In last week’s WTR I reviewed a number of economic reports which showed a softening in the economy, CNN’s Fear & Greed index showing investment sentiment had entered the Extreme Greed Zone, and Warren Buffet’s view that “ markets now exhibit far more casino-like behavior than they did when...

There was economic data released last week and most of it was softer. Unemployment Claims and Continuing Claims increased more than expected. Durable Goods orders for January fell - 6.1%, have declined in 3 of past 4 months, and New Orders dropped by -7.3% excluding defense. Consumer Confidence...

The Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now estimate for the first quarter GDP is for the economy to grow by 2.1%, so no sign of a real slowdown yet, and Wall Street expects earnings to be up by 15% by the first quarter of 2025. Wall Street has adjusted to the new reality that the FOMC won...

On February 21 Nvidia reported earnings and the minutes from the FOMC meeting on January 31 were published. With all the hype surrounding Nvidia’s earnings report the FOMC minutes were ignored. Nvidia’s earnings and subsequent rally (+16.4% on February 22) and impact on the S&P 500 are the...

In January the Headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell from 3.4% to 3.1% but Core inflation held steady at 3.9%. Wall Street expected Headline inflation to drop to 2.9% and 3.6% for the Core. The sticky part was the monthly increase was 0.3% versus 0.2% in December for the Headline and 0.4%...

At the end of December the Federal Funds rate futures pegged the odds of a rate cut at the March FOMC meeting at 90%. Last week the odds the FOMC would lower the Funds rate in March was less than 20%. In January Wall Street was projecting the FOMC would lower the Funds rate 7 times in 2024 with...

The FOMC statement was particularly direct in summing up the mindset of the FOMC. “The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”

During the press conference...

TLT was expected to rally to 96.50 – 97.50 for wave b, before declining below 93.10 for wave c to complete the correction from 100.57. TLT exceeded the target range for wave b on February 1 by a small amount. In response to the January Employment report Treasury yields are ramping higher and...

Tracking the paths created by financial markets is a different form of hunting. Most investors rely on economic data to determine whether it’s a good time to invest or not. They follow economic data as if data were Tea Leaves providing...