Federal Reserve: Willingness To Tolerate Higher Inflation

I want to talk about what happened with the Federal Reserve this week because I think that is the most significant news of the week. In fact, I think it's the Federal Reserve's statement on Wednesday and the comments from today that's the real reason we had the 300 plus point rally in the Dow Jones Industrials Average today that's why we had the 400 plus point turnaround in the Dow on Thursday. I think it's all about the Fed and its willingness to tolerate higher inflation.

Are Rising Rates Bullish For The US Dollar?

I know people say that rising interest rates are good for the US Dollar. That's rising short-term interest rates which in theory are good for the dollar not rising long-term interest rates.

Gold & Gold Stocks

Gold continues to pullback. Remember we got above 1350 briefly and we couldn't break out and now here we are going back down to 1300 but one thing that looks good to me are the gold stocks.

US Dollar Strength: The Current Drivers

The strength of the US Dollar I think again is being driven by the rise in bond yields. The yield on the 10-year US Treasuries is back up to 2.97 percent, still below three percent but I don't think it will remain below three percent for long.

Stocks: Sell In May And Go Away

There is an old Wall Street adage sell in May and go away and the reason for that saying is that seasonally the market tends to produce better returns in the first four months of the year January through April and then historically beginning in May and throughout the summer the market could generally go down and I think the time to buy back in is typically September , October.

you know there's a lot of big down days down in September, October so kind of get out of the market in May, go away and then come back later in the year and buy back what you sold.

Well today was May 1st and it looked like a lot of people weren't gonna wait that long and they were quick to sell.

The Only Thing That Can Stop A Bear Market

I do think there's a good chance that in February we began a long overdue bear market. Technically we haven't gone down 20 percent so Wall Street still calls it a correction and recently we've had a bit of rally which to me looks like the correction in the bear market.

The only thing that would stop the bear market from actually materializing would be a change of policy by the Federal Reserve which I wouldn't rule out because I do expect the Fed to change policy.

I expect the Federal Reserve to reverse the rate hikes and to go back to zero interest rates. I expect the Fed to launch another round of quantitative easing, QE4. So if they do that before we're in an official bear market then we may never have an official bear market so I just don't know how long the Fed is gonna wait before showing its hand.

Stocks: This Is A Bear Market

It looks like the period of relative calm in the markets is over and the next leg down has begun. 

This is a bear market, the upward move was the correction. It was the first correction in this young bear market that technically is not a bear market yet because we're not down 20 percent but that's only a matter of time before people call the bear market what it is.

Global Debt Has Reached Record Levels

Global debt has reached record levels. According to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, the world has amassed $164 trillion of debt. Three countries account for half of the total global debt – the US, China and Japan.

Petroyuan Clould Be The Death Blow For The U.S. Dollar

As an article at the Gold Telegraph starkly put it, “the rise of the petroyuan could be the death blow for the U.S. Dollar.”

Podcast: The Calm Before The Storm

Peter Schiff discusses the state of the economy and his market outlook on his most recent podcast.

Gold: Ever Tightening Supply

During the Squawk Box interview, US Global Investors CEO Frank Holmes noted that the massive money-printing around the world has made gold an important part of an investment portfolio. Holmes also mentioned the ever tightening gold supply.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)
• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)

Stock Market: Short-Term Pain

Even President Trump came out today and he said the stock market might be in for some short-term pain right but he says it's worth it because we're going to get a long-term gain and of course he's referring to his tariffs or a trade war that we're gonna win this trade war and that's going to deliver the long-term gain. It ain't! We're gonna have short-term pain and then the pain is gonna get worse in the long run.

Gold: A Tight Trading Range

If you look at the gold chart the range is really getting compressed. We're not breaking out but we're not breaking down. It's getting narrower and narrower, we're really consolidating.

Related trading instruments: 

• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
• Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)
• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)

Stock Market: We Are In A Bear Market

We're in a bear market, it's just not officially acknowledged yet. You know, just like a lot of times you know they don't acknowledge the recession until after you have two quarters of negative GDP growth but clearly you're in the recession for a long time before it's officially admitted. 

