The Practical Islamic Finance Podcast
The Practical Islamic Finance Podcast
The Only Two Things That Matter
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The Only Two Things That Matter
In this episode we will cover:
- Introduction & Bitcoin Price Update
- Market Overview: Dow, S&P, Nasdaq
- Macro Factors Influencing Markets
- High Conviction in Asset Choices
- Tesla & Robotaxi Event Anticipation
- Monetary Policy: Rate Hike Predictions
- Inflation Data Impact on Markets
- Producer Price Index & Market Reaction
- Election Forecasts & Market Responses
- Stock Market Performance: Trump vs. Biden
- S&P 500 Historical Returns Post-Election
- Presidential Debate & Market Impact
- Bitcoin ETFs Positive Day & Market Effect
- Inflation & Job Market's Influence on Monetary Policy
- Market Reactions to Election Candidates' Policies
- Focus on Small-Cap Stocks for Growth
- Audience Q&A: Satoshi's Wallet & Bitcoin Centralization
CONTACT US
salam@practicalislamicfinance.com
ABOUT OUR PODCAST
Our podcast is about helping people ethically build wealth. We cover a broad range of topics including stock and crypto investing, product reviews, and general financial well-being.
DISCLAIMER
Anything you hear in this video is an opinion. It is not personalized financial advice. Make sure you do your due diligence before making any investment decisions.
As-salamu alaykum everyone, I hope you're doing well. Today is Tuesday, September 10th, and Bitcoin is trading at close to 58,000. We're up close to, let's call it 5,000, close to 6,000 since Friday. And markets today are pretty flat. So Dow Jones down less than 100 points, S&P up less than half a point, Nasdaq up close to one percentage point. So as the breaking news is telling you, S&P rises for a second straight day after we had nothing but down days in September. So there are basically two things that are impacting macro right now. I told you guys yesterday, I had extremely high conviction in the positions that we held. So the individual asset choices that we hold onto, I keep a very close eye on all of them. I have extremely high conviction in them. The only variable here is the macro, and that's really out of our control. But in this coming period, I do think that there are two main determinants of the macro, and one is correlated to the other. So we'll talk about them in this live. By the way, if you enjoy these lives, leave a like and hit the notification bell so you know when I go live next. So looking at the map here for what was up, what was down today, we had a mixed day. As we saw, we were pretty flat in totality. Some of the names that performed really well were Tesla. And this is being buoyed by the anticipation for the Robotaxi event that I told you guys about yesterday. And so it's likely that we see strength in this name for the remainder of the month leading up to the event and perhaps after event, depending on what gets revealed during the event. The first major influence on the macro is going to be monetary policy. This is no secret to anyone. Right now we're sitting at a 33% chance of a 50 basis point hike versus a 67% chance of just a 25 basis point hike. And tomorrow's numbers on inflation will impact these percentages a lot. The traditional wisdom is that if we get a lower inflation read, then the Fed may be more encouraged, more gutsy in its moves, and the market may assign a higher probability to a 50 basis point cut. On the other hand, if we see inflation has not improved, then it's likely we get a 25 basis point cut. And it's likely that the market reacts more positively to a cooler inflation number. And then after tomorrow, we have the producer price index, which will also inform the Fed's decision. That being said, I do think that the general trend of inflation is down. We have members in our Discord community reporting that they've experienced inflation, or at least the prices that they've experienced have gone down on some items. So anecdotal evidence is on our side, and we'll see if that is confirmed in tomorrow's report. The other major thing that's impacting markets, will continue to impact markets up until November, is the election forecast. What we've seen is that when Trump has a higher probability of winning, the markets react positively to that. When Kamala starts gaining or narrowing the lead, then markets are reacting negatively to that. That being said, if you look at the data, the performance of the stock market has been relatively similar under the Trump and Biden administrations. Trump had to deal, obviously, with COVID. Biden had to deal with the rate hike regime starting, and that impacted markets. But both of them had almost identical performance in their tenures. If you look at, regardless of who wins the election, if you look at the S&P 500 total returns after election day, then if you're looking at one month after, three months after, six months after, so three, six, and one year after, regardless of who wins, the average is positive for the S&P 500. If you look at 2020, when Biden won after a month, the S&P was up 6%, more than 6%. When Trump won in 2016, a month after that, the markets were up 5%. In 2012 and 2008, when Obama won, the markets were down in 2008, especially one month after the market was down 16%. That being said, when Obama was elected, there was an ongoing financial crisis, and that's one of the reasons why he did get elected. So perhaps that number is skewed. All this to say, typically, the S&P does just fine, regardless of who wins, which political party wins. But history doesn't