As always, busy as the hubs of Hades around here the past week, or so. Good weather doesn’t come often enough. When it does, we like to get things done. That may sound easy. But there’s the whole sub-topic of time management (in management sciences) where we delve more than waist-deep into “task-switching.” This also came … Read More
The New Year is a dandy time to look back – and then ahead – to see what levers we can each pull to increase our odds of health, wealth, and living happily ever-after. After a few headlines (so little is going on and we hate rewrite!) a personal story from one of my books and how … Read More
We won’t really know – for sure and for certain – what this Christmas told us about the economy for a while. Sure, there was a dandy run into the Christmas Eve early closes, but markets are set to give back a bit at the open today. Early futures showed the Dow off 100 but … Read More
Sleigh bells? Chestnuts? Open fires? Not around here – not this year. Mostly sunny and 77 today. Boxing Day will hit 81. To be sure, the East Texas outback is a different part of the country. Down here in “We say grace, we say mam, if you aint into that we don’t give a damn” country. Where … Read More
Apparently, the Government Shutdown this year – 46 bonus days – was not enough for non-government taxpayers to fund. So yes, most U.S. federal offices are closed today, Wednesday, December 24, 2025, as the President issued an executive order making Christmas Eve a federal holiday for all executive departments, with only essential personnel for national … Read More
These may not all apply to you. But, around here, they are all part of making the season merry. So we’ll begin… Breaking: Durable Goods Drop to Suck: Oh, but not to worry, no sir! Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025 (July, August, … Read More
As we roll into Nick Day week, besides metals glittering early, there’s a CFNAI report to dissect. After which three “holiday week risks” are assessed. Noisy headlines give me a cartoon excuse, but then into useless lithium battery chargers and some ShopTalk and Peoplenomics previews. St. Nick’s Rally – And Caution Market futures were showing a … Read More
Is this really ShopTalk? Maybe: It’s really about aging, agency, risk, and dignity. Let me read you in. Every so often a reader letter lands that isn’t really about tools — it’s about starting over. Two things stood out in this week’s mailbag: First, it comes from a long-time reader – she’s 73. And she lost everything … Read More
This coming week could be extremely interesting. Because if scrying tea leaves is you thing, this is a perfect skill-building set-up. OK – our ChartPack this morning is a wee bit longish. But we’re back into the time of year editors hate most. How many refries of the “not all Epstein files” released do we need before someone … Read More
Much on the agenda – Markets and fresh data, a few headlines that matter, changes to Social Security in 2026 and how to hedge. Plus ShopTalk Sunday has a “modular project” started… Markets and Santa We closed our short position Wednesday. And sure enough, there was a decent rally Thursday. Early Futures pricing today? Well, … Read More
Fresh coffee at the ready? We’ve got markets trying to figure out when the AI Bubble is over, how high silver will go on prospects of use in solid-state batteries, and a better-than-even chance of a major ground war in Europe in ’26. So, lots of moving pieces to worry about. But that’s (more or … Read More
Many things in motion, now. Yes — we’re on the new publishing platform, and it should be much more phone-friendly. Here’s today’s stack: Retail Sales and a few other useful headlines. Then the ChartPack. Followed by 2026: The Art of Winning Slowly – Part 2, where we apply what we know about futuring and how … Read More
The Jobs report has just landed. Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in November (+64,000) and has shown little net change since April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In November, the unemployment rate, at 4.6 percent, was little changed from September. Employment rose in health care and construction in November, while federal … Read More