[Video Games] The Rise and Fall and Rise Again and Fall Again of Lab Zero Games
The last drama post I did about Kuma Miko seemed to have gotten some praise, but some wished to see a Hobby Drama post that had consequences outside “people got angry over it”. So without any further delay, here’s a story about a studio that’s close to my heart, one that I’ve backed twice and seen die twice. Note: This is a fairly lengthy drama, so forgive me if I’m not able to provide all of my sources. Most of the front half of this comes from this video, which chronicles the first half of Lab Zero entirely in Russian. From Ahad to Mike Z Let’s start in the beginning. Alex Ahad is a freelance illustrator who, in between other work, had created character designs for a prospective fighting game. Mike Zaimont is a professional fighting game player best known for games like BlazBlue and Marvel Vs. Capcom, but since 1999 had been coding a custom engine in his free time, which he hoped could be used for a fighting game. The two met in 2008, and the two quickly realized that with each other’s help, their dream could come true. In 2010, the two joined the newly developed game studio Reverge Labs. Joining their team was Mariel “Kinuko” Cartwright, a friend of Ahad’s and daughter of a Disney animator who helped animate games such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Shantae; Peter Bartholow, who acted as CEO of Reverge as well as their PR arm; and an assortment of other animators and designers. Their goal: a fighting game in the style of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with hand-drawn animation that they called Skullgirls. After obtaining publishers in Autumn Games and Konami (at the time of development the Microsoft required indie devs to have a retail publisher in order to bring their games to Xbox Live Arcade), the team got to work on Skullgirls. Initial impressions were favorful - people liked Ahad’s unique character designs, the fluid animation, and the solid engine Mike Z built - but upon release, there were some concerns. The time and money needed to develop each character meant a starting roster of only eight characters, a far cry from other fighting games (the original MvC had 15 characters in 1998), and due to the team trying to get the game out, there was no in-game move list. Some were also concerned that the cast, consisting entirely of women, was too fanservice-filled, although Bartholow said that the characters were just attractive women who could fight as opposed to characters using their sexuality in battle (Ahad said that sex wasn’t his main focus, he just wanted to have monster girls fight each other). The team at Reverge Labs stressed that they would continue to update the game, with plans to add DLC if the game sold well enough. Good thing nothing could go wro- Everything goes wrong Alongside publishing Skullgirls, Autumn Games and Konami had previously published a karaoke game called Def Jam RapStar. Unfortunately, around March 2012, the time Skullgirls released, both parties were at the end of several lawsuits made against them - one argued that Autumn and Konami did not get the rights to some of the songs used in the game, while another claimed that the game was funded with a bank loan which Autumn Games was unable to pay back. The result of these costly lawsuits was that Autumn was unable to pay Reverge the money made from Skullgirls - this led to the entire Reverge team being laid off around July, and the future of the game in the air. And so, the team decided on a whim to reconvene as a new development studio, Lab Zero Games. At a fundraiser for breast cancer research which included a fighting game tournament, Mike Z revealed the first DLC fighter and promised that new information about her and the team would be posted soon. This would turn out to be an Indiegogo fundraising campaign that asked for $150,000 to develop the first DLC fighter, with more characters promised if people backed enough. In the end, $829,829 was raised in the campaign, enough to fund five DLC characters, a bevy of stages and voice packs, and other features. It was quickly becoming a cult classic. The Skullgirls Curse And so work on Skullgirls DLC was underway. However, a variety of events happened to befall Lab Zero during development, some causing controversy and others just annoying the team. Some dubbed this “The Skullgirls Curse”. So let’s go over some of them:
Paypal Woes: During the Indiegogo DLC campaign, Lab Zero announced that Ahad had created around 30 prospective designs for DLC characters, and that there would be a vote to see which characters would be the two “mystery characters” teased in the Indiegogo campaign. As you would guess, this caused the Skullgirls fanbase to get heated, to the point where some stressed that they would ask Indiegogo for their money back if their character didn’t win. PayPal, who managed the funds for this campaign, was concerned about these threats and put nearly all of the money on hold. Bartholow tried to negotiate with PayPal, and was eventually able to get the funding - once PayPal was given a hefty sum as collateral.
Bad Juju - If you notice on the list of prospective DLC characters, one character is Juju, a character who was designed by Ahad from a fan’s suggestion on a Whiteboard Wednesday art stream. Ahad seemed to like the idea of the character, and kept building her up until she became a legit character in the game. The original fan made a joke on Facebook that he’d like to be compensated for the design, which led Lab Zero to negotiate obtaining the character rights from him. They eventually worked out a contract that would give them the rights to the character, but only if the original fan didn’t reveal it until Lab Zero announced it themselves. The fan then posted about it on the Skullgirls forum the very next day, breaking the NDA immediately and making it so that Lab Zero couldn’t use the character at all.
Don’t be (Red) Cross with me: One of the characters included in the base game of Skullgirls is Valentine. As you can tell, the two biggest features of her character are her being a nurse and a ninja - as such, her costume is decorated with red crosses. This was upsetting to the real Red Cross, which fights hard to prevent its trademark from being associated with violence - as such, when they came to the Skullgirls publisher demanding a change, all red crosses in the game had to be changed to magenta.
#FucKonami: In November 2013, due to Konami barely helping at all with the publishing process for Skullgirls (they refused to greenlight any patch or DLC until Lab Zero tested it itself on their own time and money, they didn’t help with Microsoft’s certification process for Xbox, etc), Lab Zero dissolved their publishing agreement. This led to a massive snafu where, due to the dissolution, the original Skullgirls was taken down on consoles, and Lab Zero had to scramble to get a new publisher on the consoles side and then reupload the game as Skullgirls: Encore. It was a tangled web of issues which the above YouTube video relays, but required certification from both console storefronts and even the Japan storefront, as their publisher there was also coincidentally being dissolved at the same time without Lab Zero knowing.
EVO 2014: During one of the largest fighting game tournaments of 2014, Skullgirls was promised a space for airing their tournament stream by controller distributor Madcatz. Lab Zero and Autumn provided a pot for the tourney, and everything was smooth sailing - until a multitude of delays made it so that the entire time Skullgirls had for streaming was replaced with Tekken tournaments. By the time these issues were fixed, only the final four matches were able to be shown.
What’s the worst kind of ship? Censor-SHIP!: In April 2015, one of the patches of Skullgirls altered the animation of some characters, which according to Lab Zero themselves was because of their own artistic values (while they admitted that panty shots in a fighting game comprised entirely of girls is unavoidable, they didn’t want to go out of their way to show them). As you might expect, this led to a massive onslaught of negative Steam reviews and caustic tweets from people who abhor censorship of any kind. Funnily enough, this brigade started around October, six months after the changes were made, and only via word of mouth - people didn’t even notice there was a change until someone told them about it.
Backer characters: As part of their Indiegogo campaign, some of the highest-paying backers could have their original characters put in the background of some custom stages. Lab Zero warned these backers that these stages would be a casino and a ballroom, respectively, so their OCs should ideally be designed with a formal flair. Some backers did follow this unspoken rule - ZONE, a notoriously NSFW Flash animator who helped work on the DLC characters, made a perfectly formal look for his mascot Zone-tan. As for the others, well...
SonicFox: This isn’t included in the compilation video mentioned above as this occurred way after all the initial Skullgirls drama. Basically, SonicFox is a five-time EVO champion and one of the best Skullgirls players in the world. In May 2020, after Skullgirls was mostly complete, they were given a cameo in Skullgirls’ training stage. Of note is that SonicFox is black, non-binary, and a furry, and the character added to the game was their fursona, who has a trans rights flag in the inside of their jacket you can only see for like one frame. People reacted as you would expect. Also, one of the original backers requested to change their character as they were now transitioning, which didn’t get as much flak, so that’s nice I guess.
So as you can see, Skullgirls had a menagerie of problems and issues during its dev time. However, their Skullgirls curse seemed to have faded away, as they had a new game in store. If I was Indivisible Indivisible was a new project of Lab Zero, announced in 2015 as Skullgirls DLC production was nearing an end. Billed as a platformer RPG similar to games like Valkyrie Profile, it would tell the story of Ajna, a young girl whose town is stricken by tragedy and she finds out that she’s a portion of the god of creation, who has grown discontent with the world and wishes to remake it anew. Its Indiegogo campaign focused on Incarnations, party members who came from a variety of cultures, religions, and demographics not usually represented in popular culture. And as you can see by the fact that it got over two million dollars in funding, people were excited to see what Lab Zero could do. They even got enough funding to get Studio Trigger, of anime fame, to create the opening for the game. Of course, it wouldn’t be Lab Zero without the occasional issue here and there. As shown above, some Incarnations were changed or scrapped during development, which irked some who backed because of that character specifically (not naming any names, but look in the incarnation list and see if you notice any). Backer characters were included again, and although there were more places to add them so they didn’t look out of place, you still had the occasional few that did. Critics liked the art and presentation of the game, but disliked some gameplay issues: the second half of the game became a cakewalk once you progressed far enough, it was a bit of a pain to go from one end of the map to another, especially for side quests, and a bunch of party members simply weren’t complete. Most egregiously of all, the Nintendo Switch version of the game was ported by a different company and released before Lab Zero was even aware of it - which forced them to scramble again to patch it up so it was on par with other consoles. Still, it was a better situation they were in than when Skullgirls started. They had a legit publisher in 505 Games, people were satisfied with the base game, and Mike Z mentioned how the base game would continue to be refined with gameplay changes, small additions, and guest incarnations from other indie games.NBC even announced that Indivisible would be adapted into a television program for their Peacock streaming service. Things were looking up for Lab Zero. Everything goes wrong... AGAIN During the production of Indivisible, Alex Ahad was let go by Lab Zero. Not much is mentioned about it except that he was growing increasingly hostile, making it difficult to work with him, and his art was not meeting the standards for the game. He left, tried to sue Lab Zero, and eventually agreed to a sizable settlement. Mariel became the lead artistic director in his stead, and the art team had to be rearranged to compensate. Now, as Lab Zero was preparing to transition from being employee-owned, Mike Z was made the temporary head of the studio. In June of 2020, Mike Z did an “I can’t breathe” joke during a Skullgirls livestream just days after George Floyd’s death - he later apologized for this, claiming he was trying to bring attention to the issue. Soon, more peopleprovided proof that Mike Z has had a history of sexual harassment. Kinuko chimes in as well, noting that while she tolerated inappropriate behavior for years, when she talked to Mike Z about it, he blamed her for his actions. She talked with others in the team, who came to the conclusion that Zaimont had treated all of them like this. Some Lab Zero employees resigned on their own, while others pushed for Zaimont to resign. However, as Mike was still head of the studio, he dissolved the studio board and laid off the rest of the staff. So where does that leave everyone?
Ahad is still doing art on his own, and gets by with commissions and his Patreon.
Kinuko, as well as the majority of Lab Zero, created a new studio called Future Club, which has promised to create new titles with the same art style they refined from Skullgirls and Indivisible.
Autumn Games still own the rights to Skullgirls, and with the help of some former Lab Zero devs, created a mobile version of the game. It’s surprisingly not bad, although it’s of course stuffed with microtransactions. However, they’ve apparently made enough to fund a completely new character for the game for both the mobile and console/PC versions.
After everything with Mike Z, 505 games put out a statement which signaled the end of all development of the game, leaving it unfinished. Mike Z has been suspended from Skullgirls streams and the like, making his future in the gaming world unclear.
There’s probably something I’ve missed in all of this, but yep. I backed them twice, both for Skullgirls and Indivisible. I don’t regret it, and I’m looking forward to whatever Future Club does, but I won’t lie - I’ll always miss what could have been.
