The big news this week was the lower-than-expected CPI and PPI figures for July. While expectations for a September 50bp (0.5%) rate cut by the Fed changes on a daily basis, DKI agrees with current consensus that we’ll see a 25bp cut next month. We believe that’s premature and unwise, but still think that’s what’s … Read more
Overview: Today, we got the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 2.9% for the last year and 0.2% for the month. That’s below last month’s 3.0% and expectations of 3.0%. The 0.2% monthly increase was in line with the 0.2% expected, and a bigger increase vs last month’s -0.1%. … Read more
At the same time the Bank of Japan caused panic and traders began to unwind the carry trade, something DKI has been talking about since October of 2022, multiple retail trading platforms failed. It might be a good time to hedge your portfolio, or have some assets outside the financial system (or both). Last week, … Read more
The PPI stands for Producer Price Index. The reason it’s important as a measure of inflation, is generally, producers see an increase in prices first. When those producers pass on price increases to consumers, we then see that as inflation reflected in a higher CPI (consumer price index) or PCE (personal consumption expenditures). I’ve been … Read more
President Trump talks about Bitcoin and he and some other politicians call for a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Plus, we have another week of tech stock obliteration. It’s not that earnings were bad; but rather, that expectations and valuations were so high. Intel $INTC is the exception. Their earnings report was bad. We also have lots … Read more
I’d like to thank Brian Scheid of S&P Global Market Intelligence for quoting me in today’s article titled Magnificent 7 stocks stumble, boosting peak views. What do you think – was it the Fed, missed earnings, or AI spending that sent these stocks down? https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/magnificent-7-stocks-stumble-boosting-peak-views-82765994
The Federal Reserve completed its July meeting today. As usual, they put out a press release and Chairman Powell had a press conference. A few bullet points to understand the situation: – The Fed kept rates unchanged for now. This was expected. – The language surrounding employment gains, the unemployment rate, and inflation was softened … Read more
We hit earnings season and with the Magnificent 7 priced for perfection, it was going to take “perfect” earnings reports to keep the market from falling. $GOOG and $TSLA showed some weakness and for the second straight week, tech leads the stock market lower. Coursera $COUR beats earnings and positions itself as an AI play … Read more
This morning, we got the June Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report. This is the preferred inflation gauge of the Federal Reserve. The PCE was up 0.1% vs last month and 2.5% vs last year. The monthly number accelerated by 0.1% and the yearly declined by 0.1%; both very small changes in trend. The 2.5% annual … Read more
DKI published a white paper in November of 2021 warning that inflation was a big and non-transitory problem. By May or June of 2022, most of the big macro strategists were already calling for Federal Reserve rate cuts despite continued high inflation. I’ve spent the past two plus years saying rate cuts would eventually come, … Read more
