postN51

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Spiders for the 1st of March 2024

by with No Comment AMT MarketsBehavioral SentimentFeatured Highlights

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Spiders for the 1st of March 2024

postN51

10. Palystes: Huntsman spiders known in South Africa as ‘rain spiders’ are nocturnal and visit indoors, sometimes causing horror for those stumbling through hallways in the middle of the night. But it is better than a baboon entering the house.

9. Victor Wembanyama: Last night’s stat line included 28 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 3pts made, 7 assists, 2 steals in less than 33 minutes played. The rookie is already one of the best NBA players. Btw, the Spurs beat the Thunder also.

8. Tech: Chinese cars are now in the crosshairs of U.S politicians who are worried the ‘smart’ vehicles can collect sensitive data from Americans.

7. Crypto: Bitcoin above 61,000.00 USD, Ethereum over 3,300.00, and Binance Coin testing 400.00 even as the company remains under U.S legal shadows. How much air can the balloons withstand?

6. Putin’s Nuclear Threats: In a world with escalating geo-political tension, the Russian leader remains determined and energetic while playing ‘war poker’ against Europe.

5. U.S Data: Core PCE Index numbers yesterday met expectations, but the previous month’s outcome was revised downwards. Today a Consumer Sentiment reading comes from the University of Michigan. This week’s U.S data has mostly been pleasantly ‘weaker’.

4. Central Banks: Fed ‘watchers’ are likely feeling more comfortable this morning regarding the possibility of a late spring ‘thaw’ in U.S interest rates. Jerome Powell will testify in front of the Senate next Thursday. The ECB will release their Monetary Policy Statement on the 7th of March also. Next FOMC pronouncements will be on the 20th of March.

3. Gold: The precious metal is near 2050.00 USD, this after yesterday’s U.S inflation report, gold could remain volatile today. Some speculators may be looking for additional value to develop.

2. Forex: FX has been a constant battle the past two months, but patient traders with mid-term perspectives may be anticipating their weaker USD targets to trend more steadily.

1. Equities: Many global stock indices are achieving record levels as bullish behavioral sentiment creates upwards momentum. S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and the Composite, Dow 30, Nikkei 225 and the DAX Index are flirting with higher values.

postN87

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Morsels for 5th of January 2024

by with No Comment AMT MarketsBehavioral SentimentFeatured Highlights

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Morsels for 5th of January 2024

postN87

10. Book: Truth to Power – My Three Years Inside Eskom by Andre de Ruyter, an insider’s account about South Africa’s public energy company amidst corruption, mismanagement and scandal.

9. NBA: Last night’s Milwaukee and San Antonio game was the first ‘match’ of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama. Basketball is global and spectacular.

8. Noise: Clickbait media headlines about nervous results in financial markets this week have been exaggerated.

7. Horn of Africa: Ethiopia and Somalia are arguing about a port passage through ‘Somaliland’, astute eyes should be kept on the region and Egypt.

6. Diplomacy: U.S foreign policy has delivered poor statesmanship with India recently, allowing Russia to reinitiate its longstanding relationship with the nation.

5. Taiwan: Presidential election is on the 13th of January. President Tsai Ing-wen is not eligible to run again because she has now served two terms.

4. USD/JPY has ebbed higher and next week’s results promise to be rather insightful regarding the outlooks of financial institutions. Reversals coming?

3. China: Economic concerns in the Asian giant continue to mount as deflation threatens to become intractable and investors fret.

2. Data: U.S jobs numbers coming today, the results are anticipated to be slightly weaker. A reaction in the broad markets is certain, but it is full market volume next week which will set the tone.

1. Outlook: Anxious short-term trading results from the past two weeks are likely going to be confronted by optimism and risk appetite next week. Who will win?

postN51

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Shots for Friday the 3rd of Nov.

by with No Comment AMT MarketsBehavioral SentimentFeatured Highlights

AMT Top Ten Miscellaneous Shots for Friday the 3rd of Nov.

postN51

10. NBA: Welcome to Victor Wembanyama’s world. VW’s 5th game as a Spur was historic last night.

9. South Africa: The Springboks Rugby World Cup victory is helping unifying the nation and giving all its citizens a hope for better days.

8. Book: The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn.

7. Crypto: Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all counts. Yet, Bitcoin is near 34,600.00 USD per coin.

6. Risks: Signs of appetite as U.S equity indices have moved higher, and U.S Treasury yields have declined.

5. Gold: The precious metal still lingering near 2000.00 USD and may attract bearish speculative positions.

4. Middle East: Global financial institutions appear to have dealt with the noise.

3. U.S Jobs Reports: Non-Farm Employment Change numbers and Average Hourly Earnings inflation data will be published today and shake markets.

2. Federal Reserve: The U.S central bank may have reached the end of it interest rates hikes cycle.

1. USD: The world’s reserve currency remains suspiciously strong and if it is a relatively calm today and this weekend, day traders may begin to embrace selling wagers.

post32

NBA Draft Lottery and Victor Wembanyama #1

by with No Comment BasketballCultureFeatured Highlights

NBA Draft Lottery and Victor Wembanyama #1

You have likely heard plenty of talk about Victor Wembanyama if you are a basketball fan. Perhaps you still do not believe the potential talent the youngster may bring to the NBA for the 2023-2024 season, but rest assured NBA teams with the capability of landing the ‘definite’ number one pick in this year’s draft are paying attention.

post32

Whoever finishes with the Top Pick in this Year’s Draft will be Celebrating

The NBA lottery will be held on the 16th of May, and there are a handful of teams that have the potential to land VW with reasonable odds. Detroit, Houston, San Antonio, Charlotte and Portland have the best chance of landing the first pick in the lottery due to their respective finishes. There are an additional handful of teams with a very limited chance of miraculously coming out on top and winding up with the number one pick after those teams, but their respective odds are slim.

