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“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future”

Since January 2021, government measures of core inflation are up 18%-19% if food, energy, and shelter are excluded. However, Food prices are up 25%, Energy prices are up 32%, and Shelter costs are up 22%. Perhaps more critically, Services Inflation, which was up +4.7% in the last twelve months, is up close to 50% over the same time period. Maybe prices for the items that are stripped out of Headline Inflation statistics (i.e., necessities) will fall if we have rising unemployment (and a recession.) But, for now, rising service prices are holding up progress on inflation.

“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future” Read More »

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

Market sentiment has taken a significant hit. The astonishing IT failure, regarded by many as the worst ever, has severely dented investor bullishness. It is especially concerning and even more shocking to investors than the political drama we are witnessing. The vulnerability we’re all feeling about our extreme reliance on technology might actually be even worse than originally believed because it’s unclear whether our technology systems can do anything to sufficiently remedy the situation and prevent future occurrences.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Read More »

The “peak Fed funds narrative” is all the rage… risks have not disappeared, just conveniently ignored.

The “peak Fed funds narrative” is all the rage. The risk rally off the October 27th lows completely overwhelmed the negative market inputs of persistent inflation, excessive indebtedness, deficit spending, weak political leadership, and increased fiscal and monetary stimulus.

The “peak Fed funds narrative” is all the rage… risks have not disappeared, just conveniently ignored. Read More »

“The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side…”

I am not fighting the Fed and expect funding rates to rise higher than the markets expect and for them to stay
higher for a longer period than the market expects. I also recognize that liquidity and momentum models may still
encourage large and sophisticated derivative trading which can propel risk assets higher.

“The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side…” Read More »