Political dysfunction in the United States is at an all-time high. Republicans and Democrats are fighting pitched battles on immigration, Obamacare, tax cuts, regulation, infrastructure and just about every other major policy issue you can name. These fights are bitter, involve a lot of name-calling and show no signs of ...
Read More »The Great Mystery of Yesterday’s Stock Rally…
The “most-watched data point in history” came out yesterday. January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) would inform markets if inflation was at last slipping its leash. Inflationary murmurs — and the aggressive rate hikes they might portend — were at least partly responsible for last week’s “correction.” Further inflation omens meant ...
Read More »Since When Is $44 Billion For American Patriots A Shame, WSJ?…
Earlier this week, I saw a politically motivated quote in the paper that just about made me lose my cool. Not only was it incredibly misleading, but it also disparaged one of the programs that I’ve been encouraging retirees to take advantage of for years now! Now, when it comes ...
Read More »Bitcoin vs. Gold [3 Must-See Charts]…
That was quick! Late last week, I said most investors were too scared to buy the dip. Boy, was I wrong… Traders are gobbling up stocks, pushing the major averages higher for five days in a row. Eager buyers have all but erased the market’s double-digit pullback. As of this ...
Read More »Special Edition – A Must-Read Crypto Alert…
I’m liking what I see from the crypto markets lately. It may sound foolish or dangerous to say this, but hear me out. If you look at the myriad attacks on crypto over the last month, the return to November 2017 pricing and the recent settling and smoothing of the ...
Read More »The Stock Market Is Not Out of the Woods…
As the Dow Jones industrial average fell over 2,600 points between Feb. 2 and Feb. 8, 2018, a decline of over 10% from the all-time high of 26,616 on Jan. 25, and officially a market “correction” as defined by Wall Street, one question kept repeating in investors’ minds: Where is ...
Read More »Cryptocurrencies and the Powers That Be…
Remember the days (about six months ago) when bitcoin was going to revolutionize banking and disintermediate the mean nasty “banksters?” Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the revolution. Bitcoin itself has hit an air pocket with a 50% price drop since December. Meanwhile, the banks that were ...
Read More »All Eyes Turn to Jerome Powell…
It’s been a wild run lately. Watching U.S. stocks plunge at one point over 10% in the past 10 days has certainly been a sobering experience for investors. After a nearly nine-year bull market, stocks have just experienced their fourth 10% correction. But as I’ve been reminding people, it wasn’t ...
Read More »Ray Blanco: Pot Companies Can Bank, and Make You Bank!…
Big news from the Federal Reserve this week. As new Fed Chairman Jerome Powell was taking his seat at the head of America’s central bank amid a major market correction, a big decision in favor of the marijuana industry was buried in all the noise. Turns out the Fed just ...
Read More »Two Competing Market Narratives…
Markets were up and down like a yo-yo today, but the Dow closed today up 330 points. Since last Thursday we’d seen a triple meltdown in bonds, stocks and cryptocurrencies. What’s amazing is that there’s no consensus on why these three markets were all crashing at once. Using my unique ...
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