Tag: Yen

Ep. 519 – Jobs Bite The Dust, Again

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 519 - Jobs Bite The Dust, Again
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Another week and another 900,000 Americans filed an initial jobless claim for the week ending 16 January. This puts that prior two initial claims reports at 900k and above. For context, during the depths of the GFC, claims peaked around 660k. We have not seen a number in the 600k range, since last year when the pandemic led restrictions were put into place. This is a major structural problem with respect to the jobs markets and will take years to work itself out. There will be behavioral and spending changes once the economy is “re-opened.” In turn, this will affect the economy and old correlations may break down and new correlations and patterns established.

It is difficult to believe that with so much uncertainty that remains, that the markets are accurately capturing all of this as reflected in current prices. With respect to US equity markets, we are witnessing one valuation method after the next that is in the 95th to 99th percentile. These are ranges not scene since 1929 and the “Roaring 20’s,” the dot-com era, and in the lead up to the GFC. Some metrics are even at all-time highs. And another tidbit of information that came across the wires today is that insiders, such as CEOs, are selling their company shares at an all-time high rate, meanwhile, retail investors have never been so bullish. Something tells us that this is not going to end well. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Liberty #Revolution #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Recession #Depression #EndTheFed #bananarepublic #USA

Ep. 505 – 2021, And So It Begins…

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 505 - 2021, And So It Begins...
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It’s Sunday evening, but as we watch the overnight futures markets, we are seeing some nice moves to the upside in the commodity space. This decade is likely to be a bull-market for precious metals and commodities. It’s back to the basics. It’s back to real tangible items that are needed for an economy to function and hedges against fiat currencies and weakening governments. All of the funny-money printing is going to end up somewhere, and precious metals and commodities is a place to pay close attention to.

During today’s podcast we discuss initial jobless claims for the week ending 26 December, which came in at 787,000; we also cover the Fed’s balance sheet, M1 and M2 money stock, and a few other data points of interest. We have been stating this for weeks, if not months, that economically speaking, 2021 is likely to be worse than 2020. Tomorrow begins the first trading day of the year, and while one day does not make a trend, it’ll be interesting to see how the markets navigate the oncoming turmoil, chaos, certainties, and uncertainties. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. Happy Birthday Papou! #Economy #Debt #Gold #Silver #Inflation #Liberty #USA #Bailout #BananaRepublic #EndTheFed #Recession #Depression #Jobs

Ep. 504 – Here Comes 2021

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 504 - Here Comes 2021
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As an historic year comes to an end, should we be excited about 2021 or cautious? Now there are many reasons to be excited – it is a new year, and it is no longer 2020. That alone can be enough reason for a celebration. However, at least economically speaking, it may be premature to throw a party. Structural issues that have been around for years have not and are not being resolved. And in fact, many of the policies that led to the structural decline are continuing to be implemented. There are many risks that remain for 2021 and beyond and we will be sure to cover them as they arise and unfold. Have a very Happy and Blessed New Year! Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Debt #Liberty #Revolution #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Bailouts #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic

Ep. 498 – 2020, The Year That Will Live In Infamy

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 498 - 2020, The Year That Will Live In Infamy
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Since it is the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks, 7 December, 1941, we thought it prudent to title today’s podcast as such. Of course, this is a play on words to those spoken by President FDR, following this attack. We think it’s more than fair and reasonable to make such a statement.

During today’s show we discuss a number of items of which we were able to recall as happening throughout this year. Surely, topics were missed, but we ask the audience to share any items not mentioned. The events throughout this year are nothing short of Biblical – various natural disasters (fires, hurricanes, locusts, etc); trade wars, impeachment hearings and trial, negative oil prices, economic and/or country and government collapse, Presidential primaries and elections, Brexit, wars and conflicts, Covid-19, significant inflation and debt expansion, massive job loss and business closures, protests and riots, banking and financial market fraud, and what lies ahead for much of the world, may very well be a combination of civil wars, revolutions, and world war. We pray that we are wrong due to the destruction and devastation that will follow. However, this is an honest assessment given the moral, political, social, and economic decay and decline that has been experienced for generations and is picking up momentum. So while 2020 is a year for the record books – prepare yourselves, as 2021 and beyond are likely to be even worse. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #War #Recession #Debt #Bailouts #Inflation #Depression #Gold #Silver #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 496 – More Jobless Claims

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 496 - More Jobless Claims
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Our typical Thursday discussion revolves around initial jobless claims, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, and M2 money stock. With respect to initial jobless claims, 712,000 Americans filed for the week ending 28 November. While this is below market expectations and a reversal from the prior two weeks’ upward trend, this number is still over 3x the weekly claims witnessed prior to the lockdowns and restrictions. It also remains higher that the numbers experienced during the depths of the GFC. And if The Kapital News is correct in forecasting a serious number of bankruptcies and insolvencies over the next two years, then these numbers will likely remain stubbornly high. The total of all persons claiming some form of unemployment insurance came in at 20.2 million for the week ending 14 November. While this is a decrease from the prior week of some 350,000, this still provides us with a 13.7 percent unemployment rate. This would be nearly twice the headline rate at 6.9 percent. Tomorrow, 4 December, is the first Friday of the month, and as such, the official jobs report will be released.

