interest rates | Choose Stocks Wisely

What a Weird Market!

Hey Friends. I hope your summer is off to a great start. Here in the deep south, we have recently seen unusual rains and electrical storms but it has all calmed down now and it’s the typical summer weather again (hot and humid with isolated showers once in a while).

While the weather has been unusual lately, the market is more unusual, in my view. Feelings can steer you off course, but this market feels very “weird” to me. The uncertainties of runaway debt levels coupled with inflation where the jury is still out on the Fed’s future course of adjusting interest rates just don’t seem to correlate at all with the confidence shown toward stocks. […]

June 23rd, 2023|Balance Sheet, debt, inflation, interest rates|0 Comments

Where Does the Fed Go From Here?

Hi friends. I hope you had a great Christmas and will have a blessed and healthy 2023!

Today’s post addresses something many of you are likely pondering, namely our ever-growing national debt alongside our rapidly increasing government borrowing rate. What do you think the Fed will/can do looking ahead? I’m sure most of you feel we have to get government spending down and under control. I would concur with that thinking. But today, I’m wondering given our present course and debt situation, what do you think the Fed will/can do in the coming years?? The Fed has been the principal vehicle of monetary policy for a very long time. […]

January 20th, 2023|inflation, interest rates, monetary policy, national debt|6 Comments

Supply-Side Inflation

Hey Friends. I hope you are doing well today. This post will posit the idea that inflation may be different this time.

The Fed is trying to rein in inflation by increasing short-term interest rates. This is a tightening, or contracting, monetary policy that increases the cost of borrowing capital and thereby dampens demand for money. How does this help bring inflation under control, one might ask? […]

July 15th, 2022|inflation, interest rates, supply and demand|3 Comments

Tough Inflation Numbers Today

Hey friends. Happy Friday to each of you!

Most of you have probably seen or heard that the inflation data today was not good; and, indeed, it was worse than projected. Americans are really feeling it in their pocketbooks too, especially at the gas pump. The news was not received well by a stock market already feeling less and less sure about how persistent inflation might be. Also, what will it take for the Fed to get a handle on inflation? […]

June 10th, 2022|Federal Reserve, inflation, interest rates|0 Comments

Interest Rates and Stock Market Sensitivity

Hey Friends. I hope you are well!

There are a number of reasons why the current stock market is perhaps more sensitive (vulnerable) to interest rates than perhaps any other stock market we’ve known previously. Just over a week ago, we all witnessed how rapidly the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped due to the rise in treasury yields. This week saw the yields settle and the stock market, including tech, rebounded significantly. […]

March 13th, 2021|Balance Sheet, COVID stimulus, interest rates, Stock market|0 Comments

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Hey Friends,

The year 2019 is underway. We have seen major turbulence in the stock market for several months now. After a steep move downhill ended abruptly the day after Christmas, we’ve seen a steep move up since that time. Go here to read one author’s viewpoint on the market activity.

A great jobs report came out last Friday followed immediately by more dovish remarks from the Fed with regard to what’s next for interest rates. The Fed’s task is becoming more and more tenuous because the national debt is growing at an unsustainable rate while we’ve been in an extended period of economic growth. The Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, is concerned about what’s going on with our national debt (Go here). […]

January 11th, 2019|Federal Reserve, interest rates, quantitative easing|0 Comments

Interest Rates, G-20 Summit and Tariffs

Hey friends. I’m sure you know that the stock market has been fretting of late over different matters. Probably two of the larger concerns deal with:

(1) the future of interest rates and

(2) escalating rhetoric of full-blown trade war between the U.S. and China. […]

December 1st, 2018|China, interest rates, Tarriffs, the Fed|1 Comment

Follow-Up to Last Week’s Post

Hey Friends,

I hope you’ve had a good final week of October and start to November! Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. Today, a continuance of sorts on last week’s post will be offered. […]

November 3rd, 2018|biotechnology, dividend yield, interest rates, stock buybacks|0 Comments