There's one caveat if the Federal Reserve comes in and changes the game by taking away the rate hikes or launching QE 4 then we may never make it to a bear market. But if the Federal Reserve continues on its current path and maintains the current pretense then we are in a bear market and it's only a question of time before it is officially acknowledged.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

Stock Market: More Down Quarters To Come

The market action that I've been observing really to me looks like a bear market. 

For the first quarter all the major stock market indexes were down. This was the first time in 10 quarters as we had 9 consecutive positive quarters (I think that's a record).

The US stock market finally broke that winning streak we'll see how investors who thought the US stocks can only go up may react to their first down quarter in ten. But it's not going to be the last down quarter, I think this could be the beginning of several more down quarters to come.

Related trading instruments: 

• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)
• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)
• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)

Theres a Potential Huge Problem With Social Media Stocks (GOOG, FB, TWTR)

There's a potential huge problem with these social media sites, Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR). You know everybody whose business model is advertising where the user pays nothing, if you want to use Facebook, if you want to use Twitter, it costs nothing! It doesn't cost you anything to have a Twitter account, to have a Facebook account, it's all free! 

Well if it's all free how does Facebook make all this money? Well, they make all the money by selling the data that they collect from all of their users to advertisers or political campaigns or anybody who needs personal information in order to market their product or sell their product. That is the trade-off that everybody makes - you get the service for free but you know that they're using your information.

I think the public, potentially there could be a backlash regarding just how much information the social media companies are actually retaining.

How Bear Markets Operate

What a lot of people don't realize is that the stock market has some of its biggest gains daily gains they occur in bear markets not in bull markets. You have some spectacular rallies in bear markets that is how bear markets operate.

Stock Market: Volatility Is Bearish

We're having more incredible stock market volatility and I've spoken about the pick up in volatility as another sign that things are different that we've had a change because increased volatility usually happens at inflection points especially when we've had a record period of no volatility or minimal volatility all of a sudden were having incredible swings in the stock market.

Video: Will Gold Breakout as Stocks Breakdown?

Latest video market update from peter Schiff.

Topics: stock market, gold, gold mining stocks.

Stock Market: A Perfect Storm

The bond market was still lower despite the Federal Reserve optimism that inflation is going to remain in check but this could set the tone for some more weakness in the stock market. We got other problems going on with the Nasdaq and the FANG stocks and Facebook (FB) and all that seems like it could be a perfect storm brewing in an overvalued US stock market.

The Anti-Dollar Trade

I am totally all-in on this anti-dollar trade and and so this type of sentiment by retail investors on top of all of the other economic indicators market indicators that I am seeing simply cements for me how right I ultimately am on this investment strategy.

Related trading instruments: 

• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
• Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)
• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)

Thoughts On The Stock Market Bubble

There's no way that if you are investing rationally if you are buying value stocks right and using your brain, there is no way that you're gonna outperform a bubble. Nobody can do that but of course once the bubble pops that's when the outperformance comes in. I mean and if it's a bubble you are guaranteed to outperform it if you just can wait it out because bubbles by definition always pop and when they do they collapse.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM) 
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ) 

Did Kudlow Put In A Floor For Gold Prices?

Larry Kudlow shares his views on gold and the US Dollar.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)
• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)

Markets: Trump, Kudlow, Tariffs

What is Larry Kudlow done most of his life? He's been a TV personality like Trump. Yes he has worked at Bear Sterns for a while but most people know him from CNBC as a commentator and he has a lot of connections, he's regarded on Wall Street and I think this is the president trying to make that overture. This is all about show remember he's a showman.

I think that Kudlow is ultimately going to come out in support of whatever tariffs the president wants to adopt. Maybe they'll pretend that Kudlow had some influence on maybe targeting the tariffs in the right direction. Nothing has changed simply because Larry Kudlow has been has been nominated. It simply to me indicates a kind of a smart move on the part of the President given the agenda that he wants to pursue.

Markets: US Dollar, Gold

Even with today's bad economic data even with the downward revision by the Atlanta Fed the US Dollar was up slightly today. Gold was flat, it didn't really go anywhere. Nobody really perceives what's going to happen.

Retail Sales: Down 3 Months In A Row

Instead of getting a rebound we got another drop, we got another point one percent decline in February. That's a trifecta, that's three months in a row of falling retail sales. That hasn't happened in six years, I mean this is pretty rare. If you're like me and you've been very skeptical of the economy being good this is a validation because Americans are broke!