The Fed’s balance sheet increased from the prior week, but is slightly below its all-time high experienced a few short weeks ago. The current figure is $7.222 trillion. With respect to M2 money stock, another all-time high was also reached, now standing at $19.12 trillion. This is monetary destruction in our face. This is destroying savings, capital formation, and prudent investments. It is increasing the cost of living, decreasing living standards, fueling our debt binge, and creating malinvestments across the spectrum. It is breaking and distorting markets – this will not end well. These actions are not free. Quite the contrary, as they are proving to be very expensive and destructive. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Debt #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #Iniflation #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #USA #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 494 – Biden’s Economic Dream Team Is Really A Nightmare

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 494 - Biden's Economic Dream Team Is Really A Nightmare
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President-elect Joe Biden released more names today to fill positions within his economic team. These characters are all familiar names as many have held posts within the Obama Administration. As The Kapital News likes to say, “it’s a revolving door down there in Washington, DC.” It is quite remarkable, yet also not surprising, that such people will be filling these positions. Remarkable in the sense that no one seems to have any basic common sense for what is going on in this country. Evidently, the same people who are responsible for past and current economic calamity are now back in the fold – apparently so they can be responsible for the future economic calamity. This makes zero sense. However, what can be deduced is that the incoming Biden Administration must be fine with how things were managed in the past and thinks that’s how things should be managed going forward. This becomes the definition of insanity. And of course, it will continue to be the American people who are responsible for the bill. This will be paid through taxation, inflation, a stagnant economy, higher costs of living, lower living standards, few opportunities, and more debt. Just when you thought 2020 was nearing its close – we have all of 2021 to contend with in the aftermath of all of these flawed policies. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Debt #Bailouts #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Inflation #Gold #Silver #Liberty #Revolution #USA

Ep. 493 – What’s Silver + Gold Telling Us?

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 493 - What's Silver + Gold Telling Us?
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The recent pullback in silver and gold have many wondering what this means, and what may lie ahead for the precious metals market. There are of course many theories out there, but today we discuss a couple. First, could silver and gold be sniffing out the likely oncoming tsunami of bankruptcies and insolvencies? Some argue that if this scenario unfolds, that this will be “deflationary” and thus bad news for silver and gold prices. The Kapital News notes, however, that silver and gold can also do well in a deflationary environment. It must also be stressed that when the mainstream uses the words inflationary and deflationary, they are usually used incorrectly. These are monetary phenomena whereby inflation is an increase in the money supply and conversely deflation is a contraction in the money supply. Well, hello – central banks the world over are printing their respective currencies like they are going out of style – because they are! However, what most people mean by deflation is that prices will drop and inflation – prices will rise. The Kapital News is focused on the goods and services that people actually need and use – not so much the things they do not need and are not spending money on. And with this – prices are going up. In addition, we are seeing financial asset prices make new highs, especially with respect to equities and housing. People around the world are not protesting and rioting because the cost of living is so affordable – on the contrary – the cost of living is unaffordable!

We then look at these recent price declines as perhaps simply a period of consolidation, followed by a sell off, but only to prove to be the start of the next leg higher – bull markets climb a wall of worry. The Kapital News looks at silver and gold as a long-term investment. There are simply too many boxes that are checked or will soon be checked that add fuel to this precious metals bull market. Such as low interest rates, negative rates, negative real rates, massive deficit spending, massive expansion of central bank balance sheets, political and geopolitical risks, a stagnant economy, and a whole host of uncertainties that remain with how countries and societies will handle the wealth and income inequalities, the pandemic, higher prices, elections, and so much more. The remaining decade is going to be one for the history books – what we have done to ourselves and each other, and what we do to ourselves and each other as all of this immoral and unethical behavior, along with trillions in malinvestment(s), comes home to roost. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Silver #Gold #Inflation #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #USA #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 492 – Turkey Or Jobs On The Chopping Block?

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 492 - Turkey Or Jobs On The Chopping Block?
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Happy Thanksgiving from The Kapital News! Hopefully everyone was able to get together with some friends and family – even if via remotely. Social interactions and traditions are important, especially during these trying times.

Being that it’s Thanksgiving, we know the turkeys were on the chopping block. However, we received some unfortunate news the other day out of the Labor Department, telling us that initial jobless claims were higher than the previous week. This is two consecutive weeks where jobless claims have been trending higher. Given recent “lockdown” orders across various states and cities, it’s no surprise to see these figures increase. Yet, it’s our analysis that the economy remains extremely weak and vulnerable to various shocks and to time itself, and thus this may be signaling something more than just job losses due to restrictions. Printing, begging, borrowing, and spending money that we do not have will only take us so far. We may very well be reaching those limits.

