10 AM today, Fed boss Jerome Powell speaks. We hope he uses our “Magician” speech. The one where he says “There is no magic in economics. Money does not just appear.” The one where someone speaks to the raging stampede “There’s no free lunch, this tariff stuff is only a tax on foreign-made goods. Do … Read More
My digital alter-ego has been at it again. Is AI Really NZT-48? – Hidden Guild “One of the subtler promises of NZT was not just more brainpower, but new modes of thought. Users described seeing connections they had never seen before, shifting into a higher-level coherence. In a similar way, AI nudges human cognition into … Read More
There is a lot of ground to cover today, so expect things to jump around a fair bit. Let’s begin with the headlines about how the Military Preparing Attacks on Mexican Cartels. This is not something come from Out of the Blue. In fact, on the Peoplenomics side of the house, there’s an archived report from 2005, … Read More
Heavy math in one and a new domain of human thought being discovered in the other. As general thinking skills, today’s papers may take a few minutes to absorb. The first paper argues that human cognition has historically been organized around a limited set of domains—most notably the mathematical, linguistic, and symbolic-logical modes. Yet evidence … Read More
It was all such an easy column to block out – until I got to the E-Wave part. Just out from Census: Building Permits Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,354,000. This is 2.8 percent below the revised June rate of 1,393,000 and is … Read More
“Takes paper to make paper” is the first calendar entry this week. A bunch of Treasury this-n-that’s (buy-backs and such) start the week. After fondling $124,000 last week, Bitcoin is “viagra-seeking” from the $115,000 range early. Gold and silver firmed earlier, but nothing to get excited about. REAL Action this week will be the Fed … Read More
Thanks to Iridium, just got an update that many readers (esp. Egor and other sailors – like us) will like reading: George, We’re ten days out of French Polynesia heading for Fiji. Three aboard, started in rough seas and smoothed to heavenly transit. Full moon, medium trade winds, steady seven to eight knots, averaging 150nm … Read More
You may remember Friday (pre bar stool) how we were asking our AI for the ultimate $500 and five-minutes-a-day formula for wealth. AI said the only way to get there would be gambling, but it did tease three solid side-hustle ideas that might get legs. (Everything in life is a gamble, marriage licenses on down…) … Read More
Dancing along trend tops in markets. With no breakthrough at the Anchorage talks, is a disappointing Fall in the offing. Is Donald Trump overselling again? (Come on, is that even a question?) A nice ChartPack to consider, though, as we mull the way forward…and the Wax Witch stirs… More for Subscribers ||| Master Index 2018 to … Read More
Given all the bounce in pricing lately, we found this morning’s Retail Sales report interesting: “Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $726.3 billion, up 0.5 percent (±0.4 percent) from the previous month, and up … Read More
With our ChartPack on the Peoplenomics side of the house ($40/year) showing the market back in “top-calling” territory, a number of moving pieces are sliding into place. PPI – Inflation to Come? Just out from Labor is the PPI read… The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.9 percent in July, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. … Read More
A marvelous tale of invention today as we unveil my Food Reactors. But, at the same time, there’s a serious cautionary note to it all because high-level systemic innovation is disruptive. And Powers-That-Are don’t like regimen change. Not even a little bit. Not if it’s good for the world, good for the environment, or anything … Read More
Data first: Consumer Prices “he Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in July, after rising 0.3 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.7 percent before seasonal adjustment. The index for … Read More