A Quest for Answers. Markets this week closed above a critical “trading box” so it means its time to start penciling out more inflection points ahead. As we figure it now, without a Chinese move on Taiwan or the (eventual) escalation of to tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine (besides depleted uranium which will poison their … Read More
As we forecast Thursday (not as advice, only for entertainment) the Markets slammed higher Thursday as the May monthly index options matured. Today, action could be interesting as equities settle, What we face, with the “filling” of a major “Trading Box” is the problem – in long wave economic terms – “What’s next?” I’ll walk … Read More
This week, Ure did something very uncharacteristic: He lost $98 in a stock trade. Which normally would be very bad news, but in this case, the Markets were telling us “times have changed.” As a result, we are pleased to report (barring the airborne seizure of Taiwan – something of a wildcard even now) that … Read More
Mediterranean? Keto? Paleo? Bewildering choices, We have a few ideas. Which is well-timed since right after this morning’s post, Elaine and I go in for fasting blood draws. Key to us is the idea of “instrumentation” of senior health. In addition to the electronics of aging – a recording pulse-ox, CPAP data software, and a … Read More
Cocktail Napkin Economics – CNE – is our focus before returning to “money-grubbing trader” activities. Economics does NOT have to be so full of bullshit and mathematical obfuscations. It got this way because of “quants.” Economics, understand, is at its core pretty simple. People will generally earn and spend in their own best interests. Thence … Read More
OK, we are stuck “between realities” lately in the stock market. We saw disappointment in earnings recently; so much so that one fin-writer remarked “…the Recession may already be here…” But not down on Main Street. Well, at least until TODAY. NY Fed Data Freefalls Empire State Manufacturing survey: “Business activity fell sharply in New … Read More
Yeah, well…since we do call this the ShopTalk column, every once in a so-often, we like to actually build something. Big, important, flexible, resilience oriented toward local manufacturing and sustainability builds. What we’re doing today is a whole “soup to nuts” build of a Sainsmart 3018 Pro CNC that I’ve had sitting in the project queue … Read More
Our main focus today is on the balance of this month and into next from an economics and charts perspective. Because there is a split – quite obvious when you read financial headlines. One faction is expecting “recession avoidance” because of the big, powerful, American economy. The other still sees dead banks walking as the … Read More
As gamblers and adventurers, most of us go through Life with a storyline and plot holding our course for us. While the id and ego fill-in with a heroic personality. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes not. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between Humans and Physics. The latter is where pseudo-randomness occurs … Read More
The Mexico Invasion begins anew today. We’ll get to that down the page so as not to get topic-banned in search… ahem… Let’s instead start the day with P.P.I. – Producer Price Index – numbers. Because while we are still shocked at the stupidity of [controlled] media running up someone’s book in the market Wednesday, PPI … Read More
We won’t say the Market is being manipulated, but we will note the official read of today’s CPI numbers was: CPI for all items rises 0.4% in April; shelter, used cars and trucks, and gasoline up Typical hype in the face of Reality by corporate-own mouthpiece media? Inflation: Consumer prices in April rise at slowest … Read More
It all begins with rent. From there, we see a computer software design pattern kick it. From a single act of systemic compliance, a whole shitshow of logical consequences follows. One on the previous, day after night. There is a problem – existential in nature – that lurks with this “commerce model.” Specifically, the issue … Read More
Life marches on – and with it, me – off to get an updated eye prescription. So we will try to remain “focused” for a change. (Argh!) First item on the list is the National Federation of Independent Business report looking at forward conditions: Yes, they’re coming. But, no, not yet… Owners expecting better business … Read More