Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Destabilizing Debt Ensures the Financial Crisis Has Just Begun / Stock-Markets / Financial Crisis 2023
The debt-disabled U.S. economy cannot withstand the surge in borrowing costs, and the reduction in
money supply growth necessary to combat the record-high inflation suffered over the past few years.
Our beloved U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes the American economy remains
strong and its banking system is resilient. That is, if you close your mind and overlook the recent
bankruptcy of three financial institutions. Keep in mind this is the same person who assured us that we
would never see another financial crisis in our lifetime. So, it is self-serving for her to deflect attention
away from the economic meltdown that is on the horizon.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Financial Advisors Take Heat for Market Losses (Will Anger Intensify?) / InvestorEducation / Learning to Invest
Was 2022 an aberration for the 60/40 allocation?
Many financial advisors steer clients who are willing to take some risk toward a 60% stocks / 40% bonds portfolio.
Alas, investors who followed that strategy in 2022 saw the value of their portfolios decrease substantially.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Stock Market Sucking in Buyers / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2023
S&P 500 bears missed a good intraday opportunity after winning for 6 hrs in the regular session. For all the market breadth limping along, it was Russell 2000, financials and industrials with materials that did well, no matter what energy, precious metals and cryptos see on the horizon.
Bearish divergencies in advancing-declining issues, new high-new lows, even merely stocks above the 50-day moving averages in S&P 500 and Nasdaq – amply described yesterday together with earnings, job market and manufacturing (LEIs) data ahead, haven‘t invalidated the medium-term bearish case for stocks. For all the shrinking liquidity talked, this rally is proceeding – sell in May and go away“ seasonal effect would be weaker than usual.
(…) Disruptive tech (AI driving semiconductors) remains well placed. … So, we have tech stocks to outperform value in the current low growth environment, would the thinking go, however if you check market breadth in Nasdaq, the bearish divergence in the making is even worse than in S&P 500. It‘s the big names and semiconductors holding it up, while advance-decline line and new highs-new lows are largely struggling.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
The evolution of the BMW M6 with a glimpse of technological progress / Personal_Finance / Motoring
The 1986 BMW M635 CSi E24 is easily recognizable due to its shark-nose front end and angular interior. For car enthusiasts who appreciate classic automobiles, the initial model of the BMW M6 E24 is a valuable gem. This particular model stands out for having been equipped with an exceptional powertrain - the revered 286bhp producing M88/3 engine. Derived straight from BMW's initial generation of their iconic line up which included everything revolving around a special twin-cam-six named optioned-up car known simply as 'M'. The first-generation M6 is what it technically is called but only in America and Japan it was labeled in that way. Meanwhile, Europe had M635 CSi.
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Friday, April 14, 2023
8 signs your business’ call handling is broken / Companies / SME
Everyone who’s worked in an office can recall a time the phone rang and everyone froze, waiting to see who’d blink first.
The phone rang…and rang…and rang.
It’s common in any office where call handling isn’t a main part of someone’s job.
But it’s devastating for customer service and runs the risk of losing business, and alienating customers.
Putting a focus on call handling can be overlooked at a time when you’ve got so many digital communication channels available. But when it comes to it, customers still prefer to pick up the phone if they’re looking for information or want to quickly resolve a problem.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Interest Rates Should Continue To Fall, Eventually Setting Up A Bond Market Crash / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
If you have been reading my public articles on TLT over the last half a year, then you would know of my expectation to see the bond market rally into 2023, and rates falling into 2023.
When I first put this expectation out last year, many (even some of my own clients) thought I was simply crazy. With rates skyrocketing towards 5%, most were quite certain that we would easily eclipse that point, and move well towards 6% and even higher. And, of course, the reason most maintained that expectation was due to the Fed’s public position of continuing to raise rates.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Beware the TikTok Trojan Horse / Politics / Social Media
The truth behind the TikTok hearing… Your vacuum cleaner could be spying on you… Two words that make every American a suspect… This is what concerns me the most...
