Black Friday Delivers; Wall Street Reaction Upcoming

Apparently, Black Friday 2017 was a mammoth hit, resulting in reported record consumer spending and a record day for firearms background checks.

According to Reuters:

U.S. retailers raked in a record $7.9 billion in online sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, up 17.9 percent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions at the largest 100 U.S. web retailers, on Saturday.

Wall Street, which closed early on Friday, didn't have the news in hand, it being too early for reaction, but closed modestly higher in the shortened session.

Monday is shaping up as a volatile day, with plenty of crosswinds from the political front and economic data from China and Europe whipsawing futures prior to the opening bell in New York.

For the week as a whole, stocks put in a stellar performance. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 each closed at record highs on Friday.

At the Close, Friday, November 24, 2017:
Dow: 23,557.99, +31.81 (+0.14%)
NASDAQ: 6,889.16, +21.7988 (+0.3174%)
S&P 500: 2,602.42, +5.34 (+0.21%)
NYSE Composite: 12,421.93, +31.10 (+0.25%)

For the Week:
Dow: +199.75 (+0.86%)
NASDAQ: +106.37 (+1.57%)
S&P 500: +23.57 (+0.91%)
NYSE Composite: +119.04 (+0.97%)

Stupid Money for a Stupid Country

It's Black Friday, the day known in America as the day to get the best deals on just about anything, from computers, to wide-screen TVs, to clothes, to toys, to, well, you get the picture.

Big TVs are all the rage in fat-a$$ America, as usual. People just can't seem to stop plopping down on the couch or easy chair to gaze at oversized images of overpaid actors or athletes doing things the average Jane or Joe calls "entertainment."

As far as network shows are concerned, they're the epitome of immorality and trashiness these days, as multi-cultural stupidity has overtaken the airwaves. Homosexuals, deviants, people of diverse backgrounds overpopulate network fare. In the sports arena, it's mostly minorities doing the running, throwing, diving, catching, and, especially in the NFL, kneeling during the national anthem.

Ordinary people watching the millionaire thugs, bullies, wife-beaters, and serial abusers of self and others has taken a bit of a hit this season, with both attendance and TV viewership lower, but there are still millions of people who - for whatever reason - cannot separate themselves from the stadia or the television, despite the paucity of good play, the obligatory self-congratulatory on-field celebrations, and the obscene amounts of money that help pay these goons, sell their merchandise, and fill the stands.

Thankfully (yes, let's not forget that yesterday was Thanksgiving), perhaps, people are paying for their entertainment, trinkets, TVs, and trash with equally worthless money. Federal Reserve notes (debt instruments) are the medium of choice (make that demand, by force, by the federal government) for payment in the former land of the free. The value of the almighty dollar has fallen precipitously since its inception in 1913, when the Federal Reserve System took control of the monetary affairs of the country.

In 1913, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk would cost somebody about 38 cents. Today - or rather, in 2008, according to this handy chart - those items would cost roughly $5.37, an increase of over 1400%.

A new car, in 1913, could be had for about $500. In 2008, new cars averaged over $27,000. An average house cost $3,400 in 1913. Today, one can have multiple walls and a roof over one's head for a mere $206,000.

People will protest that these numbers are hogwash or some other kind of whitewash, eyewash, or mouthwash, because wages were lower back in 1913 and cars and houses are better today than back then. Such an argument would be hard to maintain when one considers the materials going into new homes and the massive amounts of plastic needed to build a new car. Back in the day, houses were mortar, plaster, wood, brick, pipe and other durable building materials. Today's homes are pressed wood, plastic, sheetrock and other flimsy stuff that probably will be mostly done with after fifty years.

Further, milk and eggs are pretty much the same (actually they were better, more nutritious, and more wholesome back in 1913) then as now, but we pay much more for them.

Another argument can be made that Disposable Income in 1913 was $1,283.04; $30,465.50 in 2008, an improvement of 2,374%. OK, but, how about the federal income tax? In 1913, it was 1%. In 2008, it was roughly 18.5%, an increase of 53,414%, but, who's counting? Good thing the government accepts only fiat Federal Reserve Notes for payment of taxes, and it's no wonder that they try to collect more and more of them every year because, well, they're not holding their value very well.

So, go shopping. Buy junk you'll throw away in a few years. Pay for it with dollars that aren't worth much. You'll be rewarded for such foolish behavior by having to pay more and more every year, especially in taxes, because the government - yes the government of which halls of congress are populated by molesters, liars, crooks, bribe-takers, and miscreants of all stripes - just can't get enough.

And you keep paying them, and paying them, and paying them.

Go ahead. Spend those nearly-worthless Federal Reserve Notes.

It's Black Friday.

At the Close, Wednesday, December 22, 2017:
Dow: 23,526.18, -64.65 (-0.27%)
NASDAQ: 6,867.36, +4.88 (+0.07%)
S&P 500: 2,597.08, -1.95 (-0.08%)
NYSE Composite: 12,390.83, +4.95 (+0.04%)

Why Nobody Can Short This Market

Central banks control the money supply. They can print infinite amounts of dollars, euros, yen or other currencies.

Actually, they don't even have to print the money, they just push buttons on their magic computers and viola! new money.

The money gets circulated to their stockholders, large international banks. The banks invest in the stock market, sending stocks - any stock they choose, or all of them - higher.

That's why, as evidenced by today's out-of-nowhere rally, nobody can short this market.

It's easy money, mostly for the richest of the rich, and, if one is savvy enough and holds long enough without wavering, for everybody.

