U.S. stocks were under pressure for most of the day as oil continues to weigh heavily on market sentiment. There are several Wall Street writers posting articles about the theory that the first two trading days of the year highly correlate to the remainder of the year. If that is the case, we might as well close the books and come back in 2016. The S&P 500 did attempt a recovery in the final hour, but still declined by 0.92% to 2,002.
It is quite possible that “buy the rumor, sell the news” has been experienced, as manipulators might have been pushing up prices ahead of last night’s “Marijuana Country: The Cannabis Boom” on CNBC Prime. Cannabis stocks gave back some of their recent gains. The MJIC Marijuana Index and Benzinga 420 Marijuana Index declined by 1.3% and 3.7%, respectively.
Daily Positive: So far this year, we have seen improved interest in the sector as daily volumes have been better than much of the later part of 2014.
Daily Negative: Watch out for third-party articles that aren’t truly based on research, as there is a lot of bad information out there. It is difficult for an investor with a full-time job to sift through all of this information and misinformation to know what is real.
It is interesting that prime time TV has been focusing a bit more on the cannabis industry. In the last week, it has been covered on shows like the aforementioned CNBC special, PBS News Hour and MSNBC. These shows highlight much of the successes of some large players in the industry. Other programs are also exploring the issues that accompany this type of expansion.
It is good to see the industry getting coverage, but we like to point out that much of this industry is built on the flourishing of small businesses quietly making progress. They may not be as sensational as those featured on TV, but they are defining success by creating jobs, building communities and changing perceptions. This is mirrored in the public markets as well. There might be some more popular household names, but often times the higher quality companies are lesser known to the broad base.