ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
March 5, 2024 | Sheltering in Place
Happy Monday Morning! As expected, the Bank of Canada held rates firm last week, pushing back on a growing chorus of market pundits calling for rate cuts. “The assessment of the governing council is that we need to give higher interest rates more time to do their work.” The persistence of core inflation north of […]
March 5, 2024 | What China’s Slowdown Means for the World Economy
For decades, China’s economic growth was tremendous. But now the nation is seeing a significant slowdown. Its housing sector is in its third year of decline, the stock market is touching new lows and youth unemployment remains high. These issues may be a major headache not only for the Chinese people and President Xi Jinping, […]
March 5, 2024 | Monsters We Should Know: Victoria Nuland
Dig into any of the US Empire’s recent crimes you’ll find a bunch of familiar monsters. Dick Chaney composed the lies that sold the invasion of Iraq (WMDs!!), engineered the actual war, and then oversaw the “rebuilding” that enriched his business partners. John Bolton pops up in pretty in every administration of the past four decades, always agitating […]
March 5, 2024 | The 2024 Election – Will Your Vote Even Matter?
The computer has been forecasting these events decades in advance. As we approach them, what seemed outlandish years ago probably seems today. The civil unrest is dividing not just the United States but we see it in Canada and throughout Europe. This is NOT simply due to Trump. What is unfolding is the discontent […]
March 4, 2024 | Vacancy Control
Happy Monday Morning! Last week we introduced the home flipping tax. A seductive new tax introduced by the BC Government that will hit evil speculators with a 20% tax on any profits derived from flipping a property within two years. Remember this new tax comes on top of the tax CRA already collects which, for […]
March 4, 2024 | Transitioning To Sustainable Life: No Miracles Needed and No Time To Waste
Current estimates are that we have six years to solve 80% and eleven years to solve 100% of the air pollution, climate & energy security problems caused by fossil fuels and bioenergy. We cannot afford to waste time and money on useless technologies that will not help us advance the cause of sustainable human life on […]
March 4, 2024 | Doomberg: Will The Shanghai Gold Arbitrage “Empty Vaults In London and Europe”?
Gold is suddenly fun again. We should probably just relax and enjoy it, but if you’re curious about why this is happening, Doomberg, publisher of the top-ranked Substack financial newsletter, has a plausible answer. Here’s a (lightly edited) transcript from a just-released Doomberg interview with Soar Financially’s Kai Hoffman, followed by the full video: Two big gold market […]
March 4, 2024 | The CFTC’s Response
The long-awaited response from the CFTC to my congressman’s office about my concerns of the possible double-counting of publicly reported silver inventories, originally sent to the agency in mid-November was received by me Friday morning, March 1. To refresh you with the issue, I asked the CFTC (along with the S.E.C.) to make clear whether […]
March 4, 2024 | Haley win Washington DC which is 98% Democrat – What do You Expect?
Nikki Haley has finally won none other than the LEFTIST stronghold – Washington, DC. If you get pulled over by a cop there, you may hear that line coming from the new movie Civil War – What Kind of American Are You? The Democrats have been funding Haley, and anyone with common sense would […]
March 3, 2024 | German Health Minister Said We Need to Boost Healthcare in case of “military conflict”
I have been reporting that it is the West that wants war because the financial system is collapsing. They are reaching the point where they know that the are rapidly approaching the point of collapse which HISTORICALLY always takes place when governments run these Ponzi Schemes where they NEVER intend to pay off what they borrow, so they constantly […]
March 3, 2024 | The Dregs Take Flight
The endgame inched closer to singularity last week with rigged rallies in stocks that had rightfully been given up for dead. There was the more than doubling in the price of Beyond Meat, for example. Until last week, shares of the veggie-burger upstart seemed content to scuddle sideways on a tortuous path to death. […]
March 3, 2024 | When Readers Speak
Today, we have a different kind of letter. I’ve been in California for some rather innovative and hopefully life/health span-extending medical treatment. I’m fine, but it has been a bit tiring. So this week, I’m handing the keyboard to you, my intrepid and smart readers. This is easier than it used to be, thanks to […]
March 3, 2024 | Equity Outflows as Layoffs Rise and Baby Boomers Draw Down Savings
Looking beneath the glossy marketing of investment products and their promoters is essential to managing our savings prudently. In the discussion below, Mike Green explains the nuts and bolts of the current long-always system and how it threatens financial strength and stability. Individuals cannot afford to be oblivious. Michael Green, Portfolio Manager and Chief Strategist […]
March 2, 2024 | Trading Desk Notes For March 2, 2024
Key global stock indices surge to new highs; breadth at near record highs on “buy everything” sentiment The S&P hit new All-Time Highs again this week, up 16 of the last 18 weeks for a gain of ~1,000 points (25%) from the October 2023 lows. During this rally, the S&P market cap has increased ~$8 trillion, […]
March 2, 2024 | Markets Not Priced For Downturn in Real Estate
Historically, downcycles in real estate have led to the harshest economic downturns. This cycle is global and highly interconnected. Charlie Bobrinskoy, Ariel Investments vice chair and head of the investment group, joins ‘The Exchange’ to discuss the ripple effects of China’s real estate issue on U.S. markets, which sectors would be most impacted, and more. […]
March 2, 2024 | Tech Talk for Saturday March 2nd 2024
The Bottom Line U.S. equity indices were mixed last week: S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite Index recorded small gains while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Dow Jones Transportation Average recorded small losses.