At the Close, Tuesday, November 21, 2017:
Dow: 23,590.83, +160.50 (+0.69%)
NASDAQ: 6,862.48, +71.76 (+1.06%)
S&P 500: 2,599.03, +16.89 (+0.65%)
NYSE Composite: 12,385.89, +65.11 (+0.53%)

Stocks Ignore Political Risks, China Regulations; Glint App Takes Gold Digital

Early morning in Europe and the Western Hemisphere were looking downright dreary to open the week's financial escapades, until buyers (central banks) emerged from the shadows (crypts), quickly erasing concerns over China's new rules to crimp the burgeoning shadow banking uprising and the failure of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to form a coalition government.

While futures were down sharply - especially on the European news - they were quickly corrected. China's markets quickly went from negative, staging a day-long rally, while European bourses were mostly positive and US stocks rallied sharply from the opening bell.

However, the euphoria flagged in the US as the session wore on, with stocks finishing off their highs of the day. Still, the results were much more cheerful than what might have happened if markets and investors were left alone, barring the blatant interventionism that seems to pervade trading in all markets.

The new paradigm is such that stocks cannot fail, but only go higher, valuations be damned, while gold and silver are routinely taken out to the woodshed for a weekly beating, such as occurred this morning, prior to the opening bell on Wall Street and throughout the day.

The setup isn't all so new at all. Since 2012, gold and silver have been mercilessly suppressed, to the point at which some staunch supporters are rethinking their love for shiny metals. This is exactly what central bankers wish, that wealth protectors give up and resign themselves to the fiat money regimen, but it is also precisely the time - if one is guided by sound investment stratagems - to begin loading up on what most would be shunning.

In that regard, London-based Glint launched a mobile app today that sets gold sailing into the digital age, offering Glintpay as a means by which to hold gold in a Swiss-based vault with the ability to spend one's holdings via a complementary MasterCard.

The app, which is available for download through the Apple App Store, works on iPhones and iPads using Apple's iOS operating system and is promising to provide quick and easy debit access to gold and a host of other currencies, with millions of locations worldwide accepting MasterCard.

How well the start-up will fare is an open question, but it does raise an interesting alternative to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which have witnessed monumental growth over the past six months and continue to raise eyebrows in the conventional banking universe.

The world is at a crossroads in terms of currencies. Trust in the debt-slavery central bank system continues to wane in various places as the rise of cryptos offers a glimpse of a possible future and precious metal devotees cling to long-held beliefs in money that is backed by physical assets.

Currency events are historically long-winded affairs, taking years or decades in which to sort themselves out. The ongoing forays between fiat, crypto, and physical seems to have gained some momentum today.

Investors with an eye on the global financial landscape would be wise to hold some of each, allocating more toward the digital and physical as events warrant as old systems are dying and may have been dealt an unrecoverable blow during the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-09.

At the Close, Monday, November 20, 2017:
Dow: 23,430.33, +72.09 (+0.31%)
NASDAQ: 6,790.71, +7.92 (+0.12%)
S&P 500: 2,582.14, +3.29 (+0.13%)
NYSE Composite: 12,320.77, +17.88 (+0.15%)

US Equites In Danger Zone After Very Volatile Week

The US economy isn't exactly on its back, but it also isn't growing by the phony 3+ percent the government reported in the past two quarters.

Speaking strictly from an economist's perspective, the US government GDP figures include grossly-inflated government spending and just about every spare dollar their statisticians can unearth from the mainland, Alaska and Hawaii.

GDP-watching is a Wall Street phenomena, serving the interests of the corporatists who need to return dividends or share growth to stockholders. Thus, it adds impetus to the argument that investing in US corporations is a good idea. That may or may not be true, depending largely upon which corporation is attracting the investing dollars.

Obviously, the FAANGs (Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (Alphabet, GOOG) have been the most attractive of the past six to eight years, while quite a few have faltered. Most of the stocks making gains since the GFC of 2007-09 have been the result of massive stock buybacks, a dubious distinction, as these high-fliers are the ones most prone to collapse in the case of a market rout.

They've diluted their shares and have deployed capital in one of the worst ways, buying back shares in order to boost EPS (earnings per share). Having fewer shares available while keeping profits at roughly the same level improves EPS, but it does not expand the business potential. Banks and financials are especially guilty in this regard. They're over-leveraged and will pay a price, but their executives and shareholders are happy little clams, for now.

When the share price falls, and dividends are slashed, the shareholders will be singing a different tune. The executives will be long gone because they've proven to care only about their own pockets and bonuses.

In any case, stocks ran through a very volatile week, punctuated by a massive dead-cat-bounce rally on Thursday which stanched some of the losses incurred since all-time highs the previous Tuesday.

There could be a waterfall effect developing, because confidence is waning. The holiday shopping season - which is demonstrably longer than last year's - should provide a boost, but the economy is lurching closer to two important events: the December Fed meeting and the expected rate hike, and another round of negotiations in congress over the debt ceiling limit, both mid-month.

Elsewhere, oil remains at elevated levels, above $55/barrel for WTI crude, gold and silver were bounced around but appear ready for a breakout (as they have too many times in the past four years, with nothing to show), bonds were flatter still.

At the Close, Friday, November 17, 2017:
Dow: 23,358.24, -100.12 (-0.43%)
NASDAQ 6,782.79, -10.50 (-0.15%)
S&P 500: 2,578.85, -6.79 (-0.26%)
NYSE Composite: 12,302.89, -0.39 (0.00%)

For the Week:
Dow: -63.97 (-0.27%)
NASDAQ: +31.85 (+0.47%)
S&P 500: -3.45 (-0.13%)
NYSE Composite: -19.71 (-0.16%)