By Elias Kott, Contributing Writer
As SIMM’s (Students in Money Management’s) spring semester kicks off, members of the student-run investment portfolio club have been assembled into different sectors. The main sectors that members of SIMM are split into include Technology and Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Fixed Income, Healthcare and Consumer Staples, Family Business, and Industrials, Basic Materials and Utilities. Over the course of the semester, members of each sector will have the opportunity to present stock pitches that they believe can improve and diversify the overall investment portfolio. After the stock pitches, club members will essentially be the deciding factor in voting either in favor of or against purchasing or selling new stock.
Although stock pitches haven’t started yet, a Western New York Index has undergone development and awaits approval before it can officially launch. This index will track 28 of Western New York’s largest publicly traded companies.
In addition, club members will provide daily market updates as well as members of each sector providing weekly updates of how the current holdings are performing. The portfolio is primarily made up of equities (stocks) as well as ETF’s (Exchange Traded Funds). An equity (or stock) is essentially a piece of ownership in a corporation. For example, Amazon and Apple are examples of equities that we currently hold ownership in. An ETF slightly differs in that unlike an equity, it is made up of a collection of several securities such as equities, bonds, and options, but are bought and sold in the same way that a stock would on a normal exchange. SIMM deals with real cash and our current investment portfolio stands above $400,000.
In market-related news, the week opened up with major markets across the world being down largely due to investors being scared of the coronavirus. After markets closed on Monday, worldwide markets were significantly down; however, most notably, major U.S. indexes, such as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were both down at -1.57%. The coronavirus had a negative effect on Asian, European, and American Indexes. However, U.S. indexes have rebounded nicely over the past few days with both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 nearly gaining back their previous losses suffered on Monday. As of 1/29/20, the Dow Jones currently sits at 28,734.45 and the S&P 500 at 3,273.40.
Boeing reported its first annual loss in over two decades largely due to the costs incurred from the 737 Max crashes. Two of Boeing’s 737 Max Jets Boeing reportedly suffered a loss of $636 million in 2019 which vastly differs from their 2018 profit of $10.46 billion.
To learn more or to stay up to date with other SIMM related news go check out our website at https://www.sbusimm.org/ or follow us on twitter at BonaSIMM.
kottej18@bonaventure.edu
