Announcer: Wall Street Unplugged looks beyond the regular headlines heard on mainstream financial media to bring you unscripted interviews and breaking commentary direct from Wall Street right to you on main street.

Frank Curzio: How’s it going out there? It’s March 1st. I’m Frank Curzio, host of Wall Street Unplugged podcast, where I break the headlines and tell you what’s really moving these markets.

Frank Curzio: It’s been crazy the past few weekends, my daughter’s in competition season for gymnastics. And the last one was in St. Petersburg, Florida. And it’s actually Tropicana Field. So, that’s where the Devil Rays play. And its stadium is beautiful. I’ve never been on the stadium. I’ve been in that stadium before to watch a game, but I’ve never been like on the floor. Which is really cool. And outside of the five hour drive, it’s cool. I like going to these things. It’s awesome. But sometimes again, little hectic, depending on how far these places are.

Frank Curzio: But the level that some of these girls at are amazing. So, my daughter moved up from bronze to gold, so she skipped silver. So, which is very hard, right? So, she’s going to a very, very high level where the judges if you breathe wrong, they take off points.

Frank Curzio: Anyway, it’s a lot of fun watching her perform on that stage and how big it is. And just that whole entire competition. I’m really proud. With that said going to these things for like two years now, year and a half, and she just started competition. So, these girls have been doing it for five, six, seven years already at her age. And in terms of craziness and parents, when it comes to gymnastics, I think I’d put it up there with beauty pageants, for young girls where mothers are living through their children and it was great. And they dressed with pictures of their kids on their pants and their shirts. They’re all coaches, very, very vocal, which I guess you could say a lot of sports with kids.

Frank Curzio: But one lady got into the parking lot. It was funny. She got there late and it’s massive. There’s tons of tons of people there. And she got there late, and she wanted to park like up front where there was a space, and the guy was just like not having it, and he, to be honest, he should have been like, “Listen, just go.” So, I think her daughter was on stage and she had to go get something and give it her. Whatever it was. But she tried to park there. The guy’s like, “No.” the guy’s like, “No, you’re not parking there.”

Frank Curzio: And I get criticized every now and then dropping a f-bomb because sometimes when I’m passionate about something, it just comes out and my New York comes out. The words that came out of this lady’s mouth in the parking lot, made me look like a Saint. Holy cow and just no shame at all. It’s kind of like those videos that you see obviously TikTok, or you see a Facebook with the Karen videos. When a lady go crazy and they call them Karen’s, which is quite funny because that’s my wife’s actual name. So, I make fun of her for that.

Frank Curzio: But yeah, these girls, there’s so much pressure on them and yeah, it’s crazy. Because the one thing I do notice when I go to these place, it’s about 20, 25% of the girls, you’re going to see them crying during the event. And to me I’m like, that’s too much pressure. Seriously, 25% of the girls are crying. So, they do these four events and especially when they make a mistake or they fall on beam or the bars. It is intense, but it’s over the top. Like if I missed a layup, I wasn’t crying. I was like pissed off and shot more shots or whatever. But this is really intense. I don’t know how it got intense. So anyway, I have another meet this weekend at Savannah, which is only about 90 minutes away. Thank God I had a couple reach out and say, “My daughter’s going to be there too.” So, I’ll probably meet up with a couple subscribers and stuff.

Frank Curzio: But a few notes, a few notes from this trip, which is related to stocks, at least in ideas is Tampa. Going through Tampa, St. Petersburg, it’s like New York City right now. We all know a lot of people that migrating to Florida, I get it. Tampa is the number one place that they’re going to right now. It’s insane. Forget about Palm Beach, yes it’s crowded. Forget about Miami, Miami has always been crowded.

Frank Curzio: Tampa is like New York city. I mean, the traffic there is unbearable and it’s whatever time of day I’ve been there, about four or five times in the past few months. And I’m trying to leave later and later and going through these areas like at 10 o’clock at night and it’s still packed. And we drove through Orlando, I4, and there were hundreds of thousands of cars. Hundreds of thousands of cars. We came back Saturday night late and it was absolutely packed, packed.