Bitcoin Is Nothing Like Gold

Bitcoin is nothing like gold despite the fact that you have all this terminology that was deliberately used to make it sound like gold. You mine Bitcoin, right? No,  there's no mines, there's no pitchforks there's nobody out there, there's no mine right? But you create them but they said it's mining and there's miners to make it sound like gold. They make the Bitcoin look like gold, it's color it looks like a coin made of gold. That's done for a reason. To create the false impression that you're buying something like gold.

Bitcoin: We've Seen The Peak In The Bubble Already

The bigger story is gonna be the money that's lost. There's gonna be so many people that are gonna lose a tremendous amount of money in these crypto currencies. There's a pretty good chance that we've seen the peak in the bubble already.

Bitcoin: I Don't Think It's Going To Work

I don't think it's going to work and people say well you just don't understand it. I think I do understand it, I think the reason that so many people are involved in it is because they don't understand it. Now, a lot of those people have made quite a bit of money by not understanding it because they bought it a long time ago and greater fools paid even higher prices and people can confuse that success with understanding.

Manufacturing Jobs Will Be Lost As A Result Of These Tariffs

Trump is right, the trade deficit is a problem but where Trump is wrong is thinking that these tariffs are going to solve the problem. They won't. They will make the problem worse. 

This is the irony of these tariffs. They will result in larger trade deficits not smaller trade deficits and that's even without any foreign retaliation meaning if China, if Europe, if our trading partners do nothing in response to these tariffs the result will be larger not smaller deficits. And manufacturing jobs, the very jobs that Trump is hoping to save, manufacturing jobs will be lost as a result of these tariffs.

The Beginning Of A Much Bigger Downturn

In February's big decline the Dow Jones Industrials Index (DJIA) dropped better than a thousand points on the month and we'll see if this is the beginning of a much bigger downturn. In fact it could easily be the beginning of a bear market.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)

How Much Longer Powell Can Pretend All Is Well?

A soaring budget and trade deficits, rising interest rates, higher inflation, a falling U.S. Dollar, protectionist tariffs, a looming trade war, and a slowing economy all portend lower corporate earnings and a bear market in stocks. Let's see how much longer Powell can pretend all is well.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)
• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• United States Steel Corporation (X)

The Dow's Record Breaking Monthly Winning Streak Has Come To An End

The Dow Jones Industrials Index (DJIA) was down 380 points today. In fact this is the second consecutive 300 point drop we've had in the Dow you know the Dow now is down about 4% for the month of February which just came to an end today and that also means the Dow's record-breaking monthly winning streak has also come to an end remember the Dow has been up every month since Donald Trump was elected president including every single month in calendar year 2017 that is something that has never happened in the history of the stock market.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)
• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

Interest Rates Are Going a Lot Higher

Related trading instruments: 

• iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)
• 10- year U.S. Treasuries, SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

Gold Needs To Clear Overhead Resistance

We got above $1350 last week but we couldn't hold it. I think we really need to go above $1400 to really clear away this overhead resistance the only trend that really continued was the bond market continuing to go down it's pretty much a daily affair.

Related trading instruments: 

• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
• Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)
• iShares Silver ETF (SLV)
• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)

Stock Market: The Dance That We're Doing

Why didn't the stock market follow the bond market down? Of course it's because the stock market didn't follow the bond market down that the bond market kept falling and if the stock market doesn't fall then the bond market will keep falling and interest rates will keep rising until it does (make the stock market go down), that is the dance that we're doing.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)
• SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)

Inflation Is Good For Gold

A $12 decline (in gold prices) turned into a $25 rally what is that showing that as the idiot morons robotic sellers when they see higher than expected inflation sell the dollar people who use their brains are starting to dip to think and actually come into the market and say wait a minute I don't care what these algorithms or computer programs say inflation is good for gold.

Related trading instruments: 

• SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)
• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
• Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)

The Democrats Now Look Like The Fiscally Responsible Party

The Republicans have now succeeded in doing something that you would have thought was impossible. They are making the Democrats look like the fiscally responsible party.