Peacock Patricia "Peacock" Watson Gallery | Quotes | Move List Peacock action portrait by oh8-d2qigab.jpg Murder-Go-Round Information Peacock (JP: ピーコック) was originally a human girl by the name of Patricia Watson who was turned into an Anti-skullgirl biomechanical weapon by Dr. Avian. Her arsenal consists of the Argus System, a synthetic Parasite, and her "gang", which includes the Avery Unit, Andy Anvil, Tommy Ten-Tons, George Bomb, and Lonesome Lenny. General Information Peacock is one of the original eight playable characters in Skullgirls, standing out as having the most (unique) assist characters, and was among the first characters ever conceived by Alex Ahad. Her backstory was revealed in detail in the "Meaner. Better. Faster. Stronger" Origin Story in Skullgirls Mobile. Her homestage is Lab 8. Peacock is capable of aging. Some of her parts may need to be re-fitted because of this. Peacock took up smoking after her transformation. They are imaginary cigars that are created in a similar manner to her other summons. Alex Ahad has stated that Peacock will never stop believing in imaginary friends. Peacock's favorite television program is "Annie: Girl of the Stars". She is shown to own merchandise from the show as she is seen wearing Sagan slippers while in her sleeping attire. Personality Nothing sates Peacock's boredom more than a good cartoon and laying waste to anyone or anything in her sight. Brash, combative, and impatient, Peacock is easily the most outspoken and infamous member of the Anti-Skullgirl Labs, as well as the most prominent. Peacock is also, for the most part, optimistic and light-hearted, and considers imminent threats more of invitations to brawl. Her tendency toward violence is a reflection of both her tragic past and near-death experience as well as the cartoons she cherishes. Despite having a damaged psyche, Peacock does not attack people out of sheer randomness or without provocation. Although rude and impersonal to fellow ASG Lab 8 members (and most people in general) superficially, Peacock still very much considers them family, and will go to certain lengths to protect them from harm (or in the case of her and Big Band's story mode, further harm). Dr. Avian was particularly close to Peacock, and his death sent her into an outrage to search for his murderer. None, however, are closer to Peacock than Marie Korbel, her one true friend from her past and the Skullgirl she was tasked to destroy. In the end, she disposes of Marie as she was instructed, but personally sees to it that Marie's wish to end the Medici Mafia is carried out. Character Basis Origin Peacock's dialogue and animations reference multiple cartoon eras, but chiefly feature 40's-50's era cartoon violence and slapstick. Name Her true name is Patricia Watson, while she herself came up with Peacock. The word "peacock" is the more commonly known name of the peafowl, but is actually the term for the male bird. The name Patricia is derived from the Latin word "patrician" and means "noble". Watson is a patronymic surname meaning "son of Walter". It should be noted that Walter means "ruler of the army", which accurately describes her relationship with her gang. Being once close friends, Marie continues to address her as Patricia. Her gang typically refer to her as "boss". Design Her natural eye color used to be green before they were gouged out by slave traders. The Argus System is Peacock's only means of sight, as the ones on her face are actually empty eye-sockets. The holes left are also a visual pun: Due to her design being based on American cartoons, her eye-sockets could easily be interpreted as though they are natural eyes; drawn in the style of a 1930's cartoon character. The joke is how similar styles of drawing can offer different perceptions on how something looks. Her references are similar to the 30's such as Mickey Mouse. Her cartoon revolver bears resemblance to the Smith & Wesson Model 29, a .44 Magnum revolver made famous by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. In older design concepts, Peacock was intended to be a more "demented type" character, originally being envisioned as a scarred, sociopathic individual due to her experience as a slave. At one point, she was considered to be a boss alongside Marie. Her design was changed to be more 'cartoony' and lighthearted. These design documents also included references to her abilities being part magic with spells being carved onto her bones. Story Patricia once lived with Marie in an orphanage, which was originally a nobleman's house, in Rommelgrad. Having to make do with what was available, both girls used to dress in maid outfits that they found within the house. At some point, they were captured by slave traders, but because Patricia was too defiant to be a slave, she was mutilated as an example to the others: Her eyes were gouged out, and she was also maimed. Patricia before peacock.png Patricia as a patient at Lab 8 One year prior to the events of Skullgirls, Lab 8 teamed up with Lab 0 and the Last Peacock Hooded.png Patricia before becoming Peacock Hope to infiltrate the Medici warehouse said to be containing Rommelgrad's refugees. Although Valentine and the rest of her gang safely rescued the refugees, there was very little Valentine could do to repair the damage done to Patricia's body and was even willing to abandon her as a casualty of war. Big Band, however, believed that Dr. Avian would be of help and took the girl back to the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. The doctor informed him that Patricia would adapt well to her new eyes and that she would be walking in no time. Patricia became insistent on becoming an ASG soldier after the impression left on her by Lab 8's team. Despite that, Avian was wary about giving her too much power, while admitting her compatibility with the Avery Unit is strong. After some tests, Patricia's Argus System and Avery Unit were completely installed, and the combination proved to make her more powerful than the scientists had anticipated. Instead of being able to bend only space, Patricia could also bend other aspects of reality, spawning Tommy and Andy during her training. Eager to sign up for Lab 8's team, she assigned herself the name "Peacock". She later vanished into the city with her gang, causing Lab 8's crew to worry immensely about her safety and condition after her surgery, and Stanley insisted that Big Band find her as soon as possible. Following her trail, Big Band stumbled upon an ice cream stand from which Peacock and her gang ate all of the ice cream except for Rocky Road. He considered this a clue, but later assumes that she was merely stress eating due to all the strange new occurrences happening to her all at once. He finally arrived at a movie theater, where he found the "clown car" that Peacock was said to have driven away in. As the vehicle appeared damaged, he burst into the theatre, assuming that the Medici may have returned for her. Peacock is revealed to be perfectly fine, having gone around the town because she felt she needed a break from the labs. The two begin to hit it off; although Big Band tells her she could have taken a break without causing property damage, they begin to connect through what they like most in a movie. Ending: After defeating the Skullgirl, which turns out to be her best friend Marie, Peacock destroys the Skull Heart, though the skull heart claimed her act to be "foolish" and that this will "not be over". She and Marie have a friendly conversation before Marie disappears from the world, and Peacock vows to take revenge on the people who made both their lives miserable. She is seen confronting the true head of the Medici family and his own secret weapon (Black Dahlia) and the two duke it out. Abilities & Fighting Style With Peacock's physics-bending arsenal, nothing is sacred. She is a kind of character that will exploit any opportunity to its maximum and get away with it. No enemies of hers last long against her sharp eyes and sharper gun...blades. Her opponents last even shorter against her array of flower pots, baseballs, bowling balls, combustible toy cars, and countless other hazards that fill the air. Peacock never plays fairly, and isn't afraid to call in her goons to fight with her. In the rare occasions when Peacock can't topple her opponent, she can simply stall the battle until the timer runs out. The Avery Unit has the power to “distort” which is a side effect of Peacock’s insanity. She can’t create things out of thin air, but rather modify Lab 8’s range of specialized arsenal. There are certain limits and her summons are only temporary. Her power is still growing so she may be able to summon more things in the future. This is suggested in Big Band's story mode, were he warns Peacock that she 'ain't ready' yet and has to be taught her 'limitations the hard way', but understands her potential in the future by saying 'we're gonna need those girls if we don't want to lose the last of the light'. Trailer Skullgirls Introducing Peacock!Skullgirls Introducing Peacock! Color Palettes Peacock's Color Palettes.png Peacockcolors23-25.png "Rerun" - Default colors "Inkling" - Original colors "Untouchable" - Alucard (Hellsing) "Sketchy" - Original colors Original colors "Pea Shooter" - Lucky the Leprechaun (Lucky Charms cereal) "Dream Catcher" - Peacock's story mode intro pajamas "That's All Folks!" - Black-and-white cartoons "Freeze Frame" - Cirno (Touhou) Original colors Milk-Chan (Super Milk-Chan) Original colors Easy Default colors Hsien-Ko Original colors "Ultraviolent" - The Warden (Superjail) Inspector Gadget (Inspector Gadget) Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) Raspberyl (Disgaea series) - Indiegogo backer color ”Mean One” - The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) Princess Daisy (Super Mario series) Indian peafowl - Indiegogo backer color "Wildcard" - The Joker (DC Comics) - Indiegogo backer color Nonon Jakuzure (Kill la Kill) Annie Cuphead (Cuphead) Woody (Toy Story) Trivia Peacock's Ant Wasted move (c.MK) does not kill the ant, but rather the beam from the magnifying glass teleports it back to a safe area. In addition, all ants (if Peacock summons multiple through cancelling the move repeatedly) are the same ant, summoned from alternate universes. People who donated $50 to the Skullgirls Evo 2013 Breast Cancer Donation Drive could request a personalized voice mail message from one of the game's voice actors. Peacock's voice actress was requested to sing "Yakko's World" from the cartoon show Animaniacs and two versions of this cover exist, the original with the voice unmodified and the Lab Zero edit which has the voice modified to match the filter Peacock's voice has in-game.[1] The name of Peacock's "Robo With a Shotgun" move is a reference to the 2011 film "Hobo With a Shotgun," which in turn is based on a fake trailer in the intermission of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature film Grindhouse. In an unused alternate ending, Peacock decides to "wish for something cool" and proceeds to make numerous outrageous wishes (such as turning the world's oxygen into chocolate), which the Skull Heart is unable to fulfill. Comically frustrated, she begins questioning its legend, and the Skull Heart laments that, in the thousands of years it has been doing its work, Peacock is the worst wisher it has met.[2] Peacock originally had an aerial move where she would fire one of her eyes off her Argus arms in a similar fashion to a bow and arrow. This move was dropped for being useless.[3] Peacocks's alternate title, The Murder-go-Round (and the full phrase from her character poster, "The 'Murder-go-Round' Broke Down") is a reference to the Looney Tunes theme song, from 1937 to 1969, known officially as "The Merry-go-Round Broke Down", reflecting her vintage cartoon theme.[4] Her Shadow of Impending Doom Level 3 - Avery drop is a reference to DIO's 'Road Roller Da!' super move from the 1998 arcade game JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. References ↑ Original Post of the Song Cover & Later Post with the Lab Zero Edit ↑ Alternate Unused Story Endings in the Game Data ↑ Skullgirls E3 2011 Peacock gameplay revealed - YouTube ↑ Wikipedia article v • d • e Skullgirls Games Main Editions Skullgirls • Skullgirls Encore • Skullgirls 2nd Encore Spin-offs Skullgirls Mobile Characters Main Cast Filia (Samson) • Cerebella • Peacock (Avery) • Parasoul • Ms. Fortune • Painwheel • Valentine • Double DLC Squigly (Leviathan) • Big Band • Fukua • Eliza (Sekhmet) • Beowulf • Robo-Fortune • Annie Other Adam • Aeon • Albus • Andy Anvil • Beatrix • Black Dahlia • Brain Drain • Delilah • Dr. Avian • Dr. Geiger • Feng • George Bomb • Grendel • Hive • Horace • Hubrecht • Ileum • Irvin • Isaac • King Franz • Lawrence • Leduc • Lonesome Lenny • Lorenzo • Marie • Minette • Molly • Mother • Mrs. Victoria (D. Violet) • Ottomo • Panzerfaust • Queen Nancy • Rachel Wong • Regina • Riccardo • Roberto • Roxie • Scythana • Selene • Stanley • Taliesin • Tommy Ten-Tons • Umbrella • Venus • Vitale • Yu-Wan • Misc. Archives Terminology Skullgirl • Skull Heart • Parasite • Living Weapon • Medici Mafia • Anti-Skullgirl Labs • Black Egrets • Cirque des Cartes • Fishbone Gang • The Last Hope • The Trinity Stages Streets of New Meridian • River King Casino • Medici Tower • New Meridian Rooftops • Rooftops Assault • NMO Arena | (Empty) • Bath of Tefnut | (Sekhmet) • Maplecrest • Nightmare Crest • Grand Cathedral | (Empty) • Final Atrium • Gehenna • Under the Bridge • Meridian Area Rapid Transit • Little Innsmouth | (Night) • Lab 8 | (Empty) • Glass Canopy • Class Notes • Sound Stage 15 Misc. System HUD • Controls • Basic Mechanics • Advanced Mechanics Extras Art Gallery • Marie 300% • The Typing of the Skullgirls Music Skullgirls Original Soundtrack • Skullgirls Original Soundtrack PLUS • Skullgirls Soundtrack Listing • In a Moment's Time • Hitomi No Kioku Character Quotes • Scripts • Galleries • Relationships • Move Lists Other Media SkullgirlS • Skullgals • Keep Skullgirls Growing! • Digital Art Compendium
With the sudden meteor crash in Hub City, the world had turned to chaos. A rock-like, nine-foot behemoth, Doomsday, had torn his way through the United States and showed no signs of stopping, with even the collective efforts of Earth’s heroes providing little to no resistance. And so, as Doomsday’s rampage shook the very foundations of New York City, pushing into Blüdhaven, Slade Wilson was forced to act prematurely. Even with his enhanced mental and physical aptitude, Slade knew he’d provide little value to the effort against the creature. No, that wasn’t Slade’s plan at all. While heroes tossed Doomsday back and forth on street level, surging crowds of civilians pushed and clamoured, desperately trying to escape the teetering skyscrapers that lined the streets. Hospitals were no exception. But while others clawed and shoved and trampled to make their way out of the hospital, Slade Wilson charged in, his short white hair under a beige fedora, a small rucksack slung over his shoulder. Slade reached the fifth floor, having launched up the back stairwell, to find the level almost desolate, save for the various patients abandoned by the staff, left to die in their respective wards. It was tragic, but - again - not why Slade was here. Barrelling past, Slade came to a door. Locked. Unlocked following one well-placed shot from his handgun. Pushing the door open, he came face-to-face once more with Rose, his teenage daughter. “Dad!?” she exclaimed. Struggling as she lay helplessly in her isolated bed, her visage lit up in terror. “Sweetie, we need to run.” Slade coughed, pulling a baseball cap over his head from inside of his rucksack and moving over to lift Rose from the bed. Rose scurried back best she could, as her legs remained limp. She straightened her back. During Slade’s encounter with Superman, Rose had suffered injuries leaving her with gruesome nerve damage. She couldn’t just get up and run away, no matter how frustrated she grew. She furrowed her brow, “How can I trust you?” “I’m your father, Rose,” Slade explained, “I’m the only family you have left.” “I…” “And I also have a solution to your injuries. Your nerve damage.” Rose looked at her father in disbelief. What could he possibly be talking about. “Pumping through my veins is the sole remains of the Veritas serum, the long-forgotten science that granted me my enhanced capabilities.” Slade explained, “We can isolate the serum from my blood plasma and infuse it into you. Then your neurons will regenerate a such a rate you’ll be able to bounce and spring and run all you like.” Rose swallowed. Her mother was dead. Slade was all she had. Without this serum she might never walk again. The room began once more to rumble and shake. But none of that would matter if she died trapped in the hospital.