Frank Curzio: So, we sat in traffic for at least 45 minutes getting through that stretch of Orlando and Universal in Florida. I’ve never saw that area that busy. And I’ve been here for 11, 12 years now, close at… And this isn’t Spring Break. Spring Break starts next week. And then it could be the following three weeks or depending on where you live and what school you go to. But I think it starts next, this isn’t Spring Break. This is an off peak right now, and I’ve never seen it more crowded. I can’t wait to see in the next couple weeks, holy cow. It’s going to be absolutely nuts.

Frank Curzio: I don’t know if that’s good for Disney or not good for Disney. But right now it’s off peak. And in March it’s going to be 78 degrees. We’re going to love coming here. But even in my small neighborhood, Amelia island, the building taking place right now is insane. Traffic, we have very little traffic. Now there’s… You’re talking about 12 years with little traffic. Now, it takes a long time to get back on the island. There’s a bridge, not like you’re on this little island. It’s a very big island, but it takes 20 minutes just to go a few miles. Building everywhere, everywhere, just small restaurants and stores and homes.

Frank Curzio: And I’m not saying that higher rates won’t discourage borrowers, but it hasn’t yet. I mean, it definitely hasn’t yet. And you’re seeing the 10-year come down a little bit, and I’ll go over that a little bit later. But interest rates are kind of signaling that the Fed’s not going to raise by 50 basis points or half a percent. It’s getting released by less than that, which is amazing, because that was a hundred percent in the Fed futures about three, four weeks ago. Now it’s like 0%. Again, I’ll break that down later. But if you’re looking at the housing market, look, you have Florida, Florida. Going to continue seeing a migration from taxes still cheaper than New York, Boston, many cities in Northeast, but definitely not seeing to slow down. I talked to a lot of real estate agents and a lot of you are in the real estate industry. I am not seeing a slowdown at all, even from the home builders. When you look at the home builders, they’re not seeing a slowdown, the same business is more stronger today than any time since 2006, 2007.

Frank Curzio: But it is interesting to see how right now where rates are and you’re seeing them creep up, mortgage rates creep up, it’s not hurting that market yet. Will it eventually? Maybe. Yes, it’s going to hurt refinancings, but people are buying homes. There’s bidding wars. There’s no inventory at all where I live, and a lot of places in Florida where, I mean, there’s more real estate agents than teachers nowadays. I mean, there’s so many real estate agents. It’s incredible, even in my little town. I feel like I think I know like fifteen who are real estate agents. They have no inventory. Whenever a house goes up, it’s gone. It’s gone immediately. So, I don’t know what you’re seeing, but email frank@curzioresearch.com.

Frank Curzio: Again, we’re looking at a recession, we’re looking at the stock market coming down on higher interest rates yet. We’re looking at unemployment very, very positive right now in terms of… If you want a job, you can still get a job that’s not associated. It’s not really associated with a recession. The housing market is still extremely, extremely strong. Net household wealth remains strong. I mean, these are things it’s kind of weird. What’s going on? I guess that’s what happens when you inject 10 and a half trillion in a year into the market and keep going and going and going. But we’re at weird times. That’s why I say every investment book you ever read throw it in the garbage. Throw it in the garbage it’s meaningless it’s meaningless.

Frank Curzio: “Well, last time this happened.” What are you talking about? When we have zero interest rates, zero interest rates for this long outside of a little stretch in what 16, 17, what interest rates going higher a little bit. Immediately reversing with the Fed. But when have we seen something where trillions have been injected into this market where earnings are surging. And we’re still injecting trillion into the market. Now, the Fed’s behind the… We’ve never seen times like this. We’ve never seen times like this. It’s why it’s so crazy.

Frank Curzio: And a lot of that, even now with the uncertainty, things that you don’t expect, which on top of already an uncertain market where Fed is very unpredictable, what they’re going to do. How much are they going to tighten by, how little behind the curve, earnings peaking. But now we have the geopolitical risk where Russia, Ukraine still taking center stage. Massive sanctions being placed on Russia, including not allowed to use Swift payments, which is a global system for countries to use. And if you notice over the weekend, guys. Been a lot of research on this. And I was basically, I must have had four, five people who are brilliant that I know sent me information on this, comparing how cutting off Russia could result in a Lehman like event where once they allowed Lehman to fail, the whole entire system crashed. We weren’t ready for that because there’s consequences, not just for Russia, for everybody else, if you do this.

