SALTA, ARGENTINA – Up. Down. Up. Down.
We followed the action on Wall Street yesterday, wondering… where was it going?
The headlines told us that investors were nervous about a trade war.
Bloomberg was on the case early:
Fears of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies returned to haunt markets on Wednesday, mauling U.S. stocks and sending investors into haven assets from Treasuries to gold.
The S&P 500 Index tumbled through its average price for the past 200 days, with all 11 sectors lower after China said it would levy 25 percent tariffs on imports of 106 U.S. products including soybeans, automobiles, chemicals and aircraft. Boeing lost almost 5 percent and semiconductor shares fell nearly 3 percent. The Cboe Volatility Index jumped to 23.55, almost double its level for the past year.
“Markets don’t like uncertainty, and this back and forth with what the U.S. is doing with tariffs and targeting specifically Chinese products and Chinese trade relationships and policies, they’re obviously not good,” Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer for equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters.
Wrongheaded Claptrap
Markets don’t like uncertainty. Sure. Sure. But uncertainty is what we’ve got.
And who knows? Even presidential advisors Peter Navarro and Larry Kudlow – wrong about just about everything for just about forever – could be right this time.
Maybe the economy really is as strong as an ox. And maybe stocks will go up from here to eternity. But it’s not what we see when we try to connect the dots.
Not that we are always right. We rush to assure cynical, suspicious, and realistic readers that we have no illusions on that score.
Yes… our error was that we misjudged the power of wrongheaded claptrap. Fake money talks louder… and BS walks further than we thought!
We thought the fake money-pumping scheme had reached its end back in 2009.
We were wrong.
There was a lot more juice in that rotten fruit. And now, the whole world economy clutches its stomach and holds its breath – with $230 trillion of debt worldwide, and millions more people dependent on ultra-low interest rates forever. (The Fed’s key rate, at 1.6%, is still below zero in real terms, since inflation is running at about 2%.)
In 2009, households could no longer borrow to buy houses. The housing market collapsed, dragging down mortgage lenders first… and then the rest of the economy. What will give way this time? Pension funds? The auto market? China? Tesla… the techs… and the stock market itself?
We don’t know. But interest rates do not stay ultra-low forever. Not when the Fed itself is actively, intentionally raising them and the federal government is running $1.2 trillion deficits.
Funny-Money Maneuvers
On Wednesday, stock markets bounced back in the afternoon, after investors began to think that maybe Donald Trump wasn’t really serious about a trade war.
One day, perhaps soon, they won’t be in such a good mood. And the market won’t bounce back. Not that the end is necessarily nigh… but, in theory, it must be out there somewhere.
Expect a severe market correction… followed by some more desperate funny-money maneuvers, urged on the president by his quack economists, Navarro and Kudlow… which will inevitably make the situation worse.
The Fed will quickly reverse from QT to QE (going from rolling bonds off their balance sheet to buying more)… pushing real rates deeper into negative territory.
The Trump Team will propose huge increases in federal spending – with deficits soaring to $2 trillion per year.
Cash may be banned. A one-time tax credit may be offered. A guaranteed minimum income may be enacted.
You think things are crazy now? You think you’ve seen what fake money and BS can do?
Just you wait!
Regards,
Bill
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Category: Economics