1.As you read this, politicians on both sides of Capitol Hill are trying to take away your freedoms.
I wish that was an exaggeration… but it’s not.
A new bipartisan law was recently introduced to Congress. If passed, you can wave goodbye to your right to privacy in your own home.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Is It Cheaper To Buy A Home In Canada Compared To The UK? / Housing-Market / UK Housing
The cost-of-living crisis has been hitting heavily in the last couple of years. Not only is it affecting the price of consumer goods and services and the cost of materials and energy, but it is also affecting the very homes we live in.
Back in 2021, property experts were stating that the UK would experience a “bumper year”, but now it is not looking very likely. In fact, housing prices are expected to dip under the rate of inflation, meaning there will be a real-terms reduction, meaning higher interest rates and pricier mortgages for cheaper properties.
Monday, April 10, 2023
Stock Markets Counting Down to US CPI Inflation Data Release / Stock-Markets / Inflation
It's CPI Tuesday! We usually get a fake out move going into CPI then a reversal soon after which given that the market has been falling since the 6th of March into CPI data release then we should be setting up for a reversal higher some time after release of CP LIE which chimes with my end of the correction expectations given that both primary (3900) and secondary (3820) correction targets have been fulfilled.
Last month my CPI forecast table suggested to expect 6.28% vs actual of 6.4%. For February the table expects a sharp drop to 5.66% vs consensus of 6%, actual is probably going to be somewhere between 5.66% and 6%, so a net positive CPI data release should give weight to the next Fed rate hike being 0,25% instead of 0.5%, with the really big CPI drop coming on April's data release after which I expect inflation will become more sticky.
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Monday, April 10, 2023
Wall Street Cheerleaders Offer Perpetually Changing Arguments against Gold / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2023
As the gold market marches toward new records, it is proving the naysayers wrong and vindicating longtime bulls.
Gold posted a record high close on a quarterly basis at the end of March. Now the monetary metal has its sights set on setting a new all-time high here in the coming days.
That’ll have to wait until next week though as global markets are closed here on this Good Friday. Gold will finish this week at $2,020 an ounce after advancing 2.1% this week. Silver, meanwhile, gained 3.7% to bring spot prices to $25.30 an ounce.
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Monday, April 03, 2023
Stock Market Counting Down to Pump and Dump US CPI LIE Inflation Data Release / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2023
US CPI Data released for October, November, December and January show the CPLIE script of usually a fake out drop ahead or on release followed by strong rally on relief that whatever the data is, it was not quite as bad as it could have been and thus triggers a FOMO rally fed by bears shorting during the preceding decline rushing to cover their shorts, and so are we in for a similar event Tuesday? or is this time going to be more like December, the only time when there was a deviation from the script as it was looking rather obvious by then and hence the market did the opposite, what is obvious right now? Probably a FOIMO rally, so on face value suggests to expect the opposite which is what I have been positioning towards these past weeks.
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Monday, April 03, 2023
Why Gold? / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2023
If the decades old bubble in paper assets is ending, that’s why gold!Various promotions along the way of the Continuum have distilled the case for gold down to handy buzz phrases like “got Gold?” as if it were a carton of milk. Other promotions have presented gold as the go-to asset through all types of macro phases, from “fiat is gonna blow up any day now” to “inflation is gonna eat your future” to “a deflationary Armageddon is on the way”.
Yet all along the Continuum, policymakers papered it over, inflated the mess at every crisis as long as the Continuum allowed.*
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Monday, April 03, 2023
Big tech firing spree continues… A day in the life of a Google employee… / Companies / Employment
The big tech firing spree continues… A day in the life of a Google employee… This chart tells it all... A tailwind for the Nasdaq...
- Is big tech in trouble?
Amazon (AMZN) just announced it will fire 9,000 workers. This brings its total for the year up to 27,000.
