That's about the only accurate way to describe how the world's major markets function in the 21st century age of high tech, AI, markets tethered to computer algorithmic trading and fake news.
Monday's event was a case in point. One Washington Post story changed everything in every market that was open as of 6:00 am ET, when Jeff Bezos' media spin tool posted the story on the internet.
In the "exclusive" story, Trump aides ready 'universal' tariff plans - with one key change no evidence of veracity was presented other than the usual "unnamed sources."
Here we go, right in the opening paragraph (emphasis ours):
President-elect Donald Trump’s aides are exploring tariff plans that would be applied to every country but only cover critical imports, three people familiar with the matter said — a key shift from his plans during the 2024 presidential campaign.
As the story progressed, no names are given (security, etc. ya know), but the following phrases are taken directly from the text:
the people said
said the people
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity
the people said
some people familiar with the matter said
the people said
one of the people said
The Trump transition declined to comment
Multiple people familiar with the discussions
Liberal and conservative critics say (Who? Liberal and Conservative, wouldn't that be everybody?)
economists of both parties say
As if to add credibility, near the end of the article, WaPo throws this up:
"President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets," Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump transition team, said in a statement. "As he did in his first term, he will implement economic and trade policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for our nation."
So, the computer algos see this, and begin buying everything. Precisely at the posting of the article, everything, and that means everything shot skyward, including Dow futures, S&P futures, NASDAQ futures, Germany's DAX, England's FTSE, Spain's IBEX, France's CAC, gold, silver, bitcoin, crude oil futures, yen, euros, pounds, even the Aussie and Canadian dollar, as the US dollar fell.
The salient points to be observed here are multi-faceted. First, honest journalism is dead. There was once a time when respected journalists had to name sources. Now, the norm is "unnamed sources" or "sources familiar with". This story, like thousands of others, is nothing more than propaganda and lies. Anybody can say, "Somebody in the White House said bombing XXX is a priority," or otherwise flagrant, audacious Solipsism. These stories should be labeled as not credible, rumors, fabrications, and discarded. Instead, financial markets eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as spurious as it gets.
Second, and maybe this is the most important, global markets are all coordinated and attuned to media headlines such as these. What that means for every investor not in the multi-million or billion-dollar asset class, is that these markets cannot be trusted. They can turn on a dime or on any story from one of their "respected" sources, like WaPo, NYTimes, ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, etc.
Third, because of the first two facets of what amounts to nothing other than fraud, markets are corrupted, your money is corrupted, and your financial well-being is out of your control. Your investments could be worth millions one day and next-to-nothing the next, thanks to computers and people you cannot see, feel, smell, or touch.
Clown world may be an easy description for what masquerades these days as financial markets, but it's a whole lot scarier than that.
Worst of all, people who read and comment on the WaPo message board accept the story without reservation as true. The comments are hilarious. Here's a favorite:
"Trump and his people are foolish, idiotic, brainless, dense, dimwitted, imbecilic, senseless, daft, dull, obtuse, thickheaded, asinine, simpleminded, witless, unwise, cloddish, vacuous, mindless, clueless morons."
Nice use of a thesaurus, for all the wrong reasons.
Of course, after the deed had been done, Trump later stated that the Washington Post story is wrong and just another example of fake news.
"The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don't exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it's wrong. It's just another example of Fake News," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Monday's trading was yet another example of the bear market chart patterns described here last week, up at the open, down in the afternoon.
There's a recession coming, a stock market crash, and all kinds of pain for President-Elect Donald J. Trump and VP DJ Vance, who were certified Monday by the House and Senate as having won the November elections.
The Dow hit a high of 43,115.31, up 383 points, right at noon ET. It didn't end well for those high-flying speculators who are now beginning to suffer the initial pangs of FOLIA (Fear Of Losing It All).
Perhaps the most important global development - on par with the certification of Trump and Vance - on Monday was the announcement of Indonesia becoming the 10th full member of BRICS.
The significance of this cannot be understated, despite Western media hardly noticing and barely reporting, as Indonesia has the largest population in the South Pacific, and is the fourth-most-populated country in the world, at 283,487,931, its addition to the BRICS now dwarfing the population of the countries of Western hegemony, primarily Europe, the U.S., Commonwealth nations, and Japan.
As a counterweight to the U.S. and Europe, BRICS continues to evolve and grow in stature and importance in world affairs. To ignore its existence is akin to denouncing reality. President-elect Trump has already issued statements to the effect that he would impose 100% tariffs on countries trying to replace the dollar in international trade. The Global South covers most of Asia, Africa, South America, and the Pacific Rim. The United States and Europe might find itself largely isolated from countries which produce the bulk of the world’s commodities, including foodstuffs, oil, and other natural resources.
His bluster is likely to fall on deaf ears in the emergent Global South, an amalgam of more than 150 countries which would likely prefer to trade amongst themselves rather than face sanctions and the weaponization of the dollar as reserve currency.
It's important to keep a keen eye on BRICS developments as they are likely to run counter to Trump's trade and tariff policies as his administration takes control of U.S. commerce.
With the cash session minutes away, even in the absence of fake news, stock futures are soaring once again.
At the Close, Monday, January 6, 2025:
Dow: 42,706.56, -25.57 (-0.06%)
NASDAQ: 19,864.98, +243.30 (+1.24%)
S&P 500: 5,975.38, +32.91 (+0.55%)
NYSE Composite: 19,261.42, +7.13 (+0.04%)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment