Beyond Meat gets downgraded

Piper Sandler compared Beyond Meat’s reported sales data to third-party shipment data, and the third quarter shipping data suggests the company will miss retail sales expectations for the third quarter if historical trends hold.
“In comparison to our 3Q21 US retail sales estimate, shipments may exceed measured retail sales by $6 million, which is consistent with pre-2Q21 historical averages. However, 3Q21 consensus sales are also $15M higher than ours, indicating a potential miss (4Q21 has a similar risk),” according to the note.
Chevron gets downgraded

“In some ways, we believe CVX is a victim of its own capital discipline success, as higher guided Energy Transition spending in the future does not appear to be offset by offsets elsewhere in the portfolio.
Chevron announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest $10 billion in its low-carbon business, which includes renewable fuels and carbon offset projects, through 2028. Previously, the company forecasted $3 billion in spending.
According to the JPMorgan note, while this is a wise decision, it will not benefit the stock in the short term.
“Strategically, we believe that the company’s steps around ET largely make sense, though the ability to measure the returns on incremental spending will be long dated,” according to the note.
The “cash” issue

“You should be aware that cash is a waste of time. “Don’t keep it in cash,” Dalio said from the SALT conference in New York City on “Squawk Box.” The hedge fund billionaire still believes “cash is trash” more than a year after saying it.
“The most important thing I think an individual investor, or any investor, can do is know how to diversify well,” Dalio said.
“Diversify across countries, currencies, asset classes, and so on to achieve balance. “You can make tactical decisions from there,” he said, adding that “all of those asset classes will outperform cash.”
According to Dalio, most investors do not diversify. “The majority of people think, ‘OK, it’s the stock market.’ And, in comparison to the alternatives, I believe the stock market is relatively appealing.”
“However, as monetary policy tightens, that dynamic will begin to shift,” he added.
Dalio explained that stocks could be squeezed as the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world begin to withdraw their extraordinarily accommodative Covid-era monetary policies.
The Fed will meet next week against a backdrop of rising inflation and an expanding economy. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell believes that rising prices are only temporary and will not cause the economy to overheat.
Regardless, economists believe the Fed will begin to reduce its bond purchases later this year. Powell stated that any consideration of raising policy rates near zero percent is separate from tapering.
U.S. stocks opened relatively flat Wednesday, one day after the Dow surrendered gains at the open and fell 292 points, or 0.8 percent, to close down 292 points, or 0.8 percent. The 30-stock index fell for the sixth time in seven days, despite weaker-than-expected consumer inflation data, which was seen as keeping the Fed at bay for a little longer. The S&P500 fell for the sixth time in seven sessions on Tuesday, as Wall Street’s rough September continued.