Friday Feedback: The “Inflation, Don’t Hertz Me!” Edition
Are ya ready, Great Ones?
Aye, aye, Mr. Great Stuff!
Ooooh! Who lives in BFE down in Kentucky?
Mr. Great Stuff!
Yellow, absorbent and porous is he!
Mr. … wait, what?!
It’s better not to ask. But this ain’t Bikini Bottom. It ain’t no country club, either. This is Great Stuff…
“All I wanna do is make a little money before I die,” says the Great One in my inbox out of nowhere. It’s apropos of nothing — he says his name is Mitchell, or Larry B. or Ken B.
And they’re playin’ ugly with me. I wonder if they’ve ever made a profit in their whole life. We are drinking beer at noon on a Friday … in an office that faces, well … nothing.
Nothing? Really? Come on.
What part of “BFE” didn’t quite come across, man? I’m in the middle of nowhere here.
Anywho … with this much silliness it can mean only one thing. That’s right, it’s Friday Feedback!
The day where we raid the Great Stuff inbox for your market questions, burning rants and untimely hot takes. You’ve got something to say, and we wanna hear it! Doesn’t matter what, just send it our way!
If you’re lucky, we just might feature your email in these glorious digital pages. It’s a major award!
So if you want your voices heard, just drop us a line at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. (Naturally, if you just want to rant but not have your email published, let us know. We’re not monsters.)
With that out of the way, let’s get to our first caller … erm, emailer? We’ll go with that:
How do I get notifications about stocks with earnings reports before it happens so I can put it on my watchlist and day trade them as it happens, I always miss it how do I find out what to look for? So, I don’t miss the earnings trade.
— Mitchell D.
Mitchell, my man! How’s it hanging?
I had a good friend back in high school named Mitchell. Good ol’ country boy who always gave it to you straight … whether you wanted it or not.
So, earnings reports, huh? Well, there are several ways to find earnings dates for your favorite companies and to get notifications. I’ll list a few in just a minute…
But, Mitchell, bro … have you seen Great Stuff’s Monday issue? The one with the Chart of the Week? It’s all the way down at the bottom of the issue, so I get it if you missed it.
OK, so this week’s Monday issue was a Quote of the Week. But … typically, the Great Stuff Chart of the Week arrives on Monday, and it is quite often a chart of major earnings reports happening in the week ahead.
Now, I get it that one-week (or less) notice isn’t for everyone looking to trade around earnings. Heck, I think only insane people like me do it … and with options, no less.
Wait … “so I can put it on my watchlist and day trade them….” Sorry, Mitchell. I skipped right over that part of your email. You sly dog, you. You’re into the same crazy earnings trading stuff that I am!
When we cover earnings in the Great Stuff Chart of the Week, it comes from a website I trust for earnings dates, results, analysis and projections: EarningsWhispers.com.
This isn’t a sponsored endorsement — though, I wouldn’t turn one down. (Anyone at Earnings Whispers listening out there today? Hit me up!)
No, I’ve used EarningsWhispers.com since I first got into writing about the market more than 15 years ago.
It’s got all the earnings dates, projections and sentiment (aka “whisper numbers”) you need to plan your trades for earnings season, whether that means portfolio protection or crazy front-month options trading … which I know I shouldn’t do, but man, when it goes right … it’s so addictive. You get me, right, Mitchell?
I think they even have a paid service, but I’ve always used the free one.
If that’s not your thing, then there’s always Yahoo Finance’s earnings calendar or the Nasdaq’s earnings calendar … practically every major financial news website has an earnings calendar. All of which have some form of notification system available for company earnings reports.
With most of these, you need to sign up for their free portfolio services and then input your portfolio to get the notifications feature.
Finally, Mitchell, I don’t know what company you use for brokerage, portfolio and trading services … but pretty much all of them have earnings dates and notifications you can set up to let you know when earnings and big events will affect your portfolio.
I know for a fact that Robinhood does this, as I use it for my “fun” trading account. Then again, I can’t see you using Robinhood for active earnings day trading. That’s really living life on the edge, man.
Anywho, I hope that answered your question. If not, hit me up again, and I’ll dig up some more dirt for you. Thank you for writing in, Mitchell!
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Alright, now that we’re all warmed up, let’s see what else y’all sent me this week.
Hmm… There’s inflation, inflation, recession, recession … more inflation, “Zuck Bucks SUCK!!” and flying the friendly (or unfriendly, depending on your persuasion) skies.
Would you look at that? The consequences of my own actions. Ha. We’ll get to a couple of those in just a minute. But first, this email caught me completely off guard:
It Hertz! It Hertz!
Hi Great Stuff guy, well it would not be bad for Hertz to do the adding of electric vehicles if I could rent one without getting arrested. News is that they have been getting customers arrested when they should not have been or having the car repossessed when it is not due for another couple of days. Whichever but they are destroying lives with their financial pitfalls and I will never deal them because of it.
— James S.
Honestly, James, I thought you were joking.
I mean, what rental car company would rent you a car and then report you to the police for stealing said car? What’s the point? What do they get out of it? Absolutely nothing…
But, James … you were right. Tell your sister, you were right. Holy cow.
This is next-level incompetence from Hertz (Nasdaq: HTZ), which jailed some of its customers for renting a car. Some people had already paid, completed their rental and returned the car when they were arrested for “stealing.”
It’s a very real possibility that if you rented a car from Hertz, you just might have an outstanding warrant for your arrest. So be careful out there, Great Ones.
It’s gotten so bad that Congress is getting involved. The Federal Trade Commission is getting involved. Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr says they’re rectifying the problem, but … ahem … you’ll forgive me if I don’t take their crocodile tears too seriously after this comment from Scherr:
See? Y’all are just overreacting. It was only a few hundred people illegally jailed. What’s the harm?