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Atop the New York County Supreme Court, the Dark Knight and his former-apprentice watched as their plan fell to pieces. The experimental teleporter Batman had employed to attempt to shift Doomsday outside of Earth’s atmosphere had failed. While it had succeeded in leeching all the power from the surrounding few city blocks, the teleport could simply not muster enough force to drag the stubborn giant into its bounds, instead releasing the masses of energy it had accumulated with a rapid, vicious shockwave. It wasn’t hard, even from so high up, to make out the dancing colours of their allies’ outfits as they fought and struggled and failed to contain the frenzying monster, Doomsday. He had the strength of Wonder Woman, the durability of Superman and the reaction speed of The Flash. He was everything it would take to destroy the Justice League, and from above it was clear that it was becoming increasingly likely that Doomsday would accomplish that and much more. As Batman grimaced at his unsuccessful trap, Dick picked out his friends - the Teen Titans - from the mayhem. Donna and her counterpart Wonder Woman continually risked damage and moved in close, Donna carving into Doomsday with her enchanted blade, while Diana brought precision blows to potential pressure points. Shifting and leaping back and forth in synchrony, the two pulled off ludicrous manoeuvres they had long since forgotten they know how to do, as if from muscle memory. Doomsday clawed out at the two Amazons, leaving a gap for Cyborg’s lasers to scorch the granite hide of the towering monster. Vic barely left a mark but caused Doomsday to cry out in pain. This left enough of an opening for Supergirl - the honorary Titan - to rocket in. Kara Zor-El had just returned from dropping Batman’s newest acolyte, Robin, somewhere safe after he was almost obliterated by Doomsday’s retaliation. Wasting no time, she delivered a stern right hook to the side of Doomsday’s face, causing him to stagger and Kara to unwittingly slash her knuckles against the sharp, bony, beard-like projections that emerged from his jawline. The hulking Doomsday stumbled, struggling to right his own incredible weight, before digging his heels into the asphalt below. The creature was forced to a stop, and quakes rang out for miles because of it. With a roar, Doomsday swung back around, lifting the remains of a burnt out SUV from the ground and launching it toward Supergirl at full pelt. Kara smiled, illuminating her eyes in red and unleashing a narrow beam of heat vision to dissect the airborne vehicle, leaving both halves to fall limply either side of her. This seemed to infuriate Doomsday even more. He thrashed out, plucking Donna Troy out of the air, mid-downward slash. Electing not to play with his food, Doomsday used Donna as a weapon (quite literally), tossing her to collide with Vic’s metal legs, leaving them both in a pile on the ground. During all of this, in his fear, Beast Boy played it smart. Using his various avian forms, Gar soared through the Blüdhaven streets, locating injured civilians before cautiously guiding them to safety in the form of a gentle gorilla. Yet despite falling into their roles naturally, the Teen Titans - along with their allies from the Justice League - continued to sustain injuries. Their pain cried out to Dick, who itched to jump into the fray. His eyes followed Vic especially, his heart growing heavy. What he’d learned from the Hub City meteor crash, Dick couldn’t share with him. Not in the middle of such a crisis. “He’s smart,” spoke Batman, breaking the duo’s broody silence. “Excuse me?” Dick asked. “Beast Boy. He understands he can’t cut it against a brute that can, and continues to gore Superman. He applies himself elsewhere.” “What are you saying?” “I understand your dynamic with your team better than anyone,” Batman explained, the carnage still unfolding below, “You’re leagues ahead of them in experience, but in lacking the gifts your allies boast, you feel like you have more to prove.” “Look, you must have something else prepared!” Dick exclaimed, “Something to even out the playing field?” “Like what? Some Bat-mech-suit powered by glowing gemstones?” Batman retorted, “Don’t be ridiculous.” Beat. Bruce grabbed Dick and pulled him to face his way, forcing his gaze away from the conflict. “Guile and gadgetry won’t save you against a creature like Doomsday.” “Bruce, I’m not useless—” “We use our guile to pick our battles,” Bruce didn’t break eye contact for a moment, “Not running away from a threat, but running toward another problem requiring a solution.” “Like what?”
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
In a formation that was most definitely rehearsed, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter swooped into view from behind the bank building. First went the Martian, who forced Doomsday’s attention onto himself with physic manipulation. While Diana applied all her might in heaving the golden lasso that encircled the beast, Doomsday lurched forward to choke the not-so-little green man out of the air, only for his brutish fist to fall right through him, the Martian shifting his density in order to phase. Then, in Doomsday’s confusion, the Lantern Hal Jordan drove a construct the form of a metal rod through the shoulder of the arm still extended from his last attack. Doomsday recoiled violently, inadvertently pulling free from Wonder Woman’s lasso, and reached to extract the sharp implement, only to find the green rod had already dematerialised. Not that he had the intelligence to understand what that meant. “Damn,” Vic groaned pulling himself up and out from under Donna, “We can’t even make a dent in this guy!” “No,” someone replied. Vic looked up to find Superman helping Donna to her feet, “We’ve made plenty of dents. He’s just tough enough to shrug ‘em off..” Then with a burst of air, Superman jetted up, up and towards Doomsday, ready to try another punch that would almost certainly prove useless. But his words resonated with Vic. “Just like Superman.” Vic came to a sudden realisation. Across the desolated street, he hollered the nearest hero, who just happened to be a hovering Girl of Steel. “You and Supes got super listening, right?” “Well it’s more like super hearing but—” “Well you won’t wanna hear this.” Vic fired another scorching beam at Doomsday, demanding his attention, “You listening?!” Raising his right arm, Cyborg shifted his laser blaster into a larger, more concave instrument. Charging in recklessly, he aimed his sonic cannon directly for Doomsday’s head and let loose a monstrously powerful sonic pulse. The attack rocked the unprepared Superman to the ground as he just escaped the full blast, but with him fell Doomsday. The grey beast crawled along the asphalt, pounding at his own head in attempt to block out the rupturing sound waves Cyborg concentrated his way. Heroes looked on in awe, as someone finally brought Doomsday to his knees. “That’s right, bitch,” Vic spat, his sonic cannon still blaring. But it didn’t last. Almost as if a switch flipped, Doomsday’s cries stopped. With a single, high-speed shift, Doomsday collided with Vic, sending him hurtling off, crashing through the walls of the nearby apartments - emptied by his teammates - before continuing on through the walls of the multi-storey casino a block behind.
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
A rumble permeated through the air as Cyborg’s Prometheum frame was dashed through the foot of Blüd’s hottest haunt, the Whaler’s Supercasino. The workmanship was shoddy, likely performed by cheap cowboys, so it only took Vic taking out a single pillar for the entire building to destabilise. From their perch the Dynamic Duo watched the dust begin the rise and the debris begin to fall. Within seconds, they bounced into action. Batman retrieved his grapnel gun - Barbara’s design - and fired, launching himself into the air alongside a somersaulting Nightwing. “Manhunter, tell me the evacuation effort’s reached Whaler’s casino.” “Of course, Batman,” J’onzz responded, “Team Flash swept through. They’re already blocks away from the current battleground.” “Good.” “But, Batman?” a different, more hurried voice interrupted. Watchtower, the League’s resident hacker. “You need to get down there fast. Flash and co. got everyone out of the casino, but the parademics and the SCU? They’re still down there.”
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
On the ground, Superman wrenched a steel telephone booth from the ground and lifted it overhead. They were an artefact quite common in the neon-vintage Blüdhaven, an anachronism stew of a town, and one would do fine enough as a projectile. Or so thought Superman as he crashed the steel cage down on the giant grey gladiator. As predicted, the phone booth crunched and deformed against his mighty skin, but the force applied by the Kryptonian, so quickly, was more than enough to begin to drive Doomsday down into the road, cracking it slightly. Yet before Doomsday could retaliate, he was already caught in the heroes’ next attack. A celadon railroad laying itself towards and beneath him, Doomsday was blinded by the scorching lights that gave way to an emerald freight train on a collision course. Atop the train stood a rider. Fierce. Determined. Diana of Themyscira. With a green flash, the locomotive exploded against the creature, with Wonder Woman defying gravity as she leapt from atop, slamming her bracelets together while still airborne to dig the bloodied and bruised Doomsday deeping into the ground. While Diana touched down effortlessly, the dust cleared to reveal the monster considerably worse for wear. Yet he didn’t seem any less determined in spite of it. “Now!” cried Donna Troy, revealing herself soaring overhead, with the assistance of Supergirl, cape billowing in the wind. That same moment, Kara released Donna, leaving her to fall several feet, preparing for her attack. Yet Doomsday remained entirely disinterested in the black-clad warrior as he reached for the debris from fallen buildings he found at his feet. As Donna raked her blade across the behemoth’s spiked back, Doomsday leapt into the air with incredible height. Then at the height of his jump, Doomsday threw both arms downward, raining rock and brick down from above. Donna growled to herself. This was getting needlessly messy, and they were seemingly getting nowhere. As if a meteor had hit the earth once more, Doomsday collided with the ground several metres away. But the Justice League wouldn’t give him a second’s leeway, with Donna and Kara close behind them. His momentum still carrying him, Doomsday padded along the ground on all fours, raking up the road as he ground to a stop. A rapidfire laser assault from Green Lantern nicked uselessly again his hide, making him snarl. He crashed his fists against the ground simultaneously, letting forth something of a seismic wave, plenty to knock both of the grounded Amazon’s off their feet. “Wow! He really is ugly!” a voice heckled from behind. While Doomsday tried to keep pace with the rapidly phase-shifting Manhunter, and while the Kryptonian cousins continued to lay on heavy blows, Donna peered around the mayhem to the source of the cry. A squad of mostly-average-looking rogues walking right to their deaths. Towards the disaster area walked a greasy man in a long blue coat; a small, fierce-looking woman in a white and red mask; and a wide, beastly, topless man, covered head-to-toe in green scales. Leading them? Some definitely-average-looking soldier, brandishing a definitely-not-average RPG launcher. “Boomerang, see if you can find and fish out our cyborg friend. Croc, ready for manoeuvre.” Colonel Rick Flagg readied the rocket launcher on his shoulder, relaying his order to his unflinching subordinates, “And Katana? Stay sharp.” Flagg pulled the trigger, unleashing what he thought was hell upon Doomsday and his metahuman entourage. Superman grimaced on impact, unharmed - much like Doomsday - but sour at the foolish soldier’s attempt at heroism. “Welp,” Flagg looked to Katana, prompting her so unsheath her singing, ornate sword, “That’s why we have you.” “Rick Flagg?!” Hal Jordan called, “You need to get out of here. You’re no match!” But Katana had her orders, already sprinting towards the stony foe. Just as rehearsed, Killer Croc scooped Katana up, swinging her violently around like a hammer thrower before letting go, hurtling the fearless samurai forward. In her hands, Tatsu Yamashiro clutched the Soultaker, an ancient weapon forged by Muramasa in the 14th Century. Said to collect the souls of those it felled, this weapon could have turned the tides of the battle. It could have, if Doomsday hadn’t swatted her out of the air. Katana came to rest beside Donna, broken and writhing. Donna moved to help, or perhaps take up the legendary blade herself. But before she could, the injured samurai was whisked away by the red blur of a conveniently-timed speedster. Flagg blinked twice, while Croc showed no such hesitation. Yet Doomsday dwarfed even Waylon Jones, human-crocodile genetic hybrid, snatching him off of his feet and using his heavy body as a weapon. Practising his shot put, Doomsday dashed forward and released Killer Croc. Sweat poured off of Donna, her red blood drying and turning to pewter clay. She could feel her body begin to give way under the weight of her immensely heavy battle armour. All this, she processed in bullet time, watching the reptilian man soar through the air on a collision course towards the equally wary but ultimately superior Amazon warrior. Donna braced herself and dashed, trading fates with her older sister and allowing the airborne Croc to clobber her against a wall.
