Fed Decision – No Move

“In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3?1/2 to 3?3/4 percent. In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of … Read More

The Flash Drive at Alexandria

Most investors look at a rising market and assume progress. But on a Fed Day, that assumption can be expensive. Price moves for three very different reasons: real business improvement, currency dilution, and story momentum. If you don’t separate them, you end up celebrating gains that are really just your money getting weaker. Today’s column … Read More

Housing Hit – Drops Below Inflation

Highlights from the Case-Shiller/S&P (which is Cotality?) Housing report just out. YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 1.4% annual gain for November. The 10-City Composite showed an annual increase of 2.0%, up from a 1.9% increase in the previous month. The 20-City … Read More

China Purge (or Taiwan move) Squeeze Metals – Icy But Over

When I mentioned to the Peoplenomics crowd that we didn’t go short over the weekend, it was an abundance of caution.  And, it was accompanied by a warning: News is Driving. China: Purge Or Invasion of Taiwan Gold screamed past $5,100 overnight and silver is nearly $110. We’re hearing things — many — strategic things … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Speed Freak Winter

The Preface: I like driving on ice.  However, I don’t like paying for the damage.  Like G2 who has his all-wheel drive being fixed because even AWD and ABS (and a good clean driving record) can’t fix an unsanded patch of black ice, a quarter inch thick – at a stop sign – that should … Read More

A Profound Prepping Lesson

I’ve been wrsiting about prepping for what? 25+ years? And with all that experience, I would have thought that I’d “seen it all.” But that was before the Storm Fern this weekend.  It funny, and serious, but most importantly profound. More for Subscribers ||| Master Index 2018 to Present ||| Master Index 2001 thru 2017 ||| Missing … Read More

One Down, Two Up, Then… Storm Prep C/L

$100 Silver nearly landed overnight – stopped 60-cents shy on the futures.  But that doesn’t end the hard assets war.  In fact, $5,000 gold and $100 silver seem almost a “lock” at this point.  But, we don’t offer this as “advice.”  It’s in the news category. Since We’re on Financials… Early market futures were down.  … Read More

Markets Stage Trump Recovery, ShopTalk: Storm Planning

Power, Prices, and Preparedness: Three talking points with the hash browns: What Trump said in Greenland, what it means, and how he’s out on the margins now. Markets slammed through the 85-Day average to the downside.  This is likely the rally above before lower. And the Mainstream again underscores its failure to empower the people … Read More

Global Asset War, US NATO Exit Plan, 85 DMA Bounce?

The two most useful sources on all the “news” sites today might be our own Reader Ray and a weekend video by The Asian Guy on YouTube.  We’ll toss in our consigliere, too, because his phone call Monday is a dandy starting point. Ring-a-Ding on NATO My consigliere called in Sunday.  “Greenland is about getting out of … Read More

$100 Silver Looms – 10 Things Worth Tracking

Item #1 for this holiday Monday:  My book – Mind Amplifiers – continues to be (from what I have been told – one of the best, most-needed, but somehow undiscovered AI books on Amazon. This weekend, I continued the AI research (extensively) with a post on my Hidden Guild (AI research) site exploring Beyond the “Mind Amplifiers” … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Ham Radio Antenna Picking

Ham radios are like women, sports cars, airplanes, and sailboats.  Your enjoyment of any of these will depend on careful consideration of your “use case”. However, if your use case is “spend all your money” my experiments indicate that even a thoughtless collection of two or three of the above will work fine. Which has … Read More