Jobs, Jabs, and Jokes

Surely, there are not more relevant and useful things sprouting from the Digital Trean of Knowledge, are there? Jobs: Up (But be skeptical!) Let’s see how the Bureau of Labor Statistics pretends the economy is doing: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing. Employment in retail trade declined over the month. Here’s …

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Stocks Reveal Our Future – Job Cuts and UI Filings

We’re set for a rally today.  But no wonder! Ure broke his “no day-trading” or “index sniping” and bagged a better than 2.7% gain in the process.  I’m also willing to bet our “down under” bear-lover Len had a pretty good day, as well.  Since the Lockstralia market was down 21-odd points. Lockstralia is a hard market to play:  We figure long-term China will come for its natural resources.  But, for now, a good life can still be had there, if you’re willing to play along with their Vaxstapo. …

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Sighting-in on 2022 (1)

We don’t need to wait for the New Year to show up; we can extrapolate several ways to plot this (bad) movie and make our plans accordingly. Which is fine, because with TurboTax shipping and the balance of 2021 expenses and income pretty-much known, we should be nearing a position where – as threats come into focus –  we can allocate resources. This is not to make any claims that all threats can be known.  But we can bust the major ones into classes and begin working on things …

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Housing is Up – Thank Powell

No surprise that when you puff-up the monetary base of a country (by 28%) that inflation will show in housing prices.  No, sir.  No rocketry school needed for that calc: YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 19.5% annual gain in September, down from 19.8% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 17.8%, down from 18.6% in the previous month. The 20- City Composite posted a 19.1% year-over-year gain, down from 19.6% …

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Moronic Missteps, Fed Print Ahead, Housing Awaits

OK.  So, Omicron is reported to the WHO on Nov. 24 (Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern (who.int)) and we get around to turning off some – but not all – air travel on Nov. 29th??? Anyone want to guess how many planes with how many virus shedders landed at how many airports worldwide during the five-day gap? Then stupidity doubles down and president Brandon goes off and speaks the usual palaver:   On  November 26th saying “…These new restrictions will take effect on November 29.” Huh? Three stinking …

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