This was a fascinating week featuring political shifts, increased market volatility, and a week-long drop in the stock prices of the mega-cap tech leaders that have been supporting the equity market indexes the past couple of years. This week, we’re focused on higher retail sales and wondering if anything will slow the consumer. Higher jobless … Read more
When I was growing up in the Detroit area, the Zoo there did a famous commercial where the animals were getting ready to go “on stage” for the opening. At one point, all the monkeys ran to the right encouraged by one in the front saying “Ok guys, this way”. Then, all the monkeys ran … Read more
This piece was originally published on July 12th, 2024 Overview: Today we got the June Producer Price Index (PPI). The PPI is similar to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) except it measures pricing changes experienced by manufacturers and suppliers of goods and services. Because price changes in the PPI make their way into the CPI … Read more
This piece was originally published on July 11th, 2024 Overview: Today, we got the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 3.0% unadjusted in the last year and DOWN 0.1% vs last month. That’s below last month’s 3.3% and expectations of 3.1%. The 0.1% monthly decrease was below the 0.1% … Read more
On the day that the United States celebrated declaring independence from the British, the UK elected a new Labor government. Is this a coincidence – definitely yes! Bitcoin falls on temporary trading issues. Hodlers shrug and don’t panic. DKI approves and sides with the hodlers. Chairman Powell comments on inflation and appears determined not to … Read more
We lead off with a government official meme’ing herself. (Is meme’ing a word? Can we get a ruling by someone over the age of 25 on that?) Despite a terrible reputation as someone who doesn’t understand the impact of inflation on normal people, Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, couldn’t resist letting Americans know she thinks their … Read more
Yet another government agency revises its projections. This seems to be a weekly thing these days. Anyone want to guess which direction the revisions headed? The Bank of England disappoints UK doves and holds rates steady. DKI thinks it’s all Taylor Swift’s fault. GameStop $GME management combined with Roaring Kitty’s memes have been great for … Read more
I wish I were making this up, but Jerome Powell actually acknowledged the Fed doesn’t have high confidence in its own forecasts. In fairness, we don’t have confidence in their forecasts either. DKI pointed that out in a recent monthly letter where we detailed how inaccurate even near-term Fed forecasts have been. Past that, there … Read more
The Federal Reserve completed its June meeting, and kept the fed funds rate unchanged. Your bullet points ahead of Chairman Powell’s 2:30PM press conference. The fed funds rate remains unchanged at 5.25% – 5.50%. Earlier this year, most market participants expected the Fed to cut by either the January meeting or the March one. … Read more
This piece was originally published on June 12th, 2024 Overview: Today, we got the May Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 3.3% unadjusted in the last year and 0.2% vs last month. That’s slightly below last month’s 3.4% and expectations of 3.4%. The 0.2% monthly increase was below the 0.3% … Read more
