April 26, 2025

What You Need to Know Today:

Big market reaction on a tiny move in CPI inflation

Big market reaction on a tiny move in CPI inflation

As of noon New York time today, January 15, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was ahead 1.30%. The NASDAQ Composite and the small-cap Russell 2000 were both up 1.80% on the session. Today’s big moves come on relatively minor changes in inflation trends in this morning’s report on CPI inflation in December. And I think they have more to do with how afraid Wall Street is that the Federal Reserve isn’t going to deliver at least one or two interest rate cuts in 2025 than with any big news in today’s report. The consumer price index (CPI) rose at an annual rate of 2.9% in December, up from a 2.7% annual rate the previous month. That increase was in line with expectations. On a month-to-month basis, the index rose 0.4%. The “core” index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is much more important to the Fed than the headline inflation number, rose at a 3.2% annual rate in December. That was down slightly from its annual rate of 3.3% in November, and less than economists had expected. It’s this dip in the annual rate of core inflation that has investors feeling so optimistic today.

read more
More oil and lower oil prices into 2026

More oil and lower oil prices into 2026

Global oil markets will face a widening glut in 2026 as OPEC brings back production and output from the United States, Canada and Guyana continues to grow, the U.S. Energy Information Agency said today, Tuesday, January 14. Today’s forecast was the agency’s first for 2026. World oil markets are expected to average a surplus of 800,000 barrels a day in 2026, the Energy Information Administration. That’s more than twice as large as the 300,000 barrel a day surplus the agency projects for 2025.

read more
China’s trade surplus hits $1 trillion just as Trump takes over trade policy

China’s trade surplus hits $1 trillion just as Trump takes over trade policy

On Monday, January 13, China announced that its trade surplus reached almost $1 trillion in 2024. China’s General Administration of Customs said the country exported $3.58 trillion worth of goods and services last year, while importing $2.59 trillion. The surplus of $990 billion broke China’s previous record, which was $838 billion in 2022. Strong exports in December, including some that may have been rushed to the United States before President Donald Trump can take office and raise tariffs, propelled China to a new single-month record surplus of $104.8 billion. When adjusted for inflation, China’s trade surplus last year far exceeded any in the world in the past century.

read more
Special Report: 10 Great Growth Stocks that Are Getting Greater–today my 10th (and final) pick QCOM

Special Report: 10 Great Growth Stocks that Are Getting Greater–today my 10th (and final) pick QCOM

GREATER Growth Stock Pick #10: Qualcomm (QCOM). I think the market and the current stock price are missing a good prt of the growth story for Qualcomm. Which is why I find the stock undervalued enough to buy here. Right now the market disagrees. However, I’ll be adding the stock to my Jubak Picks and Volatility Portfolios on Tuesday, January 16.

read more

Live Market Report (20 minute delay)

The “other” big interest rate news tomorrow: How big will the Treasury’s bond auctions be?

The “other” big interest rate news tomorrow: How big will the Treasury’s bond auctions be?

The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday–the market currently expects no change to policy interest rates. But I’d argue that the bigger news on internet rates for the day will come when the Treasury announces how many notes and bonds it intends to sell in auctions from November through January. Right now, it looks to me like the bond market is driving interest rates rather than the Fed so the number of bonds Treasury needs to sell is likely to set interest rate trends for the next few weeks. Bloomberg’s survey of Wall Street primary bond dealers shows that the consensus projection for the quarterly refunding sales announcement—including 3-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries— is for a $114 billion total, up from the $103 billion total three months ago.

Step #8 in my Special Report: Sell DE, CAT and BHP tomorrow

Step #8 in my Special Report: Sell DE, CAT and BHP tomorrow

Today I posted Step #8 in my Special Report: 8 Steps to Protect Your Portfolio from the Global Debt Bomb. I recommended selling Deere (DE), Caterpillar (CAT), and BHP Group (BHP) out of portfolios ahead of rising yields i the bond market. (In the case of Deere, I said I would keep my position in my long-term portfolio but sell the position in my 12-18 month portfolio.) Here’s what I posted in my Special Report

Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…

Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…

To catch you up in case your eyeballs have been focused elsewhere (and there’s certainly a lot of elsewhere to watch right now). First, the Russell 2000 broke below its July high. Then the NASDAQ Composite followed (down 12.2% from the July 31 high at the close on October 26.) Then the NASDAQ 100 joined in (down 10.9% as of the close on October 26.) And finally on Friday, October 27, the Big Daddy, the Standard & Poor’s 500 extended its slide from its July high to 10%. All thee indexes are now in correction. (Defined as a drop of 10% or more from the previous high.) The index and correction that worries me the most? The NASDAQ 100.

