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The media got silver wrong, according to John Feeney, the manager of Guardian Vaults, who has said the real news about silver is the physical squeeze, and that this squeeze is not over yet.

“Much of the media ran the silver story, saying it was a short squeeze. But the real story is the physical squeeze happening in the market, where it is very difficult to get stock,” Feeney said to reporters this Monday.

Even after silver gave up its eight-year highs, robust demand continued.

“We see strong demand for silver even after the pullback. We sold our silver last week pretty fast, and we are attempting to re-stock. Even the world famous Perth Mint was forced to stop taking orders on silver bars temporarily. We see a physical squeeze in silver right now.”

Usually, when a large increase in demand for physical metals happens, bullion sellers run out pretty fast. “We are still witnessing that,” Feeney stated.

But, does this high demand mean higher prices, and if so, how soon? Feeney stressed that this is a long-term play aiming at a 12-24 months period.

Sometimes this turns into a self-perpetuating cycle, where news about physical shortages in any commodity will attract speculators.

But will silver reach $50?

Silver has been mostly under-invested until 2020, when it began its rally and even outperformed gold.

“Silver had poor gains during the few years before 2020. There was little investment in the silver sector. Prices were pretty depressed,” Feeney said. “The move in 2020 was just the start of the bull market.”

Feeney claimed the metal could increase into the $30s by the end of 2021. He also stressed that once Silver breaks higher than $30 per ounce, new buyers will come in and begin to push that figure even higher.

He did not rule out the $50 target but stressed that it might take a few years to reach that number on a maintainable basis.

“With the amount of money being printed combined with how under-invested and owned silver is. Plus, industrial demand and investor demand, we might see that $50 mark eventually,” he said.

At the time of this article, the gold-silver ratio was sitting at 67.5, and the March Comex silver was at $27.35, down by 0.82% on the day.

GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings have had huge attention from investors for the huge short squeeze which recently happened on their stocks. As a result, stocks of both companies are undergoing extreme volatility as speculators and short-sellers meet in the markets. 

Investors, should not be worried with that sideshow. Instead of getting involved with speculative frenzy, buying shares of Netflix and Amazon can deliver better returns over the long term. 

1. Amazon 

Amazon just had its first $100 billion quarter, blowing away expectations, with no signs of slowing down. The pandemic has forced millions to do more shopping online. That greatly helped Amazon hit the 100B mark, as it was ready to give customers anything from diapers to laptops. Undoubtedly, some part of that new shopping habit will stick around long after Covid is gone. Amazon’s quick shipping, great customer service, and vast product line mean it’s the best alternative to in person shopping. 

While the company’s e-commerce drives revenue, the huge profit growth is from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. In the past 12 months, cash flow went up by 72% to $66.1 billion. AWS, which sells cloud services, makes up 59% of profits in 2020 while being only 12% of sales.

Amazon is well known for huge investments to increase its technology and process. Those investments are delivering results. Even more so, they seem to be expanding. Over the past decade, its gross profit margin doubled from 12.9% all the way to 26.6%. 

2. Netflix

Netflix was doing very well before Covid hit, but now the fuel is really in the fire. Millions are now spending much more time at home, leading to a large increase in home entertainment demand. This has led to Netflix reaping big benefits. 

Netflix reported on Jan 19 as having 203 million subscribers, an increase from 167 million the previous year. The company is creating an average revenue per customer of $11.02. At an annualized rate, that creates nearly $27 billion of revenue. The size of its customer base lets Netflix spend heavily on shows and movies — further separating itself from competitors. This new content then attracts new members while also keeping current subscribers active. The feedback loop is a difficult force to stop, which will provide shareholders with ongoing benefits.


Bitcoin’s price increased and Tesla advanced on Monday after the car maker said in an SEC filing that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.

“In January of this year, we changed our policy to give more freedom to diversify and maximize the returns on our savings which are not needed to maintain operating liquidity,” Tesla said in the document.

“As part of this change, we can now invest a part of our cash in alternative assets including digital assets, gold, gold ETFs and other assets as detailed in the future,” the company said.

And the big part, “After this, we invested a total of $1.5 billion in bitcoin and might acquire and hold digital assets for the long-term. 

“We expect to start accepting bitcoin as payment in the near future, according to certain laws and starting on a limited basis, the bitcoin we receive we might not be sold upon receipt.”

Bitcoin previously was priced at $42,889, up 12%. Tesla was at $861.54, up 1.1%.

Only 10 days ago, bitcoin increased 19% after a tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk where he simply said one word: “bitcoin.” That proves there is a frenzied desire for bitcoin and anything related to Tesla or Musk.

Tesla has claimed the title of the world’s seventh largest company with a market cap of $808 billion. 

