Part 2: Housing Goes Hyper

Housing is up more than 18-1/2% in one year!  Want to ring the bell when you feel hyperinflation due to Fed money jiggering? 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 18.6% annual gain in June, up from 16.8% in the previous month. The … Read More

Part 1: While Waiting for Housing…

Can someone please explain to me who is running up the market?  We’re pretty sure that rampant CV-19 in a country whose military was just embarrassed by an inept CiC, and which will scream through $30-trillion in federal debt shortly, isn’t something a sane person would go out and “invest in.” Sure, gamble…aye, that’d be … Read More

Guns, Rains, and Homes

We can already plot out the week, so an early column.  Got up in the wee hours with my “brain on fire” about this week’s topic on Peoplenomics Wednesday:  Automatic Money. Before digging into that, our Monday cuppa is pretty-much tame: Tick-Tock in Kabul Sorry, but color us skeptical of this report:  “Taliban promises it will give … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Measurement Essentials & Planning

With the holiday weekend ahead – and a break in summer weather across the South from hurricane Ida, due to come ashore within the day – time to line up projects and tools for the big important projects this Fall. With this in mind, a quick overview of the first of our Four Shop Operations … Read More

A Silver Lining to Bond Disintermediation

Bond market isn’t growing as fast as the stock market. In relative terms, it’s shrinking. Which, we think offers a novel opportunity to offload the Federal Debt onto individual shareholders. The process takes a wee bit of explaining, but our point is that while the Federal Debt screams toward the $30-trillion level, there is a … Read More

Kabulshit while the Markets Line Up Suckers

Whether Joe Biden is a traitor, or merely incompetent, will likely be judged in the future.  Not our job.  We don’t ask about blackmail, control files, and such.   However, we have to call Kabulshit on the release of ANY names of Americans or Afghan workers who supported our efforts in the sand/rock box.  NOC lists … Read More

Markets: Pause for Data, ‘Stan Mess

Data, huh?  Mean like the weekly unemployment claims and the GDP report, or the corporate profits report? Well, let’s take ’em one at a time, starting with U.I. filings: So does this mean things are really that good? No.  Take up the question of people whose bennies have run out as a side discussion. Then there’s … Read More

China Lights it Up?

Nature abhors a vacuum – and the Biden mess in Afghanistan is creating a huge one.  With the Chinese having said – almost forever – that reunification with Taiwan will happen – the pending debacle still in the early stages of unfolding in the Middle East may offer China an unprecedented window of opportunity. Will … Read More

Turnaround Tuesday? Fixing the “Confuserator”

A short sit-rep because honestly, not much has changed overnight.  A number of readers are worried about the Covid Confuserator so we’ll get a wrench after that, here in a sec.  But first? Global Theater Review Let’s walk through a somewhat abbreviated “threat board” this morning because pre-holiday doldrums loom. Push Back Crash Worries to … Read More

CFNAI, Invade Australia? And “What Do You DO?”

Chicago Fed National Activity Indicator is just out. Led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) increased to +0.53 in July from –0.01 in June. Three of the four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made positive contributions in July, and three categories improved from June. The … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Lathe Work & Shop Prepping

As I advised Peoplenomics readers Saturday, the direction of writing around here has gone wandering off on its own.  Tied to the keyboard, I’m forced to follow but the destination is becoming clear. Let me back up a ways and tell you the story from the top. Remember the Lathe Project? A week or two back … Read More

Preview of Coming Attractions

Between events in the shop this week, and Biden pulling troops before others, we see a vision of the future that looks horrific.  This will come out on Urban in pieces, but this morning for subscribers a high level overview of what’s likely to come from America’s simmering calamities. Along with the ChartPack which is … Read More

Collapsing into Fall

Since there isn’t much in the way of hardcore economic news today, a really short column is in order. Markets: Short-term Glum Things will suck again, at least at the open.  At least so say the futures.  The market high in our Aggregate came on Monday, the 16th. So we will have to fiddle our … Read More