The labor force hasn’t grown because the economy hasn’t. It really is just that simple. Because the economy isn’t actually growing, the labor market has been for a very long time caught in a chronic state of feebleness and malfunction. In linear terms, there are only positive numbers but that doesn’t matter nearly as much…
EM and risk assets came under greater pressure Friday as trade tensions mount. This backdrop is not conducive for EM by any stretch, and unless tensions are ratcheted down, selling pressures are likely to remain in play. China reports March new loan and money supply data this week, but no date has been set. It reports March CPI…
Last week, Goldman suggested it might be time for investors to hedge. Their rationale is as follows: We believe the VIX spike in early February was a significant event for investors, made even more significant last week as we revisited the YTD lows in the S&P 500. S&P 500 realized volatility was 6.8 in 2017 and has…
The petulant adolescent in the White House – who has replaced most of the adults around him with raging sycophants and has demoted his chief of staff, John Kelly, to lapdog – lacks adequate supervision. Before, he was merely petty and vindictive. He’d tweet nasty things about people he wanted to humiliate, like former…
The following year-to-date graphs show, at a glance, which global indices, US sectors, commodities, currencies, bonds, as well as the FAANGs, have gained/lost the most, so far. My only comment is keep an eye on the Canadian and Aussie Dollars, as well as China, Canada and Australia, in particular, further weakness could hint of a recession in the not too-distant future.
Stocks tumbled well into the red on Friday, with heightened concerns about a trade war between the U.S. and China weighing on investors around the world. A tit-for-tat tariff battle is clearly the last thing Wall Street wants to see right now, and despite the promise of another strong earnings season, major indexes are falling…
There seems to be an ongoing fear in the psyche of Americans that an economy based on intensive government planning will inevitably outstrip a US economy that lacks such a degree of central planning. I first remember encountering this fear with respect to the Soviet Union, which was greatly feared as an economic competitor to…
The “we owe it to ourselves” MMT nonsense failed in Japan and Venezuela. Brazil is an excellent case to watch. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) proposes that government spending and deficits do not matter because the government can always print more money. Anyone who has studied or lived through hyperinflation knows the theory is ridiculous at…
Those that follow my personal account on Twitter will be familiar with my weekly S&P 500 #ChartStorm in which I pick out 10 charts on the S&P 500 to tweet. Typically I’ll pick a couple of themes and hammer them home with the charts, but sometimes it’s just a selection of charts that will add to your…
The Zacks Cosmetics industry has been glowing on consumer’ increased spending on beauty products, which has helped it rally 49% in a year, comfortably beating the S&P 500’s gain of 15.5%. Well, the industry (ranked among the top 48% out of more than 250 Zacks industries) has been riding on solid performances by renowned players like The Estee…