March 1, 2024 | Chinese Capital Retreating From Foreign Realty Markets
Thirteen years of ‘easy money’ spurred debt complacency and a global credit boom that inflated asset prices, particularly real estate, worldwide. Now, higher rates are triggering the great unwind in a dash to reduce overhead and raise cash everywhere, all at once. Countries that saw the most significant influx of foreign investment and property appreciation- […]
March 1, 2024 | Art of the Collapse, March 2024
Obviously, we have to start with Google’s epic Gemini AI faceplant. It’s not often that a new product launch crashes a company’s stock, but this one shaved $96 billion from the parent company’s market cap in a single week. The responses to Gemini’s … um … lack of attention to historical detail, run the gamut from funny […]
March 1, 2024 | Warren Buffett is at a Crossroads
Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of Warren Buffett, reported results for 2023 and Buffett left investors with some pearls of wisdom in the accompanying letter to shareholders. As Warren Buffett explains, investing is not easy, but it is very rewarding, if good decisions are made more often than bad ones. But Buffett states that it […]
March 1, 2024 | Worst Monthly Spike of “Core Services” PCE Inflation in 22 Years, and Not Just Housing: Powell’s Gonna Have Another Cow
Over the past year or so, the Fed has been intensely discussing inflation in “core services,” which is where inflation had shifted to in 2022, from goods inflation which had spiked into mid-2022 but then cooled dramatically. So “core services” is where it’s at. Core services is where consumers spend the majority of their money. […]
February 29, 2024 | Commercial Real Estate Investors Cutting Losses
2024 is a big year for commercial real estate refinancing (US loans maturing by year graphed below, via Liz Ann Saunders). Interest rates, insurance, taxes and ongoing maintenance costs are on the rise as occupancy rates decline. Investors who bought and held when prices were high are now selling at huge discounts to cut their negative […]
February 29, 2024 | Why War is Inevitable & the Outcome
One of the basic rules of war is that you always keep two fronts going simultaneously. The first is the obvious battlefield. However, the second is communication. Suppose you DO NOT keep communication open through the back channels. In that case, there is NEVER the possibility of PEACE, and the war then becomes concluded only […]
February 28, 2024 | War & the ECM
QUESTION: You have been the only analyst who has been correct that there would be no recession that just about everyone had forecast for the last two years. A friend turned me on to you and said mainstream media will never quote you because you do not play by their rules. I had to present […]
February 28, 2024 | Insolvencies Leaping as Credit Demand Slumps
Business insolvencies are rising globally (chart below via The National Post), and Canada is seeing twice the G7 average. Canadian business insolvencies rose 35% quarter-over-quarter in the final quarter of 2023. They doubled compared with the same quarter in 2022 and were at the highest level in 13 years (Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy). The […]
February 28, 2024 | OPEC Discussing Extending Its Production Cuts For One More Quarter Lifts Crude Prices Modestly
GLOBAL ECONOMIC, POLITICAL & MILITARY UPDATE Mixed economic data in the US continues with some data showing a slowing economy but others indicating inflation reversings to the upside. This stagflation pivot is not what the bond and stock market want to see. Forecasters are now indicating that the first cut would occur in June only […]