The Practical Islamic Finance Podcast

Bottoming

Rakaan Kayali

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Bottoming 

In this episode, we will cover:

  • Intro & Market Recap
  • VIX Drop & Bottoming Signals
  • Bitcoin vs. Gold: What's Next?
  • Tesla, Iris Energy & TSMC Updates
  • Trade Talk Hopes & Macro Noise
  • Final Thoughts & Viewer Q&A

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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 are doing well, enjoying your Friday. Today is Friday, April eighteenth, in case you're wondering. And I did want to touch base with everyone. I know the markets are closed today, but just seeing where the market's at and whether or not we may be bottoming. So without further ado, let's get started. The VIX was down close to ten percent. That's the volatility index measures fear in the market. That's always good to see it down. And that's one of the reasons why I think maybe we're Bottoming to worst, the spike in the VIX that we saw has largely subsided. We're still at elevated levels, close to thirty. That's considered elevated, but we're nowhere near where we were above forty earlier this month, flirting with fifty. The US ten year, that's up. uh to um four point three three uh the dollar index is down the dollar continues to lose purchasing power now below a hundred russell was in the green the dow jones was down one percent s p up point one three percent and the nasdaq was exactly flat on the day So the capitulation has kind of stopped. We're kind of making a bottom here on basically everything, whether it's index, the VIX. It does seem like we are establishing a base and hopefully from that base, we can get a rebound. Tesla's at two forty one. We get earnings next week. Bitdeer is up a bit. Iron is up a bit. We'll talk about that later. And what you see on the screen right now, that's gold. Gold continues to go bonkers. And I really do think that the argument that you can make for gold can be made for Bitcoin. And what you're going to see is that during the crisis or crisis times, gold is going to peak. But then once the money printer starts working, kicking in in response to the crisis, that's when Bitcoin is going to take off and leave gold in its dust. And I do believe that that's the period that we're coming into. Maybe it's not May, although I do think that we may have a really strong May. We may have a really strong summer, unlike the summer last year. Maybe it takes till the second half of this year, but I do believe that it will happen this year and we do get another leg up in this cycle before it ends. And with regards to some other cryptos that we'd like to keep track of Solana is at one thirty three. And Doge is just just sorry, just shy of sixteen cents. All right. Too early to talk about that. So that's me and that's. This is a shape that indicates that or it looks like a bottom. And so let's talk about it. This is how the market looked yesterday when it closed and basically we see a lot more green than we have seen in recent days and video was down close to three percent still reeling from that u.s administration decision to ban exports of the h-twenty chips which themselves were watered down versions of nvidia's chips that were designed specifically for export to china but even those were were banned uh apple was up Eli Lilly was up close to fifteen percent on its new positive trial results with regards to weight loss drug. The Vicks, as we mentioned, just shy of thirty. Nice to see you, Dr. Khaled. Yeah, indeed. It was nice to see the markets close today, considering how red they have been, how volatile they have been, how much they've played with our emotions in recent trading days. But hopefully we get back to the days where we're upset when the market is closed because of all the green that we experience. All right. U.S. recession chances, fifty six percent right now on poly market, down from the near sixty five percent that we were at. I would say at the peak of this crisis. Now, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The manufacturing index has cratered in a big way. So for all those, you know, onshore, let's onshore manufacturing bros, that's not exactly what's happening. And this could have been predicted. This is not something that is a head scratcher. When you raise the cost of inputs, your manufacturing is going to go down. That's just how it works. The probability for a rate cut is still above fifty percent for the month of June, although the market is kind of not optimistic at all about a rate cut in May. So perhaps we have to wait till June. What really matters in the market is not necessarily when the rate cut happens, rather how the market is pricing the probabilities of a rate cut. So if this changes, for example, and we start seeing an eighty percent probability of a rate cut in June, then the market's not going to wait until June to to turn green, it's going to do so in anticipation of the rate cuts. So really what matters is what the market is anticipating as opposed to whether or not, or when the actual rate cuts happen. And so that's really the macro noise that I like to tune out. There's mixed signals. You ask different analysts, you ask five different analysts, you're going to get five different opinions about the macro situation when it gets solved. It does seem like Trump is, or the Trump administration is moving forward with some talks with certain countries. We saw talks going on with Japan, with Italy. other countries are negotiating with the United States to try and get a deal with regards to trade with their countries. And so perhaps you get some positive headlines about actual trades, actual negotiations or deals being done. Perhaps we get some positive