• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • Trifecta Stocks
  1. Home
  2. / Investing
  3. / Stocks

New Variant Fears Ground Cruise Stocks While Inflation Does Little for Silver

Shares of cruise line operators were hammered last Friday while precious metals languish despite inflation worries.
By JONATHAN HELLER
Nov 29, 2021 | 09:30 AM EST
Stocks quotes in this article: RCL, NCLH, CCL

Last Friday's market action was about what I'd expect in the more typical panic-driven mini-selloff; smaller names suffered the brunt of the damage. While large-caps, as measured by the S&P 500, were down nearly 2.3%, their smaller cousins were hit harder as the Russell 2000 and Russell Microcap Indexes fell 3.41% and 3.46%, respectively.

The Russell 2000 Value Index suffered even greater damage, dropping 3.92%. You typically expect the smaller, more speculative names to get hit harder in a selloff, but in the Twilight Zone that is 2021, that has not always been the case. During the down days of 2021, I've seen several occasions where smaller names have held up pretty well relative to the big guys. The selloffs that are most frightening and most real (at least in my view) are what we saw on Friday as investors ditch smaller names first.  We don't know if this is the beginning of a market drawdown or just typical Black Friday market action put on steroids by fear of the latest COVID variant, but buckle up for what could be a wild end to 2021.

Travel stocks were among last Friday's biggest sufferers, in particular cruise stocks. Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) (down 13.2%), Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) (down 11.4%) and Carnival Corp. (CCL) (down 11%) suffered similar fates. Carnival, which I believe is still overvalued due big changes to its capital structure, including massive debt and equity issuance during the pandemic in order to survive, was up a bit in early trading here on Monday morning. I still don't see how you can make the long case for the stock at these levels.

Meanwhile, as inflation becomes the buzzword for 2021, silver's price action has been a bit surprising and disappointing. Year to date, the "poor man's gold" is actually down 11%, while Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV) is down 13.5%. Yet, physical silver, as represented by a $100 bag of "junk" silver coins, which contain 71.5 ounces of silver, will still set you back about $2,172 -- that is, if you can source it. That's the equivalent of $30.38 an ounce, a 30% premium to the silver spot price. That's a much smaller premium than we saw at the outset of the pandemic, when silver fell to about $12.50 an ounce, an 11-year low, in late March 2020, but it's still considerable. One difference between now and March 2020, when the pandemic was new and there was no vaccine yet, is the onset of inflation.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

At the time of publication, Heller was long CCL $30 Jan 2022 puts and PSLV.

TAGS: Investing | Stocks | Metals & Mining | Real Money | Consumer Discretionary | Coronavirus

More from Stocks

Should You Buy Micron Technology Ahead of Earnings?

Bruce Kamich
Jun 27, 2022 12:20 PM EDT

The chipmaker reports its latest quarterly results this week.

Do Not Leave Texas Roadhouse on the Grill Too Long

Bruce Kamich
Jun 27, 2022 11:40 AM EDT

Here's how traders can smartly play the restaurant chain

McDonald's Stock Isn't Really Cheap, But Here's How to Trade It

Stephen Guilfoyle
Jun 27, 2022 11:30 AM EDT

Is McDonald's okay in a recession? I would like to see that debt load reduced.

Why I Just Can't Be More Positive About Stocks Right Now

James "Rev Shark" DePorre
Jun 27, 2022 11:13 AM EDT

Remember that countertrend bounce in May?

Here's Why I've Been Accumulating Homebuilder Stocks

Bret Jensen
Jun 27, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

There has been a lack of overbuilding in the housing market and inventories remain low.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 12:04 AM EDT PAUL PRICE

    Two Good Signs -- Especially for Small-Cap Investors

  • 12:10 AM EDT PAUL PRICE

    More Insider Buying in American Woodmark (AMWD)

    American Woodmark , which I've discussed here fr...
  • 08:55 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    The 10 personality traits of successful traders an...
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2022 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login