Daily Archives: May 20, 2022

China, US Are Racing to Make Billions From Mining the Moons Minerals

By Bruce Einhorn

Just like in the era of Sputnik and Apollo more than half a century ago, world leaders are again racing to achieve dominance in outer space. But theres one big difference: Whereas the U.S. and the Soviet Union hashed out a common set of rules at the United Nations, this time around the worlds top superpowers cant even agree on basic principles to govern the next generation of space activity.

The stakes are even higher when it comes to the U.S. and China, which are erecting economic barriers in the name of national security as ideological divisions widen over the pandemic, political repression and now Vladimir Putins war. Their inability to cooperate on space risks not only an arms race, but also clashes over extracting potentially hundreds of billions of dollars worth of resources on the moon and elsewhere.

China wants really badly to be seen as the NASA of the future, said Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Space Law. It wants to be that leader. China feels that its Chinas time.

As the U.S., China and other nations target the moon, the need to establish rules to avoid conflict is becoming more urgent.

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Yahoo Finance: Potential for Mining the Moon Heightens Stakes of US-China Divisions - Ole Miss News

Crashes are the best times to get rich heres why Robert Kiyosaki thinks bitcoins plunge is great news and how you can take advantage of it

Bitcoin is on a wild ride.

The worlds largest cryptocurrency soared to $68,990 last November. Now, its at around $29,000 a staggering 58% pullback from the peak.

If the downtrend continues, Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki says hes ready to start buying.

BITCOIN CRASHING. Great news, he tweeted last week. I am waiting for Bitcoin to crash to 20k. Will then wait for test of bottom which might be $17k. Once I know bottom is in I back up the truck. Crashes are the best times to get rich.

Kiyosaki added that bitcoin is the future of money and that its bottom may be even lower at $11,000.

In todays market environment, its not easy to be a contrarian investor. But if you share Kiyosakis view, here are three simple ways to capitalize on bitcoin's potential rebound.

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The first option is the most straightforward: If you want to buy bitcoin, just buy bitcoin.

These days, many platforms allow individual investors to buy and sell crypto. Just be aware that some exchanges charge up to 4% in commission fees for each transaction. So look for apps that charge low or even no commissions.

While bitcoin commands a five-figure price tag today, theres no need to buy a whole coin. Most exchanges allow you to start with as much money as you are willing to spend.

Exchange-traded funds have risen in popularity in recent years. They trade on stock exchanges, so its very convenient to buy and sell them. And now, investors can use them to get a piece of the bitcoin action, too.

For instance, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) started trading on NYSE Arca in October 2021, marking the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF on the market. The fund holds bitcoin futures contracts that trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and has an expense ratio of 0.95%.

Theres also the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BTF), which made its debut a few days after BITO. This Nasdaq-listed ETF invests in bitcoin futures contracts, and charges an expense ratio of 0.95%.

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When companies tie some of their growth to the crypto market, their shares can often move in tandem with the coins.

First, we have bitcoin miners. The computing power doesnt come cheap and energy costs can be substantial. But if the price of bitcoin goes up, miners such as Riot Blockchain (RIOT) and Hut 8 Mining (HUT) will likely receive growing attention from investors.

Then there are intermediaries like Coinbase Global (COIN) and Paypal (PYPL). When more people buy, sell, and use crypto, these platforms stand to benefit.

Finally, there are companies that simply hold a lot of crypto on their balance sheets.

Case in point: enterprise software technologist MicroStrategy (MSTR). It has a market cap of $2.3 billion. Yet its bitcoin count reached 129,218 at the end of March, a stockpile worth around $3.8 billion.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Crashes are the best times to get rich heres why Robert Kiyosaki thinks bitcoins plunge is great news and how you can take advantage of it - Yahoo...

Walmart is seeing a bifurcation in how its various consumers shop its stores as inflation takes its grip on wallets, explains CFO Brett Biggs.

The trend ranges from upper income households still buying name brand merchandise at higher prices, to lower income shoppers trading to cheaper private label products.

"We're seeing everything that's going on in the United States right now," Biggs told Yahoo Finance in an interview.

The comments come as Walmart had a surprising earnings shortfall for the first quarter as supply chain inflation weighed on profits. Walmart said Tuesday it also had to deal with higher-than-expected wage expenses due to the Omicron variant and inventory markdowns as consumers spending more cautiously.

