News

We run into this problem in economics (and other sciences) all the time. It’s called the Hidden Variable. Historically, in physics, hidden variable theories were espoused by some physicists who argued that the state of a physical system, as formulated by quantum mechanics, does not give a complete description for the system; i.e., that quantum … Read More

Technically, March through June in Tornado time.  It’s something we keep a close eye on, living as we do on the fringe of Tornado Alley. Sunday started off just fine:  Overcast and dry enough that I could finish putting deck screws into the small deck Elaine and I build Saturday off the “180° Room.” Having … Read More

There are some interesting accounting problems on the horizon for a lot of publicly held companies.  While they have benefited from the declining interest rate paradigm since 1980, if the bottom is really “in” on rates, any sudden moves could send corporate balance sheets seriously “out of whack” in a heartbeat. The result of that … Read More

This headline makes absolutely no sense unless you read our twice-weekly Peoplenomics.com reports.  Over there, I occasionally will discuss trading in non-dollar terms. For example, a trade I have on now (which may produce at least the fries when the market opens down a bit) may pay off upwards of 194 Quarter Pounders next week if … Read More

Alarming Talk? No, I Wasn’t Kidding nor was I delusional (any more than usual) when explained Thursday that my alarm clock failed to wake me up in time to write my usual (longer) Thursday morning Coping section.. A reader (the other one) thought my “precognitive oversleeping” was one of the best excuses ever heard.  Then … Read More

Trading in Asia was down a bit overnight.  A Bit week in Europe in the early-going, too.  And when I peeked earlier, the Dow was looking to drop another 25, or so at the open. This may be – in part – due to the Brits triggering the BREXIT move which will change the trade picture in … Read More

Strange, but super short Coping this morning. Overnight, my faithful travel alarm clock – that ran on a single 1.5 volt double A battery – decided to quit working.  I’ve had it since 1990 and to get that much use out of something is amazing in today’s “easy to break” world. I knew this was coming at … Read More

A fair bit on  the plate this morning.  In the Strategy area, we continue our discussion of three books that may provide a useful “look-ahead” reference series for the coming period of history. Under Tactics we take on the task of trading what may be one more small decline before the market heads up – … Read More

Hot off the Press Release: NEW YORK, MARCH 28, 2017 – S&P Dow Jones Indices today released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released today for January 2017 shows that home prices continued their rise across the country over the last 12 months. More … Read More

Our topic this morning is Income Taxes which come due in about two weeks. Gotcher Tums supplies laid in? Before we start, a compliment to I.R.S.  The Ure family return was filed electronically early this month and already our 37-cent refund hit the bank account.  Nicely done! People tend to hold I.R.S. to account for … Read More

We expect the Dow to drop around 150 points at the open this morning. You can ascribe the problem to any of the following: The GOP failure to vote as promised on Obamacare repeal. The fact that Labels of Convenience are becoming obvious now (see Coping section for more) The fact that the Rest of … Read More

So, this man walks into the local county courthouse, al disheveled, drooling a bit, and wearing clothes that looked like they hadn’t been washed in month or two.  Reeked to high heaven. Worse, the man smelled like a hog pen, he was carrying an “Anarchy Now” sign, and most of his teeth had left with … Read More

Been reading a fascinating book (I’ll give you the title in a sec.) and it makes some amazing forecasts related to energy, some of which I hinted at in Friday’s Urban column. This morning we consider the economic implications but not before running Paul Ryan down for allowing turncoat Republicans of Convenience to escape being … Read More