Frank Curzio: So, if you notice the market really got crushed over the weekend, if you at the futures, they were down tremendously. And a lot of that had to do is going behind the scenes. And I’m not too sure if they highlighted this story as much. But when you look at Russia and their banks, I mean, you really don’t know how to exposure they have. I mean, we have an idea, but Russia banks are not just holding Russia assets.

Frank Curzio: If you look at Barclays, you look at Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, UBS. They do tons of business in the US, have exposure to a housing industry, commodities, everything. And you’re looking at UBS, a good example during 2008, they reported 18 billion dollars in losses from their exposure in US real estate. So, you don’t know what they actually own when you cut them off.

Frank Curzio: But from very, very smart people in the credit industry, very concerned about this move, which is why those futures were down 800 points on Sunday. The good news is most of the smart people saw this risk. Central banks were well aware, ready to make markets. So, I think like highlighting it and going through Lehman and it really helped here and said, “Okay, if we do this, what is going to happen?” And I think they’re not completely cut off from Swift. I think Europe’s… I think just some of it is, I’m not too sure. It’s back and forth, depending on what sites you’re reading the stories. I mean, the information’s all over the place these days, especially with this.

Frank Curzio: I mean, overall, when you look at the situation, I can’t believe that Putin actually invaded Ukraine. And you know my stance on this, I just thought Ukraine… They had painted this picture of Ukraine being this nice little place and I appreciate it. And I think it’s remarkable how the president is deciding not to leave the capital and get out of there and said, “Nope, I’m fighting.” I mean, it’s patriotic. It’s really cool. But a lot of this was brought on by them. A lot of it was.

Frank Curzio: I mean, you keep poking the bear, poking the bear, and this is what happens. And to be honest with you, I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect… Putin could have got everything he wanted from the US and Russia and the US and Europe would’ve been… From the US and Europe, I mean, they could have gotten anything they wanted. The US and Europe would’ve been seen as heroes. Peace, look what we did, and Russia whatever agreement they would have signed with energy under the table. I mean, it could have been huge for everyone, but now the whole world, the whole entire world’s against Russia. And they should be. Even China had no choice, but to back down as they were under pressure by our government, especially who has the power to impose the same sanctions on China or anyone else’s going to support Russia, which would absolutely destroy their economy.

Frank Curzio: It would destroy… We can’t do anything to Russia. We don’t buy any of their goods. We buy everything from China, and we choose to buy it someplace else, holy cow. Make it more expensive for them, holy cow. But even China backed down a little bit.

Frank Curzio: Now, how’s this situation impacting markets and continued to impact the markets? You guys have seen oil prices still rise. I still think they topping here. Everyone’s bullish on oil, you see back and forth. Things going to continue. Peace agreements, every time there’s a peace agreement or they’re sitting down to talk about how we could end this thing, Russia uses it as a way to bomb another city while these talks are basically taking place.

Frank Curzio: You’re looking at inflation, inflation’s going to keep rising, right? That’s what higher energy prices do. It impacts every business which then forces companies to raise prices further to keep those margins intact.

Frank Curzio: That’s why I still think there’s a good chance the Fed will raise by 50 basis points at its March meeting. But the 50 basis point hike is not expected right now. It’s completely 100% off the table, off the table. Over the past three weeks with Russia, interesting, because if you look back three, four weeks ago, and this is of Fed Fund’s futures, so this basically predicts on what you think the Fed’s going to do.

Frank Curzio: It was a hundred percent, four weeks ago that they were going to raise by 50 basis points. Now it’s near zero. I mean, think about that, it’s near zero. It was 6% last I looked, I think it’s pretty much close to zero. The last time I looked, it was two days ago. I’d like to take the over on this because we know war does what? Creates even more uncertainty. But if we are looking at the data that has come out, I mean it shows no signs of inflation slowing.