I would expect nothing less from a company that needed WallStreetBets of all things to save it from bankruptcy.
Thanks for writing in, James. Now I need a drink…
Go Tell It On The Mountain!
Inflation!!! Mr. Great Stuff I could be incorrect, but it hasn’t been nowhere near a year that you were screaming transitory from the highest mountain over and over and over again. Now like I said I could be incorrect, but not wrong.
— Larry B.
‘Sup, Larry! Thanks for writing in!
I would have gotten to your email much, much sooner than this — I’m several weeks late, if we’re being honest — but you put your entire comment in the subject line of your email. Makes reading it kinda hard, man.
Speaking of being honest … you are correct. It was less than a year ago that I was “screaming transitory from the highest mountain.”
First, thank you for asserting that Great Stuff is the “highest mountain.” We are the Greatest Show in Finance™, after all. And we love all the praise you Great Ones send our way.
Second, I’m still “screaming” about transitory inflation. Though, I wouldn’t call it screaming. I don’t think I ever used caps when talking about transitory inflation … I could be wrong. And, by the way, “incorrect” and “wrong” are the same thing, my dude.
Rapid, record inflation like we’re seeing in the economy right now is always transitory. Inflation spikes then dies down when demand fades due to soaring prices. It’s, like, Econ 101.
That said, there is a constant rate of inflation that’s unavoidable. That constant rate is somewhere around 2% to 3% annually … and that’s the Federal Reserve’s target inflationary rate. That inflation is not transitory, but a part of the system.
Literally no one on Wall Street — from analysts to CEOs to Federal Reserve members — thinks 7.9% inflation is here to stay. No one. Period. That, by definition, means it’s transitory.
And just in case you need it — you did write all of your email in the subject line, after all — here’s the definition of “transitory” directly from Merriam-Webster:
Thanks again for writing in, Larry.
And please say “Hi!” to your brother Darrel and your other brother Darrel for me.
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See Dick Go? Go, Dick. Go!
Inflation, Deflation, Stagflation, Dagnabit the varmints are running amok again. All we need is more Hyperbole from the public pundits that no matter what they say, it sends people and the markets running for cover. I get the higher cost of goods and services due to supply chain issues and increased cost of production materials.
What I don’t get is the immediate knee jerk reaction that takes place every day based on the variety of opinions from more directions than there are on a box of stove top stuffing (you should see how many different ways you can make that stuff).
What we need is some stability and consistency in the way we approach the issues, rather than a daily dose of inflammation from the media, the Fed, the Analysts, the bots, the algos, and Chicken Little. We need to make good decisions on the companies we are invested in, not the misinformation or the disinformation put out by others that are only looking out for their self interests.
Please don’t rush to judgement every time someone says something negative about the economy and companies that you are invested in. If you do, you will be rushing to judgement every day. Be smart, stay strong, and be patient.
— Dick K.
^ This! This is the way.
Dick, thank you for writing in and thank you so much for that breath of fresh air!
Great Ones, if you won’t listen to me, listen to Dick. Don’t leave him dangling in the wind.
The financial media’s job isn’t to inform you. It’s to make money. And they do that by using clickbait headlines, sensational stories and hyped-up hyperbole.
But, Mr. Great Stuff … isn’t that, like, exactly what YOU do?
Well, sort of. When I’m making extraordinary claims and sensationalist headlines … I’m typically joking and poking fun at the establishment. Y’all get that, right?
Hopefully y’all can tell the difference between when I’m poking fun and when I’m making a serious point. If not, I’m more than happy to clarify … just drop me a line at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com and I’ll be sure to explain the joke for ya.
That aside, Dick’s point is spot on … and it’s one of the major themes we like to repeatedly harp on here at Great Stuff: Ignore sensationalist headlines (except mine, of course), do your due diligence with research, invest only in solid companies and … for the love of all that’s holy … don’t trade knee-jerk reactions.
The only exception to these rules is if you’re an earnings day trader like Mitchell up there. Good ol’ Mitchell probably eats hyperbole and sensationalism for breakfast and turns it into profits by the close of trading.
Anywho, Dick, you get the official Great Stuff Common Sense award for April. (It’s only a model.) Congratulations, and thank you, dude!
Ditto!
I know you like two-word phrases that rhyme. {Who doesn’t?}
Like “burning yearning” and today’s “inflation nation” and maybe even [subconsciously?] “mumbo-jumbo”.
As I looked up to the sky [not sure why] yesterday evening, the following description of the cloud formation came instantly to mind:
“Whirling, swirling, twirling”
Surely you can fit that into an economic analysis at some point in the future… Be my guest.
— Ken B.
Ken, you live in a legal state, don’t you? I’m not judging. Just envious.
Back in the day, I worked with a group that had a “Word of the Day” challenge where we would try to incorporate one rather unusual word — like “vociferous” or “riposte” or “cacophony” — into whatever we were writing about that day.
So I’m sure I can work “whirling, swirling, twirling” into an economic analysis at some point. Gotta put that one on the note board.
Thanks for writing in, Ken, you paragon of pareidolia.
Epic!
It’s it. (What is it?) It’s it. (What is it?)
Isaiah, can you feel it, see it, here it today? If you can’t, then it doesn’t matter anyway. I mean, you want it all, but you can’t have it.
Thanks for writing in with your unintentional (?) Faith No More lyrics, Isaiah.
And on that note … I’m going to call it a day. There’s nowhere to go but down after a Faith No More reference. Mike Patton is the man, after all.
Remember, you too can join in the Friday Feedback fun by sending your questions, rants and market insanity to: GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.
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Until next time, stay Great!
Regards,
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff