Retail Sales are just out, so let’s depart from drama, disdain delay, and dispense duration… “Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March 2023, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $691.7 billion, down 1.0 percent (±0.5 percent) from the previous month, but up … Read More
My consigliere – a wizened tax attorney – is more than slightly savvy on Money. He was projecting an “economic showdown with China” as early as 1979. And here we are… So, when he called to talk about the “hollow money” problem – we both (being students of Long Wave Economics – knew exactly what … Read More
Consumer prices are just out and we’ll hit that first. But then some perspective on the future impacts of Inflation and how it will change our world. Mighty useful when making strategic life decisions. Because you can increase your odds of “making good financial calls” by picking the right assets to be heavy in, well … Read More
Three smallish data points today kick off our Reality Review. These are not the most gossiped thing on social, which focuses on anything Orange, and stories like Dalai Lama, 87, apologises after kissing young boy on the lips and asking child to ‘suck’ his tongue. Thanks, pass. Well, sort of… Smaller stories – the ones that get glossed over … Read More
I told subscribers my trading position Saturday: yes, I went short into the close on pre-holiday Thursday. Just in the last hour, a bearish tone has emerged and in our Aggregated Markets view of things, hard down is likely if the lower support level (lower right) breaks in today’s trading: If the light-colored ascending channel … Read More
With European markets on “chill” for the Day After Easter, and with the U.S. markets spongy as gold prices are down a bit, seems to us like a fine morning for a balanced outlook. Oh sure, easy from a raw economics standpoint to point at a growing pile of stories about the pending recession – … Read More
Prepping note: The battery on the old Kubota is on its last legs. It’s a 51-R series, and they ain’t cheap. So, I was trying to get the maximum possible service life out of it. Put it on an 8-amp charger and then got into some pulse charging on top of that… Even after 2 … Read More
China has been building relationships while the U.S. relies on “positional power.” Which, in an age of changing resources, amounts to resting on our laurels while a challenger moves ahead. At once, we have three (or more) potential war fronts along with a fall from grace for the U.S. dollar. In our effort to handicap … Read More
Yes, the stock market is closed. Good Friday, don’tcha know. But this warms me to our first Agenda Item. What’s so “Good” about “Good Friday?” To cite from Wikipedia (Etymology entry): “‘Good Friday’ comes from the sense ‘pious, holy’ of the word “good”.[13] Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of “good” include … Read More
Ure has turned over a new leaf: shorter reports. Just not today. Job Cuts First Second horse pick in the weekly financial trifecta: Challenger Job Cuts: “Job Cuts Rise 15% in March 2023, Up 319% from Same Month Last Year, Highest Q1 Since 2020 | Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. (challengergray.com) Which then continues with … Read More
Another adventure in our (partially) fictional Directorate 153 series of “fictionalized governmental speculations.” We began to use this metaphorical framework when it became apparent to many “sources” that it could be personally hazardous to come right out publicly and explain what’s really going on in background. Things most people are not aware of. Subscribers are … Read More
Scrying Future ain’t easy work. Some fellows use language shifts on social media streams, others refer to oddly Greek-named computers, More press sound effects buttons on TV. And, sure enough, as you’d expect (since much of the future comes down to close – nearly 50-50 chances anyway) everyone will either be right. Or, have a ready … Read More
Let’s face it, were it not for Trump’s planned arraignment tomorrow, most of the news media could shut down for a week and no one would be the wiser. Even with an arraignment, this will likely be a “slow roller” because Donald Trump may delay his jury trial for a YEAR despite showing up for an … Read More