Frank Curzio: Now Powell’s testifying on the Hill today. Tomorrow, you’re going to hear a lot more about which is Wednesday. Testifying for the Congress. I’m not sure what he is going to it to say to ease worries when it comes to tightening and we’re looking at every inflationary indicator showing no signs of slowing to PPI, CPI, 40-year highs, wages are rising. Energy prices are surging, home prices still rising. Maybe that changes over the next two weeks. We’re going to get more data ahead of the Fed meeting. I don’t know.

Frank Curzio: But if you are looking at the Fed and where we are, I mean, they need, need, to raise rates by at least a half percent. I say at least because it’s coming more and more they’re expecting seven rate hikes, nine rate hikes, whatever it is that changes on a weekly basis so who knows, based on the firm that’s predicting it. But they’re so behind the curve it’s insane.

Frank Curzio: With that said we’re seeing a steep decline in the 10-year. What does that mean? Well, let’s do short covering way of flight to quality, which is a clear sign of expectations here that the Fed is only going to raise by 25 basis points. And that’s two weeks from now, I think, two and a half weeks from now. That’s what the market’s telling us. So, if it’s 50 basis points expect a pretty big sell off. I think it has to be more. I understand there’s a lot of uncertainty with Russia. It’s creating more supply chain issues I get that data all the time, especially for chip makers specific to the auto industry.

Frank Curzio: And guys, I got to tell you, it’s taking another leg back. It was getting better, and this is why I said that the Ford CEO is full of shit, and the GM CEO are full of shit, in saying the chip supply everything’s getting better. Is it really getting better? Try ordering a Ford… Try any… Forget about the EVs, just gas vehicles right now. You can’t order anything. You can’t order a car. You’re not going to get it for like nine months. They say, “Well, you’ll get it four months.” You’re not getting it four months. Try to go a lot and buy a car to your specs. And when I say your specs, just your color. If it’s not on a lot, which is like two or three cars that are on lot that a brand new, you’re not getting it.

Frank Curzio: So, they would tell us nine months ago, “Things are getting better. Things are getting better.” Now all of a sudden, Tesla, who had no supply concerns just worn last quarter said we are seeing supply concerns, but we’re not even coming out with any new models, which is an interesting… I think there’s 51 new models supposed to come out this year. There was the Fed Mach 1 got the EV car of the year for 2022. You can’t get it until 2023, 2024. It’s nice that you’re the car of the year though, which is great. But now the data that I’m seeing in real time, this from IHS market, we just got taken over from S&P, IHS market is amazing. Great, great quality research. Every single week, they talk about these chips and how much supply is lost. Now, you’re seeing more supply being lost, meaning fewer cars are being sold because of the supply chain concerns and that reverse. And I would say about three months ago, but now they’re getting worse again.

Frank Curzio: I don’t know if that’s through Russia, I have no idea, but I was very surprised to see that data and that data is just from last week. Nobody’s really talking about that everyone to, “Oh, it’s getting better. It’s getting better.” It’s not, listen to the conference calls. This is a target today. Every one of them saying supply chain issue supply… Yes, but we’re able to raise prices. Some companies are able to raise prices. Some are able to ship their supply chains and alert, but every single company’s talking about supply chain issues more than they were nine months ago. Another risk.

Frank Curzio: But you’re looking at the markets and everything crazy. Guys, the fact that we could see the Fed Fund futures predicting what the Fed’s going to do. And you’re seeing that change like 50, 75% fluctuations in weeks of whether it’s going to be a 50 basis point hike or a 25 base point hike just shows you the massive uncertainty we have in the marketplace, which is why we’re seeing so much volatility where some names are moving 20% plus in a day during earning season.

Frank Curzio: I mean, Square just surged over 20% after earnings. It surged and then we… It’s down tremendously off its highs. Umbrella just fell 18% out of nowhere. They seem to be doing great. Footlocker down 25%. I mean, we’d say exposure to Nike, something like 70% exposure to Nike. And Nike’s like, “Look, we’re doing our own thing now.” They’re doing what Under Armour is doing. They’re doing what GoPro is doing. They’re going direct to consumer this way they collect more money, higher margins. And it’s working through their outlets. It’s working. That reduces the middleman again, which is Footlocker. And they’re getting smoked. Etsy went from 300 to 115 in four months reported earnings then surged 20%. Papa John’s fell 24% in one day this week. That’s just the past few trading days. This is just like the last three or four trading days I’m talking about those stocks.