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
A woman in a hi-vis jacket struggled in attempt to drag an injured man to safety. Rubble fell from above towards the stationary ambulances and the brave souls that poured in and out of them, narrowly missing the civilians as if they were navigating a minefield. But before falling debris could strike the daring paramedic, Batman leapt in, tackling her to safety, with Nightwing scooping up the wounded man mid-pounce. A stone gargoyle smashed to dust on the sidewalk as the crusaders pulled both civilians out of harm’s way. “Where’s everyone els—” Dick was cut off by the cries of a man along the street, caught beneath a steel beam, among other debris. Making knowing eye contact with his mentor, Dick took off towards the man, leaving the paramedic and her friend in the loving care of the Dark Knight. Dick looked upon the distressed businessman, steel weighing heavy across his midsection. His eyes were wide and wild, his face gaunt as he flinched at the sight of the masked vigilante. “Thank God!” he squealed, “I thought you were the Bat. Please just get me outta here.” Nightwing nodded and reached down for the beam, wasting no time. Wrapping his gloved hands around the cold metal, Dick surprised himself as his adrenaline-enhanced strength was more than enough to heave and lift the two-hundred kilo mass enough to begin to pull the man free. But in doing so, Dick had unwittingly dislodged some stone partway up the building, the entire mass highly unstable. Stuck pulling the man out from under the beam, Nightwing was at the mercy of the gods, until - in a flash - both Dick and the man found themselves back beside Batman, the once-trapped businessman jumping at the sight of him. Dick took a deep breath and looked upon his saviour. In what looked like improved outfit consisting of red and yellow coloured military armour, a young red-haired speedster stood, looking exasperated. “Hey… name’s… Kid Flash... You know, you should really be more aware of your surroundings.” Kid Flash grinned, before catching eyes with the Batman. Bolting upright, he took a gulp of air and smiled, “Well… Gotta motor!” And a second later he was gone. “That was reckless,” Batman said. “I know,” Dick conceded, “But you would have done the same thing.” Batman nodded, with a knowing smirk. Taking another deep breath of his own, Dick activated his communicator. “Watchtower, is the area clear?” “Yes, Nightwing. You’re clear to—” In Dick’s ear, Chloe Sullivan’s voice was cut off suddenly by a harsh siren, blaring back and forth between C sharp and D. Knowing what the personalised alarm meant instantly, Dick’s eyes shot open and the surrounding world began to grow quiet. “What is it?” Batman barked, not hearing the alarm in his own ear piece. Dick looked Bruce dead in the eye, as if his world was falling apart. It was urgent. “It’s a distress message,” Dick replied, his heart heavy, “From Babs.” Beat. “‘It’s Jason. Come Alone.’” “Go.” Bruce didn’t entertain keeping him for another moment. “But what about you?” “I’ll help.” A third voice interjected, demanding both men’s attention. Dick looked to the source, and immediately began to grind his teeth. There was the face of the man that had put Barbara Gordon in a wheelchair many months ago. Floyd Lawton. Deadshot. But as Dick finally came face-to-face with the man who had blown his life open, driving a rift between not only him and Babs, but him and Jason, a strange serenity overtook him. He looked at Lawton with new eyes, and instead saw the face of a man who carried the guilt of what he’d done with him as his ball and chain. He saw a man willing to lend a hand so that Dick could save the woman he loved. And so Dick Grayson, leader of the Teen Titans, took off, abandoning the battlefield.
Doomsday’s rampage continues today in Steel #9 And follow Nightwing in Oracle #2
Wall Street Week Ahead for the trading week beginning September 7th, 2020
Good Saturday morning to all of you here on stocks. I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and is ready for the new trading week ahead. Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning September 7th, 2020.
The stock market shakeout is likely not over yet, even with Friday’s comeback - (Source)
The tech wreck is probably not over, despite Friday’s market comeback. Analysts expect the shakeout in stocks to continue after the long Labor Day weekend, especially in technology names and the Nasdaq, areas of the market that notched the sharpest gains. After August’s 7% gain in the S&P 500, stocks started September strong, and then just as quickly rolled over. The Nasdaq lost 5% Thursday and was down sharply Friday but pared losses to decline 1.5%. The S&P 500 was down about 2.3% for the week, even after a 3.5% loss Thursday. “I think this is a good wake-up call and a reminder that there are risks out there,” said Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. “In August, we did take a little bit off the table.” Analysts expect the week ahead to be busy, with holidays ending and more market pros back at their desks. There is some economic data, most importantly Friday’s consumer price index. The reading on consumer inflation is expected to show little change in core inflation with forecasts for a gain of just 0.2% in August, or 1.6% year over year.
Froth blowing off
The stock sell-off came as market pros were becoming increasingly wary of froth in the market, particularly in tech and momentum names. On Friday, it was revealed that SoftBank was behind billions in large options bets on individual tech stocks, like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Tesla. News reports said the trades were made over the past month, and SoftBank had been building unusually large positions in call options, or those that bet the prices of underlying stocks would rise. One analyst said the fact that SoftBank was “gunning the market” makes him worry that there is more selling to come in Nasdaq names. As SoftBank bought call options, the sellers had to buy stocks, conceivably driving up prices in a trading feedback loop. “It’s just a trip to the casino,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “If they’re supposed to be an investment company taking a long-term horizon, then trying to juice your short-term return through options, you’ve turned into a hedge fund.” JPMorgan strategists said they expect the market to recover gradually, but there are still presidential election uncertainties looming in the next couple of months. “The significant reduction in previously extreme long positions in Nasdaq by momentum traders should allow the equity market to recover over the coming weeks, as happened after the June 11th correction,” noted JPMorgan analysts. “But a repeat of the strong gains seen during July and August is less likely over the next two months.” Grohowski said there could be more selling in the tech and internet companies, or those that were viewed did well as workers stayed home and the economy was shutdown. “It’s not the start of a big lasting correction, but a forewarning the next couple of weeks and months are going to be choppy. I think it’s going to be a sideways kind of market,” Grohowski said. He added the market could be choppy in the week ahead. “We’re a little more cautious, not to mention the market is trading at 23 times our earnings estimates for 2021,” said Grohowski. He said the fact there is about $4.5 trillion in money market funds is a bullish signm since that money could find its way into the stock market. Julian Emanuel, head of equities and derivatives strategy at BTIG, said the S&P 500 could dip to its 200-day moving average, or 3,092, before rebounding, which would be about a 15% move in total. “I don’t think the sell-off is over. Nasdaq is up 83%s since March 23, the S&P is up 63%,” said Emanuel.
This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:
In the last 21 years, only Russell 2000 has registered an average gain of 0.16% on the Tuesday after the long Labor Day weekend. DJIA, S&P 500 and NASDAQ have struggled with negative average performance. NASDAQ and Russell 2000 have been up five of the last eight years, but DJIA, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all have fallen for the last three years on Tuesday. On Wednesday the market’s performance has been varied. DJIA has performed the best, up 76.2% of the time with an average gain of 0.25%. S&P 500 is worst, up only 42.9% of the time with an average gain of 0.13%.
Big August 2020 logged the 4th biggest August percent gain for the S&P 500 since 1949 and the 6th biggest since 1930. But, is this bullish or bearish for the market in the coming months? Hopefully the table below provides some perspective by comparing the previous Top 20 S&P 500 Augusts since 1949 to July, September, Q4 and the succeeding “Best Six Months” November-April. Subsequent Septembers were down 15 of 20 years for an average loss of -1.0% (median loss of -0.7%). Q4 is positive with gains in 13 of the 20 years for an average gain of 1.0% (median gain of 3.0%). The following Best Six Months are more bullish, up 16 of the 20 years with an average gain of 7.6% (median gain of 8.5%). Looking at just the 7 years that were preceded by big Julys shows some improvement for September but Q4s are worse, containing the largest Q4 losses. Back-to-back big Julys and big Augusts were followed by improved Best Six Months results, up in all 7 instances with a higher average and median gain and the top gain.
The jobs market remains strong, as the August nonfarm payrolls came in at a solid 1.37 million jobs created, right in line with expectations. This was the fourth consecutive month of gains, up 10.6 million over this time frame. In March and April more than 22 million jobs were lost, so we still aren’t quite to half of the jobs recovered though. This was the second consecutive month there was a very weak ADP private payrolls number ahead of the monthly jobs report, adding to the worries, but the actual nonfarm payroll number was once again quite solid. Don’t forget, just yesterday we saw initial jobless claims come in at 881,000, the lowest number since the week ending March 14, another improving employment number. The big surprise in today’s report though was the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, from 10.2% last month and an expected 9.8%. This was the lowest unemployment rate since 4.4% in March. “This was an impressive report and once again showed the economy remained quite resilient,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But 8% unemployment is 8% unemployment, so let’s not get too excited, but we’ll still take this improving trend in the employment picture.” As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, even though more than 10 million jobs have been created in the past four months, the sad truth is we are still quite a long way from recovering all the jobs lost due to the pandemic. In fact, looking at previous cycles, it has taken years for all of the lost jobs to come back and this time doesn’t appear any different.
One thing to consider is could this solid number make it harder for Washington to agree on the next stimulus plan? We are watching this closely, but with the two sides still close to a trillion dollars apart, today’s report will likely do little to help the two sides come to a quick resolution. Last, don’t forget that stocks gained more than 60% in less than six months, so some weakness would be perfectly normal. In fact, looking at the two previous strongest starts to a bull market ever (’82 and ’09) both saw some weakness right around now.
The S&P 500 Index just closed the door on its best August since 1986, making new all-time highs along the way, while also closing up five months in a row. First things first, make no mistake about it; this is a new bull market. That of course doesn’t mean it will last years like previous bull markets, but a nearly 57% gain in 5 months is what we’d classify as a bull market. Here are all the bull markets going back to the Great Depression and where this one ranks.
