Occidental Petroleum's stock price jumped 10.5% on the news that Warren Buffet plans on raising its stake in the company from 20% to 50%. An application was filed to the regulators on July 11 to acquire additional shares of the company and on August 19 the permission was granted. Warren Buffet has also increased his holdings in Chevron which might indicate he is still bullish on energy.
The S&P 500 ended its 4 week rally and was down for the week along with other major indices as US stocks tumbled over the fear of aggressive rate hikes continuing. Fed officials were voicing support for bigger rate increases into 2023 to bring down inflations. The next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for Sept 20 to 21.
Bitcoin dropped to its lowest level in three weeks, trading below $22,000. The sudden crypto sell-off sent other major digital coins such as Binance, Cardano, and Solana downward as well. Ethereum was also in the red but it has also surged over 100% since June as investors were hyped for the massive upgrade to the network. Experts believe the sell-off might be tied to the US equity markets’ recent pull back.
A quick snapshot of Friday’s daily ETF flows. After a volatile week, ETFs that focus on stability gained the most traction with the Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (SPLV) getting the most inflows. SPLV’s inflow was about 42% of the top 10 ETFs combined. Most of the outflows came from fixed income type ETFs such as the SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) and the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG).
The Blackrock Future Financial and Technology ETF (BPAY) was launched on Friday. It is an actively managed ETF that focuses on companies in the Fintech space. Fintech usage was increased by 30% during the pandemic and continues to impact the financial industry across consumer and enterprise level. This gave Blackrock the conviction that there’s a lot of opportunity in this space. There are currently 37 holdings in the portfolio with a mix basket of large and small companies. The expense ratio for this ETF is 0.70%.
PepsiCo and Stanley Black & Decker just raised their dividends, making the yield 2.6% and 3.2% respectively. Of the two, PepsiCo is more attractive and suitable for income investors as the company has been very consistent with profitability, yearly dividend raise, and high in cash flow. Both companies’ new dividend payout will be distributed to holders towards the end of September with record dates at the beginning of the month.
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