U.S. Stocks Are Now Down YTD

Well, that was quick. The Nasdaq 5,000 party ended pretty much the day it began. The Nasdaq today was down better than 80 points, we are now at 4867 and we are leaving 5,000 rapidly in the rearview mirror. The Dow Jones was down 332 points. Remember on last week`s podcast, I mentioned that the Dow Jones Industrials Index and the S&P 500 Index were still up on the year but ever so slightly and I thought it would surrender their gains this week. Well, it happened on Monday. Both the S&P, which was down better than 35 points and the Dow which closed at the low of the day, down 332 points, have wiped out all their gains and are now negative on the year.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Stock Market: Now Good News Is Not Good News

Now good news is not good news. Good news is bad news, because everybody believes that the Federal Reserve is going to raise rates now in June based on this number (Employment Report). And I think one of the reasons the markets had been rising recently was because more people were coming to my way of thinking of least about the June rate hike, thinking that they were off the table. Because the economic data had been so bad that people were thinking, the Federal Reserve is going to wait. But now that they have got this jobs data, everybody is convinced that they are going to move in June. I do not know why. There is nothing about this data that should change the Fed`s mind. This is just the same type of jobs number we have been getting all year long. If the Federal Reserve was not about to raise rates on the January number, which clearly was not based on Yellen`s most recent testimony, why should they raise it now? There is nothing remarkable about this number.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Nasdaq: A Key Reversal

We had a beat, a stronger than expected jobs number and the Dow Jones Industrials Index closed off almost 300 points.

The weakest technically was the Nasdaq. The Nasdaq traded above 5,0000 for the first time in 15 years on Monday, it closed above 5,000 too. But it closed not only down for the week, but it was an outside week. We took out last week`s high and closed below last week`s low. Now, from a technical pattern, that is called a key reversal and its a very bearish sign for that index.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Early Signs Of A U.S. Recession?

Probably the most bearish of the numbers we got was Factory Orders, which fell for the 6th consecutive months. This is rare. The last two times that we had Factory Orders fall 6 months in a row, the U.S. Economy has already in recession. It happened in 2008 and happened in 2001.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

The U.S. Economy Has Never Been In Worse Shape

I think the U.S. Economy has never been in worse shape than it is now. I think the situation is far more dire now than it was 15 years ago. And the only thing is, its so bad that we might not have the collapse that we had because the central bank is so afraid of pricking this bubble that it does`t. We don`t raise interest rates like the Federal Reserve is promising. If the Fed did raise interest rates the markets would collapse. But they may so fearful of that, that they are not going to do it.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

The U.S. Economy Is Not Taking Off, It`s About To Crash Land!

The last time we had 2 months in a row where consumer spending went down, that was 6 years ago. 6 years ago! During the Great Recession, that is how long you have to go back, 6 years to find back-to-back monthly drops in consumer spending.

We keep getting economic data that we have not seen in this country since 2008/2009. That ought to clue you into something. That the economy is not about to take-off, its about to crash land!

Ticker symbols: SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), Nasdaq 100 Index ETF (QQQ)

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.