In recent weeks, a couple of people have asked “How do you think like you do?”  Truth is?  Thinking is every bit as much a discipline, as going to the gym, say.  Some people talk about thinking – while other people never quite get around to it. Before I finish up the rest of the … Read More

Happy Tax Day! We can launch into our old hobby of “Top Calling” now. Our Easter Rally showed up – and was all over the place Monday.  The early Futures were showing a slight increase at the open but quickly pulled back to flat. The problem in the charts goes like this: As you can … Read More

After some fear and trepidation, it looks like the outlook around here for a rally to Easter (RTE) is forming up nicely. In the pre-open today, we see Dow Futures were up over 300 points.  But, on a percentage basis, the Techs are up even more with the NASDAQ Composite showing +260 when we looked. … Read More

Sometimes I tell people how busy we are around here.  They tell me “Ure full of it…” But remember: most people we know live in the city.  Where you can get: A maid service Laundry pick-up and drop-off Gardeners and landscapers Food delivered Mechanics are everywhere People to do your nails and (wipe your….) …etc…etc… … Read More

With “Spring sprung” we have our weather eye to the coming year, or three.  Asking – as any reasonable person would – Where is the safest place to deploy hard-earned assets to save you money purchasing power and get it to the “Other Side” of whatever comes next? Some of the traditional hidey-holes have changed … Read More

Deflation is peeking out of the PPI numbers just out: “The Producer Price Index for final demand decreased 0.4 percent in March, seasonally adjusted. In March, over 70 percent of the decrease in the index for final demand can be traced to prices for final demand goods, which fell 0.9 percent. The index for final … Read More

Well, a Lexus in, a Lexus out, huh? Let’s have us a little contest, shall we?   “This Market has more ups and downs than….” Post your entry as a Comment. No prizes only bragging rights. Being old (addled and mentally infirm, too) my entry was: “This Market has more ups and downs than a … Read More

Very short column today.  In the last 24 hours, A.I. and I have been working on a crossover project – part book, part biomedical research – which we will get to in a minute.  First things first. What goes up…going to pull back at the open…at least before the CPI… CPI OK, now we get to … Read More

Seriously, we don’t.  No more than we trust edicts and pronouncements.  Encyclicals from the untrustworthy.  We’re out there with Diogenes, looking for the honest souls. Empty-handed, mostly. The good news, such as it is, has it that this morning’s Focus Section – 20-odd pages on how bad the next couple of years could be – … Read More

Dow Futures +1,000.  They don’t call it “Turnaround Tuesday” for nothing. Stock futures are looking positively ducky with the Dow set to pop at the open +750 to +1,000 (on the early Futures board).  Why, even the “yeller dog” [Gold] seems to have regained the “right side” of $3,000. On the other hand, Bitcoin was … Read More

A “tell me it ain’t so” for the doubters of our work… Or for those who thought we were nuts walking out on the Corporate World in 2003,  Or moving to the woods. Or stocking up for trouble. Or… And just like that, the rhythm of history taps us on the shoulder again. The 1929 … Read More

Grandpa’s Shop Truth be told, Grandpa Ure didn’t have one. He’d had a tough life, bringing the family out from the Dakotas during the Twenties — he saw what was coming. With a well-paying job at the forerunner of Puget Power, he drove a Dodge PowerWagon over the mountains and foothills of the Cascades. Years … Read More

It would be audacious – but is there some player who would “kick America when she’s down?”In our “worst cases” department, some scenarios that could be lurking out of sight – and out of mind – until next week,  That’s when markets could get down to an approachable “bounce” level. But from there?  The old … Read More