Now let’s dig into the 5 month win streak. It is quite rare for stocks to gain from April through August, as the summer months tend to be somewhat tricky. Yet, we found there were six other years that saw these 5 months all close higher and the rest of the year was higher five times, with some solid returns in there. In fact, the only year that was lower the rest of the year was 2018, mainly due to the Fed policy mistake in December 2018.
“What might surprise many investors is 5 month win streaks are actually incredibly bullish going forward,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “In fact, a year after a 5 month win streak has seen the S&P 500 higher 25 of the past 26 times.” As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the S&P 500 Index gained more than 35% during this 5 month win streak, the most ever. Yet, the future gains after 5 month win streaks is very impressive, higher 25 out of 26 times a year later. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and this sure seems to be the case here.
Historic August Opens Door To Worst Month Of The Year
What a month August has been so far, with the S&P 500 Index up more than 7%, for the best August since 1984. Not to be outdone, this is the first time in history August saw two separate 6-day (or more) win streaks. Last, with one day to go, the S&P 500 has gained 16 days so far this month, for the most since 16 in April 2019. Meanwhile, it is the most up days for any August since 2003. “Well, 2020 has laughed at many of these things, but be aware September is indeed the worst month of the year on average,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But what caught our attention was both September and October have a negative return during election years, with October the worst month of the year. Could investors get election jitters again in 2020?” As show in the LPL Chart of the Day, September tends to be a weak month. In fact, it is the weakest month on average since 1950. Additionally, the last two times August was up more than 5% were 1986 and 2000; the S&P 500 fell 8.5% and 5.4% in September those years.
Breaking things down by just an election year shows that August actually tends to be strong. That obviously played out this year, but now will the weakness we usually see in September and October play out?
Finally, after today, the S&P 500 will be up 5 consecutive months. Looking at the other years that saw a similar summer rallies, there tended to be more strength the final 4 months of the year, with only the Federal Reserve policy mistake of December 2018 blemishing this impressive track record.
Yes, this record equity run is extremely stretched, but we would continue to use any pullbacks as an opportunity to add to longer-term core equity holdings, as the economy continues to come back quicker than most expected.
Below are some of the notable companies coming out with earnings releases this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers:
Monday 9.7.20 Before Market Open:
([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF LABOR DAY.)
Monday 9.7.20 After Market Close:
([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF LABOR DAY.)
([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE.)
Friday 9.11.20 After Market Close:
([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE.)
Peloton Interactive $80.63
Peloton Interactive (PTON) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.10 per share on revenue of $566.53 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.13 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 84% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for revenue of $500.00 million to $520.00 million. Short interest has decreased by 62.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 78.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 92.6% above its 200 day moving average of $41.86. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 11.6% move on earnings in recent quarters.
Slack Technologies, Inc. (WORK) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:10 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $208.33 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.01) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 75% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for a loss of $0.04 to $0.03 per share on revenue of $206.00 million to $209.00 million. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 96.94% with revenue increasing by 43.70%. Short interest has increased by 93.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 8.5% from its open following the earnings release to be 6.8% above its 200 day moving average of $27.22. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 7.8% move on earnings in recent quarters.
lululemon athletica inc. (LULU) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.56 per share on revenue of $832.92 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.60 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 67% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 41.67% with revenue decreasing by 5.71%. Short interest has decreased by 16.0% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 19.3% from its open following the earnings release to be 38.7% above its 200 day moving average of $260.62. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 11.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 6.3% move in recent quarters.
Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:10 PM ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.15 per share on revenue of $1.64 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.14) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 81% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 28.57% with revenue increasing by 42.17%. Short interest has decreased by 5.4% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 20.1% from its open following the earnings release to be 57.3% above its 200 day moving average of $38.89. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 5.3% move on earnings in recent quarters.
Kroger Co. (KR) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:30 AM ET on Friday, September 11, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.50 per share on revenue of $29.66 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.56 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 77% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 13.64% with revenue increasing by 5.30%. Short interest has increased by 8.3% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 9.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 13.1% above its 200 day moving average of $31.36. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Monday, August 24, 2020 there was some notable buying of 2,648 contracts of the $33.00 put expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 7.5% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.4% move in recent quarters.
Zscaler, Inc. (ZS) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.03 per share on revenue of $118.41 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.05 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 77% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.02 to $0.03 per share on revenue of $117.00 million to $119.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 57.14% with revenue increasing by 37.51%. Short interest has decreased by 23.9% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 54.3% from its open following the earnings release to be 68.5% above its 200 day moving average of $79.71. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Thursday, August 20, 2020 there was some notable buying of 1,017 contracts of the $115.00 put expiring on Friday, November 20, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 17.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 16.4% move in recent quarters.
Coupa Software (COUP) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.08 per share on revenue of $118.84 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.14 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 67% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.06 to $0.08 per share on revenue of $118.00 million to $119.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 11.11% with revenue increasing by 24.91%. Short interest has decreased by 12.9% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 34.2% from its open following the earnings release to be 41.3% above its 200 day moving average of $202.31. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Monday, August 17, 2020 there was some notable buying of 538 contracts of the $270.00 put expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 18.8% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 8.2% move in recent quarters.
Lovesac Company (LOVE) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:00 AM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.55 per share on revenue of $52.58 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.46) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 60% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 77.42% with revenue increasing by 9.21%. Short interest has decreased by 29.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 41.0% from its open following the earnings release to be 74.7% above its 200 day moving average of $16.85. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 20.9% move on earnings in recent quarters.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 8:00 AM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.14 per share on revenue of $833.66 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.11) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 39% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 135.90% with revenue decreasing by 19.91%. Short interest has increased by 45.8% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 13.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 11.4% above its 200 day moving average of $11.54. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 21, 2020 there was some notable buying of 5,605 contracts of the $11.00 call expiring on Friday, October 16, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 13.8% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 6.9% move in recent quarters.
HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:00 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.27 per share on revenue of $171.32 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.31 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 62% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.23 to $0.30 per share on revenue of $168.00 million to $173.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 40.00% with revenue increasing by 97.78%. Short interest has decreased by 3.6% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 2.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 3.5% below its 200 day moving average of $60.62. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 9.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.0% move in recent quarters.
What are you all watching for in this upcoming holiday-shortened trading week? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great trading week ahead stocks.
...“You know what I'm here for!” Effie’s words rang out as Ernie watched on at the unexpected turn of events. “The funny thing is I really don’t know.” Ernie stood there and took in the scene. Was this the first time he had seen this type of outburst in the District? Ernie tried to recall, but now wasn’t really the time to reminisce on bad memories. Something was afoot. Something about Ugo threatening them that was for sure. But if Ugo wanted somebody to fight him this would never be his plan of attack. “Would you care to enlighten me then, I wouldn’t mind this either way!” Ernie shouted back, his tone was neutral, the tension of the situation only increased, but he didn’t see a need to fight back even now. “They sent us here, because they wanted us to steal your notebook!” Ernie heard the voice of Jenny behind a tree. Things started to make sense to Ernie, the hiding, why it wasn’t Odin’s people doing this, and that outburst. “And what do you two intend to do?” Ernie moved his backpack from his back to carrying it on one arm. “Well if you help us, you could send them a fake notebook! It’s not like we like those fuckers anyways!” Jenny replied beyond the trees. Well that wasn’t so difficult was it, it only took one or maybe both of their ire to get to this arrangement. Ernie weighed this against the prospect that they were lying to him, but if it came down to it it would just be either a fight now or a fight later. “Alright I’ll help you! I’ll be in my cabin manuscripting! You two wait outside, this will take less than an hour!” Ernie shouted back over as he started to walk back to his cabin. “Your funeral..wait what?!” Effie flipped as Jenny clapped an arm on her, “We did it, we can get out of this shitty situation.” Effie looked around, The Murder receded back into herself. “Did that really just happen?” She held out the hope that it really would be that easy, she wanted to believe it but she felt a slight pang of confusion, guilt maybe? Jenny continued on, “We just have to make sure that he does his end of the deal and we’ll be out of here in no time.” Jenny looked at Effie’s face as she noticed the change in expression, “You okay there? You let out a bunch just now and if you wanted to talk about it.” “No I’m ok, come on we have to still keep an eye on him.” Effie brushed Jenny’s arm off and made her way closer into the clearing with Jenny following. Well, that was somewhat anticlimactic. If you were hoping for a match with some more carnage in it, how about checking out a race out of a monster-filled urn and voting on it? Scenario: Sound’s Garden Eastern Strip - Heartache Casino VIP Room “So kind of you all to come again,” a man dressed garishly in gold spoke to a roomful of wealthy highrollers, a lounge area with a wall taken up by a screen large enough to make the place double as something of a particularly cozy home theater, a setup which had typically been reserved for two things: watching games organized by Heartache Casino’s owner on the closed-circuits of buildings he owned, and being rented out for private parties and banquets. “This is pretty unconventional,” a dark-haired sniper remarked between drinks, staring at the screen as it showed, largely, several shots of a building in Downtown Los Fortuna, which seemed to have rapidly grown occupied by a small group of Stand Users, some of whom familiar to the district’s regulars after some close shaves in the subways both occupied, “but it’s brilliant… Just needed to get your tech guy to get cameras in there, now you have a huge show for free.” “Should you be drinking, Seido?” The gold-clad owner asked, raising an eyebrow, “I mean, if something comes up…” “If something comes up, I’m off-duty, I’m just a guest right now, and I can shoot well enough sloshed to get myself out of a bind. If you wanted me as security, you should’ve hired me for that… Though really, I’d have rather been down there raising some hell if I was gonna shoot things.” Tigran sighed, finding that fair enough, he supposed… He wasn’t going to hire this man when he was buzzed, and he wouldn’t do guard detail for free either. Apparently, the man literally came to the city walking out of a bar into the flag unveiling, so he shouldn’t have been surprised. Still, though, even with moods high here, nobody seeming to mind the way anonymous characters like Oh No and Conqueror Worm mingled among them. Sure, they were kind of a low-priority target right now, with protests in the Business district, the hell-on-earth about to be unleashed Downtown keeping their worst nightmares busy, and the