ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
February 4, 2026 | Washington Launches $12B Rare Earth Minerals Reserve
The Trump administration is moving to create what is being described as a strategic stockpile for rare earths and other critical minerals, branded “Project Vault,” with reported financing of around $12 billion, involving a major loan structure and private participation from large industrial users. This is a defensive move akin to a petroleum stockpile and […]
February 4, 2026 | Prosecutors Seek to Ban Le Pen From Office
Once again, we are watching the political system weaponize the courts to decide elections before the people ever get the chance to vote. The appeal trial involving France’s Marine Le Pen is not really about accounting procedures or parliamentary reimbursements. This is about removing a political opponent who cannot be beaten at the ballot box. If the […]
February 4, 2026 | Epstein and the Shrinking Trust Horizon
Let’s start with Bill Gates, because he’s one of the more baffling characters in the Epstein drama. I have some liberal friends, and without exception, they think Gates is a good man. A typical conversation goes like this: Me: You know Bill Gates is buying up millions of acres of farmland, right? Liberal friend: He’ll […]
February 4, 2026 | Canada’s Economy is ‘On Life Support’
We should all work and hope for new trade relationships, new business lines and lots of innovation to bring seen and unforeseen solutions. But in the here and now, Canada is in a complacency-earned rough patch. Eyes wide open. Canada’s private-sector activity remained soft in January, with the S&P Global Canada Composite PMI coming in at 46.4, […]
February 3, 2026 | Can Trump Save the UN?
In a recent interview, Donald Trump claimed he could “very easily solve” the United Nations’ financial problems by requiring member states to pay their dues, much as he pressured NATO allies to increase defense contributions during his first term. Trump would not be able to do this with funds, as that is not the true […]
February 3, 2026 | Home Prices are Round-Tripping
Home price deflation is underway in many high-population centers in Canada and America, see Housing Market Is Shifting Back Toward an Advantage for Buyers on the front page of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: “The proliferation of discounts and incentives offers the latest evidence that the housing market is tilting back in the buyer’s favour.” The US housing […]
February 2, 2026 | United Nations Facing “Imminent Financial Collapse”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the organization could face “imminent financial collapse” unless member states pay their dues in full and on time or unless the underlying financial structure is fundamentally reformed. “The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near […]
February 2, 2026 | Liquidity or Price
Happy Monday Morning! As expected the Bank of Canada remained on the sidelines this past week, opting to keep interest rates on hold, and will continue to do so, barring a significant shift in the economy. Inflation pressures don’t appear to be a concern for the BoC, despite overall price levels suffocating the life out […]
February 2, 2026 | Data Center Demand Doesn’t Add Up
Mind the hype, always… Utilities analysts are having a moment as the energy sector gets a boost from AI. With an extra 94 gigawatts forecast to be needed by 2030 to power all these data centers, energy investment has become a hot play as investors take a “picks and shovels” approach. But one long-time utilities […]
February 1, 2026 | IRAN into 2027
QUESTION: Do you still see the risk of a Middle East War by 2027? HF ANSWER: Unfortunately, yes. I will do a Report on the Middle East for 2026. The Paradox of a Regime That Can’t Afford Peace Let me start with the question everyone’s asking wrong: “Will Iran start another war with Israel?” Wrong […]
February 1, 2026 | The Real Affordability Problem
Everything is relative. That’s one reason the economy is so hard to understand. In a very real sense, we all live in our own individual economies. Take the current buzzword, “affordability.” We all want it… but what does the word even mean? Affordability is the intersection of “need” and “want.” Everyone has a certain […]
February 1, 2026 | Microsoft’s Plunge Pricks AI Bubble
Pity the J-school rookies who are paid to explain why the stock market did what it did on a given day. On Thursday, Microsoft shares lost nearly a half-a-trillion dollars of value. But why? Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing called it a ‘rap on the knuckles’ for the company’s huge spending on AI projects that seem increasingly unlikely to […]
January 31, 2026 | Zelensky the War Criminal
COMMENT: Marty, congrats. That is a thank you letter for writing that peace plan. But the rumors are that Trump is going to reduce the size of American bases in NATO. I believe you are right. They came to you because you are on the opposite side of the Neocons for the same reason […]
