The character of a nation is a reflection of the character of millions of individual people, and one of the fastest ways to get a sense of the character of individual people is to visit their homes. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and if that is true then a home visit has got to be worth a million. Sadly, there is a reason why so many Americans that make a living making service calls in other people’s homes absolutely hate their jobs. Way too often they are confronted with the worst that America has to offer, and many of them end up psychologically scarred for life as a result. For example, the following is from an article in which Lauren Hough described her time as a cable installer… (Read More...)
2018 Was The Worst Year For The Stock Market Since The Financial Crisis Of 2008
Now that the year is finally over, we can officially say that 2018 was the worst year for stocks in an entire decade. Not since the last financial crisis have we had a year like this, and many believe that 2019 will be even worse. And of course the truth is that stocks are still tremendously overvalued. Stock valuation ratios always return to their long-term averages eventually, and if the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged another 8,000 points from the current level that would begin to get us into that neighborhood. Unfortunately, the system is so highly leveraged that it will not be able to handle a price decline of that magnitude. The relatively modest drops that we have seen already have caused a tremendous amount of chaos on Wall Street, and a full-blown meltdown would quickly result in a nightmare scenario potentially even worse than what we experienced in 2008. (Read More...)
44 Numbers From 2018 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
Was 2018 everything that you expected it to be? Every year contains surprises, but 2018 truly turned out to be a year that we will never forget. Over the past 12 months we witnessed great political shaking, Wall Street experienced the worst downturn that we have seen since 2008, the crust of our planet was rattled by an increasing number of major seismic events, social decay spread like wildfire, and America continued to become even more divided as a nation. In comparison, 2017 was rather bland and boring, and I truly believe that one day we will look back on 2018 as a major turning point. (Read More...)
This Is Exactly The Kind Of Behavior That You Would Expect During A Stock Market Implosion…
If a doctor tells you that his patient’s condition is swinging up and down wildly, is that a good sign or a bad sign? Of course the answer to that question is quite obvious. And if a doctor tells you that his patient’s condition is “stable”, is that a good sign or a bad sign? Just like in the medical world, instability is not something that is a desirable thing on Wall Street, and right now we are witnessing extreme volatility on an almost daily basis. On Thursday, the Dow was already down several hundred points when I went out to do some grocery shopping with my wife, and at the low point of the day it had fallen 611 points. But then a “miracle happened” and the Dow ended the day with an increase of 260 points. As I detailed yesterday, this is precisely the sort of behavior that you would expect during a chaotic bear market. (Read More...)
U.S. Stocks Just Had Their Best Day Ever – And Here Is Why That Is A REALLY Bad Sign…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average just posted its biggest single day point gain ever. On Wednesday, the Dow shot up 1,086 points, which shattered the old record by a staggering 150 points. It truly was a remarkable day, and this is the sort of “Santa Claus rally” that investors had been hoping for. Many are convinced that this rally is an indication that the crisis of the last three months is over, but as you will see below, this sort of extreme volatility is actually a really bad sign. But for the moment, the mainstream media is pushing the narrative that everything is once again peachy keen in the financial world. Just consider the following quote from CNN… (Read More...)
“The Worst Is Yet To Come Next Year”
When talking heads on mainstream news networks are using phrases such as “the worst is yet to come next year”, that is a clear indication that a new financial crisis has arrived. And that is an extremely bold statement to make considering that this is already the worst quarter for the stock market in 10 years, this is the worst December for stock prices since 1931, and we just experienced the worst Christmas Eve that Wall Street has ever seen. So when Mark Jolley made the following statement during a recent guest appearance on CNBC, it definitely raised some eyebrows… (Read More...)
The Worst Christmas Eve For The Stock Market EVER – The Dow Has Now Fallen More Than 5000 Points From The Peak
This is definitely not the gift that investors wanted for Christmas. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 653 points as panic swept through Wall Street like wildfire. That represented a 2.9 percent daily decline, and that made it the worst Christmas Eve for the Dow ever recorded. Incredibly, the previous record had lasted for exactly 100 years. Normally the day before Christmas is a very, very quiet day on Wall Street, but right now there are no “normal” days for the financial markets. If you go back to early October, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time record high of 26,951.81, and on Monday the Dow closed at just 21,792.20. That means that the Dow has now plummeted more than 5,000 points in less than three months, and that is a major milestone. (Read More...)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Has Scheduled An Emergency Call With The President’s Working Group On Financial Markets On Christmas Eve
If the financial markets are going to be just fine, then why did Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin make emergency calls to the CEOs of the six biggest banks in America on Sunday? And if we don’t have anything to worry about, then why has he scheduled an emergency call with the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets on Christmas Eve? Actions speak louder than words, and we haven’t seen these sorts of emergency moves since the last financial crisis. Last week was the worst week for the stock market in 10 years, and it is understandable that they would want to try to do something to ease the panic in the marketplace, but for many this is just going to confirm that a new financial crisis has now arrived. The following is from Secretary Mnuchin’s official statement… (Read More...)