usual BS in places like the Waterfront and Industrial, but the man once noted for his supremely smarmy overconfidence had been feeling more anxious lately, probably because the Entertainment District’s criminal underground had taken some losses recently. Things were riding high with several successful games, and the arrival of Conqueror Worm, revitalizing everything that they had thought they’d known and opening up whole new possibilities of what games might be possible to organize from a place of safety, all while not asking for a penny of payment. He was a weird guy, but a valuable asset, and all that was understood to be asked in return was that they pretend not to know exactly who it was underneath that big fleshy suit. And then, the next time they had an in-person event, a bunch of them died in a fire, and on the way to… Well, who knew why he was there, but something happened that got a formerly active manager and ‘game’ organizer murdered blocks away from the site of the flames. Was it a sign, then, that the old ways really were dying, that they needed to change with the times or lose this subculture of theirs entirely? Maybe, and maybe some would leave it like that, but Tigran “Golden” Sins knew another source of common ground with every one of their games to go wrong, to go awry, to risk the future and safety of all that they were, all that they had. Everything (besides that time he got punched in the face) that had gone wrong, from Thutmose leaving them, to events that were supposed to be disastrous bloodbaths going well for the ‘players’ and ruining bets, could trace back somewhere. And she was sitting there looking very disinterested, nursing a sparkling juice in a very expensive evening dress and earrings, recently bought by the only man in the world he believed to be above himself. “Having a good time, Metra?” Fox asked the star known to much of the city as TD/MD, smiling smoothly and paying her more attention than the event itself, where he was significantly more public than before. He’d spent how many thousands on her in a few days? “Sure, yeah,” she answered, with a clear disinterest and foul mood. “I understand if you’re not… we’re all sorry to have lost Thutmose. Most likely by where he was, whoever killed him would have done the same to us had he not interfered. So he would want you to have a good time, right?” “Alright, everyone, last calls!” Conqueror Worm called out, many eyes looking all over. After getting back from camera work, he’d volunteered to handle bets, on account of his utter disinterest in profiting from his work there. Damn shame, honestly; Tigran loved that weird golden Stand-hurting sword he’d always been swinging around, and something belonging to a regional founder would be a hell of a get to wear around. “We know all the key players in that little downtown scuffle, so let’s hear it! Who’s biting it? Who’s comin’ out? Who’s gonna have the highest bodycount? Is anyone even gonna get IN?” That Oh No guy, from the Institute, spoke up through that voice changer he almost always had on in his coverings. “I think that… Three people will manage to find their way inside. Nobody on this betting board.” “Ooh, bold words from our boldest regular!” Worm leaned in close, asking, “how much’re you puttin’ on that?” “Nothing,” No responded, “I just want to see what comes of it… I’m almost disappointed you needed to ask.” Peas in a pod, those two. Tigran sighed, figuring he might need to drink through these proceedings, only to glance at Metra, suddenly, seeming to smirk, ears twitching as if that special pitch of hers had picked something up. “What? What’s so fun now, that-” The heavily reinforced, hidden doorway to the VIP room burst open, bisecting the hollow yet burly door guard as sand and rocks spilled out of its hollow crevasse, the only herald within seconds of a quintet of Stand Users barreling in, led by a trio on two motorbikes as two others, curious but energetic, followed. “All that you’ve done ends here, Fox!” Around the same time, Heartache Casino Public Floors “Uh… Glitch? I think… it might be good if we… go?” William Eyelash was not liking it here very much. His hyperactive coworker and teammate had practically dragged him here after what was otherwise a simple delivery performed in place of Zebra, who had been busy enough delivering food to the other side of the city. William was the one supposed to carry it out, but Glitch had practically jumped at the opportunity to do so. Glitch herself, meanwhile, seemed to be very content eating some fries which she (very regrettably) had to actually buy instead of simply snatching it away from a poor, unaware bystander, and had already ordered another plate because they were just that good. Security was too tight, somewhat on edge - the moment she got close to someone or something, they immediately turned their attention to her. Still, she didn’t want to deprive herself of one of the many pleasures of life like that, so she didn’t mind paying too much. “Mmrgh..? Why sho?” “W- well… you know… uh...” William wasn’t sure how to say it - he was scared enough of Glitch’s erratic mannerisms most days, and that was while he tried to steer clear of her. Were he to directly oppose her, he’d have no way of knowing what she’d do! On top of that, he couldn’t help but notice that she seemed slightly… on edge. She was usually hyperactive, but she seemed to be even more eager to jump from one thing to another recently, and to ignore anything that even slightly stressed her out. Considering everything that happened to the staff at the Elephant Bones recently, it made sense for her to be stressed, even if she didn’t really show it usually. “... um, you know the rumors about this place… right? ” Glitch turned to look at William, tilting her head “Hm? What rumors?”. “Uh... well… about the ED… and the fighting rings… I saw an article about it on the Hermod, and… i- it could be dangerous to be here for too long...” hearing William say that, Glitch seemed to recede for a bit, thinking to herself. “Mmm... well, it hasn’t been a problem yet! Right? Besides, the other chips haven’t arrived yet!” Glitch didn’t want to think much about it - so long as these fighting rings were away from her, she could just ignore them and go on with her life, but if it really was here, then maybe it would be good to avoid this place… but the fries were so good... Glitch took another look at the table she was sitting at and at the plate of fries she’d ordered. She grabbed a handful and ate them. “Mmm… after the second order of chips comes! Then we leave! But only after then!” “Alright...” William didn’t like this very much, and he couldn’t help but shoot nervous glances around as Glitch finished up. Just about every staff member here was on edge and uncomfortable - he knew how to notice these things, and it would make sense if this place really was connected to the underground. Ugh… Why did he come along with Glitch? He’d just have to hope that the second order would come soon, and then they’d be able leave just as quickly as they came in. Naturally, as if fate itself had conspired to screw him over, he couldn’t help but pick up on ‘something’. Guards around the floor peered nervously into their phones, and most of them began rushing towards the stairwell. Glitch had noticed as well, her ears picking up on the nervous murmurings of the guards and their hasty footsteps. “Uhh… G- Glitch, something’s happening, we should-” “Pleh! Can’t you wait just a second! The chips aren’t here yet! This isn’t-” Before Glitch could finish her sentence, something flew into the room - the body of a security officer, clearly tossed away by some stand, flew from the entrance to the second floor, and landed right in the middle of a group of more security officers. “Oh god oh god it’s happening oh no oh no oh no oh-” William was, as expected, positively freaking out by now. Meanwhile, Glitch was keeping her ears peeled out, having picked up on something… interesting. The voice of two people she vaguely recognized from “Taste of Fortuna” a month or so back. “Hey! That’s Agnes! And that other chef whose food is good! Even better than the chips!! What are they doing here, fighting?!” Soon enough, Agnes and Arpeggi really did pop into the room, their stands summoned as they staved off some guards with them. Much to William’s chagrin, Glitch grabbed onto his hand and summoned [Vida Loca], before hopping onto it, the massive feline hoisting him onto it as well, before running right towards the source of the commotion… And right into the footpath of a terrifying giant who seemed to suddenly fall from the ceiling, several eyes along its body looking to them as its head rotated 180 degrees. “Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” Several minutes earlier, A Few Stories Lower - Sound’s Garden Abandoned Subway “Are you sure this is the place? Seems pretty fucking trashy to me, honestly…” “That’s what makes it a secret passage, Agnes… They’re not exactly rolling out the red carpet to tell you how to get there.” “Ugh, Astronomia wasn’t built for this shit. You’re paying if something gets stuck somewhere.” “You’ve crashed it how many times this month alone?” Arpeggi Osso Buco sat in the sidecar of a motorbike driven by one Ananas “Agnes” Bayley, through the abandoned subways of the Eastern strip. He’d meant to take this trip alone, like he had before, but of course, this fucking guy had to be the first on the team to learn that he was a Stand User, an active vigilante, and not only in part responsible for a certain cult’s influence plummeting to nothing in Los Fortuna, but had dedicated himself to making an enemy of the blight of the Entertainment District. “Fuck it, I’m down.” “You’re… What?” “I’m down. Fuck those guys. I don’t even need to ask any more questions, they’re an absolute disgrace to be shown up by a real villain, and if you’re hunting their boss down, I’m with you.” “You are the last person I would want watching my back in a-” “Or I can tell Gabanna what you’re doing so soon after getting SHOT last time you tried your luck with these guys.” “…bastard. Okay, just don’t get in the way.” Minus a near-scare with RCR’s nightmarish train nearly running them down without noticing, and Arpeggi having to explain at some point that it was both private information from a set of informants and news now publicly printed in multiple sources about the higher-ups of this organization, it had mostly gone smoothly since then. As they drove closer to the underside of Heartache, Arpeggi signaled for Agnes to stop, noting a destroyed set of hollowed-out mannequins of sorts, smoking and smelling like gunpowder. “Hell is that?” Agnes asked, looking down, but Arpeggi, in turn, didn’t quite seem surprised. Before he could explain, however, another, distorted voice cut through. “You’re late.” The revving of a second motorcycle, a sport bike, had quietly synced with Astronomia, and the pair looked up to see a figure clad in orange and black, winglike scarf drooping upside-down, its rider atop the ceiling of the tunnel. “You.” Agnes spoke with contempt, despite having never seen the Black Angel in person before, only for them and their bike to drop down right in front of them, flipping in midair to land gracefully. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing a friend, let alone… Him.” The Angel sounded dubious about Agnes’ presence, adding, “since you took time picking him up, I’ve had to start picking off these weird… hollow doll-guards myself. They almost noticed me in time to signal the boss. I really don’t have the time for this today.” “Sorry about that, he insisted,” Arpeggi wrote off, not wanting to explain the somewhat unsurprising (“ran into one another while doing their vigilante rounds, got to talking about the ED mainly”) story how he and the Angel met, “and he’s here right now… Say what you like about him, you saw that Being So Normal, I assume. He’ll be an asset.” “I’ll kick your ass-et,” Agnes grumbled, “fighting them alone my ass. Ugh, teaming up with masked hero types like this… Pisses me off. We should be kicking each other’s asses, Angel.” “Deal with it,” the Angel wrote off, before adding, “our contacts in there… They said basically everyone we might have any reason to get is on that floor with them, watching Downtown.” “Right, some madman is acting out there,” Arpeggi noted, folding his arms and looking Westward, “I take it that’s why you’re in a hurry? You want to deal with them quickly and head out there next?” “You got it,” they answered, “and admittedly, there’s a reason I had to come here first… Something I’m going to prioritize the highest, and if we take too long, I’ll have to leave having only done that.” “You’ve got a grudge, is that it?” Agnes asked, “you wanna punt some fucker before moving on?” “That’s… not why I’m targeting him,” The Angel noted, before adding, “that sword the Conqueror Worm always has on him… The ‘Sword of Sir Aurel…’ The future of the city might depend on me getting that Downtown. The contacts say he still has it with him, just like on that stream.” “You’re pissing me off, pretending you don’t care about just one-upping that bastard,” Agnes chided, adding, “act like you’re ‘heroes of justice’ all you want… I’m doing this because these guys piss me the hell off, and seeing them fall will make me laugh. Do all of us a favor, cut the bullshit, and admit you’re gonna enjoy this, yeah?” The others didn’t say too much more of note, then, beyond the Angel briefly examining Astronomia, putting something all over it that they claimed would ‘make it maneuver better,’ which Arpeggi had to calm Agnes into accepting, especially considering it meant they could ride up stairs with relative ease. “Alright, from this secret passage, it’s a straight shot up a few flights of stairs to the VIP room… We should be able to burst it down without ever disrupting all the public patrons and fortifications up on 1F. Hold on tight, you got that?” The motorbikes revved, then, and the Angel’s led Agnes in seeming to leap into the air, driving up and along the walls of the stairwell, before a long-haired figure emerged from the Angel, aiming something at a metal reinforced door, firing into it a few times, and it shifted in place as Pork Soda rushed towards it, placing a tab on the material before ripping it away, liquid metal blasting in the opposite direction the door would fly and swing at rapid speed, swinging like a deadly projectile and cutting more powerful puppet guards away as the three burst in. Arpeggi called out, “All that you’ve done ends here, Fox!” Not long after Arpeggi called that out, Fox himself, of course, was quick to stand, as were a few bold-looking members of the crowd, hurrying towards the fighters with his own accompanying doll-guard, small enough to hold in two hands and, with his large frame, swing like a hammer-thrower, lobbing up towards them and bursting open into a mess of pointed rocks as he drew closer, repelling Arpeggi’s immediate attempts to approach. The swinging door, embedded with odd screws and still gushing metal soda, began to fly towards him, only for the sound of a rifle to fill the room, a single warping bullet putting out every one of the odd screws and careening it to strike Arpeggi back, sending him flying down the stairwell before either the Angel or Agnes could react. Seido, sitting at his edge of the bar, finished downing his drink, holding his weapon in one hand and grinning a bit, slurring slightly, “thas’ goin’ on your tab, boss…” Fox smirked, then, rocks and sand swirling around him and beating back the remaining attackers’ efforts to burst forward. “Let’s not fight up here, gentlemen… I’ve set this place up nice for a very special guest. Take it downstairs. Seido, consider yourself on the clock now.” Worm, then, seemed to realize the Angel was staring