For the week ending 21 November, 778,000 Americans filed an initial jobless claim. This is 30,000 more than the previous week’s figure of 748,000 – which was revised higher by 6,000. In aggregate of all persons claiming unemployment insurance, for the week ending 7 November, totals 20.45 million. This is a week-over-week increase of over 135,000. Using this number would give us a rough figure of about 14 percent as the unemployment rate. Notice that this is twice the percentage as what the jobs report tells us is the official unemployment figure – which currently stands at 6.9 percent. So while there is of course much to be thankful for during this holiday season, there is also much to be concerned about in the coming weeks, months, and even years. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Jobs #Bailouts #Debt #Inflation #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #USA #Liberty #Revolution #BananaRepublic #EndTheFed

Ep. 491 – Yellen: No Checks, No Balances

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 491 - Yellen: No Checks, No Balances
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Today’s title has a couple of meanings. First, since we’re a first world banana republic, we have no checks to write because there is no balance in the Treasury to cover them. Further, the only way we really show a balance in the general fund is because we print the money like it’s going out of style – because it is. Then of course, the United States government is supposed to be a system of checks and balances. But how can our system truly function as such a system, if there exists a central bank, the Federal Reserve, that is accountable to no one? Presidents, Representatives, and Senators can be voted in and voted out by the people. The President can override Congress with a veto. Congress can override the veto should enough votes exist. Congress can impeach and remove a President. The Supreme Court can rule actions and legislation to be unconstitutional. Yet, if and when central bankers set interest rates and embark upon other policies, there is no one who can overturn their decision. These “officials” are not elected, and thus cannot be voted out by the people. So where is the check and balance to their power? This is exactly the problem.

Now, with President-elect, Joe Biden, beginning his transition into the White House, he is starting to pick his cabinet. Continuing with yesterday’s discussion, we highlight his pick of Treasury Secretary of Janet Yellen. Yellen was the former Vice Chair and Chairman of the Federal Reserve. She was very a much a part of implementing and overseeing quantitative easing. She is also an advocate for granting the Fed the ability and authority to purchase equities outright. While she makes such a claim in a veiled way – make no mistake that she believes this is something Congress should consider doing – granting the Fed such powers. She, like many of her predecessors and successors, are destructive to the United States of America. Their policies are the root of our economic malaise in conjunction with actions taken by our government. It has been and remains to be a great concern that these policies are going to become even more extreme, and thus worsen and add to the damage. It’s a revolving door in Washington, DC and this is further evidence that our elected officials care not about the health of our country. The people need to wake up before it is too late. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Bailouts #Markets #Jobs #Debt #USA #Inflation #Recession #Depression #Gold #Silver #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Liberty #Revolution

Ep. 490 – Yellen + Screamin’

The Kapital News
The Kapital News
Ep. 490 - Yellen + Screamin'
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So here we have it! It’s vaccine Monday once again and right on cue, AstraZeneca comes out and announced the results of their vaccine’s efficacy. This is now three Mondays in a row – Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, respectively. However, today’s news was further bolstered by the announcement that former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, is getting the nod to become the next Treasury Secretary. Of course she will need to be confirmed by the Senate, but since she has been confirmed before, there’s really no reason to think why she won’t be confirmed again. Now, The Kapital News can come up with trillions of reasons as to why she should not be confirmed, but you get the point.

The stock market loved this news and why wouldn’t that be the case? Equities rose considerably under the Yellen-Obama tenure. This is thanks to record low interest rates, and quantitative easing being the norm for the past decade plus. This monstrosity of a policy continues and now with a one-two punch at Treasury and the Fed – what could possibly go wrong? Again, The Kapital News can provide a trillion scenarios, but you get the point in that the addicts on Wall Street will continue to get their hit and in larger doses. This is destroying, if it hasn’t already killed the patient, with the patient being that of the US economy. For that matter, it’s really the global economy since these actions are being undertaken in an orchestrated manner.

What’s so sad of course, is the fact that tens of millions of Americans are still going to food banks, collecting unemployment insurance, facing eviction(s), and massive uncertainties ahead, yet global equities continue reaching new heights. This is massive fraud and contributing greatly to wealth and income inequality. This is a recipe for political, social, and economic disaster because this is not the result of production, productivity gains, and prudent valuations. No, this is at the hand of easy credit and trillion dollar liquidity injections. In short, this is a first world banana republic and the funny money is inflating financial assets into the stratosphere. Just wait until this is reflected in commodity prices and general consumer prices. The inflation is already here – now await it’s truly destructive force and the coming stagflation and potential hyperinflation. Stay diversified, stay vigilant, and stay with The Kapital News. #Economy #Inflation #Gold #Debt #Silver #Recession #Liberty #Revolution #EndTheFed #BananaRepublic #Depression #Bailouts #USA