headlines in the near future and perhaps we get some movement on the biggest variable here, which is China. And hopefully we get a deal there as well. Tariffs are now at a point where it's basically cutting off trade between the United States and China. And that's definitely not healthy. China is not a country that you can just skip over, that you can kind of cut out from the global economy without some major, major earthquakes resulting from that tectonic shift. So hopefully a deal gets done. I don't really see any winners in this trade war, only losers on both sides. So In the meantime, like to tune out the macro, as I always say, focus on the individual positions that we're interested in and try and figure out if their thesis still holds or not. And if they do, then I'm going to take the volatility, the nervousness in the markets as an opportunity to load up my bags even more. Tesla AI posted this picture yesterday. Quite pleased the machines are learning this of their dojo supercomputer. And I really do think that Tesla, because there has been a lot of talk about NVIDIA perhaps encroaching on some of the businesses of Tesla. But I actually think the opposite is more likely. I think it's more likely that Tesla starts making money. its own chips and starts really competing with NVIDIA and some of its core competencies. That's certainly, I think, how things are going for this company. We may see some really positive surprises from this company in the near future. that make people really excited who knows this image may have come out in anticipation of some remarks that will be made during their earnings call next week we we shall see if we do get a substantial pullback before the earnings next week then I will be buying more tesla stock I have mentioned this before on our lives this week, but the stars are really aligning for Bitcoin, whether it's liquidity conditions, gold prices, gold to Bitcoin ratio, they're all flashing very bullish signs. The only thing left is consumer sentiment, which is at all time lows. But I actually think that, so if you look historically, that's what was needed for consumer sentiment improving, was needed for something like Bitcoin to take off. But I actually think that It may be less of a factor this time around with stocks not being that attractive, treasuries not being that attractive. Obviously, the dollar losing purchasing power all the time. It may be the case that Bitcoin finally, finally embraces that risk off nature that many of its proponents have advertised for it for the longest time, but it never actually behaved. in that way, never behaved as a risk off asset, always a risk on asset, basically moved positively whenever the market had a risk on. sentiment. But perhaps now we see that change. And I really think that the stars are aligning for Bitcoin to actually embrace this role as a safe haven in investors' portfolios. And speaking of market sentiment, if you want to know how bad things are right now, just look at TSMC. They reported earnings this week and they blew everything out of the water. It was absolutely amazing earnings. Net revenue was up forty percent. Gross profit was up fifty six percent. Operating income up sixty three percent. Net income up sixty percent. The margins expanded. You had gross margins at close to sixty percent. Net margins at forty three percent, which is something Most companies can only dream of. They beat across the board. They mentioned that they thought AI revenue would double in twenty twenty five. And yet the stock was flat. And so that tells you that where sentiment is in the market, it also tells you that, hey, maybe there's an opportunity here. This is a name full disclosure that we hold in our portfolio. And if you look at something like Iris Energy, this I mean, if you. look back at more positive periods in the market an announcement like this would have gotten a lot more attention but They have increased their capacity, their Bitcoin mining capacity to forty X a hash. They're on track to reaching fifty X a hash. They've basically solidified themselves as one of the largest Bitcoin miners in the world. And what's great about IS Energy specifically is that they're one of the most efficient Bitcoin miners in the world. Fifteen joules per terahash. And so they are very well positioned, I think, if we do get liftoff in the Bitcoin price, which I expect we will. IOS Energy should respond very positively to that. With that being said, let's go to questions. So basically, in summary, macro is making a lot of noise, but the signal that's coming from our positions is very positive. So while the stock price may be going down for some of these positions, the businesses are improving. And so that's really what It's what is important to focus on, the businesses, not the stock price. Eventually, the stock price will catch up with the business. But sometimes there is a lag. Sometimes there is a difference between the two. They move in different directions. And that's when you get opportunities. The comms, wa alaikum salam, nice to see you. Arbitrum, not something I plan on looking at. Niznaz Jamal Mubarak, nice to see you. Salam Rashad, nice to see you. Good days, inshallah, are coming. Dildar says, salam for the members that joined recently. Can you hold a session reviewing the PIF system? Sure, inshallah. And we do have a PIF monthly meeting coming up soon, last Sunday of the month. So is that next Sunday? Maybe. But there should be additional onboarding material that is... release to new members soon as well. Happy that you joined us. And make sure to enjoy your weekend. Leave a like if you enjoyed this live. And until next time, make sure to take care of yourself. Assalamualaikum and peace be upon you all.