Twitter’s kimono. What does this mean for Twitter’s stock? Well, who knows. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. Musk is irrational. He makes deals by the seat of his pants based on instinct, preferring gut feeling over due diligence. That’s fine. If it works for him, which it obviously has in building multiple multi-billion dollar organizations from the ground up, he should roll with it. It’s just not my style, so no judgment here. If you’re invested in Twitter, I’m not sure what advice I would give you, even if I gave financial advice. There is a silver lining to this whole thing: it makes for solid entertainment in the media. Here’s to hoping the laughs keep coming for as long as Elon can drag this out. Wise Investor Says “Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets... any sound investment will eventually pay off.” — Carlos Slim Helu Happy Investing, Patrick & The Daily Peel Team Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for the WSO Daily Peel [here](. [ADVERTISE](=) // [WSO ALPHA](=) // [COURSES](=) // [LEGAL](=) Don't want The Daily Peel? [Unsubscribe here](. Click to [Unsubscribe]( from ALL WSO content IB Oasis Corp. (aka "Wall Street Oasis") 20705 Saint Charles St Saratoga, California 95070 United States (617) 337-3353