Here is how Walmart performed compared to Wall Street estimates:

Revenue: $141.57 billion vs. $139.09 billion expected, $138.31 billion year over year

Adjusted earnings per share: $1.30 vs.$1.48 expected, $1.69 year over year

Total U.S. comparable sales, excluding gas: +4% vs. +2.26% expected, +6.2% Y/Y

The company lifted its full-year sales growth outlook to 4% from 3% back in February. But inflationary pressures and working through excess inventory clipped Walmart's profit outlook. The company sees earnings per share falling 1% this year compared to a prior outlook for a mid-single digit percentage increase.

Walmart shares fell 10% in afternoon trading. The company's ticker page was the most active on the Yahoo Finance platform.

"Transitory issues (labor, inventory) will abate, yet results reinforce inflation is starting to bear down on spending, even for a consumer cohort who has experienced very strong wage growth," said Jefferies analyst Stephanie Wissink in a note to clients.

Biggs struck an upbeat note on the balance of the year, which of course includes key selling periods such as back to school and the holidays.

"We still feel great about the business model of the company. I feel good about about the year. It's that we're dealing with some things that we haven't dealt with before and we'll work our way through it," Biggs added.

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Yahoo Finance's Emily McCormick contributed to this story.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Walmart CFO on consumers: We are seeing a little bit of everything - Yahoo Finance

Large investors are very downbeat on the economic outlook for the United States.

Growth expectations fell to an all-time low in May, according to the latest Bank of America fund manager survey out on Tuesday. For a dose of perspective, the current reading is below that seen during the Great Recession and the dot.com bubble.

Such dour sentiment comes despite economists expecting the U.S. economy will have grown around 2.5% in the second quarter and unemployment levels remaining near record lows.

Amid the tepid growth outlook, large investors are moving to the sidelines on stocks the survey shows.

The outlook for growth looks muted in the minds of large investors.

Fund managers had the highest amount of cash in their portfolios since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Tech stocks haven't been this hated (as viewed by the number of short positions on tech stocks) dating back 2006, the survey found.

Signs of carnage on growth fears, rate hike worries and stubborn inflation can be seen throughout the stock market right now.

Just take the major sell-off in one of the hottest tech trades of the past decade: the FAANG complex, which is comprised of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. All five components have shed more than 17% year-to-date, led by a nearly 69% crash for Netflix.

Jefferies tech analyst Brent Thill tells Yahoo Finance Live the sell-off in tech has been "unheard," and the selling pressure may not yet be over.

"While we don't have a recession in our forecast, we see the risk of a recession increasing. We now have it at about 30%. We see the risk though much larger in 2023 when those cumulative rate hikes from the Fed to attack inflation starts to weigh on mortgage payments and monthly payments for people going forward," said S&P Global Chief U.S. economist Beth Ann Bovino on Yahoo Finance Live.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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One chart reveals how bleak many view the state of the economy - Yahoo Finance

Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are making big bets on farmland here are 2 effortless ways you can access it, too

Fear is taking over. The S&P 500 is down about 16% of its value in 2022, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has lost 26% over the same period.

Investors are worried about rising interest rates, supply chain issues, and an economic slowdown.

Billionaires are nervous, too. But they do have access to an asset class that has a proven track record of wealth protection: agricultural land.

Heres why the worlds wealthiest investors are buying farmland and how you can add exposure to this sector.

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Several factors make farmland a uniquely stable asset class.

For one, the underlying commodity is absolutely essential. Demand for wheat, soybean, canola seeds and corn will never go away. And this year, the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, along with protectionist policies in India, has created a global supply shock. Food prices have skyrocketed.

Farmland owners benefit from this upswing. This makes it a highly effective inflation hedge even better than most stocks and bonds. So its not a big surprise why billionaires have invested (heavily) in the space in recent years.

Bill and Melinda Gates prior to their divorce accumulated roughly 270,000 acres of farmland in less than a decade. Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos has amassed 420,000 acres in recent years.

Other noteworthy farmland investors include Ted Turner and Thomas Peterffy.

According to data published by the U.S. Agriculture Department, about 80% of rented farmland is owned by investors who do not farm themselves. This ratio could increase as more investors get involved and the barriers to entry drop.

