#federalreserve
The 2% Target Has Been Abandoned
Overview: The Federal Reserve concluded its October meeting and as expected, lowered the fed funds rate by 25bp (.25%). The market celebrated…until Chairman Powell said that the Fed hadn’t decided to cut another 25bp in December. This caused the market to fall, but I’m not sure under what circumstances he would have said the decision … Read more
September CPI is 3.0%
Overview: Today, we got the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 3.0% for the last year and up 0.3% for the month (annualizes to 3.7%). The annual number is up 0.1% from August and 0.1% below expectations. The monthly is up 0.3% and 0.1% below expectations. The Core CPI … Read more
Weekly Points – September 26th, 2025 – 5 Things to Know in Investing This Week – The What if There’s an AI Spending Problem Issue
Last week, Enrique Abeyta warned that OpenAI reminds him of Enron from the dot com boom/bust. This week, Nvidia announced a $100B “investment” into OpenAI which will then be used to buy Nvidia chips. This is the exact kind of accounting shenanigans that Enrique warned about. He’ll be guest hosting the video version of The … Read more
Weekly Points – September 19th, 2025 – 5 Things to Know in Investing This Week – The Fed Agrees with President Trump Issue
The big news of the week was the Fed doing exactly what we all expected they’d do; cut the fed funds rate into inflation 50% above the made-up 2% target. Did anyone else catch Chairman Powell accidentally agreeing with President Trump? Gemni has its IPO and the Nasdaq invests. Did anyone expect the crypto markets … Read more
Federal Reserve – As Expected
The Fed press release just came out. I’m getting you my quick bullet points now. Powell press conference in 15 minutes. I’ll update if he says anything that changes my conclusions. – Fed lowers 25bp (.25%) as expected. This is what the market and DKI thought would happen. – There was one dissent. Miran, the … Read more
Macro Update – I’m Shocked – Well, Not That Shocked
I write these macro updates infrequently. I try to do so when I have something significant to say that’s different from the dominant narrative. Conventional wisdom in the markets is correct more often than not. But when I find myself annoyed at the obvious falsehoods in the financial reporting and on Fin-X on a daily … Read more
August CPI is 2.9%
Overview: Today, we got the August Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 2.9% for the last year and up 0.4% for the month (annualizes to 4.9%). The annual number is up 0.2% from July and 0.1% above expectations. The monthly is up 0.2% and 0.1% above expectations. The Core CPI … Read more
Weekly Points – August 22nd, 2025 – 5 Things to Know in Investing This Week – The Chairman Speaks Issue
Chairman Powell leans dovish in his annual remarks causing risk assets including Bitcoin, gold, equities, and energy to trade up sharply. DKI disagrees with the (potential) decision to cut rates, but still profits from it. The White House will be pleased, but don’t expect the President to start praising Powell in public. Copper tariffs are … Read more
Bitcoin – It’s All About the Fed Right Now
Bitcoin is an asset with no cash flows, no interest payments, and no fundamentals. That means explanations for short-term volatility are often little more than guesses. However, this time, there is an easy explanation for the volatility of the recent few weeks. In general, Bitcoin and gold tend to experience higher dollar prices when the … Read more