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May 17, 2025 | Trading Desk Notes for May 17, 2025
Global stock markets continue to bounce back from their April lows Given that the April 7 lows were created by extraordinary tit-for-tat tariff increases between the USA and China, the “much better than expected” meeting between the two countries last weekend inspired a gap-higher opening this week, especially in tech issues. The S&P closed this […]
May 17, 2025 | This Week in Money
- Ross Clark: Stock Markets, Gold, Uranium.
- Victor Adair: (12:29) Stock Markets, Volatile Markets, Energy, Oil and Gas.
- Mark Leibovit: (39:30) Full Moon, Bitcoin, Tesla, Alberta Separation.
- Robert Campbell: (1:30:14) US Real Estate, Mortgage Rates and Inflation.
May 17, 2025 | Tech Talk for Saturday May 17th 2025
The Bottom Line All-time highs by the TSX Composite Index and S&P/TSE 60 Index! The later Index moved above 1,561.25 on Friday.
May 16, 2025 | One in Four Americans Financially Illiterate
Financial literacy is steadily declining in America. The percentage of US adults demonstrating a very low level of financial literacy increased from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2023. Around 58% of Americans know about debt and borrowing. Over half (55%) understand saving, and 50% understand consumption. About 42% understand insurance, 44% know about investing, and […]
May 16, 2025 | The U.S. Stock Market Needs Magnificent Seven Leadership
A group of seven leading companies — the Magnificent Seven known as Mag 7 — which has led the U.S. stock market for several years was lagging the market by a large margin in 2025, until the recently announced 90-day partial reprieve on tariffs on Chinese imports. Making up one-third of the value of the […]
May 16, 2025 | Food and Energy Innovation are Here to Help
We recently completed rooftop solar, which allows us to run operations and vehicles on sunshine. Technology is here to improve efficiency and lower waste for all sectors of the economy—a much-needed bright spot ☀️. Smart food production powered by renewable energy is what productivity enhancement looks like. For the first time, a King City, Ont, greenhouse […]
May 16, 2025 | How Would a New Gold Standard Work? Very well…
A return to some version of a gold standard has morphed from “gold bug fever dream” to “conceivable” in the past few years. Here’s why: Since the 1990s, when Fed chair Alan Greenspan became a global celebrity nicknamed “the Maestro” by a credulous press … … governments have borrowed ever-greater sums, forcing central banks to […]
May 16, 2025 | The Negative Side of Lower Interest Rates
China now Canada’s biggest crude oil customer
May 15, 2025 | France Proposes 500% Tariff on Russian Oil
The European Union recently implemented its 17th round of sanctions against Russia, in case the first 16 were insufficient. Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, would like to take a harsher approach by placing a 500% tariff on anyone purchasing Russian oil. “We must move forward because the current sanctions have not convinced Vladimir […]
May 15, 2025 | Housing Bust and Tariffs Hitting Highly Leveraged Economy
The spreading downturn in real estate is the typical and foreseeable mean reversion of the speculative mania that prevailed through the years of near-zero interest rates. The condo market in two of Canada’s big cities has taken a major downturn. CBC’s Nisha Patel breaks down three reasons why condos aren’t selling in the middle of […]
May 15, 2025 | Still Room For Gold To Climb Higher
Junior Miners
May 14, 2025 | The Art of Regime Change – Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Russia
Trade is a unifying agent that causes countries to put their differences aside. Donald Trump has been warmly welcomed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and even a leader from Syria. The United States announced it would lift sanctions on Syria after Trump’s historic meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Sunni […]
May 14, 2025 | Mayhem continues
A 90-day pause on embargo-style US-China trade tariffs has revived bullish spirits. The large-cap S&P 500 (black below), with its one-third weight in tech companies (“Magnificent Seven” companies in orange), has rebounded 18% since April 8—now flat year to date and -3.8% below the February high. The retail crowd is back at it, bidding the […]
May 14, 2025 | President Trump’s 90-Day Reprieve On Punitive Tariffs Bounces Stocks & Crude Prices … Temporarily
Summary: US stocks and crude oil prices have lifted on the pause in the tariff war with the US and China lowering tariffs against each other to reasonable levels and starting negotiations for long term fixes. WTI has lifted from US$56/b to US$64/b as fear of global recession seceded. Tariffs have been lowered to 30% […]
May 13, 2025 | Spain Limits Cash Withdrawals
Withdrawing large sums in cash is no longer possible in Spain without the government’s approval. Those withdrawing €3,000 or more must notify Spain’s tax agency, Agencia Tributaria, in advance. Withdrawals at or exceeding €100,000 require a 72-hour approval process, and the tax agency is requesting a 24-hour mandatory notification for any amount over […]
May 13, 2025 | Alberta to Separate from Canada?
