Alpha Trader

Seeking Alpha
Alpha Trader

Alpha Trader taps into topics and trends offering in-depth analysis of the market from the perspective of a trader. Hosted by former Seeking Alpha VP of Content Aaron Task and Seeking Alpha Managing Editor of News, Stephen Alpher, the show will feature discussions of the latest news and regular guests from among the smartest traders in the market today.

  1. 08/12/2021

    The technician's take - J.C. Parets joins Alpha Trader (podcast)

    This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher speaking with J.C. Parets, founder and chief strategist at All Star Charts. Among the topics covered: The technician’s take on last week’s swoon and this week’s major bounce in the stock market. The Cliff’s Notes: The S&P 500 (SP500) held above its September low of 4,500, setting the stage for the rally. Swooning along with stocks, were cryptocurrencies, including a flash crash as we slept on Saturday morning, which took bitcoin (BTC-USD) down by about 20% in minutes. Not necessarily bearish on bitcoin, Parets prefers those cryptos showing relative strength, among them Terra (LUNA-USD), TerraCoin (TRC-USD), Decentraland (MANA-USD), Axie Infinity (AXS-USD), and Sandbox (SAND). He’s got a sizable portion of his trading assets invested in these, and at the moment is earning some whopping yields. While crude oil fell from about $85 per barrel to $65 during November, the Energy Select SPDR (XLE) and the Oil & Gas Exploration SPDR (XOP) barely budged off their highs. That’s the sort of bullish divergence Parets loves to see. He prefers the producers (and thus XOP) to the services names, thanks to the producers’ relative strength. Two favorites are Chevron (CVX) - at a 52-week high despite the price retreat - and Cheniere Energy (LNG), which might have the strongest technicals of any oil & gas name. Among other nuggets: Buying in hopes of mean reversion is like working in a coal mine, while buying strength is like going to a warm beach. Go to the beach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    37min
  2. 01/12/2021

    Alpha Trader talks EV infrastructure plays with Pieter Taselaar

    This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talking EVs with Pieter Taselaar, founding partner and portfolio manager of Lucerne Capital Management. He’s also the CEO of European Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corp. (EUSG), a SPAC which hopes to soon close on its acquisition of ADS-TEC Energy, a German-based company that manufactures EV charging stations that can charge batteries in minutes without putting strain on a city's electrical grids. Among the topics covered: Task and Alpher discuss Fed Chair Jay Powell’s surprising hawkishness on Tuesday morning, which helped send stocks sharply lower. They also dig into Jack Dorsey’s exit from Twitter (TWTR), and what it might mean for the future of that platform Not an investor in the EV auto manufacturers, Taselaar instead looks for opportunities in companies providing the critical charging and battery infrastructure for the industry. Key to his thesis is the need for fast charging, and - in addition to above-mentioned ADS-TEC Energy - Taselaar is a fan of Wolfspeed (WOLF), and ASML (ASML), who make the semiconductors necessary for the battery chargers. He’s also an owner of EVgo (EVGO), a pure EV play which could benefit from the subsidies in the Biden infrastructure bill. Nothing goes in a straight line, of course, and WOLF and EVgo have had rough recent runs. The EV revolution, however, is going nowhere, and Taselaar suggests investors consider adding on dips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    54min
  3. 24/11/2021

    Oil, inflation, and bad government policy - Jim Iurio joins Alpha Trader

    This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talking with Jim Iurio, managing director at TJM Institutional Securities. Among the topics discussed: Speaking as crude oil prices (CL1:COM) were jumping despite a coordinated governmental effort to boost supplies, Iurio reminds that it’s another entry in the “buy the rumor, sell the fact” mantra. Oil, he notes, was down about $10 per barrel in the weeks leading up to Tuesday morning’s announcement of the SPR release. Iurio is short the S&P 500 (SP500) for a trade, noting a recent rise in interest rates and significant deterioration in the average stock even as the market gauge remains close to or at an all-time high. This isn’t the “big one,” though, cautions Iurio. A continuation of easy monetary policy should assure that any correction will be a modest one. The question going forward is whether the current fast inflation numbers have put us at an inflection point, i.e. is nearly 40 years of progressively easier monetary policy coming to an end? Iurio isn’t so sure we’re there yet, but he’s keeping a close eye on developments. Iurio remains bullish on not just the price, but the disruptive nature of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD). Of news that some high-profile professional athletes are taking their salaries in bitcoin, he does get a bit worried, saying it reminds him of a supermodel who in 2007 demanded to be paid in euros shortly before that currency’s long, steep decline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    43min
  4. 17/11/2021

    Still bullish on the long bond - Lacy Hunt joins Alpha Trader podcast

    This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher speaking with Dr. Lacy Hunt, executive vice president of Hoisington Capital Management. Among the topics covered: Hunt and his partner Van Hoisington have correctly remained steadfastly bullish on long-dated U.S. Treasurys ([[TLT]], [[TBT]]) through multiple inflation scares over the past few decades. They remain bullish today despite some scary recent CPI prints, continuing to point out the clear evidence that over-indebtedness in the U.S. will act as a deflationary force. This doesn’t mean there won’t be quarters of speedy economic growth and occasional gains in inflation, but once the high of whatever government stimulus du jour wears off, economic sluggishness and a pullback in inflation will reassert. Hunt expects the just-passed $1T fiscal stimulus bill to be yet another example - a short bout of higher growth, but ultimately even worse economic performance down the road thanks to the boosted indebtedness. Turning to monetary policy, Hunt notes that growth in the money supply has begun to slow even prior to the Fed’s taper, suggesting a coming slowdown in both the economy and inflation. How could this be given that the banks have nearly $1.5 trillion more in reserves than they did a year ago? Banks, Hunt says, are not able to put those reserves to profitable use, so they remain on account at the Fed earning a handful of basis points. As for yesterday’s hot retail sales report (for October), Hunt believes a lot of folks - reading stories about the possibility of bare shelves come Christmas-time - pulled their buying forward. More interesting to him is last week’s plunge in consumer sentiment, with the sub-index of durable goods purchase expectations falling to one of its lowest reads ever. It suggests to him a serious lack of confidence in the economy. He also takes note of the poor approval numbers for the current administration - prints one would never see were there not major economic concerns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    43min
  5. 10/11/2021

    Central banks continue to support the market - Brent Schutte joins Alpha Trader

    This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talking with Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. Among the topics discussed: While the Fed has begun to taper and may push through a couple of rate hikes next year, Schutte expects the central bank to be very patient about tightening policy. He’s in the “transitory” camp on inflation, noting plenty of slack in the labor market as evidenced by a labor force participation rate that remains quite low. Given the above combined with growing corporate earnings and a 10-year yield in the 1.50% area, Schutte continues to see stocks as the place to invest. The “market” may be expensive in some areas, says Schutte, but it depends where you look. The S&P Pure Growth Index trades at 35x next year’s earnings, but the S&P Pure Value Index at just 11x. While there’s been good reasons for Growth to outperform to this point, Schutte sees a shift towards areas that are cheaper. Noting the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia both reversed themselves on tightening threats in the last couple of weeks, Schutte isn’t seeing any appetite among global central banks to declare war on inflation. Therein lies the risk for the market in future years - that central banks at some point are going to have to really slam on the breaks. That, however, is a question for 2023, or perhaps beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    33min
4,4
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Sobre

Alpha Trader taps into topics and trends offering in-depth analysis of the market from the perspective of a trader. Hosted by former Seeking Alpha VP of Content Aaron Task and Seeking Alpha Managing Editor of News, Stephen Alpher, the show will feature discussions of the latest news and regular guests from among the smartest traders in the market today.

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