The US dollar rallied quite significantly during the course of the week, as it bounced from a major trend line. I believe the USD/JPY market will continue to see a lot of volatility and noise, despite some lingering signs of life.

3M Company cut its dividend because of legal settlements, the divestment of the Healthcare segment into an independent company, Solventum, and the need to maintain financial flexibility. It is the third Dividend King to do so in 2024.

In this video, I review the past week's trading as we head into the new month. I also discuss how the Nasdaq 100 could move in the coming days.

2024’s second quadrimestre is now complete. Let’s start with our title’s second phrase “GDP Defies Belief”. For Q2’s annualized GDP growth rate was just raised from an improbable first estimate of +2.8% to now an impossible second estimate of +3.0%.

There are very serious flaws in using Apartment List or Zillow to estimate BLS price moves. But let’s discuss the current data and how it is best used.

I don’t agree with the claim that monetary dominance implies low and stable interest rates or inflation. We clearly had monetary dominance in the 1960s and 1970s, when budget deficits were small as a share of GDP.

Look how far various oscillators - RSI etc. - have reached and what that translates in yields increase on the chart. That's just the technical view as to why market yields are to remain low and will retreat further.

Apple stock price has staged a strong comeback after bottoming at $195.80 in August. It has soared by over 16% from its August lows and is nearing a bull market. The stock has jumped by 40%.

CrowdStrike finally reported its Q2 results. I was curious to see any early impact the July 19, global IT outage might have caused. Results were not affected too much.

Blackrock and Blackstone stocks have rewarded their investors well for decades as they continued becoming dominant players in their respective industries. BX’s total return in the last five years stood at over 242% while BLK’s return was 142%.

It has been the best stretch this year for Affirm stock, which is down about 10% year-to-date. Once a fintech darling in 2021, Affirm has fallen from its 2021 high of $165 in 2021. Is this week’s rally a blip or a sign of some positive momentum?

Most people are unaware that Labor Day originated to celebrate the laborers in our country who built this country from the ground up. These were the people who made our economy go and who also built the housing, bridges and office towers.

The EIA Monthly Energy Review is long and does not change much from month to month since a lot of the information is historical. Here I present the graphics from just the first three chapters.

JP Morgan Chase stock price has done well over the years as the company continued growing its market share in the banking industry. Its total return in the last five years has increased by over 136% while the S&P 500 index has risen by 108%.

I suspect the average American assumes that low wage countries have a competitive advantage in international trade. Economists often rebut that argument using Ricardian trade theory. But the public cares little for “theory” and remains unconvinced.

For this long weekend, I am offering you food for thought. In the overall macro theme, I am sticking to this for time being: Stagflation - The Fed can’t fix it with a huge reduction in rates, that will spike inflation.

The performance of stocks during the first half of 2024 continued strongly with the S&P 500, going through the roof and delivering 15.3% – a total return one could reasonably expect over a two year.

The lone San Francisco Denny’s holdout has finally shut it doors. You probably know why. The San Francisco Gate reports the SF Denny’s that was once California’s most expensive has closed.

This weekly Extreme Positions report highlights the Most Bullish and Most Bearish Positions for the speculator category. Extreme positioning in these markets can foreshadow strong moves in the underlying market.

I continue to think Eli Lilly is insanely overvalued. Considering the stock has stalled for two solid weeks, maybe people are beginning to rethink this.