Frank Curzio: Hey, we’re seeing 1% swings. I mean, just if you’re looking at the markets on Monday, and we’re looking at a massive decline followed by a big comeback, then another big decline. And then I think there was like five 1% swings back and forth within one day. I mean, holy shit. I mean, that’s great for trades it’s great for algorithm. It’s not really great for long-term holders who like read in the news and see what’s going on. And you’re like, “Holy shit, my stocks down 15%. I should sell it.” And before you remember your password to your online. You’re up 10%. You’re like, “Whoa, whoa, I’m not going to sell it.” That’s how crazy it is.

Frank Curzio: But stay cautious. If you’re buying puts, you should be killing it right now. Start doing your research do screens. You have free screens on FINVIZ, which is an okay site to do screens. You haven’t done screens, practice with it. It just… You can put in different metrics, you can find names that are down 20% plus that is still growing earnings by more than 15%, sales more than 8% that means they’re growing more than the overall market that have fallen.

Frank Curzio: Get a list of… You’ll probably see whatever, just in the S&P 500, at least 150 names, at least probably 200 plus names. And then, put in whatever you can go through some of them and look at different quarters, did they warn, did they beat? One thing I would look at is buybacks as companies announcing major buybacks we’re going to see record buybacks, 77% of the companies this week are now outside of that quiet period where they could buy back their stock. And their balance sheets are stronger than ever, even though we have inflation, because earnings are at record high still. And yes, they’re starting to slow, but they’re still at record highs. And they’re using that balance sheet to buy back stock and increase their dividends. See which companies are doing that.

Frank Curzio: You’re not going to increase your dividend and announce huge buybacks. I mean, some companies announce huge buybacks when they report bad earnings to ease it. Say, “Okay, we’re going down 20%. Let’s not announced a buyback since you know, we should be buying a stock.” But when it comes to raising a dividend, that’s a clear sign. There’s a reason why all energy companies are raising their dividends. Lots of companies raising their dividends. That’s a sign business is good. That’s another thing you look at.

Frank Curzio: But we’re looking at the markets where there’s clear winners and losers across all sectors. And this is recent where biotech, tech, staples, even small caps, large caps. It’s not like energy where every single name’s moving higher, or like it was the past three years with all names across almost every sector are moving higher together, which we saw higher and higher.

Frank Curzio: But there are companies getting it done like AMD companies who aren’t like PayPal, Google’s killing it. Meta got crushed. To recommend a really great supply chain company, Lido logistics, encourage your research advisories it’s down from its highs are blew, blew out the numbers past two quarters. It’s made acquisitions over the past two years, just everything clicking. Yet, Gartner come out with a study. Gartner’s a firm that I respect very much consulting firm in technology that more than 75% of companies are looking at ways to improve their supply chains, which is at the core what this company does.

Frank Curzio: So, you see in not just areas where it was core business, but now, it’s autos, it’s companies across every division staples that are looking, “How do we make our supply chains better? How do we come rest through line? How do we avoid the mistakes that we made these delays because it kills us.” And the people that get that right are going to take massive market share, massive market share.

Frank Curzio: But for me, I’m seeing incredible ideas right now, which you tend to see when the markets get crushed, but you have to be smart. I mean, take small positions. Scale in. You’re not going to get the absolute low and sell the absolute high, which a lot of promotions say, “Hey, if you’re bought it here and sold it here, if you’re bought it here. And so, if… Just follow me if you bought here, and so,” They pipe chart, “You bought here and you sold here, this is what we told everybody to do.” Yeah right?

Frank Curzio: Just be careful. It’s not going to be the case. If you’re buying a good stock, it can go down 10, 12, 15%. If you’re buying a small position or a third position, you’re adding to it, and you’re lower your cost basis. And this is what I do. Positions I intend on holding for longer than 12 months, longer than an 18 months, where I want to be in them. And I don’t want to be woops sought out because maybe the stock has come down. They had a couple bad quarters, but I’m seeing insiders buy now. If they have another bad quarter, you might have a washout, and I don’t want to… I know that stock is worth a hell of a lot more and a hundred percent more than what it’s trading double what it’s trading maybe 18 months, 24 months from now. But it doesn’t mean it can’t go down 10, 15, 20%. And I don’t want to get a complete wipe out. So, what I want to do is, especially in this type of market is buy smaller positions.

