Markets Pause (Rally?) – Engineered Spending

The beginning of Mercury Retrograde was a grand turning point.  The market began to “bounce back” and troubled Japan gained back more than 10 percent of their more than 12 percent loss previously. Gold was set to pop a bit silver was about flat. Copper has done OK (war is still coming) and lumber prices … Read More

Clone of ’29: Circuit Breaker Monday?

We have been in such a Bubble, for so long, that no one seems to appreciate how close to a 1929 style Collapse we are likely skirting.  And if may have everything to do with the growing risk of global war. Which the Powers that Be hold as an ace card to be played when their … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Retrograde School, Purple, and ‘Puter

The end of my Personal Retrograde Hell ended about 12:45 PM Sunday.  That’s when the new minicomputer began to function perfectly.  Not a big deal? This is a tale about Mercury Retrograde.  Retrograde means that if you’re outside and closely watching the night sky, the apparent motion of the planet Mercury seems to reverse and go backwards … Read More

Widows, Orphans, and Computers

A funny thing happened this week as we busted through one of our long-expected trend channels.  What’s more, we are just at our 85-day/17-week moving average which – back tested to 1998, has been a reasonable alternative to the (more conventional) 50DMA ore the 100DMA trading indicators. The computer part is woven in because this … Read More

Markets Pile on Bad News

Have a look at the critical support top of the trend channel now that we are more than an hour into today’s session: A couple of ways this could play out: A reverse higher bounce off the trend line. But we could also sink under, then come up to the trend top and fall apart. The … Read More

Three Things that Matter: Jobs, Markets, Weather

“Oh, dear, what can the matter be?”  Gotta minute? You may not realize it, but this is a common nursery rhyme (and round) which was drilled into the group socialization process back when many of us “Boomers or sometwhere in there) people were growing up.  Sayeth Wikipedia: “Oh, Dear! What Can the Matter Be?“, also known … Read More

Politics: Excellence Lost, Post Fed Date

In case you were under a rock, the key part of the Fed decision Wednesday afternoon was: “In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent. In considering any adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee … Read More