Investing in farmland directly is expensive and complicated. But retail investors can add exposure to farmland through specific publicly traded real estate investment trusts.

Gladstone Land (LAND) is one of the few pure-play farmland REITs in the market. The company owns 112.5 million acres of farmland that is leased on a triple-net basis to farmers with excellent credit history and experience. According to the companys latest quarterly report, its occupancy rate is 100%.

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Gladstone currently offers a 2.2% dividend yield.

Farmland Partners (FPI) is another REIT focused on agricultural land across the U.S. The company owns 185,700 acres in 19 states and manages over 100 tenants who grow 26 major commercial crops. While the majority of the portfolio is farmland, it also owns groundwater assets and grain facilities across its properties. The stock offers a 1.7% dividend yield.

Investing in farmland through these two REITs may not add much passive income to your portfolio. But they certainly have the potential to provide capital appreciation and inflation protection.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are making big bets on farmland here are 2 effortless ways you can access it, too - Yahoo Finance

Since leaving his post as U.S. Surgeon General in the Trump administration, Dr. Jerome Adams has taken to Twitter and other social media to advocate for better masking, testing strategies and other widely supported public health issues.

Now executive director of Purdue University's Health Equity Initiatives, Adams says working outside of the political realm allows him to more clearly express his own opinions and help on more of a grassroots level.

"I'm proud of the work that I was able to accomplish, even with the guardrails that existed. But when you're removed from that situation, you can have that conversation about nuance that I think is really what is valuable for people at the ground level in their day-to-day lives," Adams told Yahoo Finance.

Despite daily tensions during the pandemic, Adams says he chose to stay in the Trump administration because he felt it was important to work from the inside. As surgeon general, Adams said he fought to keep rent protections in place and better represent the nation's most vulnerable populations.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams speaks after receiving the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Cheriss May

"I think it's easy for people to sit on the sidelines and say, 'Hey, you should have left.' It's hard for them to understand that if you don't have good people who are representing vulnerable populations in government, whether you like that government leadership or not, that bad things can happen. It's hard to see the harm that didn't happen, especially in the fog of war," Adams explained.

"Everyone has a job and a boss. And we recognize that you can't go to work every day and criticize or undermine your boss and expect to keep your job. And so you have to pick and choose your battles," he said.

"You can't change the game from the sidelines," he added.

While in office, and before vaccines were available, the Trump administration struggled to predict the trajectory of the virus and was strongly criticized for its policy calls.

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Adams has his own criticisms of the Biden administration, but says there are ways to help create better policies in a country as diverse as the U.S.

"One of things we need to do is make sure we are getting out into the streets, out of Washington D.C.," he said, pointing to trips he and Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump's COVID-19 response coordinator, took in 2020.

"What you hear in Washington, D.C., doesn't reflect what's going on in counties and cities and communities across America. We heard over and over again that there was plenty of testing, and we had numbers that supported the fact ... but there wasn't equitable distribution from that testing and we didn't know that until we got into hospitals and got into communities," Adams said.

Equity and distribution problems still exist. For example, antibody testing isn't available to the public. It is only available through doctors offices, Adams said. And there are reports that Pfizer's (PFE) antiviral drug Paxlovid isn't widely available.

"There are disconnects that are happening in the system, between the tools being available on a national level and the tools actually being utilized on the ground level," he said.

It's why it is crucial that Congress continue to fund the pandemic response, Adams said.

"It's going to be important for equity, and it's going to be important for our economy, that we continue to do the things necessary to control this virus," he said.

When asked what he has to say about the political shadow that follows him as a result of serving in Trump's administration, Adams said he is committed to providing science-based guidance now that "guardrails" are off.

He said he understands why the CDC and FDA continue to receive so much criticism for the policies and decisions that have occurred under the Biden administration.

"Its hard to talk about nuance when you are in the position where there is no political room for error," Adams said.

He felt the sting when he first advised against mask-wearing, and later pivoted as it became clear it was a crucial tool against the virus.

"It's hard to have a discussion about the fact that masks aren't perfect, but they're better than nothing, in a world where they become politicized and one side says 100% masking is the only thing that's going to keep us alive and the other side says that everyone should be able to say no to masking under any and all circumstances," Adams said.

"That's what makes it hard."

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What you hear in DC doesn't reflect what's going across the US: Fmr. US Surgeon General - Yahoo Finance