#PCE Lulu

[spacedoutwitch]

If I had a nickel for every time a virtual pet website held a site-wide item collectathon to try and figure out what's going on with their water god that introduces a character with multiple pronouns and winds up granting the players a new aquatic subcategory of Obtainable Guy during June, well. I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

[ivy-creeping-ivy]

lulu is great btw. awesome update so far

[astrojelly]

Lulu <3

[battleram-skirmisher-fr]

I know PCE just went through the scenarios to add more but I just had the best idea for a Lulu one. I hope it gets picked in ... checks thread ... October!

[bexical]

The Farewell: Identity in writing

It came out a while ago, but let’s take a moment to talk about The Farewell. The story features Billi, a Chinese-American woman in New York, and her family as they come together for an upcoming death in the family. The film is really well-done, and it touches on a variety of topics through a lens that is nuanced by the Asian-American identity of the protagonist and the director.

What I want to talk about specifically is the Asian-Americanness of the film. Potential investors repeatedly requested that the main character be American for relatability, even Chinese investors, but the director always wanted to tell an explicitly Asian-American story, and it comes through in the film. The dichotomy of China and America has a narrative presence throughout the story, ranging from interactions with strangers like hotel staff to family conflicts centered around this dichotomy.

There was one scene that stood out to me in particular. In this scene, the family is seated together for a meal, and they have a discussion about the differences between America and China, along with the experience of moving from China to America. It was noteworthy to me in its exploration of Chinese perception of America and of how America really compares to that perception. It’s difficult for me to contribute much to the broader real-world conversation on the topic or even summarize it since I lack a lot of the context, but there is this perception of America as the land of opportunity, which many of the characters evidently prescribe to. Furthremore, I don’t think it’s unfair to argue that the perception is built-in to the language, with America, ‘Meiguo’, transliterating as ‘The Beautiful Country’ (if you’re interested, consider this article for some history on China’s name for America). But, as Billi reminds her family, America as a country has problems of its own as well. The whole scene feels like the director’s response to this view of America, distilled to a short (but still tense) conversation.

I think this scene, and the myriad of similar scenes, reminded me of something I haven’t considered much, which is how my identity as an Asian-American (man) shapes my writing. Despite my qualms about identity politics, a large part of my life is defined by my being Asian-American and how I have responded to that, both consciously and subconsciously. And since I naturally draw on my life in my writing, it would be remiss of me to ignore such an large part of myself.

One of my deepest fears is my fear of mediocrity, and it’s born from a sense of Asian-American facelessness. For a long time while growing up, I felt like there was nothing that distinguished me from a stereotypical Asian male (I excelled in STEM subjects, played piano and violin, enjoyed video games, etc.). In avoiding mediocrity, I (kind of desperately) try to distinguish myself through both success and uniqueness, and these have been my strongest driving motivations throughout my life.

Being the child of Chinese immigrants, there was a significant clash in our cultural values that defined our relationship, and I’m sure this is a common theme in parent-child relationships in immigrant families.

My self image in the context of dating is very colored by the undersexualization and feminization of Asian men in western society (or, at the very least, my perception of the concept), and having a positive self-image in the context of the broader perception of my ethnicity is something that I struggle with regularly. (On this note, there is a play titled M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang, that has an incredibly interesting insight on this topic.)

So my experience is very colored by my ethnicity, and well, as silly as it may be, watching The Farewell reminded me that this is something I can draw upon for inspiration. At the same time though, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not a fan of identity politics. There is no such thing as ‘the Asian-American experience’: the way that ethnicity affects my life is different from how it affects my sister and my peers and others. Judging from some conversations, The Farewell is less relatable to me than it is to some of my non-Chinese peers, partially because of how different the family dynamic is from my own but also because it covers ideas that expand beyond ethnicity. I do also want to avoid relying too much on identity politics in writing because it would inherently label me as “an Asian-American author”: this would negatively affect my audience reach, not only from the point of view of an aspiring artist, but also from the point of view I expressed in the previous post on Disney heroines on how identity politics can create divisions.

At the same time, like Lulu Wang, the director of The Farewell, I want to be true to myself in my art by telling a story that resonates with me. Balancing the two artistic desires can be tricky, but I think that is a part of why I naturally leaned towards fantasy. While writing in fantasy, I can take any given aspect of myself that I want to explore, and I can separate it from the context of myself and the real world. I can even go further and construct elements of the world itself to help explore these concepts, and doing this well is the hallmark of great fantasy in my opinion.

All that being said, there definitely is room for identity-driven writing. Works like The Farewell and the briefly aforementioned M. Butterfly, among others, have helped me understand the Asian-American experience better, providing more context into where I fit into the world. And so, for a future work, I do want to explore this experience, and maybe this story can help future generations understand where they in turn fit into the Asian-American context and in the world as whole. I've been developing the idea for a little while actually: it's about a teenage boy trying to work out his relationship with masculinity and with Chinese-Americanness… all through the somewhat unique lens of fanfiction. I’m pretty excited for it (though Fireflower has priority, of course), and I can only hope that I capture what I aim to when I do eventually work on it.

