Things in the Stimulus Bill: Free Health Care, Pension Fund Bailouts, and UBI for Kids
Mar 12, 2021 | News
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — or American Rescue Plan for short — has been signed into law. You can read the text of the legislation here. The American Rescue Plan (we’ll call it ARP) is far more than just a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. It is a transitional moment, and quite possibly a paradigm shift — a…
The Pain for Tech Stocks is Only Just Beginning
Mar 09, 2021 | News
The bursting of the tech bubble has taken down the Nasdaq, but left the Dow intact. This has created the greatest divergence between the Dow and the Nasdaq since 1993. March 8 was “the first time since 1993 that the Dow rose and closed within 1% of a record,” Bloomberg reports, “while the tech-heavy gauge was down more than 10%…
The Digital Dollar is High on the Fed-and-Treasury Priority List
Mar 03, 2021 | News
The digital dollar — a USD version of central bank digital currency — is now a “high-priority project.” That was the phrase used by Jay Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, in a U.S. Senate hearing on Feb. 23. “We are looking carefully, very carefully, at the question of whether we should issue a digital dollar,” Powell said. With each…
The New York AG Issues Tether a Speeding Ticket
Mar 01, 2021 | News
On Feb. 5 we asked the following question: “Has Bitcoin (and the Entire Crypto Space) Been Boobytrapped by Tether?” Our answer was “no,” and you can read why here. The short version is that Tether, a popular U.S. dollar stablecoin, is probably not a systemic risk. An elegant analysis from someone named “Crypto Anonymous” had argued otherwise, claiming that Tether…
The EV Bull Market is Over
Feb 24, 2021 | News
“Because I used to love her,” the Rolling Stones sang, “but it’s all over now.” The electric vehicle (EV) bull market is officially over, too. The EV bull market — which some would call a bubble, or even a mania — has shuffled off its mortal coil. It is neither resting nor pining for the fjords; it is now an…
Speculative High Flyers are Rapidly Losing Altitude
Feb 23, 2021 | News
On Friday of last week we said: “There is a formidable bearish case for overvalued technology stocks moving forward, and it is only getting stronger by the day. “The bear case has to do with interest rates at the long end of the curve, and the willingness of the Federal Reserve to sit back as long-end yields (the 10-year and…
Because of Texas, a Historic Infrastructure Bill Now Looks Inevitable
Feb 22, 2021 | News
Imagine the world as a ball-shaped scoop of ice cream, sitting upright in an ice cream cone. The polar vortex is a circular flow of low-pressure cold air swirling around the top, or dome, of the ice cream scoop. This low-pressure air flow is held in place by a ring of high-pressure warm air that surrounds it like a doughnut. …
The Great Texas Freeze Highlights a New Era of Weather Extremes
Feb 16, 2021 | News
As if the wholly unprecedented nature of political events and market extremes were not enough, we now must also contend with an era of weather extremes. For instance, have you ever heard of a wind-chill warning for North Texas? Probably not, because the U.S. National Weather Service has never issued one — until now. “The cold wind chills could cause…
Will the Chinese Government Kneecap Tesla?
Feb 11, 2021 | News
Tesla investors face many risks. One of the largest — and one of the least talked about — is China. Tesla has an extraordinary relationship with the Chinese government. Thanks to this relationship, Tesla enjoys privileges and perks no other American company has received. The question is how long the relationship will last. That question, in turn, is tied to…
Someone Acted Early on Tesla’s Bitcoin Plan (We Spotted Their Footprints)
Feb 08, 2021 | News
Call it a strong hunch: There were people with advance knowledge of Tesla’s big announcement — and they used that knowledge to take large positions in Bitcoin, and Bitcoin-related equities, too. We don’t know these people, but we saw their footprints in the charts. A sizable tremor of buying activity rippled across all our Bitcoin-related holdings the Friday before last….
