Week of Feb 5 2016 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“The essence of portfolio management is the management of RISKS, not the management of RETURNS.” — Benjamin Graham
1. Berkshire Ups Stake in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) — Berkshire Hathaway has resumed its purchases of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), spending roughly $832M in January to boost its stake even as the oil refiner’s profit margins narrowed. According to a regulatory filing, the conglomerate paid about $198M last week for 2.54M shares of PSX, giving it 72.29M overall, or a roughly 13.7% stake in the company. Phillips 66 is Berkshire’s (BRK.A, BRK.B) sixth-largest stock holding.
2. S&P Cuts Ratings of 10 U.S. Oil Companies — S&P ratings cut a number of energy companies by one notch: Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Apache (NYSE:APA), Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), Hess (NYSE:HES), Hunt Oil, Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN).
3. Florida Governor Declares Zika Health Emergency — Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in four counties where people have been diagnosed with the Zika virus. While nine cases of the mosquito-borne illness have been detected in the state, health officials believe all of the viruses were contracted while traveling to affected countries. The disease, for which there is no vaccine and no specific cure, has been linked to a recent surge of birth defects in Brazil.
4. American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Bullish Sentiment Declined — according to the weekly sentiment survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), bullish sentiment declined from 29.75% down to 27.55%. That makes 48 weeks out of 48 where bullish sentiment has been below 40%. Even as bullish sentiment declined, bearish sentiment also declined falling from 39.96% down to 34.72%.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
Tags: AAII Sentiment