The US Dollar Will Continue To Get Slaughtered

The US Dollar is going to get slaughtered a lot more and the bond market is going to get slaughter a lot more in the days ahead. Maybe not exactly tomorrow but they're going to be days that are going to come that are going to be much worse than today. This is just the beginning this is the tip of a huge iceberg that is going to be developing.

Stock Market: Bear Market or Correction?

Looking at the fundamentals this looks so much more like a bear market. In fact, when you listen to the talking heads on CNBC they keep saying, "relax don't worry you know this is a correction the market is long overdue for correction, we haven't had a correction in a long time and corrections are normal and they're healthy." And all that is true but you know we also haven't had a bear market in a long time and bear markets happen,  bear markets are normal so how do they know that we're having now is not the long overdue bear market?

Massive Volatility Is Indicative Of A Trend Change

We're continuing massive volatility which is I said to me is indicative of a change of trend because we were so long in an uptrend with no volatility now all of a sudden you have this massive volatility.

Related trading instruments: 

• Select Sector Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF)
• SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY)
• iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM)
• Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

Markets: Nothing Is Going To Stop Rates From Rising

Bond yields rose anyway even a 1,000 points down in the Dow Jones Industrials average wasn't even enough to send treasury yields lower with the yield on the 10-year and the 30-year rising to new highs for the move.

We had a horrible 30-year bond auction again. Why anybody showed up is beyond me but obviously not as many people showed up as they thought.  The big drop in the Dow Jones Industrials didn't make interest rates go down it just kept them from going up even more but nothing is going to stop rates from rising.

Stock Market: Volatility Signals a Trend Change

When you have a trend and then all of a sudden you see lots of volatility generally that's a sign that the trend is changing and the trend has been up obviously stocks have been trending up for years and they've been trending up with minimal volatility. When all of a sudden you see massive volatility does that mean the trend is likely to continue? No! It's more likely a sign that the trend has come to an end. (SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY))

This Just Shows How Quickly The Market Can Go Down

If you look at the five days from the high, in five trading days the Dow Jones futures lost about 13 percent of their value. In five days! Now that just shows you how quickly the market can go down, I mean, the next time it could lose even more even faster. (SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ), iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA))

Markets: The Problem With The Debt

Today if we have trillion dollar deficits not only is the Federal Reserve not monetizing any of it but the Federal Reserve is actually contributing to the problem by not rolling over the bonds that it holds as claiming it's going to shrink its balance sheet. Which means on top of the trillion dollars that the Treasury would need to sell to finance its deficits it's gonna have to sell extra Treasuries to repay the Fed what it's not rolling over. So this is impossible, this is a tidal wave of debt that's coming out of the market.

Related trading instruments: 10-Year U.S. Treasuries, iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)

Stock Market: It's a Major Decline

We didn't have a black Monday like 1987 as it wasn't a 20 percent decline but it was the biggest point decline in the history of the stock market by a large magnitude. We were down 1,175 points and we were down 1,600 points at the intraday low. So this is the biggest point decline ever but in percentage terms it is in the top 20 (I think it was like number 14 or something) but it is a major decline and we rarely see declines this big. (SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ))

Stock Market: This Brings Back Vivid Memories Of 2008

Listening to all the so-called experts on financial TV reassuring investors that there is nothing to worry about, and that the fundamentals are sound, brings back vivid memories of 2008, as that's exactly what the same experts were saying just before the financial crisis. (SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY))

Stock Market: This Year Seems To Have A Lot In Common With 1987

Think about this, 1987 was the year that we had the stock market crash. Well, January was the best month for the US stock market since 1987 and the US Dollar just had its weakest January since 1987. So far this year seems to have a lot in common with 1987.

Stock Market Correction: The Start of Something Much Bigger

A three percent correction is pretty normal except we haven't had one in a long time and the question is is this the start of something more ominous or is this just a small correction and you know what I think there's a lot of evidence that it is the start of something much bigger part of the evidence is that nobody is concerned nobody is worried there's maximum complacency. (SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ))

Pronounced Weakness In The US Dollar

January is over this is the worst January for the dollar index since 1987, this is a big move! January was the weakest month for the dollar against the yuan not just the weakest January but the weakest of any month going all the way back to 1994. So we're having some pronounced weakness in the dollar at a time where everybody is optimistic on the US economy.