January 31, 2026 | Trading Desk Notes for January 31, 2026
Margin Call Comex April gold futures reached a record high of ~$5,627 during the overnight session on Wednesday (January 28). Then they began a dramatic 40-hour sell-off that reached a low of ~$4,700 during the Friday day session. Top to bottom, the sell-off was ~$927, or ~16.5%. Despite the swift decline, Comex gold posted a record-high monthly […]
January 31, 2026 | Tech Talk for Saturday January 31st 2026
The Bottom Line Fourth quarter earnings reports released to date by S&P 500 companies have been a pleasant surprise. Analysts quickly revised S&P 500 earnings estimates higher for the fourth quarter of 2025 and for the next three quarters in 2026. Equity price responses to fourth quarter earnings reports were less encouraging. Selling on news […]
January 30, 2026 | Mindless Doesn’t End Well
The content of this discussion is clear-eyed and important. Each of us must decide how to allocate our savings given the circumstances we are living through. Mindless following can appear to be progress until suddenly the bill comes due. Has the rally in silver gone so far now that the metal’s price action is actually […]
January 30, 2026 | Physical Bank Branches Disappearing – Relationship Banking is Dead
Physical bank branches are disappearing along with relationship banking. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) files state that the US lost a net total of 339 bank branches in December 2025. The S&P Global and Federal Reserve found that the US has been losing, on average, 1,600 bank branches per year. Santander […]
January 30, 2026 | Palantir Technologies is a Risky and Controversial Company
Palantir Technologies is one of the most valuable companies in the U.S. stock market—and one of the least transparent. Investors are clearly smitten. The shares are up 133% in the past year, pushing Palantir’s market capitalization to roughly US$400 billion. Yet annual revenues are about US$4 billion. That implies a valuation of 100 times sales, a level rarely seen outside […]
January 29, 2026 | Potential Homebuyers Walking Away at Record Pace
We are witnessing an unmistakable shift in the US housing market, not a bubble pop like 2008, but a market regime change characterized by buyers retreating as inventory rises and affordability remains strained. Recent data from Redfin shows that roughly 40,000 US home-purchase agreements were canceled in December, representing about 16.3% of homes that […]
January 29, 2026 | Frozen Housing Markets Hurting Jobs and Economic Activity
Housing mean reversion is hurting jobs and economic activity. A building industry association says 100-thousand jobs in construction and related sectors are at risk. As Alan Carter reports, the housing downturn could erase $20 billion for Ontario’s economy. Here is a direct video link. Home markets are floundering in many US cities, too. The US National […]
January 29, 2026 | Will Gold and Silver Tank Along With Equities?
The broad equity indexes — especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ — are falling hard this morning. This was always going to happen at some point, with the real question being how it would affect gold and silver. In other words, will our babies be thrown out with the bathwater when margin calls start forcing leveraged speculators […]
January 28, 2026 | Microsoft Provided the FBI with Encryption Keys
Microsoft provided the FBI with Bitlocker encryption keys. It should come as no surprise that a US-based cloud storage service provided US intelligence with backdoor access. Encryption is only as strong as the one who controls the key to lock it. Microsoft, the world’s dominant provider of desktop and enterprise systems, complied with an FBI warrant and […]
January 28, 2026 | The India-EU Trade Deal
Deemed the “mother of all deals” by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, India and the European Union signed a historic trade agreement that will permit near free trade between the two economies. The EU plans to phase out tariffs on Indian goods by up to 95% over a multi-year period. India will begin phasing […]
January 28, 2026 | The Wealth Concentration Engine: Rethinking America’s Financial Plumbing
From Scheer Post A Jan. 17 article on Quartz Markets by Catherine Baab reports that JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America returned nearly all of their 2025 profits to shareholders. Goldman Sachs returned $16.78 billion on $17.18 billion in earnings, meaning 97.7% of its earnings went to shareholders. Wells Fargo, […]
January 28, 2026 | Follow the Money
In March 2024, the Real Estate/Gold ratio signaled that money was moving from real estate into gold. From Jan 2021 to March 2024, my Roth IRA was invested in two REITs – AVB and EQR. During those 38 months, the total return (including dividends) for AVB was 36.1% – and it was 27.6% […]