In case you were under a rock, the key part of the Fed decision Wednesday afternoon was: “In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent. In considering any adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee … Read More

Japan’s Central Bank has decided to raise rates – which is almost certain to press on U.S. markets – higher.  Along with this we offer another chapter in “Farm School” which we hope you will find both entertaining and educational. Next, toss in the usual 18 charts on markets from the perspective of our proprietary … Read More

Two big items.  First is the National Debt as measured by the U.S. Treasury peeked over $35 trillion today:  $35,001,278,179,208.67 With this much debt sloshing, what do you think the Case-Shiller Housing data showed? YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 5.9% annual … Read More

A bit of “color” to set the mood for the balance of the week.  We have – as the day progresses – entered a Global Funhouse.  Of course, the local “opening time” depends on your Time Zone.  Like in Japan, the Bank of Japan rate confab (funding trillions in Japan-Yen Carry-Trades), is already meeting.  (Cultural … Read More

No, we are not anxious to be talking about the market here.  We are talking about what feels like “The Earthquake Tireds.” I got up and showered at 3 AM. But after the “morning stack” of supplements, I was sitting in the office and Wham!  Can barely keep my eyes open. Busy weekend, one of … Read More

First item on the agenda is the Shortwave database.  The idea is that in the event of a massive continental-impacting earthquake, EMP strike, or Web Hard Down event, it would be nice to have a printed out (laminated) copy of a Shortwave radio stations list.  To allow getting news and information from something other than … Read More

When Donald Trump ran for president the first time, he was touted as a billionaire and the label may have helped.  It sure didn’t hurt.  This time around will be different. His financial condition is now somewhat questionable and the opposing candidate packs a ton of appeal to People of Color (POCs) (or, at least … Read More

A nod to G.A. Stewart’s forecast – based on his decades of Nostradamus research – as we see the Olympics are off to a rocky start: Paris Olympics hit by coordinated arson attacks across train network. Our concern is not so much with the arson – sure, inconvenient, but not a mass killer – except … Read More

Markets fell on their collective asses Wednesday. And the early futures today were not telling of a turn higher.  Part of that due to GDP dropping but we’ll get to that in a second. Before getting in line at a high window, or bridge, let’s consider that short-term hype is still possible.  Let me show … Read More

Who’d have thought? A new approach to predict market outlooks is arising.   NO, not AI overstepping.  Naw. This could just be George having one of those “How We Know What Isn’t So” moments. Or, it could be a useful way of predicting markets. You get to judge. Meanwhile, America is presently a bit overcome … Read More

Last Days of Joe. The “Pending is Ending.”  Before the week’s out, maybe. Massive changes take time to happen and reactions to flow (spill). All over the place this morning the message is clear – and simple.  Everywhere from Andy’s post (look for the one keyword timeline) in our Comments section to an anonymous note … Read More

Every morning – when you’ve chased news around for half a century or more – there’s a moment of reflection.  Comes after the first pass through headlines.  You get a general idea where things are going. In subsequent passes, you’ll get to the prioritization, quippish angles, innovation (enterprising) additional fact-finding and all that. The first pass is … Read More

Things are nearly back to normal here in the Outback.  After a wild lightning storm this week which set me back about 2-kilobocks, in repair/replacement costs, we have all the parts needed for repair. From here, things should go well and there’s cool weather ahead. One of Elaine’s boys (quickly approaching retirement himself) will be … Read More