MidSouth Week in Review
June 28, 2024

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

For the week the S&P was up 0.1%.  The price of wholesale gas jumped from $2.40 to $2.55.  Single family home sales dropped 11.3% in May vs. April.  Walgreens stock declined 22% yesterday after they announced they would close a significant share of their roughly 8,806 stores in the U.S.  Sources:  Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Next Thursday the stock market will be closed in observance of Independence Day.

Nvidia – has posted a return of 591,078 percent since its initial public offering in 1999.  This week, the chipmaker unseated Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company – Bloomberg ….. $10,000 invested with a 591,078 percent return would be worth $5,019,840 – Jay Kumar

A Successful Man – is one who makes more money than his wife spends.  A successful woman is one who can find such a man – Lana Turner

Chief Financial Officers – pay rose 8.45% in 2023 from the previous year to roughly $1.8 million – C-Suite Comp.

NBA – Three of the top six picks in the N.B.A. draft Wednesday were from France, including the first two.  Of the 14 players to be selected in the first seven picks in the last two drafts, five have been from France – Distinctly French Flavor

Mail-Order Markups – raise drug costs for employers.  Drugs delivered by mail are costing multiples more than those picked up at a store counter – Wall Street Journal

Homeowners Insurance Costs – have been skyrocketing since 2023, an average of 23% across the country with some states as high as 60% - Fintalk

Rules For Investing – Rule No. 1: never lose money.  Rule No. 2: never forget Rule No. 1 – Warren Buffett

The Big Wait – It looks as if Alabama football will be placed on a long probation for rules infractions.  How long is long?  Until Vanderbilt beats Alabama in football – Buzz

Big Gross – The onetime “bond king” auctioned off 100 rare stamps from his collection for $18.1 million.  The highest lot was a rare 1-cent “2” Grill stamp from 1968, of which only two exist, which sold for $4.4 million – Bloomberg

Donald Trump’s - proposal to exempt tips from taxation would add $150 billion to $250 billion to the federal budget deficit over 10 years – CBSNews

Violent Crime – dropped 15.2% in the first three months of the year with murders and rapes dropping 26%.  Murders dropped by more than 40% in cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia, Seattle and Boston – CNN.com

Fisker – The electric SUV maker filed bankruptcy last week, the latest casualty in a “crop” of one high-flying EV startups that looked to upend the traditional auto industry – Wall Street Journal

Gen Xers – Over 82% feel confident about their ability to afford what they want in life.  On average they expect it will take over $1.1 million in savings to retire comfortably, but expect their savings by retirement to hit just $660,000 – Alliance

Drugs – Studies of the cost of designing a drug and navigating clinical trials to approval vary, but the total expense is estimated at $1 billion on average.  It takes 10 to 15 years.  And nearly 90 percent of the candidate drugs that enter human clinical trials fail – A.I. Makeover B1

How Much Things Cost in 1940 - https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8lBFItNN-b/?igsh=MWQybDlyMmQ0bnFuNg==

The material was prepared by MidSouth Investment Management LLC, and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates.  This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate.  Please note – investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.  The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services.  If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.  This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty.  This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to puthrough a regular rchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such.  This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results.  Investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than when originally invested.  All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results.  Market indices discussed are unmanaged.  Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices.