ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
April 22, 2024 | Is The AI Bubble Bursting? Wolf Richter’s WTF Charts
Artificial intelligence, which a few years ago existed only in science fiction (check out William Gibson’s Neuromancer), has morphed into an epic stock bubble. Nvidia, maker of the leading AI microchips, saw its market cap surge from $200 billion in 2019 to $2 trillion in 2023. I haven’t actually checked, but that might be the fastest […]
April 22, 2024 | China Exporting Deflation (encore)
China’s epic property bust has left it with a glut of materials and products that it is now exporting globally. This will help ease inflationary pressures and threaten the viability of competitors. As construction at home has dried up, Chinese steel exports have risen 33% year over year, and the excess supply goes far beyond steel to […]
April 22, 2024 | Two Big Lies
Happy Monday Morning! We typically try to steer clear of politics in these weekly musings. However, there were two big lies told by the Trudeau government this past week, both of which relate back to housing, the key focus of my work. The federal budget announced this past week brought no reduction in spending, shocking […]
April 22, 2024 | Canadian Govt Offers Vaccine Victim Suicide as Compensation for Paralysis
Kayla Pollock, 37, was a healthy woman from Ontario with no medical issues. Everything changed with Kayla took the Moderna mRNA experimental vaccine on January 11, 2022. Four days later, she collapsed and could lost feeling in her legs. Her doctor suggested she see a neurologist. Kayla woke up one morning in February and […]
April 21, 2024 | What Drives AI Market Dynamics? Insights from ASML and TSM
In market analysis, closely monitoring industry leaders is vital, particularly in flourishing sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI). As AI continues its rapid evolution, drawing parallels to the internet’s growth becomes increasingly evident. Just as the internet’s development unfolded in stages—from the establishment of hardware infrastructure such as modems, personal computers, and fiber optic cables, to […]
April 21, 2024 | Predictive Programming from 30 Years Ago
When they tell us things such as, “You will own nothing,” we scoff and dismiss them. They are always placing the truth in plain sight. Did they have this technology all along? A reader sent me the image above of an advertisement published in a magazine over 30 years ago. A basic EV […]
April 21, 2024 | Prepare to Sell in May and Go Away
The portfolio managers who rig the markets appear to be losing their touch. Usually, they are able to short-squeeze stocks in the ‘lunatic sector’ — our label for the egregiously mis-named ‘Magnificent Seven’ — when earnings are announced after the close. This quasi-criminal manipulation can add hundreds of billions of dollars to the world’s ‘wealth […]
April 21, 2024 | There Is No Alternative
Today, we look at the world of “alternative investing.” I put it in quotes because this was originally a somewhat pejorative term. Back in the 1960s (and maybe before?), brokers sold you stocks and bonds, saying that was how smart people invested. Of course, by pure coincidence, they sold these securities at markups and commissions […]
April 20, 2024 | Russia Tests an Undetectable Supersonic ICBM
Russia tested a new missile last week that has many concerned that this is a new supersonic version of a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on April 12th, 2024, that is capable of attacking NATO and the USA undetected. The Russian Ministry of Defence only claimed this was part of “state testing of prospective missile systems, […]
April 20, 2024 | Trading Desk Notes For April 20, 2024
Nasdaq had a lousy week and closed on its lows Benchmark global stock indices had their best-ever monthly close in March, but they all turned lower in April, with some of the former high-fliers getting hit the hardest. Nasdaq closed Friday at a 2-month low, down ~8.5% from March highs. MSFT had its lowest close […]
April 20, 2024 | Tech Talk for Saturday April 20th 2024
The Bottom Line Short term technical action by world markets remains focused on the Israel/Iran conflict. Growing uncertainties had a negative impact on equity markets and a positive impact on commodity prices last week. First quarter earnings report season ramps up this week. Responses to results released to date have been mixed. Focuses this week […]
April 19, 2024 | Does China Control America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves?
