What Will 2024 Bring?

Dear Reader,

It’s that time of the year again.

No, not the holidays, when we all gather around with our families and discuss the stock market and crypto…

It’s time to make some predictions, to be a soothsayer, of sorts.

Our prediction issues are some of our most popular articles and videos here at Angel Publishing, so I’ll do my best to live up to the hype.

Now, let’s go over some of the big topics from this year and see if we can’t figure out what’ll happen in the next…

Interest Rates and Inflation

Probably the most contentious market topic of the year is interest rates.

While the Fed plays whack-a-mole with inflation by raising interest rates, which some argue doesn’t have that much of an effect on inflation in the first place, the average American has been totally screwed.

Rising interest rates have stalled the housing market, keeping potential buyers on the sidelines. You’d think this would lower prices, but the housing market doesn’t play by the rules. Prices have continued to rise despite historic mortgage rates. The good news is mortgage rates have already dropped slightly this year.

But grocery prices remain extremely elevated. I bought 11 — count 'em, 11 — items at the grocery store last week. The grand total? $80! Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to do that. I haven’t been able to afford to do that for the last three years.

And look, no one’s coming to save the day. Our only saving grace will be inflation actually coming down, which, thankfully, is happening as we speak… albeit slowly.

So my first prediction is that inflation will come back down to the 2% level, triggering the Fed to cut interest rates.

In fact, this is what I’m calling the “critical pivot.”

When that happens, all bets are off on the stock market. Investors sitting on the sidelines will start a buying frenzy like we’ve never seen.

We’ll see a reversal to the upside likely followed by a swift and severe sell-off as investors realize valuations are too high.

But that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

That’s my overall prediction for the market, but what sectors will thrive?

Psychedelics

We’ve seen outsized growth in microcap and small-cap stocks in 2023, including those in the health care and biotech sectors, which are historically very volatile.

But the evidence is becoming more and more clear in the realm of psychedelic research.

Now states are beginning to introduce bills that would decriminalize certain psychedelic mushrooms.

In fact, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, vetoed a bill in October that would have decriminalized them.

He made a valid point when he vetoed it, saying, “California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines — replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychoses. Unfortunately, this bill would decriminalize possession prior to these guidelines going into place, and I cannot sign it.”

The Catch-22 is that it’s hard for companies to experiment with an illegal substance.

But one company I’ve mentioned before in the space called Cybin (NYSE: CYBN) just released extremely impressive Phase 2 data for its proprietary drug CYB003, used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD).

In a press release earlier this month, Cybin announced that its proprietary psilocybin drug demonstrated a rapid, robust, and statistically significant reduction in symptoms of depression three weeks following a single 12 mg dose compared with a placebo.

Cybin’s drug showed 14-point improvement on the depression rating scale in the study, which researchers say is “unprecedented.”

Compared with SSRIs — the FDA-approved depression drugs — psychedelic treatment beats them by a factor of 12!

It’s exciting and encouraging news for investors who’ve believed in this industry all along.

The press release concludes with Cybin’s chief medical officer, Amir Inamdar, saying, "Mental health disorders affect almost 1 billion people worldwide. Comorbid MDD occurs widely in medical and psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. These interim results, together with emerging data from a number of academic studies, suggest that CYB003 may have therapeutic efficacy in range of mental health conditions."

This is just the first step, as psychedelics might hold the key to treating other diseases and disorders as well.

So my prediction is psychedelics will become decriminalized as early as next year.

AI

Finally, AI is going to take over like we can’t even imagine.

In fact, it’s going to make the smartphone obsolete…

The big news this week is that Open AI CEO Sam Altman got fired for some mysterious reason and has now been poached by Microsoft.

There are rumors he’s working on some sort of wearable AI device not unlike the Ai Pin that I wrote about recently. If you don’t recall, the Ai Pin is a wearable device that harnesses the power of AI chatbots to assist you, not harm you like a smartphone does.

The pin is built by a company called Humane, runs on a Snapdragon processor with a dedicated Qualcomm AI Engine, and has an ultra-wide camera with depth and motion sensors so you can take pictures and video and also interact with the world around you. Just like Apple products, it’s small, sleek, and extremely powerful. It also has a built-in personic speaker, Bluetooth pairing, and a mini projector with a laser ink display so you can read and interact with text on your hand. You can even hold the camera up to food, and the AI will give you the nutrition facts. And for just $24 a month, you can use it as a cellphone.

My prediction is that AI wearable devices are going to take over our world even more than the iPhone did…

That's it for my predictions.

But if you want to hear more from us about what 2024 will bring, make sure to watch our annual stock market predictions episode of the Angel Research Podcast.

Last year, Angel Publishing founder and president Brian Hicks made some epic calls that received a lot of hate, but he was actually SPOT ON.

He's joined by microcap expert Alex Koyfman in this week's episode.

You can watch it here.

Stay frosty,

Alexander Boulden
Editor, Wealth Daily

Check us out on YouTube!

After Alexander’s passion for economics and investing drew him to one of the largest financial publishers in the world, where he rubbed elbows with former Chicago Board Options Exchange floor traders, Wall Street hedge fund managers, and International Monetary Fund analysts, he decided to take up the pen and guide others through this new age of investing.

Alexander is the investment director of Insider Stakeout — a weekly investment advisory service dedicated to tracking the smartest money on the planet so that his readers can achieve life-altering, market-beating returns. He also serves at the managing editor for R.I.C.H. Report, a comprehensive service that uses the highest-quality investment research and strategies that guides its members in growing their wealth on top of preserving it.

Check out his editor’s page here.

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