Mid Term

The argument for adding more gold even now

The argument for adding more gold even now

Gold hit a new all-time high today of $2554 an ounce on the Comex for December delivery. Gold’s 20% or so gain in 2024 to date (as of August 26) is a result of strong central-bank buying plus Asian purchases plus anticipation that the Federal Reserve was about to cut interest rates. Now that Fed chair Jerome Powell has just about promised a cut at the Fed’s September 18 meeting it looks like gold will climb further in 2024 on the fundamentals. Bullish Wall Street targets say $2700 to $3,000 by the end of 2024. That’s a decent reason to hold gold. But the very scary geopolitical landscape over the next six months makes me anxious to add more gold even at the record nominal high for the metal.

A soft landing–good for the economy but, I worry,  maybe not for stocks

A soft landing–good for the economy but, I worry, maybe not for stocks

No doubt about it. A soft-landing would way better for the economy than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. No big spike in unemployment. Decent growth in real personal incomes. Controlled and relatively low inflation. Real interest rates falling–slowly–from their current historically high levels. It would be a huge positive achievement if the Federal Reserve could engineer a soft landing after raising interest rates to slow the economy and cut inflation and then beginning to reduce interest rates to make sure that growth didn’t slow too much or too quickly. A huge positive the economy. I’m not sure, however, that an economic soft landing is quite so big a positive for the stock market.

Could China be looking at a repeat of Japan’s no growth decades?

Could China be looking at a repeat of Japan’s no growth decades?

A plunge in new corporate borrowing in China combined with Chinese households preferring to repay debt rather than expand borrowing saw bank loans in China shrink last month for the first time since July 2005. That deepened China’s years-long battle with weak credit demand, as a property slump spurs caution on buying homes and expanding investment. This has raised fears that China’s first bank loan contraction in nearly two decades could send the world’s No. 2 economy toward a “balance sheet recession” similar to that in Japan decades ago.

McDonald’s sales drop for first time in four years–this is what a McDonald’s economy looks like

McDonald’s sales drop for first time in four years–this is what a McDonald’s economy looks like

I’ve started to call this The McDonald’s Economy–where the long-term effects of high inflation on prices damps consumer purchasing, but where the recent drop in inflation has limited companies’ “cover” for price increases. The result is that companies are seeing lower sales volumes at the same time as consumers push back ore strongly against price increases. McDonald’s isn’t the only company caught in this vise. Customer traffic at U.S. fast-food restaurants fell 2% in the first half of the year compared to the same period a year ago, according to Circana, a market research company. Circana expects high inflation and rising consumer debt will also dent traffic in the second half of 2024.

CPI inflation slips, track to September rate cut clear

Today I added Salesforce from my 5 Next Big Things Special Report to my Jubak’s Picks portfolio

At this point in the AI cycle I’d like to own shares of companies providing AI solutions in relatively “easy” data universes. (Nothing as complex as voice recognition for an interface with a diverse customer universe under uncontrolled environmental conditions. Like a family in a car at a McDonald’s drive-through.) And I’d like to focus on shares of companies with products that provide clear enhancements to customers bottom lines. Like my Pick #4 Salesforce (CRM). in my 5 Next Big Things Special Report.

Hold onto Nvidia for Blackwell chip launch–it’s a big deal even for the AI rocket

One more round in the tech trade war before the election

Look for one more round of technology restrictions from the Biden administration before the November elections. The new measures, Bloomberg reports, would target a coming generation of chips expected to power a new wave of innovation in artificial intelligence. The measures being discussed would limit China’s ability to use a cutting-edge chip architecture known as gate all-around, or GAA, sources told Bloomberg. GAA, which promises to make semiconductors more powerful, is just being introduced by chipmakers.

Replace IVV with RSP in Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio

Replace IVV with RSP in Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio

I’m trying to walk a fine line here. I don’t want to eliminate my exposure to the U.S. stock market, the world’s best performer recently, but I would like to take some profits and reduce my exposure to the highest priced stocks in the U.S. market.Switching from the iShares S&P 500 Core ETF (IVV) to the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF will have that effect.