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. Reminded the US Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, “We are not governed by a world government – yet!” The Biden Administration consulted with China before selling off America’s strategic petroleum reserves. In 2021, Granholm admitted that she spoke with the Chinese Communist Party about coordinating how America would handle its nation’s highly sensitive […]
April 19, 2024 | The Canadian Government Makes Impressive Attempt to Solve Housing Unaffordability
The budget this week contains an impressive number of substantial measures designed to improve housing unaffordability. Will these measures make housing affordable again? Housing in Canada has been more expensive than the average family can “afford” for a long time. The old benchmark from the 1990s was a home should be no more than three […]
April 19, 2024 | Ban on Short-Term Rentals Broadens
Under the headlines, policy is having to shift away from favouring investors (who tend to be older) to favouring renters/workers (who tend to be younger). A provincial rule limiting short-term rentals to a homeowner’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling comes into force in British Columbia on May 1 in 60 communities. […]
April 19, 2024 | What Drives AI Market Dynamics? Insights from ASML and TSM
In market analysis, closely monitoring industry leaders is vital, particularly in flourishing sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI). As AI continues its rapid evolution, drawing parallels to the internet’s growth becomes increasingly evident. Just as the internet’s development unfolded in stages—from the establishment of hardware infrastructure such as modems, personal computers, and fiber optic cables, to […]
April 18, 2024 | To Those Mocking Safe Havens
A word to individuals who mock those looking for safe havens. We do not realize how lucky we are to live in America, Canada, or elsewhere during this current time period. Those who write in desperately seeking a safe haven are NOT simply greedy people looking to evade taxation. People are looking to evade government […]
April 18, 2024 | Layoffs Booming in 2024
Twenty-two US states have seen the three-month moving average of their unemployment rate less the low of the past 12 months rise 50 basis points or more (a ‘recession’ indicator known as the Sahm rule). Since at least 1978, there has never been a time when more than 20 states have seen this degree of […]
April 17, 2024 | Mortgage Rates over 7% and Heading Higher, Housing Market Still Frozen, Lots of Buyers on Strike as Prices Still Too High
Mortgage rates continue to trudge higher from the abandoned Rate-Cut-Mania low. The average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.13% in the latest week, the highest since early December, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association today, as the 10-year Treasury yield has re-surged amid the Fed’s vigorous backpedaling on its December rate-cut visions after […]
April 17, 2024 | Judge Merchan’s Trial Will Destroy USA Like Trial of William Penn
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is a seasoned jurist who is no stranger to Trump’s orbit. He has presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial, sentenced the former president’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to prison over his role in the scheme, and overseen former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case. […]
April 17, 2024 | Feds Increase Capital Gains Inclusion Rate
The new Federal Budget released yesterday has significant implications for capital assets held by individuals and corporations. See: Feds raise capital gains inclusion rate to 66.6% starting June 25. The taxable portion increases to two-thirds from one-half on capital gains above $250,000 realized annually by individuals and all capital gains realized by corporations and trusts. This […]
April 16, 2024 | Lower-Income Americans and Republicans Least Likely to Switch to EVs
I explained how the private sector does not wish to switch to EVs amid high production costs and low demand. A recent Gallup Poll found that Americans do not want to own an EV, and the plans to eliminate fossil fuels do not align with the wishes of the people. Around 7% of respondents, […]
April 16, 2024 | Friday 4/12
It’s hard to overlook the tremendous price volatility that occurred on 4/12, when both gold and silver established new recent price highs, only to fall precipitously by the close of trading. At the time of the sharp selloff, the only market open was the COMEX, with markets in London, China and everywhere else closed. Therefore, […]
April 15, 2024 | 30-year Mortgage Amortizations are Not The Solution Needed
The latest government initiative to try and keep home prices at unaffordable levels is to extend the term of debt amortization to 30 years from 25 for government-insured mortgages (available where property prices are $1 million or less). Making people debt slaves for even longer does little to help the housing unaffordability and debt weighing […]
April 15, 2024 | Pie in the Sky
Happy Monday Morning! The federal government will unveil their budget this Tuesday, ironically on the same day CPI data drops. They’ve already promoted billions of dollars in new spending in pre-budget announcements. Including more than $21B allocated to housing, which we discussed last week. In essence, the feds are paying for zoning. If provinces commit to […]
April 15, 2024 | Imagine Waking from an 8-Year Coma – Reflections from the Last ECM Wave
The year 2015 was not long ago, and yet the entire world economy has changed. Central banks mismanaged monetary policy through arbitrarily low interest rates and continuous printing to appease the bigger issue—fiscal policy. Fiscal policies are all but nonexistent in most of the modern world, and government spending has become one of the largest […]