Frank Curzio: Plus, it doesn’t mess with your head. That’s the most important thing. If you’re buying a small position, it goes high. You own it. You’ll be pissed and be like, “Man, I was going to take a bigger position.” But you own it. You’re making money. And if it goes down, you’re not pissed off because you’re like, “Hey, I only took a 2% position in this.” Or small, say a third of a position in it. And now, you’re going to add to it and you’re going to lower your cost basis. And that’s important. To stay headstrong. Because when your emotions are involved, you do stupid things. And our emotions are triggered to always sell at the lows and buy at the highs. That’s what we are triggered to do. That’s why few legendary investors and everybody else, because they figure that out and take the emotions out. It’s not easy to do, even I get emotional sometimes during trades and pissed off.

Frank Curzio: But you want to change that when the shit hits the fan and things are down. That’s when you want to be buying and buy good quality names. There’s clear names that are working and ones that are raising at dividends. Buybacks, those that have pricing power. Those that are in the right growth markets. Companies that are not crazy wildly expensive right now that need to blow out the numbers, because if they report just decent numbers, they get crushed 20, 30% because they’re so expensive trading a hundred times peas.

Frank Curzio: If you looking at sectors, look at gold. And Russia has to buy gold. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve seen this. I was amazed, but the reduction in US dollars and in treasuries that they have done, they almost own like no treasuries and down tremendously over the past four, five years, and they want to reduce their reliance on the Euro. Because those are two things that can really hurt them in terms of energy and dollars and euros.

Frank Curzio: And why would Russia do this? Because they know they have the playbook. They’re like, “Look, we’re going to do everything we can to take over Ukraine,” within a five-year period. And what’s going to happen when they do that. Well, they’re not in NATOs so no one could F with us at all. We know that Europe can’t do anything because we supply all their energy. We know the US can’t really do anything, but they can’t play sanctions, which they’ve done for 25 years. So, we’re going to be able to take over Ukraine and we’re going to have some sanctions. So, what is that going to mean? They’re going to cut off our banks again. They know this, they’re going to cut this off. So, what are they doing?

Frank Curzio: They’re increasing their exposure to gold. And you’re finally seeing that. And also, the reason why Bitcoin’s going higher. Uranium, have you seen uranium. I mean, uranium’s on fire. Seeing countries do about face especially in Europe. I mean, a lot of you might not be familiar with the uranium industry. But Fukushima, when that happened in 2011, I mean, the massive overreaction, like every nuclear plant is going to kill the world unless you get, I mean, Germany said will close every one of our plants. Italy, France, everything, Japan, everything. No more nukes, no way, no way.

Frank Curzio: Even though it’s the safest, one of the safest energies. But over 60 nuclear plans close from 2011 to 2022, to today. So, we now have 440 in total. And out of these more than two thirds are over 30 years old, and whether you be retired in the coming decade or have their lifetimes extended.

Frank Curzio: Now, this comes at a time when demand is absolutely surging, and it’s going to continue to increase. Oil, natural gas prices stay elevated long-term. And this is due to climate change initiatives which are not going no place. They’re going to be here forever. Doesn’t matter.

Frank Curzio: But imagine if there was no climate change initiatives or just, they would dial down to the point where Europe was using nuclear. They wouldn’t really care about what Russia’s doing as much, and Russia probably wouldn’t be able to do what they’re doing and have that power because they do have power over Europe, over Germany, because they supply 40% of Europe’s natural gas supply. Makes them pretty powerful.

Frank Curzio: When you look at nuclear uranium, man. There’s an industry with massive, massive demands. Super depressed for such a long time, 10, 11 years. And now, I mean, I’m not sure how much in terms of lobbying and those dollars going against uranium and nuclear. I just don’t get it. To me, makes no sense how the climate change crazies. I’m talking about people who are off the deep end. They love wind, solar, but hate nuclear. And you’re looking at uranium it’s cheap zero emissions so it’s clean 24-hour base hold power, which unlike solar and wind meaning you can use 24 hours constantly. You don’t have to have the wind blowing or the sun to be out. It’s very safe. Its land footprint is small where wind requires 360 times more acreage for wind and solar requires 75 times more space.

