ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION
October 16, 2024 | Retailers Feeling The Pressure of Cash-Strapped Consumers
Major retailers have noted a pullback in consumer spending, and same-store traffic is down across restaurants this year, particularly at sit-down chains. Most are ramping up discounts and promotions to lure customers. See, After years of Increases, Companies are Rolling Back Prices: Retailers, restaurants and other companies spent years lifting prices. Now that consumers are closing […]
October 15, 2024 | Results are in: ‘Easy’ Money Policies Build Debt, Hurt Productivity and Affordability
The results of the easy money experiments from 2009 to 2022 are widely evident: they yielded record indebtedness and unaffordable housing. This was especially true in Canada, where the median household debt to income was 175% in the second quarter of 2024 from 156% in the fourth quarter of 2008. At the same time, the […]
October 14, 2024 | Is Frugality a “Skill”?
Obviously, one of the best ways to prepare for hard times is to avoid unnecessary spending in good times. So being able to do that across an entire lifestyle might be considered a core prepping skill. Charles Hugh Smith just posted an essay on this concept. Here’s an excerpt: A Core Skill Going Forward: Frugality I ended […]
October 14, 2024 | The Four Powers Aligning
COMMENT: Marty, you have been spot on. North Korea, China, and Iran are banning together with Russia. What you have laid out is basic common sense. The ancient saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don’t understand how common sense seems to be no so common certainly among our journalists who […]
October 13, 2024 | The Drone Wars
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, you previously said the US would find it difficult to actually defend Taiwan. I would greatly appreciate if you could elaborate on that scenario. HJ ANSWER: If you look at all of the fighter jets that the US could deploy from the F15, F16, F22, and F35s, they have a serious drawback […]
October 13, 2024 | Kamala Unwinding
[I can’t stomach news reports that take Kamala Harris’s candidacy seriously, especially articles suggesting with brazen implausibility that she is polling dead-even with Trump in some important swing states. Fortunately for those creeped out by all the tilted campaign coverage, my colleague James Howard Kunstler has compressed everything you need to know about the election into a […]
October 12, 2024 | Trading Desk Notes for October 12, 2024
The leading North American stock indices are at record highs The S&P has closed higher for 9 of the last 10 weeks, rising ~14% from its early August lows. The index is up ~22% YTD, ~41% from year-ago lows, and ~65% from two year-ago lows. It has closed higher for 11 of the last 12 […]
October 12, 2024 | Is Frugality a “Skill”?
Obviously, one of the best ways to prepare for hard times is to avoid unnecessary spending in good times. So being able to do that across an entire lifestyle might be considered a core prepping skill. Charles Hugh Smith just posted an essay on this concept. Here’s an excerpt: A Core Skill Going Forward: Frugality I ended […]
October 11, 2024 | More Great Gold Miner Earnings Reports Coming Soon
A rising gold price boosted second-quarter (June-August) earnings for the best-run gold miners. See: Q2 Gold Miner Earnings Might Liven Up the Summer Doldrums Portfolio Update — Q2 Earnings Edition And earnings for Q3 — which ended on September 30 and will be reported shortly — should be even better, thanks to continued gains for […]
October 11, 2024 | Scientists Receive Nobel Prizes Amid Controversy Over AI Research
Canadian physicist Geoffrey Hinton and three other scientists received Nobel Prizes this week for work related to advances in artificial intelligence. Their discoveries have the potential to revolutionize mankind’s ability to cure disease. But these advances in AI come with a warning from one of the recipients. Geoffrey Hinton, 76-year-old University of Toronto physicist and […]
October 10, 2024 | Mainstream Financial Plan: Double or Nothin’
This morning, US data showed a larger-than-expected increase in people applying for jobless benefits—258k for the week of October 5, versus 230k expected—a 14-month high. There was also a .2% month-over-month increase in headline CPI, double the .1% expected by the consensus. Fewer jobs and a higher cost of living remain an increasing challenge for […]
October 10, 2024 | Cycle of War Technology & Fate of the EU
QUESTION: I hear that the F16, introduced in 1978, is obsolete in today’s modern war. Do you have any information on this? Have we entered the day when swords are replaced by guns? PH ANSWER: The F-16 is a legendary warplane. You are correct. It was first introduced in 1978. It was a versatile […]
October 9, 2024 | Crude War Premium Shrinks As Investors Focus On Weak China Demand Data
Turbulent markets in China headline each day the challenges China is having to get its economy back on track for sustainable growth. It needs to write-off debt challenged fixed assets, move from an export economy to a consumer economy and stabilize government owned businesses. In addition, its focus and financial support of EV’s and battery […]
October 9, 2024 | Rigging the 2024 Election?