Well, that’s all for now! pce out =)

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[schaeffersresearch]

Earnings expected from Big Lots, Pinduoduo, and Canopy Growth

[superprofitz]

Weekly Market Recap Sep 02, 2018

The upward move continues.   In last week’s recap we mentioned a lot of things turned positive on the technicals and that was born out in the action of the week, starting with a “gap up” in Monday’s session!

The U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement to enter into a new trade deal as President Donald Trump announced that he wants to drop the name “North American Free Trade Agreement” from an existing deal that includes Canada.

“It looks like a revised Nafta agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada may be reached shortly. That is giving investors optimism that a U.S.-China trade deal can be worked out in the fall which would remove an obstacle for markets to move higher,” said Jeff Kravetz, a regional investment strategist at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.

Apple (AAPL) is up 8 sessions in a row – best month since 2009 with a 19.6% gain.  That’s a giant move in itself but considering how large the company is, it is just a spectacle to behold.

Square (SQ) is up 12 sessions in a row.

Biotech has also been strong – remember all that “we are going to do something about these outrageous prices” talk?

For the week the S&P 500 gained 0.9% while the NASDAQ jumped 2.1%.  In August the S&P 500 gained 3.0% while the NASDAQ surged 5.7% (that’s 68% annualized!).

While not a massive market moving stat it is worth noting on Tuesday the Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence climbed to 133.4 this month from 127.9 in July. That’s the strongest reading since October 2000 and topped the previous post recession peak of 130 in February. However, such bullish readings can prove a double edged sword, pointing to growing optimism but also suggesting that a measure of complacency may be gripping Wall Street.

Consumer spending climbed 0.4% in July, according to a government reading, matching the estimate of economist. Incomes rose 0.3%. And the 12 month increase in the PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose to 2.3% from 2.2%, marking the highest level since April 2012.

Here is the 5 day weekly “intraday” chart of the S&P 500 … via Jill Mislinski.

From Bespoke Investment blog:

As shown, the Technology sector has accounted for 52.4% of the S&P 500’s gain this year, which is twice as much as the next closest sector — Consumer Discretionary.  Aside from Tech and Consumer Discretionary, the only other sector with a meaningful contribution has been Health Care at 18.4%. We should note, of course, that Consumer Discretionary includes Amazon; the e-commerce and web infrastructure (AWS) giant is over one quarter of that sectors’ market cap, and it’s up 70% YTD.

It’s worth keeping in mind that out-sized contribution to gains from a few sectors makes a fair bit of intuitive sense; some sectors are heavily weighted in the overall index!  Tech, specifically, accounts for over one-quarter of the overall index. Health Care, Financials, and Consumer Discretionary are the only other sectors over a 10% weighting

The week ahead…

Markets are closed Monday for the holiday; from there it gets pretty action packed on the economic front; ISM Manufacturing and Services hit this week along with the employment data for August on Friday.

Another amazing stat:

Binky Chadha, chief strategist at Deutsche Bank, noted that the three month period running from a month ahead to two months after the mid term elections has produced a median 8% gain. And that includes only one decline, a 4% drop in 1978, over that period in the last 21 midterm years.

Index charts:

Short term: One would think the indexes are a bit extended short term…

This Russell 2000 was not quite as spirited as the other indexes but is moving slowly along.

The NYSE McClellan Oscillator remains in the black.

Long term: Still very positive for the “buy and never sell” crowd.

Charts of interest / Big Movers:

Tuesday, DSW (DSW) jumped 20% after it reported adjusted second-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations and revenue that was well above forecasts.

Also Tuesday, Affimed NV (AFMD) said it had entered into an agreement with Genentech to develop and commercialize immunotherapeutic treatments for multiple cancers. Shares of Affimed skyrocketed a cool 247% Tuesday alone.

Box (BOX) slumped 11% Wednesday after it gave an earnings and sales outlook that was below expectations late Tuesday.

The market loves new themes to speculate on – pot is the new cryptocurrency.  Cannabis producer Tilray (TLRY) late Tuesday reported second-quarter sales that doubled from the prior year, thanks to the sale of more high-potency weed and extracts.   The stock is up from $25 to $65 in under a month.

Ciena (CIEN) jumped 13% Thursday after it reported third-quarter results that beat expectations.

Lululemon (LULU) late Thursday reported second-quarter earnings that beat expectations. It also raised its full-year outlook. The stock closed up 13.1% Friday and has been a strong performer in 2018, up nearly 100% thus far this year.

American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), the parent company of Smith & Wesson, late Thursday reported results that topped analyst expectations. Shares surged by nearly 44%.

Have a great week and we’ll see you back here Sunday!

Original article: Weekly Market Recap Sep 02, 2018.

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