No one is going to consider trading the rights to this year’s NBA top pick. The team that is lucky enough to land the rights to Victor Wembanyama is going to become a more valuable franchise instantly when the lottery order is known. Likely by an extra half a billion USD, because television, merchandise and advertising rights will increase demand immediately in all facets of business for the lucky team. And Victor Wembanyama knows his financial value too.

The run up to the LeBron James draft in 2003 was special and teams anticipated the results nervously. Somehow and ‘magically’ the Cleveland Cavaliers finished first in the draft lottery. However, the Cavaliers did have a 22.50% chance of landing the top pick, even though conspiracy minded NBA fans still find it more than coincidental that the Ohio native found his way to the Cavaliers so easily while ‘fresh’ out of high school.

This year’s top three teams have a 14.0% chance each, Charlotte the number four team has a 12.5% opportunity, and the Portland Trailblazers have a 10.5% ability. Victor Wembanyama is from France and he has expressed no desire to play for a specific team in the NBA. Outside of the top five teams who could somehow have a ‘lucky star’ strike and land Victor Wembanyama next season are Orlando, Indiana, Washington, Utah, Dallas and a few others with a limited and dwindling chance in the lottery sweepstakes.

Victor Wembanyama’s Draft Rights will Not be Traded to Anyone

If you want hyperbole regarding how good Victor Wembanyama’s NBA ceiling could be, consider that there is likely no NBA player currently playing who could be traded for VW one for one. I am not kidding, this includes Giannis, KD, Steph Curry, Jokic and Joel Embiid. You might scoff and laugh at what has been written with derision, but I am willing to bet the team that lands the top pick for Wembanyama would not be willing to trade his rights, unless not only a Tier 1 top 5 player was offered, but an assortment of draft choices and other players were included too, besides a lot of cash.

Perhaps Wembanyama will fail miserably, perhaps he will get hurt in the future, but his ability to be productive in the NBA is hypothetically off the charts. I believe he will be one of the most productive NBA players of all-time and I have watched a ‘bit’ of basketball. A plausible combination of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Durant as the hybrid is the amount of potential to consider. Wembanyama is a legitimate 7’4″ inches, he can dribble, shoot, run, cut, react quickly – twitch movement, moves his feet well and is balanced. He also plays defense while looking a bit like a praying mantis and possesses a ‘killer’ mentality. There is no doubt Victor Wembanyama will go first in the draft which will be held on the 22nd of June. The real story is who will land his rights next week on Tuesday, the 16th of May. You will hear the city that lands the top pick roar.

post15

Before Victor: The BV Year and Outlook

by with No Comment BasketballCultureSports

Before Victor: The BV Year and Outlook

By now almost every basketball fan knows who Victor Wembanyama is if they pay attention to the NBA. Simply type the first three letters ………..Vic…..into your Google search and his name will appear. The young man is 19 years old. He will certainly be the number one choice in this year’s NBA draft. He stands a legitimate 7’4″.

Folks are still creating adjectives and nicknames to give Wembanyama, and sincerely it is up to him to decide how he should be addressed. However, here is one prediction that I believe will legitimately occur over the next few years, the creation of the term BV in the NBA.

post15

Wembanyama’s impact offensively and defensively will change the NBA. He is likely to take on a number 4 role positionally while playing offense the first few years, and will certainly be used as a center on defense.

He can handle the ball and shoot from outside. Wembanyama’s ability to dribble in traffic allows him greater mobility to drive towards the hoop. He can clearly cause chaos in the paint offensively with a threat of dunks, put backs and rebounding. He is an effective passer when distributing the ‘rock’ to his teammates.

He will immediately make other teams change the way they attack and play offensively against him. The game of basketball has evolved into one that looks for open space, and shots from the outside dominate. One consideration is that teams may go into a hyper induced outside game in which they try to put four guys (maybe five) outside of the three point circle. This to try and keep VW away from the ball as much as possible as he plays defense, attempting to get him out of position.

Anybody with the ball inside of the arc has the potential to have their shot blocked by VW. Wembanyama’s closing speed, getting to an offensive player considering a shot, is almost always one step away. Meaning he can quickly attack, extend his arms, and either block an attempted shot or simply make a player change his mind and stop the motion of the offensive scheme.

Wembanyama is not God, but he can be a basketball god if he stays healthy. You have been warned. He is doing well in European basketball which has a smaller court, and more grabbing and pushing compared to the NBA. Whoever has the luck to draft Wembanyama likely has a generational player. The magic within all of this is the fact the young man seems to be genuinely a good person.

In this year of BV – Before Victor – basketball the East looks like it has three teams that can make a run towards the Championship round including the Bucks, Celtics and 76er’s. The West is full of teams with question marks regarding health and the ability to coalesce into competing units. Phoenix and Denver are the favorites, but potential problems lurk on both teams.

In the Western shadows looms Memphis which is being compared to the ‘Bad Boys’ of Detroit from the 1980’s, but the Grizzlies need to win something first. Due to their ‘talking’ and desire to try and intimidate folks – it would help if they actually won something significant and advanced to at least the Western Championships this year, which they likely won’t. Ja Morant has plenty of talent, all-world, but he also has put a target on the back of his team by talking a lot of smack.

Perhaps more interesting than the Championship run which is developing, is the race to the bottom in order to get into the NBA Draft lottery for the chance to take Victor Wembanyama. Because it is likely that the winner via percentages of probability, that one of the worst performing 5 teams will get the opportunity to change franchise history. How good is VW? Whoever gets him is likely landing an all-star during the 2023-2024 season, a giant marketing tool worth hundreds of millions USD, while creating global brand for a club and the ability to make playoff runs very quickly of stature.