Frank Curzio: But if you look at uranium, stocks have rallied over the past two weeks, but are still 20% plus off their November highs. While uranium prices are now trading close to 50 dollars a pound again, that’s just off their 10-year high. That’s a great industry to look at. So, I’m just trying to cover different areas. Because there are things that are working in this crazy market.

Frank Curzio: Look at Target’s numbers today. A name that’s in our CRA portfolio, Curzio Research Advisory, recommended during the beginning of COVID along with Costco, Home Depot, Walmart, since these were only stores our government said are allowed to stay open during the early stages of the pandemic. Knew they were going to make a killing and they did. We still have two of those in our portfolio put up 125% on Target almost with no drama. The crazy volatility you see.

Frank Curzio: And then, we have crypto to where we see how F-d up our governments are, especially during situations like this. We have massive sanctions being placed on Russia. Bitcoin is an alternative. The fixed amount. It’s something that you could trust, but most importantly, it’s not controlled by a central government. And we know central governments have no checks and balances. They’ll print trillions of dollars whenever they want, which we saw. Create runaway inflation, which you, me, we have to deal with now. This massive inflation higher cost for us. Not for them. They’re fine. They just got to print, print, print. They don’t care.

Frank Curzio: Hey, look at the post office how that’s what a five billion in losses. How could that report five billion of losses when you have FedEx, UPS, even Amazon on its logistics side, making an absolute fortune. Why? Because if things don’t work, they get rid of people, tougher laws. But why, why is the post office not on? Because there’s no checks and balances nobody care… Just keep hiring people it doesn’t matter. It’s no demand there. Don’t worry who cares. That’s how the government runs businesses.

Frank Curzio: That’s why you say Bitcoin is such a big deal and it’s not just Bitcoin because every passing month, it seems like if it’s geopolitical or if it’s just central banks, call it crazy. But increases the case to own Bitcoin. So, the reason why all the banks, almost every single bank, they’re hiring people for blockchain, almost every single one. They’re looking for people for blockchain. And we’re not just talking Bitcoin here because there’s many cryptos that are changing the world right now.

Frank Curzio: Being innovative and DeFi, DAO, security tokens, NFTs. When you see an investment that ICE, Intercontinental, made tZERO last week. That’s apparent of the New York Stock Exchange. 70 billion dollar company just made an investment in the largest security token trading platform, which we’re trading on. But that says a lot.

Frank Curzio: David Goone has become the CO of tZERO. This guy’s a rockstar. He’s the Acting Chief Strategy Officer for ICE and he’s getting tZERO tokens as part of his pay package to grow that company, kind of like how you would give away options. Something we want to do. We can hire talent, great talent by giving away options where if our company does well. And it’s a big part of what this person is doing. They’re going to benefit tremendously. Because our stock should be able to show that our stock meaning our token, curtesy of our equity owners.

Frank Curzio: But security tokens are another massive growth market within crypto, NFTs, which expanding into music and to healthcare read about it. So, it’s a lot NFTs are not just monkeys and bananas and some artwork and stuff like that. It’s ownership of your material and Web 3.0 that you never had.

Frank Curzio: And even… We’re broadcasting this on certain things, whether it iTunes look what happened to Facebook, having their app on Apple and iTunes, what happens? Well, when you change the policies, you’re talking about 400 billion dollars in capital wiped out, mostly because of those privacy changes.

Frank Curzio: Say, you say the wrong thing on YouTube, which this is being broadcasted on. They take you off. They take all… They have that kind… This is the NFTs gives you ownership, ownership of your material. That’s original. Where does it get better than that? That’s what everybody wants, other than Wall Street and rich people who want to take a piece of everything.

