Here are five well-known stocks that reached new highs last year but are now showing signs of weakness as the new year progresses. These price charts of well-known firms illustrate how consistently selling has outpaced past purchasing. Rising 10-year Treasury yields are likely affecting, but whatever the case might be, stock prices are now trending downward.
The following is a graph of Amazon’s daily price changes:
Amazon daily price chart, 2 27 21
Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon, has moved into a new mansion with 34 bathrooms, but the stock he’s been managing recently hasn’t been impressed. Just as he ascends to the “Executive Chair” — late capitalism’s version of the “Royal Throne” — Amazon’s stock price can’t seem to touch, much less surpass, the peak price of 2020.
The daily price chart for Facebook is as follows:
Facebook daily price chart, 2 27 21.
Mark Zuckerberg is in a bad way. He created the biggest, most sophisticated data-collection operation in the history of social media, became a Wall Street hero, and now stock investors are more interested in whatever Cathie Wood is adding to her ARKK portfolio. There doesn’t seem to be much Facebook these days, as the Facebook price chart suggests, “Mark who?”
Weekly price map for Merck:
Merck weekly price chart, 2 27 21.
The world’s largest pharmaceutical firm reached its peak price in late 2019 and is unlikely to go any further. But it gets worse: the stock drops below its 2020 lows this week. This is known as “breaking support” and is generally not a positive indication. Will Merck be able to keep the March 2020 lows? The 3.58 percent dividend of the firm must not seem as enticing as it once did.
Regular price map of Proctor & Gamble:
Proctor & Gamble daily price chart, 2 27 21.
The household and personal products business (aka ‘toothpaste’) peaked in November 2020. The stock closed in February 2021 at a low price per month. Are the March 2020 lows of 100 or just below the next important level of support for Proctor and Gamble?
Regular price chart of Unilever:
Unilever daily price chart, 2 27 21.
Unilever is another major name in the household and personal products market and, like Proctor & Gamble, has not been able to pick up the peak price since late 2020. The stock closed last week at a low price for February—and a low price for the year 2021, so far. At least for now, the corporation is paying a 3.67 percent dividend that is still higher than the 10-year Treasury.
Meantime, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have blasted upwards. It’s an unusual circumstance to keep classic financial assets like stocks and bonds going down as a whole new class of assets skyrockets dramatically. And we’re not done with the first part.
