This was an exciting week for Bitcoin holders and hodlers as the fourth-ever halving took place on Friday. The American consumer got back to work spending ever more on goods and services. Some of that was inflation and some was more consumption. That same consumer is a bit overstretched and some have started paying fees … Read more
This was a big week for connected events. The increase in the CPI was a surprise to the disinflation crowd that’s been screaming for lower interest rates for almost two years. Higher CPI leads to higher for longer interest rates which pushes up the dollar against the yen. That’s about to force the Bank of … Read more
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index is the preferred inflation metric for the Federal Reserve. This month’s report came out during Good Friday when the markets are closed. Within hours, the hawks who favor higher rates and the doves who favor lower rates all claimed the report vindicated their view. We’ll elaborate. Shockwave Medical $SWAV … Read more
This was a big week for people who follow macroeconomic news. The Federal Reserve kept rates and the dot plot unchanged, but the press release was carefully worded to be opaque. We’ll explain why. After more than a decade of near and even below-zero interest rates at the Bank of Japan, they finally responded to … Read more
This wasn’t a good week for the “pivot” people and asset gatherers who have been begging the Federal Reserve for lower rates. We got a higher-than-expected CPI and PPI. Making things worse, the short-term monthly numbers have started to accelerate meaning the disinflation story might be dead for now. Retail sales and manufacturing numbers were … Read more
This week, Jerome Powell spoke to Congress and was more dovish than he’s been in years. He’s gone from channeling former Fed Chairman, Volker, who crushed inflation with interest rates approaching 20% to sounding like Volker’s predecessor, Arthur Burns, who reduced interest rates before getting inflation under control. We saw weaker than expected job reports, … Read more
This week, economic data decided to pull a George Costanza and do the opposite of everything it has been doing. DKI has highlighted the trend of inconsistent data in recent months, and this week, many of those inconsistent trends reversed. Confusing? Don’t worry, we’ll explain. We also have some excellent fundamental news from Shockwave Medical … Read more
Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen speaking in public typically leads to her accidentally saying things out loud that confirm the fears of her critics. At the same time, the Bitcoin bears who celebrated a small decrease in the dollar price of Bitcoin last month have gone into hibernation causing quiet in my Twitter/X feed. I believe … Read more
The Federal Reserve surprised the market by leaving the fed funds rate unchanged and indicating its not inclined to lower at the next meeting in March. The market was disappointed, but a better-than-expected manufacturing index with higher-than-expected pricing plus a seemingly hot labor market support the Fed’s decision. There was huge growth in jobs, but … Read more
Every week in January, we’ve been pointing out the inconsistencies we see in macro-economic data. The trend becomes even more pronounced this week with contradictory insight on the economy being provided by the GDP report, the Fed’s preferred inflation metric, and the purchasing manager’s index. The results are so confusing that commentary by S&P Global … Read more