Frank Curzio: The overall market, this volatile, I can see more, more people turning to Bitcoin or running to Bitcoin. Because if you look at Bitcoin, what was a negative part of Bitcoin? It’s too volatile. It’s way too volatile. It’s all over the place. Well now we have the entire market that’s volatile. So, what would you rather own? The market that’s volatile, just as volatile as Bitcoin. We’re seeing stocks 20, 25%. We just saw Bitcoin rise 17, 18% in three days, four days. We see the same thing in how many different stocks. I mean, how… You look at Nike, Home Depot, Starbucks, 3M, these household names. They’re down 25% from their highs. So, if you’re saying that volatility, I got to buy Nike and worry about 25% move. I’d rather buy Bitcoin because your upside is tremendous from a risk-reward perspective. Makes sense, right?

Frank Curzio: So to close here, I know the markets are crazy right now. I get it. You own stocks in your portfolio that are down some falling 20% a day because yeah, they reported earnings that actually weren’t that bad. That’s what happens in times like this. You see your household names you thought it was safe and they’re down 20, 25% from the high. That’s what happens during these crazy, uncertain times. So, buying puts is a great strategy. I pounded the table on this since November. Since the Fed did an about-face and said, “Okay, inflation’s not transitory. It’s not going to be short term. And we are going to aggressively raise rates going forward.” It said it’s a different market. That’s a fundamental change. You’re removing the punch bowl. That’s a big deal, can puts on almost any sector in stock and you would be up a fortune right now, a fortune.

Frank Curzio: Own gold. Own uranium. Own Bitcoin. These are things that are keeping my portfolio. So, you see in diversification here where it used to be like everything’s correlated. You’re not. You’re not seeing that the market’s not doing that well, uranium’s doing great. Gold’s doing great. Bitcoin just staged a nice comeback. Energy’s doing great.

Frank Curzio: So, when you’re diversified and I know 1-on-1 just investing, diversified, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, even though every billionaire pretty much put all their eggs in one basket. I’m not saying that you should do that. I shouldn’t do that. But being diversified, you’re not going to feel it as much when something’s not working. Because part of my long exposure portfolio is not doing as well, but gold is doing great for me. A lot of those socks that I’m in. Uranium is doing great for me. Bitcoin is doing great. Yes. It’s been volatile it’s off its highs, but that’s rebounded tremendously recently. But that’s what you want to do. Take advantage of it. Stay diversified and be quick to pull the trigger on some of those names on your watch list that are now down 20% plus because the market’s not doing well.

Frank Curzio: Yet, when you look at this stock, the thesis is still intact. Strong earnings per share. Sales growth is expected, still the right industries. Those are names you can start picking away at, going in, taking small positions in it, taking a third position. Those are names you should start buying right now because you’re still seeing most people short. The big money is still short here. They’re starting to get back in. BlackRock just said, “There’s lots of opportunities.” They’re starting to get back into the market, but you just need a little bit of good news, a little bit of good news. You’ve seen the 10 year come down. Stocks are rebounded a little bit.

Frank Curzio: You see those tensions in Russia and Ukraine ease. The Fed also. I mean 10 years down, because they’re expected to Fed not to raise rates as aggressively. Now, you see the market’s kind of come back a little bit. They’re all over the place. They’re looking at it, doing its midday and down 1% yesterday getting nice rallies here and there, but definitely bouncing off its lows.

Frank Curzio: And also, look at companies, hiking dividends and buying back stock. Chevron, Under Armor, Wendy’s just this week, all made announcements. Whether buybacks, big buybacks, or they’re hiking their dividends. If you’re hiking your dividend that tells your business is good, and they’re expected to be good going forward. That’s a clear sign. If you’ve seen your stock down 20, 25% and they just hike the dividend. That’s a bigger buy signal than insider buying. Focus on those names. A lot of names doing that, right, especially in the energy space. So, that’s what I’m doing in our portfolios, my personal portfolio. And I suggest you do the same. So guys, that’s it for me. Questions, comments. I’m here, frank@curzioresearch.com. I really appreciate all the support, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Take care.

Announcer: Wall Street Unplugged is produced by Curzio Research, one of the most respected financial media companies in the industry. The information presented on Wall Street Unplugged is the opinion of its host and guests. You should not base your investment decision solely on this broadcast. Remember, it’s your money and your responsibility.