{"id":79570,"date":"2023-07-22T01:15:54","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T08:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=79570"},"modified":"2023-07-24T15:08:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T22:08:32","slug":"black-coffee-22-july-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id79570-black-coffee-22-july-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Soft Money, Hard Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

‘How did you go bankrupt?’ Bill asked.
\n‘Two ways,’ Mike said. ‘Gradually, then suddenly.’<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? It turns out that just seven stocks<\/a> making up $11 trillion in market capitalization – Tesla, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia – contributed 73% of returns of the S&P 500 in the first half of this year. Yep. And when you consider the S&P’s price-to-earnings ratio is nearly double<\/a> the long-term historical average of 13, only a fool<\/strong><\/em> would deny that the stock market is as robust and healthy as ever. Yessiree!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Despite Tesla’s huge valuation, the number of unsold electric vehicles<\/a> (EVs) at dealers last quarter tripled compared to the previous year. Maybe that’s because 21% of new vehicle shoppers now say they’re “very unlikely” to consider an EV, up from 17.8% in January. At the same time, the share of those who said they were “very likely” to buy an EV remained flat at 26%. Why? Lack of public charging infrastructure and high prices were the top concerns, followed by range anxiety, charging time, power outages and grid concerns. On the bright side for EV manufacturers: the spontaneous combustion issue didn’t make the list.<\/p>\n