BY HANNAH SELNER
February 3, 2024
It’s been a few days (a week?!) since you’ve heard from me, so I have a BEEFY update for you in today’s Option Pit Research. Three key items that have nothing to do with each other, but are equally important.
Here they are… enjoy.
Live Tomorrow 10AM: Tariffs
Trump has been doing a lot of stuff recently with tariffs. Some on China, some on Mexico, some on Canada – I’ll just leave it at that. Tomorrow at 10AM EST, Hans, Mark & Andrew will loop you in on everything you need to know.
- What’s happened
- What’s next
- What we’re trading
- What we’re avoiding
By the end of tomorrow’s live free session, you’ll walk away with a full report of WHAT’S HOT and WHAT’S NOT as a result of recent Tariff action. Read: Exactly what we think you should buy/sell. Make sure you join us: Tomorrow 10AM, no charge to attend.
If you want the skinny on tariffs right now I filtered down from this morning’s news, read this.
If you don’t want it and you wanna just join us live in the morning, no judgment. Skip below to where it says “SKIP HERE”.
The Skinny on the Tariff Issue:
President Donald Trump recently announced extraordinary new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China aimed at “curbing the flow of drugs and undocumented immigrants into the US” (CNN). It’s neither here nor there if you agree/believe that… but what we care about as traders is what the effects may be, and how we can preserve/protect/profit from the fallout.
As Trump has repeatedly promised over the last few months, the tariffs he’s proposing are significant: a 25% tag on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada, plus a 10% tag on Chinese goods imported into the US.
If you’re asking “can he really do that?”, the short answer is yes, thanks to the IEEPA, or International Emergency Economic Powers Act… which authorizes a president during a time of national economic emergency (which he established previously), to unilaterally manage imports. Since the news, Canada has retaliated with a matching 25% (cute) tariff on US goods that, per Trudeau… “will be far-reaching and include everyday items” (spooky). That will apply to over $155B worth of American goods – which – if you’re new – that’s a lot.
A nugget of information I was actually surprised to learn is that in 2023, Mexico actually overtook China as the top nation exporting goods to the US, unseating China’s #1 importer position for the first time in two decades. Reason being… tariffs put into place during Trump’s 1st term that were largely maintained during the Biden administration impacted the imports from China and caused the swing towards Mexico. Combine that with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico during his first administration: enter Mexico as king.
In 2023, MX exported $467B in goods to the US, followed by China at $401B and Canada at $377B.
Some early sectors on the immediate chopping block include: The US Auto Industry, Canadian oil, food and Chinese solar.
Join us tomorrow at 10AM for the full list and report.
SKIP HERE:
Double My Money Acct Challenge Day 1
Today was the first day of Licia’s Double My Money Small Account Challenge. We had over 150 people in attendance, an amazing first-day turnout! Not surprised, Licia’s awesome.
They covered:
- Some pitchfork pivot points for key stocks they’re looking to trade this week
- All of the paid premiums you have access to
- Plan for a few positions this week through earnings reports
- Our new motto:
Vibes were HIGH. Everyone is super excited to get trading and learning.
There is STILL TIME to join the Double My Money Challenge if you haven’t yet. Our $200 off discount code has expired (Snooze ya lose!), but this is still open just for a few more days.
I’d hop in before we slam the door shut and you can’t get access for months.
GLACIERS!!!!!!!!
Weeks ago I promised you some photos and a play-by-play of my trip in Patagonia to visit the Perito Moreno glacier and I have kept you waiting long enough to probably EXPIRE the suspense…. But here you go.
Yall. I cannot be more direct about this: this was the most AWE-some place I’ve ever been in my entire life, and I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, so… that’s saying something.
Some key Perito Moreno glacier stats to get you excited:
- Covers 97 square miles
- Max height is 240 feet above the water
- Deepest part is 558 feel below water
- It moves at a speed of 2.2 meters a day
- The ice tastes the same as the ice out of your fridge. I promise, I tried it.
I’ll start by saying that no matter what photos I show you, it’s hard to understand the full scope of its size.
Here’s one from some walkways that go above, so you can get an impression of how wide/tall it is:
Here’s one closer up (with some people visible in the bottom right), so you can get some relativity for just how HUGE this thing really is…
We all put cramp-ons on, which are super janky – basically 10 little nail heads strapped to the bottom of your tennis shoes by a rope – and walked on the glacier for around 2hrs. Our guide told us that they actually have to change the route people walk on the glacier sometimes 2-3 times a day depending on the patterns in the ice melt, as certain routes can become dangerous throughout the day.
It’s summer in Patagonia, so it’s normal for Perito Moreno to be melting right now. Each winter, it builds back the ice in similar patterns. Up until the last 5 or so years, Perito Moreno was actually ADVANCING, meaning it grew more each winter than it melted each summer. More recently, it recovers only about 70% of the ice it had the previous year. It’s unsure if that trend will continue – and I’ll avoid all the hubbub here about the global warming issue – but listening to the guides who this affects everyday talk about it was very interesting. I found their tone to be pretty optimistic about the glacier’s condition.
Perito Moreno is one of several glaciers that descend from the Patagonia ice field; a gigantic ice mass between Argentina and Chile in the Andes mountains that spans 6,360 square miles (I KNOW!)
Standing and looking out over the glacier gave me the same feeling as looking at the night sky: big world, small me.
Some people hate that feeling, but I’ve found it helps me recenter my priorities. Any place you go that pushes you to feel that much is a good thing, in my opinion. And to do it alongside my parents was really, really special.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
More soon –
Hannah Selner
Director of Product Development, Option Pit
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