The QQQ is a Paper Cut That Won't Stop Bleeding
Written by: George from The Smartin Team
The market is a dry cleaner. You hand them your best suit—your hopes, your dreams, your QQQ shares—and they hand you back a wire hanger and a shrug. This week, the QQQ dropped 4.86% to 709.8. Nearly five percent! That’s not a “pullback.” That’s a mugging. That’s the market cornering you in an alley and demanding your lunch money and your dignity.
Meanwhile, the DIA is up 0.23% to 519.1. Who is buying the Dow? Who are these people? Probably the same people who still use a physical map and eat dinner at 4:30 PM. But my gut? My gut was screaming, “George, tech is the future! Buy the OKTA dip!” So, because I’ve finally learned that my instincts are a biological prank, I did the opposite. I didn’t buy. And look at that—OKTA plummeted 17.5% to $187.26. I’m finally winning by failing!
The Dog Food Renaissance
What’s the deal with CHWY being up 7.5%? We’re in a tech bloodbath, the SPY is down 1.91% to 763.25, and everyone decides the safest place for their capital is… premium kibble? $20.97 for a share of a company that delivers chew toys. It’s the Peter Lynch dream, isn’t it? “Buy what you know.” Well, I know my neighbor’s Golden Retriever has better healthcare than I do, but does that justify a rally when the rest of the world is on fire?
And look at the crypto miners. MARA down 20.2% to $7.53. RIOT down 16.7%. These aren’t stock charts; these are heart monitors for someone who just saw the bill for a root canal. People treat these miners like they’re picking up growth at a reasonable price stocks, but there’s no growth! It’s just a bunch of fans in a warehouse in Texas humming while your net worth evaporates.
The “I Give Up” Portfolio
The only things green this week were Chevron (CVX +4.7%) and BlackRock (BLK +4.7%). It’s a “Grumpy Old Man” rally. If the company sells something you can drop on your foot or use to foreclose on a house, it went up. Even the TA-35 in Israel managed a 2.33% gain while our tech sector was performing a staged dive into a concrete floor.
I’m sitting here looking at SNDL up 6.8% and thinking, “Is this it? Is the strategy now just weed and dog treats?” It’s a vice-and-pets economy. I’m one bad trade away from moving into a kennel and living off CBD gummies.
I tried using a fundamental stock screener app to find some logic, but logic is a myth. It’s like a “No Smoking” sign in a casino. It’s there for show, but everyone’s still coughing. The P/E ratios on these tech losers are still bloated like a Sunday brunch buffet, and the debt piles are higher than my anxiety levels after a three-syllable text from my mother.
If you’re like me and your every financial impulse is a direct threat to your survival, you need a second opinion that doesn’t involve your “intuition.” Run the ticker through this before you let your gut ruin your life again.