Latest business and finance news & analysis
“Give me a Monday Special, news guy.” Strange call, there, mister or missus. This ain’t a news bar. More like a safe house for rational people. But, if you insist, there is data and there is woe lurking. How-some-ever, if you like Happy-Talk, this’ll put a smile on your face on the way to financial … Read More
Alt: Workflow, Gear, and Staying Sane in the Heat If you’re like me, the shop ain’t just a place to fix stuff—it’s where you spend hours tinkering, swearing under your breath, and occasionally getting something right on the first try. But comfort matters more than folks admit. A sore back from hunching over one overcrowded … Read More
Markets are nervous. The internet is overloaded. And that combination can turn a routine bad day into a real-world problem faster than most people think. The biggest risk is not some Hollywood-style “internet goes dark” event, but a messy partial failure: logins break, one-time passwords arrive late, broker platforms wobble, bank apps lag, and families … Read More
Not to frame this in too much of a Peoplenomics / deep-thinking manner, but there are two ways one can generally view the world. And since I left the world of “tearing down the overnight wire” tasks, even before RSS appeared, that’s likely a good value proposition to ponder. Not just now – but likely for … Read More
Again, AI offered a warning to me about column length: “The piece has at least five columns’ worth of ideas trying to ride in one wagon.” Yes, perhaps so. But that’s the Muse for you. No, we are not going to share the 40-page ChartPack posted for Peoplenomics.com subscribers. But we will mention that one of … Read More
Today’s Peoplenomics is a two-fer. First, the ChartPack digs into a quiet but important market shift: as dividends have faded, more of the case for owning stocks has come to depend on price appreciation alone. That changes the psychology of markets, raises the stakes on valuation, and helps explain why so much of modern investing … Read More
Breaking: NFIB Optimism Just out: The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.5 points in February to 98.8 but remained slightly above the 52-year average of 98. The Uncertainty Index decreased three points from January to 88. The Employment Index ticked up nearly a point in February to 103.5, 3.5 points above its historical average … Read More
AI’s assessment of today’s column should be a hint: “This is good Ure copy with too much freight on one flatbed.” But it’s the flatbed we have, so we’ll blow by the weigh stations. Although we had some signs in the market Friday that the downside was maybe about to level out, we also cautioned that … Read More
“Mmm.. too much ground to cover, Kimosabe! This reads like three columns in one hide-out: ranch/shop projects, solar tax gotcha, and anti-aging protocol update.” “No worries, Tonto. We write… Besides, we’re just horsin around, right Silver?” At age 77. You would think I would have enough sense to lighten the hell up and just chill. Nope. … Read More
A lot is breaking at once now — markets, war risk, politics, and the simple matter of staying alive long enough to profit from being right. This weekend I step back and use one of my favorite lenses: the world as a casino, with two broad classes of bettors forming around the Middle East. One … Read More
Updated: 840 AM Central 10-minutes into trading, the market is emphasizing the importance of asking the right question, again. With the Dow down more than 800, compare the chart here with the one earlier this morning. Noitce how the 200 DMA looms nearby? Now on with the Regular Column… People unable to learn — or … Read More
8:50 AM Update If you have been following the (few but pesistent) online predictors and seers who have been mentioning a major spring EQ in the nation’s midsection (New Madrid replay, anyone?), this caught our eye. 4.9 magnitude in upper Lousiana: M 4.9 – 10 km W of Edgefield, Louisiana Can you spell p-r-e-q-u-e-l? 8:15 … Read More
ADP’s jobs number hit this morning, but the bigger tell isn’t the headline — it’s what breaks next. With Friday’s federal report likely tangled up by the partial shutdown, we’re left reading the “second-order” signals: where the economy is softening, where it’s holding, and what markets are assuming will be true a month from now. … Read More