CPI 7.1 and 6.0, Casino Bets, Dem’s Crypto Damage Control

Alright.  Keep your shirt on and shit together.  Here’s the CPI everyone’s been waiting for: 7.1 percent and 6.0 all-items. “The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.1 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, after increasing 0.4 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the … Read More

Inflation Inflames, Fed Fumbles? Balkans Boil

Another Monday in the Great Game of Life kicks off with a reasonababble writer on the sidelines holding up a stack of Monday cue cards. Tuesday Data Watch We see the Biden administration lobbying of the Federal Reserve ahead of their rate increase decision Wednesday.  As Treasury Sec. and former Fed chief Janet Yellen is … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Shop Sound Systems, Habitat Book

The Chinese diesel heater is still working dandy out in the greenhouse lean-to we put up a year ago.  Just this morning, there was light rain coming down about 4 AM and Zeus the Cat (dealing with old age issues) didn’t want to come in the house/. One button press, and within a half hour, … Read More

Gambler’s Monday

Feeling a bit compulsive, are we?  You bet. We are in “field position” (to toss in some sports book lingo) to really drop – and hard – before whatever the Fed decision is coming Wednesday afternoon. One thing the charts are telling us?  I won’t say it – better that you should see for yourself. … Read More

Producer Prices, Blah Rally, Mother of all Demos Day

Ure is up to his you-know in critical projects around here.  So, once again, we will revert to our laser-like focus on what really matters. First is the Fed and PPI The expectations data spread is wider than usual going into the Fed meeting next week.  Chit-chat Tuesday and decision Wednesday after lunch fgor the … Read More

Markets at Critical Support – News Roulette

Of course, the problem is always “Which way will this puppy break?” While we never offer financial advice, we do – strictly for entertainment – have an interesting point of view on markets.  The first is how cyclically repeating they are when viewed in the long-term.  The second is that individual indexes don’t offer as … Read More

Beliefs as an Asset

Our usual Peoplenomics fare is a hardnosed look at data involving cyclicity in long-term market directions.  However, have you noticed that the Markets of late look like they may be taking our call of a massive third wave down collapse very much to heart? America is entering a “beliefs and values” crisis. Today we discuss … Read More

Tiny Bouncer? Weighing Out Trade, Creeping Madness

After the not wholly unexpected market decline Monday, there’s not really much to say about what happens next.  Early futures revealed a slip and slide downward was possible, although, with Gold up $8 bucks early, and the dollar down proportionately, we wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t a small half-day (or better) rally.  Futures were … Read More

Feds Pre-Bunked Hunter L/T, Meandering Markets

WHAT???!!! No mention of the Hunter Biden revelations about Social Media and the FBI  on the front page of the big DC paper this morning? But you already knew that, right?  Huge story in the tech-competent thinking class, though.  Language matters:  Stonewall Idiom Definition (grammarist.com)  With good reason… Miranda Devine of the New York Post is … Read More

ShopTalk Sunday: Saw Service, Mixed Media Projects

First, a big thank you for prayers on behalf of ailing Zeus the Cat.  His appetite is back a bit, and between hand feeding of food, some cat kidney pills plus a gentle application of deworming meds, he’s up and about better than a week ago. Now into the projects of this holiday screwed-up week… … Read More

Headlines Catching Up

Remember the Talking Heads song “Lifetime Piling Up“?  Well, what’s going on now is a kind of rhyming riff off that. When long-denied social media fairytales turn out to be true. We expect a growing sense of confusion and uncertainty into year-end.  Because stock prices no longer relate to growth, crypto gambles are turning into … Read More

Jobs: Facts Before Fiction

Let me huff a bit on the whiteboard marker before we rock the morning for you… This being the 21st Anniversary of the Enron Collapse. (Ah….) So, here’s the “real deal” on jobs. Pop Size Matters U.S. population at the end of 2019 was around 328,239,523.  (*George scrawls this on the board.) At the end of this … Read More

Trading Box Theory

Hmm.  Bunch of fresh data beginning with big layoffs in Tech: Challenger Job Cut report is just out: “U.S.-based employers announced 76,835 cuts in November, a 127% increase from the 33,843 cuts announced in October. It is 417% higher than the 14,875 cuts announced in the same month last year, according to a report released … Read More