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If you're anything like me you've followed the political machinations when it mattered which is consistently throughout the year. Now that we're in the middle of conventions, and more you've probably tuned out. I believe this is actually a smart use of ones time at this stage of the game. Is there really anything you'll hear at this stage of the game that would make you say: "Oh I didn't know that. I'm flipping to the other guy now!"
No matter what side of the fence you're on, If I had to bet I would wager you already know whom you're going to vote for. As of today I can't think of a single reason or logical case one could make where a thinking person concerned with their business, families welfare, and more would not have already decided whom they're going to pull the lever for.
Now the curtain has been pulled back on another steaming pile of bullshit designed to separate you from your money – organic foods. A study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes there is no evidence "organically grown" fruits, veggies or meat are any more nutritious than the regular stuff you get off the shelves at your local supermarket.
Organic Food is more expensive because you believe it is healthier. And when you believe that, you subconsciously will believe it tastes better. Even if you couldnt pick the organic product in a blind taste test:
Which brings me to Whole Foods (WFM) – the Wall Street growth darling that's just off it's 52 week and all time highs. WFM is typically 15%-30% higher than your local supermarket. Food prices are already skyrocketing due to the drought. Add in the sheer brilliance of using 40% of the corn crop to produce ethanol and I believe there is a perfect storm brewing on the horizon for Whole Foods.
It won't happen overnight – the last big hit to WFM was during the 2008 recession when the stock dropped 77% .
A good indicator their top is coming will be when same store sales growth starts to tank. Current guidance for Fiscal year 2012 sales growth is 15.6%-15.8%, while same store sales growth for 2012 is 8.6%-8.8% – so far they are hitting their targets.
For me the question is how long until their customer base wakes up and realizes they have been overpaying for a lie
Quiet morning for me from a trading stand point. A lot of my open positions that had previously been great, are showing some profit-taking but nothing extreme. If the selling in those names pick up, I’ll no doubt get stopped out of a few of them as I have fairly tight stops in place already.
I’ve seen a few new short setups popping up on the radar today, where as in previous days, I wasn’t finding much that was appealing to the eyes. But with that said, this pullback that we’ve seen going on 12 days now, doesn’t seem overly threatening to the bulls and has been very orderly and without any sense of panic to it. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a bounce in the coming days.