at his movements, diving down into the floor below to the terror of the 1F patrons, and the rider hurriedly cut away from the clash, leaving Agnes to fend for himself against the rocky onslaught of Fox, all while Oh No watched and Seido, quickly, lined up another shot. Even on this upgraded bike, he knew the only response to make there. “Fffuck this!” Pork Soda reached for Astronomia, a tab appearing on its wheel which, as the Stand weathered rocky blows, it pulled, blasting Agnes back into the stairwell, where he hit the wall with an, “oof!” before hopping off of his ride, which crashed and plummeted down as he abandoned it to slide down the railing, doing a cool combat roll to cover Arpeggi and the Angel as they rolled into the first floor, clearly concerned about what Conqueror Worm being there would mean for the patrons. Fox and others were shortly behind, with a certain exception. Though nobody could hear it, by Metra Doria’s choice, as soon as Seido had spoken that aloud, she’d kicked up the chair she’d been sulking in all ‘party’ long, a pair of headphones appearing along her neck as a blast of sonic energy kicked it directly into the head of the hitman. Her heart skipped a beat, then, and she muttered under her breath, “shit, that actually worked… I got lucky, huh?” “Entirely,” Oh No agreed, stepping forth himself and stretching, producing a very large, intimidating revolver from his cloak and beginning, idly, to load it, “but don’t treat that as a failing, TD/MD… You saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you had the instincts to take it.” No closed the chamber, starting leisurely towards the stairs after the rest. “This is getting tiresome, isn’t it? You see it too, how dull this has gotten… What potential they’re wasting here. What do you say we speed along what’s been a long, long time coming?” “Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” A golden, shining sword appeared out of the giant’s gross hand, and his presence alone made Glitch want to wretch, the smell of the Conqueror Worm fell, and vibes even more rancid. “We got two more troublemakers here, eh?” Worm asked her and William with an amused tone, “Hell just broke loose here, and you’re tryin’ to run headlong into it! I like that! I like that drive! So what do ya say? Attacka them!” Glitch didn’t know this guy, but something about his gleeful nature, the way that William murmured to himself in alarm when he spoke those distorted words, made her hairs stand on end, made her want to hiss and immediately turn her attention to him, and it seemed, then, that Worm could sense this. “Another one who ain’t a fan, huh?” He shook his head. “Disappointing, but typical.” At that, he ducked into the floor, before attempting to burst out from underneath and drive his blade up into Vida Loca, barely being scraped before hopping away from the rising attack and meeting it with a sharp, harsh claw, beating back his raw strength with her Stand’s own. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re really not the kind of bad news that’s any fun!” Glitch called out from atop her mount, pulling off in time to avoid the ambush of a hollowed-out guard and note two others bothering William. “That guy looks underage… He ain’t allowed to be on a casino floor without ID!” Worm declared with amusement, fully expecting what came next as several of the doll-guards attempted to strong-arm him. “G-get away… Get away from me!” William was freaking out, then, and fairly fearing for his life, allowed Ocean Eyes to manifest, swinging and spraying acid all around, which bounced uselessly off of Worm’s hide, didn’t so much as drop near Glitch or Vida Loca, and melted away the threats in an instant. The casino floor was pandemonium then, several high rollers, some random patrons, and of course, every named member fighting, Stands flying. Arpeggi expertly caught rocks tossed by Fox, only for him to still control them even as they were made to burn by NEXT LEVEL 2, though this eroded away much of the sands of his barrier, backed up by Agnes as he very competently kept a rocky barrier up regardless, Metra standing close by, shifting her eyes. The Black Angel tried to drive headlong into Worm, continuing his mess of a situation, while Glitch, mostly, managed to sneak off on her own, trying to find a way to support William and calm him out of whatever this was. “Don’t move,” a modulated voice behind her said, and she heard something click behind her. “Mrr?” She turned, then, facing the barrel of Oh No’s revolver head-on. “This might be a bit loud… But it’s about time this ended.” Before Glitch could react, No had pulled the trigger twice. Neither shot so much as grazed her, but seemed to hit tables, cameras, walls, ricocheting about in apparent chaos, before finally… “I… What did…” Blood ran down the organizational ringleader’s outfit, bleeding both from a massive wound to the back of his knee and opening a massive hole in his shoulder, as the rocks he had been flinging around dropped like… Rocks. Tigran’s voice was the next thing to ring out through the casino, now mostly abandoned bar the combatants. “TOBY!!!” Fox hadn’t even heard the shots fired, thanks to Metra, let alone noticed their angles; after all, the only one he knew of who could make a shot like that was knocked out and drunk upstairs, not to mention loyal to Tigran’s paychecks. No twirled his gun around, holstering it and patting the bewildered Glitch on the shoulder. “Thanks for holding still… Didn’t want to hit you and ruin it all, after all. Hmmhmmhmahaha!" “You… You motherfuckers!” Tigran wanted to cry then, especially as the others drew closer, seeing everyone who had fought against an ally of his here as little more than an enemy. Still, though, facing them off, he had to calm himself. “Stand down,” Arpeggi demanded, “you’re outnumbered, completely.” Tigran, rather than giving up, began to speak again. “You know, as the owner of this casino, I know the power of ‘games’. You see, if you call it a ‘gamble’, that sounds so… negative, no? So you call it nothing more than a simple ‘game’. That’s what draws people in. Getting people to play ‘roulette’ is harder, but if you call it a ‘roulette game’ and mask it correctly, it’s so, so, easy… However, the moment the ball is launched, it doesn’t matter, does it? No difference between a ‘gamble’ and a ‘game’... the ‘contract’ is the same - you abandon your money for ‘entertainment’ and for a slim ‘hope’ that you’ll succeed this time and make bank… It’s all thanks to these ‘games’... All of you lot, don’t you think so? Aren’t ‘games’ great? Hell, I’ve got an idea for one we can play right now…” “Wh- what the hell are you talking about!” Arpeggi shouted out in anger. “I’m not putting up with this shit! You want a ‘game’?! Sure, fine! Here, how about this one - I go up to you, and have fun beating the shit out of you!” rushing towards Tigran, Arpeggi readied a punch and swung towards him - only for his fist to stop in midair, hitting against some kind of invisible barrier. He reeled back from the impact, stumbling backwards, feeling… weak. A look behind him revealed that Agnes, Glitch, William, and even Metra, the Angel, and No seemed to be feeling the same, struggling to remain upright. “Y- you ‘agreed’... heh…” Tigran’s previously panicked expression quickly faded, replaced by a wide grin. “You agreed to it! You agreed to the ‘game’!” By now, Tigran broke out into uproarious laughter. “Always! They always fall for it, tempted by ‘games’! You… you idiot! I put the answer right in front of you, and you still missed it! ‘Games’, by their very nature, are tricks! Illusions! And my [The Grid] has the power to facilitate that! By agreeing to the game, my [The Grid] forces you to participate! There’s no escape now - you’re trapped in this ‘game’ of mine!” As he realized he had screwed them all right at the last moment, Arpeggi’s vision began fading, and he fell onto the ground with a thud, blacking out. ???, an hour later, Heartache Casino VIP room “Alright! Seems like our contestants for the first impromptu match of the day are waking up!” “Plrrr..?” Out of nowhere, Glitch found herself standing straight, awake, somewhere unfamiliar. She tried to listen to see what was going on, only hearing the groans of William, Agnes, and Arpeggi, indicating that they were in a similar position to her. Of course, there was also that voice - she was… a ‘contestant’. It wasn’t hard to roughly figure out what exactly she was a ‘contestant’ of. She, and... “...William!” Behind her was a whimpering noise, evidently William, and the sound of droplets of some kind of liquid splashing onto the ground, clearly [Ocean Eyes]’s acid. Ahead of her were Agnes and Arpeggi, talking between themselves about what the hell happened. Arpeggi sounded mad. Agnes… she wasn’t sure how he sounded. But she gathered enough from their conversation to understand that somehow, they were currently inside of a roulette wheel. Or rather, she, and everyone else, was shrunk, and placed into a roulette wheel. “Now, this match is simple - a deathmatch to see who manages to survive! However, since we’re at the heartache casino… there’s an appropriate twist involved! See, our combatants for today are fighting on a roulette table, and meanwhile, our spectators for today are placing ‘bets’ to see which colors win out! Representing ‘red’, we’ve got our very own ‘Fox’! On black, meanwhile, we’ve got ‘Tigran Sins’, who set this match up!” She summoned [Vida Loca] besides her, taking a look through the stand’s eyes and seeing the environment for herself. She was dwarfed by the room, trapped inside of this small roulette wheel. There was nowhere to run. William’s whimpers had escalated into sobbing, as [Ocean Eyes] hugged him from behind. Arpeggi and Agnes were arguing by now, shouting at each other. She took a deep breath. “Now… I won’t keep you waiting any longer, since I just know everyone here’s excited to see what happens! So...” First, Glitch got tossed into Los Fortuna and found a new home there, with the rest of the staff at the Elephant Bones. Then, they started getting into fights with other stand users - Shelldrake, Effie, Byte, William. She hadn’t been in one yet, but she knew very well the effects of them. Her friends had gotten hurt, some such as Father Blue even dying. Then the situation in the slums got worse, her home becoming less and less safe by the minute, her friends getting extorted and forced to work for ODIN, and now she and William were trapped here. “Three… Two… One...” She needed to get out. She needed to fight. She needed to win. She could overhear Agnes and Arpeggi bickering on the other side of the wheel, but knew that they were going to try and fight her and William as well. They had to. They’d been trapped by that man’s stand, and none of them knew what could be done against it, if anything. [Vida Loca] stood behind her, a constant vibration coming out of it and creating a loud hissing noise that was soon mimicked by [Ocean Eyes], drowning out William’s sobs. She knew full well that, even if he was her friend, William was also a dangerous killer, meek though he might have acted. As hard as that whole situation was to grasp, she understood something else - that the more she stayed near [Ocean Eyes], working alongside it, the safer she was. She and William had to get out of this. And if they wanted to get out of this... They would have to fight for their lives. OPEN THE GAME! (credit to magistelles for the image, both the censored and uncensored version!(CW: trypophobia)) Location: A roulette wheel in Heartache Casino, upon which players have been forcibly placed. The map here is roughly similar to the image of the roulette wheel above. The outer brown layer represents the rim, the yellow layer being the wooden slopes down towards the center, the black layer being the numbers, the red layer being the pockets, the next layer being sloped wood up towards the center, and the center being a metal tower. The map is 30 by 30 meters relative to the players, with the dotted tile being 5 by 5 meters. The diamonds are the metal bumpers, about half a meter tall, and the blue circle is a weighted metal roulette ball which is a meter tall, both heights relative to the players. The metal tower in the center is 8 meters tall relative to the players and the outside walls are 5 meters relative to the players. Players can not go past the rim of the roulette wheel. Goal: RETIRE your opponents! Additional Information: There is an invisible barrier keeping the players and their Stands inside the roulette wheel. Everything else will pass through as normal, but the players and their attacks will be blocked by this barrier. The barrier is cylindrical around the entire roulette wheel. The roulette system is currently automatic, 5 seconds after the ball falls into a pocket or stops moving entirely, it will start rolling again at top speed clockwise. The max speed of the ball is equivalent to B SPD and the ball is A DUR. You can expect it to make around 8 revolutions around the wheel before losing most of its speed if it is unimpeded by the players. If the ball is destroyed or unable to roll, a new one will be thrown in from outside.
“W-Well, I'll be going now...” You’re being forced to fight, and you don’t want anything to do with this! During the match, try to stay on the backlines as much as possible, assisting from there!
"Nowadays, 30,000 yen is gone after you make one or two trips... So all that's left is to make more money, or go flat broke." You are being forced to fight here, and you hate it, so you might as well do something to cause the casino to lose money! Do whatever you can to constantly rig the roulette in favor of odds!
"Does that alien not know what 'holding back' means?" You were tricked by that asshole, and now you’ve got to fight these two bystanders?! Fuck, this makes you irritated. Destroy as much of the area as possible over the course of your strategy!
"I did say this seemed fun, but I wasn't talking about Cee-lo. I meant that it'd be fun taking your 30,000 yen from you." That girl over there is trying to rig the game, so play the agent of chaos and rig it towards the other end! Do whatever you can to constantly rig the roulette in favor of evens!
Link to the Official Player Spreadsheet Link to Match Schedule As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
Wall Street Week Ahead for the trading week beginning September 7th, 2020
Good Friday evening to all of you here on StockMarket. I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and is ready for the new trading week ahead. Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning September 7th, 2020.
The stock market shakeout is likely not over yet, even with Friday’s comeback - (Source)
The tech wreck is probably not over, despite Friday’s market comeback. Analysts expect the shakeout in stocks to continue after the long Labor Day weekend, especially in technology names and the Nasdaq, areas of the market that notched the sharpest gains. After August’s 7% gain in the S&P 500, stocks started September strong, and then just as quickly rolled over. The Nasdaq lost 5% Thursday and was down sharply Friday but pared losses to decline 1.5%. The S&P 500 was down about 2.3% for the week, even after a 3.5% loss Thursday. “I think this is a good wake-up call and a reminder that there are risks out there,” said Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. “In August, we did take a little bit off the table.” Analysts expect the week ahead to be busy, with holidays ending and more market pros back at their desks. There is some economic data, most importantly Friday’s consumer price index. The reading on consumer inflation is expected to show little change in core inflation with forecasts for a gain of just 0.2% in August, or 1.6% year over year.
