Market Morning: Legalization in Four States, Musk vs Short Sellers, Amazon Headfakes

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Market Morning: Legalization in Four States, Musk vs Short Sellers, Amazon Headfakes

Vote To Legalize Cannabis In Four States Today

While everyone is focused on how many red seats and blue seats will be in the bicameral legislature of the Federal Government of the United States of America by the end of the day, there are four states voting on a matter that would directly affect people’s lives almost immediately in North Dakota, Missouri, Utah, and Michigan. A ballot measure in North Dakota would allow anyone 21 and over to grow and sell and buy any amount of marijuana. In Michigan, a similar ballot measure if being voted on for using, selling or buying up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, and growing up to 12 plants without a license. Missouri and Utah voters will be deciding on legalized medical cannabis. If all measures pass, expect positive movement in pot stocks and vice versa.

SEE: Coinsource Gets License to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York

Related Tickers: (NYSE:ACB) (HMMJ.TO)

Musk Takes On Tesla Short Sellers

One Nasdaq company that hasn’t been affected by the recent volaility in tech stocks, surpisingly, is Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which is up about 10% since October 1st. Tesla executive formerly known as CEO but now without a title, Elon Musk, is actively trying to drive a stake deep into the heart of the Tesla shortselling crowd by buying up another $10 million of his own company, and hinting that $20 million more worth of share buying is in the works. Musk now owns about 20% of the company, its largest shareholder. Musk was earlier forced to abdicate as company Chairman and pay up $20 million to the SEC for tweeting about taking the company private earlier in the year.

American Finances a “Horror Show” According to Iffy Online Surveys

WalletHub, a financial website, has released a survey indicated that 75 million Americans consider their finances a “horror show”, yet another indication that the current economic boom has been debt-fueled, as all booms are, and will continue to be debt fueled until the boom turns to bust due to too much debt, as is what always happens. 75 million is about half of the US population that is old enough to be considered in debt in the first place, which means the next bust is going to see defaults stacking up in frightful piles around the country to the detriment of credit card companies specifically.

Related Tickers: (NYSE:V) (NYSE:MA) (NYSE:AXP)

Amazon Headfakes on HQ2, Will Pick Two Cities Now

Dallas, Long Island City in New York and Arlington near Washington, D.C. are the finalists for Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) now two choices for a second (and third, or two seconds, or however you want to split it up) headquarters. Washington D.C. would probably be the most logical choice for one of the new headquarters because the retail giant could keep a closer eye on wily politicians when headquartered right next door to the corridors of central power. And if there’s already a headquarters in the northeast and one in Seattle in the northwest, then a third in Dallas would give the company a nice triangulated position covering most of the mainland in its net. Amazon has promised to spend $5 billion and hire 50,000 people to staff its new buildings.

Foreigners Silenced on Facebook For Talking about Midterms

The Russia bogeyman is still haunting the U.S. government, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) having closed 115 accounts suspected of being linked to foreign interests, for promoting political messages, which according to some is a very dangerous thing. “Americans should be aware that foreign actors, and Russia in particular, continue to try to influence public sentiment and voter perceptions through actions intended to sow discord,” including through social media, federal authorities said in a statement on Monday. Now that Americans know, there will be no foreign influence in Congress anymore and voters can relax, as there is nothing to worry about anymore, now that Russia has been dealt with before the election.