It is only topped by Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple. 

The price of the cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE) has soared over 55% on Sunday, setting a record all-time high, after rapper Snoop Dogg jumped into DOGE along with Gene Simmons in tweeting an image of a Shiba Inu, the breed of dog that represents the DOGE crypto-token.

The price of the token begun trading near $0.056 at the start of the day and increased to $0.0872 on Sunday before going back down to $0.084, higher by 55% and beating the all-time record of $0.078 last month. Year to date DOGE has gained over 1,380%.

This Saturday, the rapper sent out this tweet:

Hours after this, Musk, who is also Tesla’s CEO, tweeted a Lion King-themed picture of himself holding up his fellow DOGE lovers. 

Simmons was in Musk’s image due to the rocker tweeting his own DOGE support early Saturday with his usual modesty, proclaiming himself the “God Of Dogecoin.”

The Tweets by the three were enough to trigger the cryptocurrency to increase four ranks on the list of the most valuable cryptos. Coming in a seventh place, above Bitcoin Cash (11) and Litecoin (9). DOGE now has a value of $10.8 billion.
Pop star Kevin Jonas also jumped in with his support for the token by tweeting Saturday evening:

President Biden and other lawmakers are pushing a massive stimulus package.

“Hopefully in two-weeks we’ll have something at the Senate and this will be complete,” House Speaker Pelosi said to reporters on Friday. Democrats intend on pushing a package similar to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion aid proposal, which includes $1,400 stimulus checks.

Once the bill is enacted into law by President Biden, Treasury Secretary Yellen will be able to send out the first $1,400 deposits a few days after the bill passes. That’s about how fast the Treasury got the last checks out during December.

Democrats are using Biden’s relief package and $1,400 payments as a guideline, however, the details are being worked out. After discussing this topic in the White House, Pelosi told reporters that her party would meet next week “to work out the specifics.”

The $600 and $1,200 checks in 2020 went to people earning $75,000 or less, and to couples with incomes below $150,000. Those checks went away for individuals earning higher than $99,000, and couples with no children at the level of $198,000. Incomes were based on a tax payer’s AGI.

But this time around, those levels could be lowered. Last month Biden said he might do just that—as a way to laser-target the money to those most in need. Last Thursday, The Washington Post has said Democrats may only give $1,400 direct payments to those earning $50,000 or lower, or $2,800 to couples who make less than $100,000.

We don’t know what the new income levels might be and it is unclear if the package would be based upon 2019 or 2020 incomes.

A company, backed by famous Virgin Group leader Sir Richard Branson, is moving to take the DNA-testing company 23andMe public in a move that values the new combined entity at a total of $3.5 billion, the two companies announced this week.

As part of the move with VG Acquisition, 23andMe will get funds totaling $759 million, which includes a $250 million fund from an assortment of sources including Sir Richard Branson himself, the Fidelity Management & Research Co, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, Casdin Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Foresite Capital.

Branson, a billionaire serial entrepreneur whose space firm Virgin Galactic went public through an agreement with investor Chamath Palihapitiya in 2019, is the most recent top investor to join the so-called “blank-check” dealmaking trend.

A blank-check company, or SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), is a shell organization that brings in funds during an initial public offering with the intention of buying a private company, which then goes public as result of the purchase.

For the entity being bought, the deal is another way to go public versus a traditional and more difficult IPO. SPACs began last year as a new popular investment for Wall Street.

Politicians like former House Speaker Paul Ryan, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and hedge fund leaders such as Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb are also trying make agreements through their blank-check companies.

23andMe, which was started by Wojcicki in 2006, sells home genetic testing kits directly to customers. The company and its products have become popular over the years, and in 2018 came onto the radar of GlaxoSmithKline, which put $300 million into the business.

The new merged entity will be sold under the symbol “ME” on the NYSE.

Apple shares have gone higher as analysts re-rated the giant’s long-term potential following reports that it will join with automaker Hyundai-Kia to build a new “Apple Car.”

Stocks in Apple were higher by 1.11% at $135.43 in Thursday trading after reports that it was getting closer to an agreement with the South Korean car company to build electric and autonomous vehicles starting in 2024. 

Apple closed the trading day yesterday down 0.78% with a price of $133.94.

Apple and Kia both got boosted this week after a report from a Korean newspaper claimed Apple was investing $3.6 billion into Kia to create the Apple Car. Apple will create a production run with Kia and build their cars at Kia’s Georgia plant, according to the release.

While not official yet, investors expect “Apple is partnering with a car maker to enter the electric vehicle market, and this will only add to the company’s long-term potential,” research analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to his clients.

