August 9, 2025 | Trading Desk Notes for August 9, 2025

Creative destruction: move fast and break things This week was short on scheduled market-moving economic data (setting aside the poorly bid bond auctions), but Trump (God bless’em) kept things lively.   Trump imposed a 39% tariff on Switzerland and a 50% rate on India (if they don’t stop buying Russian crude oil). Additionally, he imposed a 100% […]

August 9, 2025 | This Week in Money

• Ross Clark: Stock Markets, Gold, Oil, USD, Canadian Dollar.
• Eric Hadik: (9:50) Stock Market Cycles, USD, Canadian Dollar, Bitcoin, Precious Metals.
• Hilliard MacBeth:  (34:19) Canadian Real Estate, Money Laundering, Gold, Stock Markets, Outlook for Electric Vehicles.

August 8, 2025 | Stablecoins: Washington’s Secret Weapon Against the Debt Spiral

The US Treasury plans to borrow over $1 trillion in Q3 2025, raising federal debt over $28 trillion. With foreign buyers pulling back from US Treasuries, the recent GENIUS and CLARITY Acts may signal a creative solution: using stablecoins to help fund America’s debt. What are Stablecoins? Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to […]

August 8, 2025 | Bank of England Cuts Interest Rates

  The Bank of England has cut its base interest rate to 4%, even as it warns of rising inflation. “We’ve cut interest rates today, but it was a finely balanced decision. Interest rates are still on a downward path, but any future cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully,” Governor Andrew Bailey […]

August 8, 2025 | Is a Gold Backed Currency Likely Soon?

US company earnings booming while others lag

August 7, 2025 | Liberation Day 2.0?

Last night at midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. See the full list of U.S tariffs in place around […]

August 7, 2025 | Trump/Putin, Tulsi, Tariffs, Military, Arrests

Gold, Cryptos, Markets

August 7, 2025 | Is It Time to be Nervous in the Stock Market?

Do Cosmic Events really affect financials?

August 6, 2025 | Crude Oil Falls >US$5/b From Last Week On Growing Supplies And Weak Summer Demand.

Crude oil prices have declined >US$5/b from a week ago (today’s low US$64.66/b versus US$70.13/b last week) as weak demand and rising inventories (see EIA section) offset President Trump’s aggressive moves on secondary sanctions and increasing tariffs on Russian oil buyers. Today the US increased tariffs on India from 25% to 50% as a result […]

August 6, 2025 | Having Skills vs. a College Degree

  One of my gym homies is a young man that is going to college to get a degree in Real Estate Development. “No college professors are going to teach you how to be successful in that business,” I told him. Instead, I advised him to quit college and go work for an experienced real […]

August 5, 2025 | The Rare Earth Crisis

QUESTION: If Trump imposes sanctions on China for buying Russian energy, what do you expect China to do? Rob ANSWER:  The deeper you look, the more it becomes abundantly clear. America’s defence supply chain is built on materials it doesn’t control. Missiles, fighter jets, radar systems, drones — all depend on a steady stream of […]

August 4, 2025 | Retail and Tech Jobs At-Risk in the US

US employers have reduced their workforce more in the first seven months of 2025 than in all of 2024. The DOGE cuts to the public sector were the primary driver of layoffs; however, there has been a notable drop in retail and technology positions in the private sector. July alone saw 62,000 jobs reduced from […]

August 3, 2025 | Enjoy Tariff Hubris While It Lasts

The stock market is priced for perfection in a grotesquely imperfect world. Trump provided a fleeting respite by showing us how the Art of the Deal works in trade negotiations. Fox News rightly rubbed the legacy media’s face in his success while the President took a half-dozen victory laps to muted global applause. This may […]

August 2, 2025 | Trading Desk Notes for August 2, 2025

The S&P closed at record highs last week, but fell to 1-month lows this week The September S&P futures closed at record highs last week, traded higher on Monday, fell off ~100 points to Wednesday’s lows, but gapped higher after the close on strong MSFT and META reports. The market opened higher on Thursday, but couldn’t […]

August 2, 2025 | This Week in Money

• Ross Clark:  Stock Markets, Trump Tariffs, Gold, Oil, USD, Canadian Dollar.
• Martin Straith: (14:12) Tariff War, Russia/Ukraine, Gold, Bitcoin, Stable Coins and Government Debt. Special Offer!
• Josef Schachter: (1:05:35) Trump’s Energy Deals, Copper Tariffs, Canada, USA, Europe.

August 1, 2025 | Powell Rebukes Trump by Delaying a Rate Cut

Powell Holds the Line as Trump Turns Up the Heat Fed Chair Jerome Powell held interest rates steady again — a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump, who has been publicly and persistently demanding deep rate cuts. Trump wants a 300-basis-point cut — a dramatic move that would drive rates back to 1.5%, where they […]

August 1, 2025 | Is the Bubble of “Everything” About to Burst?

The Generation Z dating crisis

July 31, 2025 | The GENIUS Act and the National Bank Acts of 1863-64: Taking a Cue from Lincoln

From ScheerPost.com This month Congress passed the GENIUS Act, an acronym for the “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025.” Designed to regulate stablecoins, a category of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, the Act is highly controversial. Critics variously argue that it anoints stablecoins as the equivalent of “programmable” central […]

July 31, 2025 | The Positive Impact of Tariffs on US Copper Shares

Gold pulling back as US Dollar rallies

July 30, 2025 | Are Stock Markets Setting Up for a Major Correction?

Digital Currencies, mandatory biometric ID’s creeping in.

July 30, 2025 | US Commercial Crude Stocks Rise 7.7 Mb In Recent EIA Data- Crude Prices Are Vulnerable

Summary: President Trump has announced a trade deal with the EU opening the country to US sales of vehicles, more agricultural goods, wine and mostly energy. Their tariff will be 15% and US goods entering the EU would see no tariff. Prior to the tariff war EU cars paid a 2.5% tariff to enter US […]

July 30, 2025 | Ware Phase of This Fourth Turning Has Arrived

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward […]

July 29, 2025 | Financial Sobriety is a Rare Superpower Over Time

Speculative trading indicators measure froth in financial markets and indicate when speculators—rather than fundamental investors—are dominating market behavior. As shown below, since 1995, the rebound in speculative measures over the past three months has been one of the sharpest on record, and in rare company with now infamous bubble tops in 1999-2000 and 2021. The […]

July 28, 2025 | Hoisington Q2 2025 Review and Outlook

Hoisington Management’s 2025 Second Quarter Review and Outlook is available here. At his June 18 press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell referred to tariffs as inflationary. Hoisington points out that this is only the first-round effect: Second, third, and later-round effects also come into play, causing the quantity demanded and price to decrease for the […]