The markets continue to rack up gains. Makes sense. The latest Producer Price Index (PPI) allayed fears that Fed Chair Jerome “JPow” Powell will get antsy. Put another way, the CPI was “hot,” but the PPI was “not.” Now, I want to talk about the real reason Tesla Inc. (TSLA) dropped after its Robotaxi event, explains Keith Fitz-Gerald, editor of 5 With Fitz.
Right on cue, Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed us the future (again) – and exactly as I told you would happen, the media called it a letdown, unimpressive, and disappointing. Musk could have done anything from having dinner with King Charles or lunch with the Pope to taking over Stark Enterprises...and the outcome would have been the same.
(Editor’s Note: Keith Fitz-Gerald is speaking at the 2024 MoneyShow Orlando, which runs Oct. 17-19. Click HERE to register)
Now let me tell you what’s really happening. Wall Street’s merry marauders counted on the media’s reaction – and some who shall remain nameless because I don’t want to get sued – appear to be actively stoking fear. Tesla shares were down as much as 8%.
But the stock markets work the way they do because every seller has a buyer. What you want to ask yourself is this: If retail investors are being scared into selling and the media is unknowingly complicit in making that happen, just who in the Sam Hill is buying?
Short answer: The very institutions and traders that took everybody to the cleaners. Don’t let yourself get all worked up about what happened.
The media pooh-poohed Windows, clobbered the iPhone, didn’t buy into Bezos, and hammered Sir Richard Branson early in the Virgin Airlines days. Some examples I recall off the top of my head:
- Newsweek published an article in 1995 called “The Internet? Bah.” It suggested that no online database will replace your daily newspaper and – I love this one – no computer network will change the way government works.
- The Guardian ran an article in 2001 slamming the iPod, calling it a “toy” and noting it was “the End of the Music Industry.”
- Darryl Zanuck, who co-founded 20th Century Fox, predicted in 1946 that television wouldn’t last six months because “people will get tired staring at a plywood box every night.”
There’s undoubtedly a special place in financial hell for the “yeah but-ers" – right alongside a bench for those foolish enough to listen to ‘em.
If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 1,000 times: If you really want to be successful in the markets, you have to learn to think like a hunter, not the hunted. Your portfolio will thank you, and sooner rather than later.