“We continue to see it as a matter of when, and not if, Apple breaks into the EV industry,” Ives stated, noting that Apple’s entrance into EVs “… will give another $30+ per share of TAM to Apple’s growth over the next three years or so, given the incoming EV transformation.”

Project Titan, as it is being called within Apple, has been scaled back greatly from its start a few years ago, though it now seems to be at the forefront again, Ives said.

Because of this, Ives says he would not be surprised to see Apple make deals for more strategic partnerships with companies like Tesla, Volkwagen or automakers like China’s NIO or Xpeng.

Apple’s ambitions with Hyundai-Kia have been a poorly hidden “secret.”

Earlier this month, Hyundai announced and then removed a comment confirming it was in discussions with Apple on making a self-driving vehicle.

The apparent mistake caused a big stir, not just because of investors’s reactions but because of Apple’s well-known secretive way of approaching announcements. 

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has sent out a tweet saying that dogecoin is the “people’s crypto” shortly afterword the billionaire also pledged to get off Twitter for a while. Incidentally, the crypto token, which was priced at $0.0411 on February 3, increased to $0.0588 right as Musk was tweeting.

But the coin has now gone down to $0.0541, which is still a price that’s 60% higher than where it sat on February 3. After Musk’s previous tweets about the coin, dogecoin’s price shot up to a record high of $0.0791, this according to Messari data. At this time, the coin is up by over 400% this week while its cap sits at $6.74 billion.

Similarly, when Elon Musk changed his Twitter bio to include the term bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s value surged by over 20% within three hours.

Meanwhile, not all investors are impressed with the Tesla CEO’s tweets that have ranged from pumping dogecoin to supporting Reddit’s Wallstreetbets traders.

Some analysts have said Musk is deliberately tweeting about stocks and cryptos for the benefit of himself and his inner circle. As a result, some are requesting that regulators get involved after saying that Musk’s tweets are hurting smaller investors. Some Twitter users say this might be why Musk, who is the world’s richest person, to announce he was getting off Twitter for a while.

However, since ending his brief exile from the social media platform, Musk has since talked up dogecoin in five more tweets. And some Twitter users thanked him for helping them to profit from the token. While other users asked if he could help them with other tokens. And others have said they have suffered losses “because I listened to you.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is reigniting plans for a wealth tax on the nation’s richest people and families.

Warren’s team claimed the far-left Democrat wants to introduce a bill that would create a wealth tax on people who have a net-worth, as she claims, of more than $50 million. This is at a time when she is joining the Senate Finance Committee.

As compared to taxes on payrolls and income, a wealth tax targets the value of accumulated assets owned by wealthy and sometimes upper middle class Americans. The agenda, generally, is to fight growing economic inequality, creating what Democrats say is a level playing field between wealthy and poorer Americans.

During her push for the presidency in 2020, Warren put forward the idea of a wealth tax which was called her “ultra-millionaire tax,” and her new pending proposal is probably going to follow those same parameters, the senator’s team said.

The wealth tax would be levied against those with over $50 million in net-worth. The tax would be 2 percent, but would increase for those with assets of more than $1 billion. Warren’s starting proposal called for the rise to go to 3% — though she later changed it to 6%.

Democrats claim the tax would bring in $2.75 trillion for social programs over the course of 10 years and would only apply to about 75,000 households.

The wealth tax, which is created to redistribute wealth from the wealthier population, would raise the taxes on the rich by 1.1% to 4.3%.

Other Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. have also proposed wealth taxes.

The proposals were divisive and were widely criticized during the presidential cycle, with strangely, some of the nation’s billionaires supporting the idea.

Scott Minerd, the lead investment officer for the large billion dollar investment firm Guggenheim Partners, has changed his previous prediction for bitcoin’s long-term trajectory.

During an interview with CNN, Minerd said, based on the company’s fundamental research, he thinks bitcoin might eventually hit $600,000 per bitcoin.

Minerd said Guggenheim has been researching bitcoin for nearly 10 years and in the past the scope of the market was “just not large enough to justify institutional funds.”

But, as Bitcoin’s total market got bigger – about the time the price passed $10,000 – it started to look “very interesting.”

“If you analyze bitcoin’s supply versus the supply of gold, and what the price of gold is, if bitcoin were to reach those levels, we would be seeing maybe $600,000 at the highest,” he stated.

However, Bitcoin’s fast rise within just weeks from $20,000 all the way to $40,000 “looks like short-term speculation,” he claimed. Even more so, the institutional market participation, while increasing, are not yet large enough to support current prices.

Yet, “Cryptocurrency has moved into the realm of respectability and will continue to grow in importance in the world economy,” Minerd said.

In statements last year, the investment officer had predicted that bitcoin would reach up to $400,000 eventually, based on these same reasons.

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