All Posts
Houses passes spending bill; now it’s up to the Senate
Tonight the House passed a spending bill to keep the government open. Th bill does not include President-elect Donald J. Trump’s demand to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. The legislation covers government funding, disaster relief and payments to farmers, but not the debt ceiling increase that Mr. Trump had insisted on. The debt ceiling issue caused a Republican revolt that sank a previous measure on Thursday.
Another vote in the House tonight
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Friday that the House would vote on a new spending plan without President-elect Donald Trump’s demand to suspend the debt limit. A vote is expected to take place after 5 p.m. Washington time.
Now posted: The full complete all-100-days version of my Special Report: Buys and sells–and other money moves for Trump’s first 100 days.
It’s taken a while–what with the distraction of another potential government shut down. BUT IT’S ALL NOW AVAILABLE. You can find the complete version under the Special Reports tab.
Headlines say House Republicans have new plan to avert shutdown–but we don’t have a vote count yet
The plan, as of 5 p.m. Washington time, would fund the government until March 14 ad suspend the debt ceiling for 2 years. As of this moment a vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. Washington time tonight.
Just a reminder of when the debt ceiling deadline is: How about January 1, 2025
In June 2023 after a bitter fight, Congress agreed to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt limit until January 1, 2025. Yep, January 1. Which means that even if Congress can fix the government spending crisis it created by its inability/unwillingness to pass a fiscal 2025 budget, we will’ move straight into a debt ceiling crisis. As with many Congressional deadlines, the January 1 date doesn’t mean quite what it seems.
Is there a universe where shutting the government a week before Christmas is a good idea? And yetbthat’s what republicans seem determined to do
It’s now not just that the MAGA wing of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives along with President-elect Donald Trump and who-elected-you co-president wanna be Elon Musk have killed the Continuing Resolution (CR) negotiated with Democrats by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson. That bill would have kept the government’s doors open beyond Saturday’s funding deadline until March 14, 2025. There’s no way to put together a new package and pass it before funding for the government expires. These folks have also made it extremely likely that the shutdown will last for more than a few days. How?
House Republicans push government shutdown brinkmanship to the brink
Late Tuesday House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced legislation to prevent a government shutdown this weekend by extending federal funding until March 14, sending $110.4 billion to natural disaster survivors, and codifying a miscellany of policy changes. But Republicans are preparing to scrap Johnson’s plan to avert a government shutdown.
Fed signals fewer cuts, higher interest rates, higher inflation in 2025
In today’s quarterly update to its projections on economic growth, inflation, and interested rates in its Dot Plot survey of sentiment, Fed officials and governors forecast fewer rate cuts for next year than in their September projections, and they saw the fight against inflation making considerably less progress in 2025. According to the median estimate, they now see the benchmark interest rate reaching a range of 3.75% to 4% by the end of 2025. That would mean just two 25 basis-point cuts. The Fed’s projections are considerably more pessimistic than investors or Wall Street economists are. A majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the median estimate would point to three cuts next year.
As expected, the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by another 25 basis points
Today, December 18, the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate for a third consecutive time.The Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to cut the federal funds rate to a range of 4.25%-4.5%. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack voted against the action, preferring to hold rates steady.
Please watch my new YouTube video: Hot Money Moves NOW! The dollar
Today’s Hot Money Moves NOW is U.S. Dollar. The dollar has been on a good run and is up 7% in the last three months, 2% in the last month. I expect this to continue with higher tariffs, and a Fed that will remain steady while other currencies are seeing more volatility. To get in on this you can buy an ETF like Invesco DB US Dollar Index (UUP), currently up 10.19% YTD with a 75 basis point expense ratio. Another option would be the WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU), up about 11% YTD with a 50 basis point expense ratio. WisdomTree buys Treasuries while Invesco uses futures but both are similarly sized ETFs and good ways to play the US dollar.
Trade war with Canada could be really nasty
Canada is looking at imposing taxes on major commodities it exports to the United States-—including uranium, oil and potash—if the incoming Trump Administration carries out a threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian exports.
So much for that easy fix to China’s consumer economy
China’s retail sales growth unexpectedly weakened in November. Retail sales rose 3% from a year ago. That was the the slowest annual growth rate in three months and it was well below even the most bearish forecast.
Just last week Chinese policymakers elevated boosting consumption to the top priority for next year. That marked , only the second time in a decade that the consumer economy was the focus of official policy.
Special Report: Buys and sells–and other money moves for Trump’s first 100 days. The complete 100 Days
What you need as an investor and what your portfolio needs is a road map to the likely events of the beginning of this new administration. And a take on what those events are likely to mean for the financial markets–and the prices of stocks and bonds. And recommendations on what moves to make to respond to the events of the first 100 days of a Trump Administration. Which is what this Special Report is all about. Here /i’ll give you an investor’s calendar to the first 100 days of Trump; a run-down of the likely effects on the financial markets of the events in the first 100 days; and recommendations for moves that you should make with your portfolio.
Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect
When the Federal Reserve announces its latest interest rate move and it’s Dot Plot projections on future interest rates, inflation, and GDP growth, it will be the Dot Plot projections that matter to the financial markets.
CPI inflation creeps higher in November
Inflation remains stubborn. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a 2.7% annual rate in November, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. That was hotter than a 2.6% rise in October. But that matched economists forecasts. It was also above September’s 2.4% annual rate. On a monthly basis, inflation increased 0.3% from October to November, the biggest gain since April. Prices for housing, energy, and particularly food all rose.
CPI core inflation, prices excluding volatile food and energy categories, rose another 0.3% for the fourth straight month. The are rate was up 3.3% for the year. For the past six months, core inflation has been stuck at an elevated level above the Fed’s target of 2%.