Facebook (META) is downsizing, too. A couple weeks ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a second round of layoffs. He already let 11,000 people go in November. Now, he’s firing another 10,000.
Earlier this month, Google (GOOGL) said it’s letting 12,000 employees go.
And Microsoft (MSFT), Shopify (SHOP), Salesforce (CRM), and others are getting rid of thousands more.
In total, US tech firms announced over 100K layoffs since the start of the year.
Saturday, April 01, 2023
THE INFLATION MEGA-TREND / Economics / Inflation
The primary driver for stock prices is Not Innovation, Disruption or even GDP growth (though it is part of the soup), No the Primary driver for stock prices is INFLATION! It's why Turkish stocks (before this weeks killer Quake) were racing ahead despite persistently high Turkish inflation rates of as much as 85% during 2022 as they experienced their own version of the Crack up BOOM!
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Saturday, April 01, 2023
America on Verge of Losing Petrodollar Privilege / Stock-Markets / US Dollar
As gold prices continue to hold firm near the $2,000 level, bulls are eying big developments ahead for the monetary metal along with the global monetary system.
Gold’s potential ascendancy to new record highs is coinciding with a decline in the global status of the U.S. dollar as world’s reserve currency.
China is pushing for its currency, the yuan, to be the primary competitor to the dollar in international trade. It has forged new partnerships with Russia and other countries who are willing to deal directly in Chinese yuan.
Saturday, April 01, 2023
Amazon SCAM Drives - How to Check Your Hard Drive Bought is Genuine - WD 10tb Black Review / Personal_Finance / Shopping
AMAZON full of FAKE electronic products such as SCAM HARD DRIVES. Here's how to check you've not been scammed as I unbox and take you through the steps by checking a new 10tb internal WD Black hard drive, so you know what red flags to check for to prevent yourself from getting SCAMAZONED!
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Saturday, April 01, 2023
The Fed Knew / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Should we leave the creation of new money in the hands of bankers or place its creation solely with our government?
“The financial system used by all national economies worldwide is actually founded upon debt. To be direct and precise, modern money is created in parallel with debt…
The creation and supply of money is now left almost entirely to banks and other lending institutions. Most people imagine that if they borrow from a bank, they are borrowing other people’s money. In fact, when banks and building societies make any loan, they create new money. Money loaned by a bank is not a loan of pre-existent money; money loaned by a bank is additional money created. The stream of money generated by people, businesses and governments constantly borrowing from banks and other lending institutions is relied upon to supply the economy as a whole. Thus the supply of money depends upon people going into debt, and the level of debt within an economy is no more than a measure of the amount of money that has been created.” Michael Rowbotham, ‘The Grip of Death’
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Saturday, April 01, 2023
Crude Oil: Will "Banking Crisis Send Prices Even Lower"? Ha! / Commodities / Crude Oil
SVB failed in March. Oil was destined to fall as early as February – here’s why;
The failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank have prompted a lot of discussion about the potential of a domino effect. People are wondering "what's next?"
The financial press is linking just about every downward price move in just about every financial market to the woes in the banking sector.
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Saturday, April 01, 2023
Top Casino Tech Trends to Look Out for in 2023 and Beyond / Personal_Finance / Gambling
The online gambling industry is a fiercely competitive sector, with thousands of internet gambling platforms trying to attract and retain casino players. So, it’s no wonder that online casinos are always keen to adopt new technologies that’ll increase engagement and improve customer experience. Below we’ve listed the top technology trends that are set to transform the future of the online gambling world in 2023 and beyond.
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Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Will ChatGPT Kill College? / Personal_Finance / AI
A message from a reader… The new ChatGPT just came out… Will it be the nail in the coffin for thousands of colleges across America?
- At least with healthcare, you get something for your money. College, on the other hand...
A reader wrote me after I called healthcare “America’s most broken industry.”
He said that title should go to our education system.