Froth blowing off
The stock sell-off came as market pros were becoming increasingly wary of froth in the market, particularly in tech and momentum names. On Friday, it was revealed that SoftBank was behind billions in large options bets on individual tech stocks, like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Tesla. News reports said the trades were made over the past month, and SoftBank had been building unusually large positions in call options, or those that bet the prices of underlying stocks would rise. One analyst said the fact that SoftBank was “gunning the market” makes him worry that there is more selling to come in Nasdaq names. As SoftBank bought call options, the sellers had to buy stocks, conceivably driving up prices in a trading feedback loop. “It’s just a trip to the casino,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “If they’re supposed to be an investment company taking a long-term horizon, then trying to juice your short-term return through options, you’ve turned into a hedge fund.” JPMorgan strategists said they expect the market to recover gradually, but there are still presidential election uncertainties looming in the next couple of months. “The significant reduction in previously extreme long positions in Nasdaq by momentum traders should allow the equity market to recover over the coming weeks, as happened after the June 11th correction,” noted JPMorgan analysts. “But a repeat of the strong gains seen during July and August is less likely over the next two months.” Grohowski said there could be more selling in the tech and internet companies, or those that were viewed did well as workers stayed home and the economy was shutdown. “It’s not the start of a big lasting correction, but a forewarning the next couple of weeks and months are going to be choppy. I think it’s going to be a sideways kind of market,” Grohowski said. He added the market could be choppy in the week ahead. “We’re a little more cautious, not to mention the market is trading at 23 times our earnings estimates for 2021,” said Grohowski. He said the fact there is about $4.5 trillion in money market funds is a bullish signm since that money could find its way into the stock market. Julian Emanuel, head of equities and derivatives strategy at BTIG, said the S&P 500 could dip to its 200-day moving average, or 3,092, before rebounding, which would be about a 15% move in total. “I don’t think the sell-off is over. Nasdaq is up 83%s since March 23, the S&P is up 63%,” said Emanuel.
This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:
In the last 21 years, only Russell 2000 has registered an average gain of 0.16% on the Tuesday after the long Labor Day weekend. DJIA, S&P 500 and NASDAQ have struggled with negative average performance. NASDAQ and Russell 2000 have been up five of the last eight years, but DJIA, S&P 500, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 all have fallen for the last three years on Tuesday. On Wednesday the market’s performance has been varied. DJIA has performed the best, up 76.2% of the time with an average gain of 0.25%. S&P 500 is worst, up only 42.9% of the time with an average gain of 0.13%.
Big August 2020 logged the 4th biggest August percent gain for the S&P 500 since 1949 and the 6th biggest since 1930. But, is this bullish or bearish for the market in the coming months? Hopefully the table below provides some perspective by comparing the previous Top 20 S&P 500 Augusts since 1949 to July, September, Q4 and the succeeding “Best Six Months” November-April. Subsequent Septembers were down 15 of 20 years for an average loss of -1.0% (median loss of -0.7%). Q4 is positive with gains in 13 of the 20 years for an average gain of 1.0% (median gain of 3.0%). The following Best Six Months are more bullish, up 16 of the 20 years with an average gain of 7.6% (median gain of 8.5%). Looking at just the 7 years that were preceded by big Julys shows some improvement for September but Q4s are worse, containing the largest Q4 losses. Back-to-back big Julys and big Augusts were followed by improved Best Six Months results, up in all 7 instances with a higher average and median gain and the top gain.
The jobs market remains strong, as the August nonfarm payrolls came in at a solid 1.37 million jobs created, right in line with expectations. This was the fourth consecutive month of gains, up 10.6 million over this time frame. In March and April more than 22 million jobs were lost, so we still aren’t quite to half of the jobs recovered though. This was the second consecutive month there was a very weak ADP private payrolls number ahead of the monthly jobs report, adding to the worries, but the actual nonfarm payroll number was once again quite solid. Don’t forget, just yesterday we saw initial jobless claims come in at 881,000, the lowest number since the week ending March 14, another improving employment number. The big surprise in today’s report though was the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, from 10.2% last month and an expected 9.8%. This was the lowest unemployment rate since 4.4% in March. “This was an impressive report and once again showed the economy remained quite resilient,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But 8% unemployment is 8% unemployment, so let’s not get too excited, but we’ll still take this improving trend in the employment picture.” As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, even though more than 10 million jobs have been created in the past four months, the sad truth is we are still quite a long way from recovering all the jobs lost due to the pandemic. In fact, looking at previous cycles, it has taken years for all of the lost jobs to come back and this time doesn’t appear any different.
One thing to consider is could this solid number make it harder for Washington to agree on the next stimulus plan? We are watching this closely, but with the two sides still close to a trillion dollars apart, today’s report will likely do little to help the two sides come to a quick resolution. Last, don’t forget that stocks gained more than 60% in less than six months, so some weakness would be perfectly normal. In fact, looking at the two previous strongest starts to a bull market ever (’82 and ’09) both saw some weakness right around now.
The S&P 500 Index just closed the door on its best August since 1986, making new all-time highs along the way, while also closing up five months in a row. First things first, make no mistake about it; this is a new bull market. That of course doesn’t mean it will last years like previous bull markets, but a nearly 57% gain in 5 months is what we’d classify as a bull market. Here are all the bull markets going back to the Great Depression and where this one ranks.
Now let’s dig into the 5 month win streak. It is quite rare for stocks to gain from April through August, as the summer months tend to be somewhat tricky. Yet, we found there were six other years that saw these 5 months all close higher and the rest of the year was higher five times, with some solid returns in there. In fact, the only year that was lower the rest of the year was 2018, mainly due to the Fed policy mistake in December 2018.
“What might surprise many investors is 5 month win streaks are actually incredibly bullish going forward,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “In fact, a year after a 5 month win streak has seen the S&P 500 higher 25 of the past 26 times.” As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the S&P 500 Index gained more than 35% during this 5 month win streak, the most ever. Yet, the future gains after 5 month win streaks is very impressive, higher 25 out of 26 times a year later. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and this sure seems to be the case here.
Historic August Opens Door To Worst Month Of The Year
What a month August has been so far, with the S&P 500 Index up more than 7%, for the best August since 1984. Not to be outdone, this is the first time in history August saw two separate 6-day (or more) win streaks. Last, with one day to go, the S&P 500 has gained 16 days so far this month, for the most since 16 in April 2019. Meanwhile, it is the most up days for any August since 2003. “Well, 2020 has laughed at many of these things, but be aware September is indeed the worst month of the year on average,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But what caught our attention was both September and October have a negative return during election years, with October the worst month of the year. Could investors get election jitters again in 2020?” As show in the LPL Chart of the Day, September tends to be a weak month. In fact, it is the weakest month on average since 1950. Additionally, the last two times August was up more than 5% were 1986 and 2000; the S&P 500 fell 8.5% and 5.4% in September those years.
Breaking things down by just an election year shows that August actually tends to be strong. That obviously played out this year, but now will the weakness we usually see in September and October play out?
Finally, after today, the S&P 500 will be up 5 consecutive months. Looking at the other years that saw a similar summer rallies, there tended to be more strength the final 4 months of the year, with only the Federal Reserve policy mistake of December 2018 blemishing this impressive track record.
Yes, this record equity run is extremely stretched, but we would continue to use any pullbacks as an opportunity to add to longer-term core equity holdings, as the economy continues to come back quicker than most expected.
STOCK MARKET VIDEO: Stock Market Analysis Video for Week Ending September 4th, 2020
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STOCK MARKET VIDEO: ShadowTrader Video Weekly 9.6.20
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(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED!) Here are the most notable companies (tickers) reporting earnings in this upcoming trading week ahead-
Below are some of the notable companies coming out with earnings releases this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers:
Monday 9.7.20 Before Market Open:
([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF LABOR DAY.)
Monday 9.7.20 After Market Close:
([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF LABOR DAY.)
([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE.)
Friday 9.11.20 After Market Close:
([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE.)
Peloton Interactive $80.63
Peloton Interactive (PTON) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.10 per share on revenue of $566.53 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.13 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 84% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for revenue of $500.00 million to $520.00 million. Short interest has decreased by 62.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 78.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 92.6% above its 200 day moving average of $41.86. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 11.6% move on earnings in recent quarters.
Slack Technologies, Inc. (WORK) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:10 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $208.33 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.01) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 75% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for a loss of $0.04 to $0.03 per share on revenue of $206.00 million to $209.00 million. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 96.94% with revenue increasing by 43.70%. Short interest has increased by 93.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted lower by 8.5% from its open following the earnings release to be 6.8% above its 200 day moving average of $27.22. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 7.8% move on earnings in recent quarters.
lululemon athletica inc. (LULU) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.56 per share on revenue of $832.92 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.60 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 67% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 41.67% with revenue decreasing by 5.71%. Short interest has decreased by 16.0% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 19.3% from its open following the earnings release to be 38.7% above its 200 day moving average of $260.62. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 11.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 6.3% move in recent quarters.
Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:10 PM ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.15 per share on revenue of $1.64 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.14) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 81% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 28.57% with revenue increasing by 42.17%. Short interest has decreased by 5.4% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 20.1% from its open following the earnings release to be 57.3% above its 200 day moving average of $38.89. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 5.3% move on earnings in recent quarters.
Kroger Co. (KR) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:30 AM ET on Friday, September 11, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.50 per share on revenue of $29.66 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.56 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 77% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 13.64% with revenue increasing by 5.30%. Short interest has increased by 8.3% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 9.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 13.1% above its 200 day moving average of $31.36. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Monday, August 24, 2020 there was some notable buying of 2,648 contracts of the $33.00 put expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 7.5% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.4% move in recent quarters.
Zscaler, Inc. (ZS) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.03 per share on revenue of $118.41 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.05 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 77% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.02 to $0.03 per share on revenue of $117.00 million to $119.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 57.14% with revenue increasing by 37.51%. Short interest has decreased by 23.9% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 54.3% from its open following the earnings release to be 68.5% above its 200 day moving average of $79.71. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Thursday, August 20, 2020 there was some notable buying of 1,017 contracts of the $115.00 put expiring on Friday, November 20, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 17.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 16.4% move in recent quarters.
Coupa Software (COUP) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:05 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.08 per share on revenue of $118.84 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.14 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 67% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.06 to $0.08 per share on revenue of $118.00 million to $119.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 11.11% with revenue increasing by 24.91%. Short interest has decreased by 12.9% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 34.2% from its open following the earnings release to be 41.3% above its 200 day moving average of $202.31. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Monday, August 17, 2020 there was some notable buying of 538 contracts of the $270.00 put expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 18.8% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 8.2% move in recent quarters.
Lovesac Company (LOVE) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:00 AM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.55 per share on revenue of $52.58 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.46) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 60% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 77.42% with revenue increasing by 9.21%. Short interest has decreased by 29.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 41.0% from its open following the earnings release to be 74.7% above its 200 day moving average of $16.85. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 20.9% move on earnings in recent quarters.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 8:00 AM ET on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.14 per share on revenue of $833.66 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.11) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 39% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 135.90% with revenue decreasing by 19.91%. Short interest has increased by 45.8% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 13.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 11.4% above its 200 day moving average of $11.54. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 21, 2020 there was some notable buying of 5,605 contracts of the $11.00 call expiring on Friday, October 16, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 13.8% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 6.9% move in recent quarters.
HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:00 PM ET on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.27 per share on revenue of $171.32 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.31 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 62% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $0.23 to $0.30 per share on revenue of $168.00 million to $173.00 million. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 40.00% with revenue increasing by 97.78%. Short interest has decreased by 3.6% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 2.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 3.5% below its 200 day moving average of $60.62. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. Option traders are pricing in a 9.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.0% move in recent quarters.
What are you all watching for in this upcoming holiday-shortened trading week? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great trading week ahead StockMarket.
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