I am back from my trip to Alberta, Canada. They will separate, and currently the polls show 40% want to leave. I also stopped by to visit the facility of SilverGoldBull operation in Calgary. This is me holding a 400-ounce bar of gold – central bank standard. I was very impressed with their operation. I was given […]
May 13, 2025 | Canadian Unemployment Looking Even More Recessionary
The Canadian unemployment rate rose to 6.9% in April (from 6.7% in March). Outside of the 2020 COVID shutdown, this was the highest level since January 2017 and up 210 basis points from the July 2022 cycle low of 4.8%. This is a warning sign: in past cycles since 1953, we have been six months […]
May 12, 2025 | US Supply Chain Issues on the Horizon
Businesses cannot properly determine how much or when to buy due to ever-changing tariffs. Tariffs will certainly not halt trade, but they have caused a kink in the supply chain. The Port of Seattle reported a temporarily lack of any container ships last week. “I can see it right over my shoulder here, I’m looking […]
May 12, 2025 | Housing Downturn Accelerates in April
TRREB is Canada’s biggest real estate board, covering the Greater Toronto Area (area codes 416 and 905, as shown below), which has the largest population concentration in Canada. TRREB just posted April numbers (here); year over year, single-family home sales were down 22%, and condo sales were down 30%. An hour or so in each […]
May 11, 2025 | Britain Steps Back From the Brink
The UK, like much of the rest of Europe, has been committing slow-motion cultural suicide in recent years. By piling up unsustainable debts, deindustrialising in pursuit of “net zero” fantasies, atomising into multiple incompatible subcultures via unconstrained immigration, and persecuting citizens for tweets and other previously accepted forms of dissent, the former liberal democracy had […]
May 11, 2025 | Trump Magic Losing Its Hold on Investors
[The S&Ps are losing steam after recouping two-thirds of their 1400-point loss in March/April. The stall near 5700 has left them hovering in the danger zone, just like the U.S. economy. Will it skirt recession? I have my doubts, even if price action on the S&P chart on April 7 led me to speculate that […]
May 11, 2025 | Tension in the Sandpile
I’ve been writing about tariffs for a couple of months now, focusing mostly on the macroeconomic harm and the costs they impose on small businesses. Today I want to consider something else: the new risks they are adding to the financial system alongside the old risks. We had a small taste of it when markets […]
May 11, 2025 | Germany’s Conspiracy Theory Hotline
Germany has become increasingly tyrannical in its fight to combat dissenters who do not believe in abandoning nationalism for Brussels. Not only does the German government want to banish political parties who dissent from its narrative, but it has implemented a hotline where citizens may report others who spread “disinformation” and “conspiracy theories.” The Violence […]
May 10, 2025 | Trading Desk Notes for May 10, 2025
Is a long-term rotation out of US assets beginning? The S&P hit all-time highs in February (Trump’s new Golden Era would be American exceptionalism on steroids), then trended lower into early April, down ~9%. Following “Liberation Day” and subsequent “tariff bluster” (which led to tariffs on China of 145%), the S&P plunged to 15-month lows on April […]
May 10, 2025 | Inflation the Real Story
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, a friend of mine attends your conferences and said you’re the only person who understands the economy because you have international experience and have met with many central banks around the world. He said inflation is no longer the simplistic expansion of the money supply, and anyone who said that is still […]