PCE, the Fed’s favorite inflation measure, comes in unexpectedly hot in September

PCE, the Fed’s favorite inflation measure, comes in unexpectedly hot in September

The Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, accelerated to a four-month high in September. The core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3% in September from August, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. As with this week’s report of a surprisingly strong 4.9% annual GDP growth, the “culprit” in today’s surprise was strong consumer spending. Inflation-adjusted consumer spending jumped 0.4% last month. The numbers in this report for inflation and earlier this week for GDP growth argue that the Federal Reserve might consider another interest rate increase in the remainder of 2023. But Wall Street sentiment doesn’t agree with that view.

At 4.9%, third quarter GDP growth is even hotter than feared

At 4.9%, third quarter GDP growth is even hotter than feared

The U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter, the strongest pace since 2021 and twice the pace of growth in th second quarter. Before the report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting annual growth of 43%. Growth at that rapid a pace, they worried then, could lead the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates at its November 1 meeting. Obviously now, after growth at 4.9% far exceeded projections of 4.3% growth, those worries are a little more pronounced. But only a little.

More technical breakdowns: NASDAQ falls into correction

The technicals look increasingly awful for stocks

I know the bond market is getting most of the headlines at the moment. And it should be. By some measures, volatility in the Treasury market, you know, the old safe haven Treasury market, exceeds volatility in equities. And then there’s the drama of watching the assault on 5% yield on the 10-year Treasury. The drama isn’t just theatrics either. Above 5% yield on the 10-year Treasury there’s an increasing likelihood that something in this over-stretched credit market will break. But…you can’t ignore the stock market. The technical picture is increasly scary. Here too something looks like it could break–and not in a good way.

Saturday Night Quarterback (Part 2) says, For the week ahead expect…

Saturday Night Quarterback (Part 2) says, For the week ahead expect…

Investors see a ton of third-quarter earnings reports this coming week with news from Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet quite capable of moving the entire market. We’ll also get more consumer company (Coca-Cola and Kimberly-Clark for example) reports to show whether last week’s higher revenue but lower volume pattern continues. And Wall Street is expecting negative new from oil companies ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) when they both report on Friday.

Saturday Night Quarterback (Part 1), says, For the week ahead expect…

Saturday Night Quarterback (Part 1), says, For the week ahead expect…

The U. S. economy, economists project, grew at the fastest rate in nearly two years in the third quarter. The actual figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis get released before the market opens on Thursday, October 26. Gross domestic product grew at a 4.3% annualized pace in the quarter, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Big market reaction on a tiny move in CPI inflation

Procter & Gamble, like PepsiCo, reports higher revenue on lower volumes

There’s a pattern here: If you’re a big enough consumer goods company with the ability to raise prices and not hurt sales, then the just-ended quarter was a pretty good quarter. Today, October 18, Proctor & Gamble reported fiscal first quarter net sales of $21.9 billion, up 6% from the prior year vs.a Wall Street consensus projection of $21.62 billion.

Download Jim’s eBook for Free

View by Category

View by Month

Top Commenters

Opinions Matter!

  • JEM (8439)
  • kelvinator (6433)
  • dutch1 (5480)
  • georic (1263)
  • taxman (1023)
  • lennie (962)
  • johnktim (914)
  • twoyrfixed (730)
  • southof8 (553)
  • jemstar (488)
  • wallyvw (308)
  • Run26.2 (279)
  • dan1to (221)
  • Eric Jackson (221)
  • US EXPAT in Asia (216)
  • Colin Farrar (208)
  • chance257 (193)
  • Paul Douglas (190)
  • mark (184)
  • Daniel Barber (181)