necessarily have to rhyme. And certainly, up until now, what I have noticed is that when the odds of Trump winning increase, the market reacts positively to that. Now, we do have a debate coming up tonight. So if you enjoy watching two people insult your intelligence and lie to you, then be sure to tune in. Unless there's a clear advantage given to one of the candidates after the debate, then I don't think it will necessarily, the debate that is, will necessarily have that much of an impact on the market. I'm sure each candidate is being thoroughly coached. And at least Kamala is being coached. Trump is just going to say whatever he wants. And each candidate will have their highlights and mark everyone. Typically, what happens is those who have decided already will just confirm their decision based on what is said during the debate. But the big news this week is really the CPI and PPI numbers. And ultimately, regardless of who wins, macro forces are going to be more powerful driver than the political party that's in power at the time. Volatility is expected to rise leading up to the election. So you can see here the volatility index, the VIX, six months before and after election day. So as we near election day, we're going to get more volatility in the markets, but that should subside rather quickly following it. So six months after election day will probably be back to normal. Today on a positive note, Bitcoin ETFs had, actually this was yesterday, so September 9th was the first day that Bitcoin ETFs had a positive day in the last almost 10 days. So that has reflected itself positively in Bitcoin's price. All this to say right now, this is really a two-factor market. On the one hand, you have inflation and what this means for monetary policy moving forward. That's also influenced by the economy and the job situation and what we see with regards to unemployment and how that's trending. And the second factor you have is the different candidates and the policies that they present. Certainly, I would say Kamala's policies seem to be less pro-business than Trump's policies. And I understand why the market seems to be reacting more positively to Trump's progress than it does to Kamala gaining in the polls. I suspect this trend will continue up until the election. That's really all you needed to know about the markets today. We'll see what happens tomorrow in the inflation report. I'll obviously give you my two cents. I won't, I won't. This is probably not breaking any secrets, but my focus in this period is really on the smaller cap stocks. And the HALA conscious investing does tend to skew towards smaller cap stocks because you can get pure plays on different things in smaller cap stocks, whereas larger cap stocks, they typically have a lot of different businesses. And with that, the chances that some of the businesses are objectionable or questionable in some way, the chances of that rises. But I am looking for some smaller cap diamonds in the rough because I do believe that small caps will do better once monetary policy easing commences. This is really where most of my time gets spent. And thank you for all who in the PIF community that continue to propose different names for us to take a look at. Aqib says, do you think Satoshi's wallet could one day become active? All the coins being sold? What are your thoughts on the centralization of Bitcoin, especially now that it seems removed from its original purpose? Aqib, I really don't know what happens to Satoshi's wallet. Doesn't seem like there's any movement that I see no reason to expect the historical trend to break, but maybe it does. Nevertheless, I think that such an event would be an event in Bitcoin. It's not the it's not it would not break the thesis in Bitcoin. I think the trend for Bitcoin, the thesis for Bitcoin and its need and the acuity of this need increasing with the increased debt that governments are piling on and the interest payments on that and the inflation and fiat currency, that thesis is intact, whether Satoshi, the Satoshi wallet experiences any movements or not. Thoughts on centralization of Bitcoin. I do think that's a that's definitely something to consider, and it. Reduces, I think, the security of the network, although we are seeing the hash rate for the network increasing over time, there's some competing factors there. Moaz says, Assalamu alaikum, brother. Do you think XRP will boom? No, I'm not really a fan of XRP. I don't really think that it's needed. Certainly, if you look at its inflation, it's tough to see how you could have robust price appreciation over an extended period of time. I've mentioned before, I, first of all, as it relates to NIO and really all EV companies, with the exception maybe to BYD and maybe XPeng. But it doesn't seem anyone has really been able to produce electric vehicles profitably, let alone the issue of autonomy, which I think is going to be a very integral to the vehicle of the future. So if you don't have autonomy, you're not producing EVs profitably, you really have. It's really tough for you to make it in the future. And so I like to identify a trend and then pick the best of breed in that trend. The trend, as I mentioned, electric and autonomous, the best of breed within that trend is Tesla. So why go with the second best or third best or 10th best? I'm going to go with the best, and I think the best is clearly Tesla. If you found this video beneficial, leave a like. And until next time, make sure to take care of yourself. Assalamualaikum and peace be upon you all.