Many may assume that Donald Trump is the first to claim the election of 2020 was rigged. In fact, charges of stolen presidential elections are not as rare in American history as one may assume. Hillary Clinton convinced 70% of Democrats that Russia rigged the 2016 election as payback for her interference in […]
October 9, 2024 | Realty Bubble Bursting as Power of Sales Spread
In September, across the Greater Toronto Area, there were 204 power-of-sale listings, more than double the 96 reported in September 2023, an increase of 112% year over year and more than triple pre-pandemic levels (chart below since 2020). See, Power-of-sale listings more than double as mortgage lenders repossess homes from over-leveraged buyers. Finally, reality is dawning […]
October 8, 2024 | Biden Wants Banks to Report All Transaction over $600
The Biden Administration is pushing banks to report every $600 transaction, whether a deposit or withdrawal, from every business or personal account. The Democrats want everything, and no matter how much they collect, they will always spend more. TAXES are really no longer even necessary along with borrowing. They never pay off the debt anyhow, […]
October 8, 2024 | About That Jobs Report…
Nonfarm Jobs Increased by 245K Last Month, Far Surpassing Estimates. Here is a direct video link.
October 7, 2024 | Can Kamala Take the Presidency Without an Election?
Let me begin with a shocking statement that people generally do not know. Read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; you will not find any mention of a right to vote. Surprisingly, nowhere in the original text will you find any mention that U.S. citizens have a right to vote. All the […]
October 7, 2024 | Cheaper Mortgages?
Happy Monday Morning! I just got back from presenting at the annual Veritas Real Estate conference in Toronto. The conference, which caters towards investment professionals and financial institutions engaged in a healthy debate on the direction of our housing market. There was a lengthy discussion on interest rates, which is undoubtedly one of, if not the largest […]
October 7, 2024 | Understanding China’s Economic ‘Bust’
The Chinese government has just unveiled a massive stimulus for its troubled economy, but can it fix the slowdown long-term? What’s at stake for the country, and the world? Here is a direct video link. Leland Miller, China Beige Book CEO, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the state of China’s economy, impact of Beijing’s stimulus package, […]
October 6, 2024 | Why I Do Not Trust Safety Deposit Boxes
I have said numerous times that your personal belongings are at risk in safety deposit boxes. The Fourth Amendment was intended to protect Americans from illegal search and seizures, but as we have seen in recent years, the government does not respect the Constitution or our freedoms. Governments will become increasingly tyrannical as we […]
October 6, 2024 | The Crisis of Free Speech
“Freedom of speech” is a beautiful phrase, strong, optimistic. It has a ring to it. But it’s being replaced in the discourse by “disinformation” and “misinformation,” words that aren’t beautiful but full of the small, pettifogging, bureaucratic anxiety of a familiar American villain: the busybody, the prohibitionist, the Nosey Parker, the snoop. “…The end game […]
October 6, 2024 | Stocks Act Fearless as Oil Price Soars
If you can keep a cool head while everyone around you is panicking, perhaps you don’t understand the situation. That’s what they say, anyway. It is exactly what we saw last week when stocks barely shrugged even as the shooting war in the Middle East took another baby step toward nuclear conflagration. The oil markets […]
October 5, 2024 | Broke FEMA and the Shrinking Trust Horizon
So they send the Tennessee National Guard to the Middle East and FEMA (it is widely claimed) spends its rainy day fund on illegal immigrants. And then, because that’s how the universe works, a massive hurricane hits the South and FEMA runs out of money: Now the victims seem to be on their own — further eroding trust in the […]
October 5, 2024 | Danielle on CBC Weekend Business Panel
CBC News Network’s Weekend Business Panel takes on the top news of the week. Here is a direct video link.