Watch, look, and listen.

The global economy is going down the drain. It has been flushed into ruin by egotists called politicians, central bankers, and bureaucrats that the masses look up to and obey.

While the path of destruction of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness has been on a long-term down-trend, most recently it has reached new levels of ruination that have not only sucked the joy out of life, but have now set the world on the path of mass annihilation.
This cover of the 22 February Trends Journal says it all.

Yes, the world changed in 2020 when presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, governors, mayors, etc., launched the COVID War. While they did shit to kill the coronavirus with their draconian mandates that locked down entire nations, their actions destroyed the lives and livelihoods of billions across the planet. 

These arrogant narcissistic pathological liars made up kindergarten rules to fight the virus, here are a few of them:

• Stand one meter apart
• Not allowed to go to the beach or sit in parks or put kids on swings
• Stand behind Plexiglas at cash registers
• Have arrows pointing in the direction you can walk down aisles in stores
• Force people to wear masks when walking into a restaurant or sitting on an airplane… but allow them to take off the masks when eating and drinking
• Telling people to sanitize their hands when touching anything… and  not to have sex, sanitized hands or not
• Locking down nations to outside citizens
• Imposing Operation Warp Speed vaccination requirement to go to work, go to school or enter another country.

Our “leaders’” COVID rules and regulations were based solely on political science and not a scintilla of factual evidence. 

And like good little boys and girls—still in high school and obeying their principal—the masses not only did what they were told, they attacked everyone that questioned the mandates and the Operation Warp Speed Jab. 

Yes, the Jab that the drug dealers sold and the Presstitutes promoted that it had a 96 percent efficacy rate, and just two shots were needed. 

Now, of course, it is a COVID Jab a year. 

And as we have detailed, from the top drug head that runs Pfizer to presidents, prime ministers and the clowns people call “celebrities” that championed the gene therapy inoculation… they got two shots, boosters, got the virus and spew out the shit that they are glad they got all those jabs. 

Yes, “All things are connected,” as Chief Seattle said, “like the blood which unites us all.”

The socioeconomic and geopolitical consequences of their draconian COVID War mandates had made previously bad situations much worse.

The Economic Front

As we have greatly detailed in The Trends Journal, the global economy was under pressure long before the COVID War was launched by China in January 2020, the Year of the Rat. 

To keep the obedient, obedient during their closing down of society, governments pumped in countless trillions of fake COVID cash to keep the public spending money they never earned and to keep them from questioning their actions. 

In collusion, the central banksters followed suit by keeping interest rates low to keep the equity markets and the economy artificially pumped up, while also creating a housing boom. 

The result: Skyrocketing inflation and a cover-up for all the businesses that went out of business and all the lives and livelihoods that the COVID War decimated.

The Geopolitical Front

Making a terrible socioeconomic situation much worse, rather than letting Russia and Ukraine settle their border differences that have been going on between the two cultures for centuries, the United States and NATO joined Ukraine to fight the Russians. 

With the United States alone pumping in nearly $70 billion to Ukraine to keep bloodying the killing fields and NATO countries sending billions in weapons, a local war that would have ended months ago has now escalated into WWIII… with nuclear destruction on the near horizon.

In addition to the Ukraine military aid that taxpayers must pay for, adding economic insult to injury, as a result of the U.S. and NATO imposed sanctions on Russia, people across the globe are paying record-breaking prices on food and energy… which equals more inflation and greater hardship. 

Indeed, in the U.S.S.A., the United Soviet States of America, according to a Lending Club report, up five percent from a year ago, 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And even 45 percent of high earners with six-figure salaries were reported living paycheck to paycheck… up from 38 percent a year ago.

By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them

We note the above to illustrate the criminality of those in charge of running dictatorships which in school they sell as “democracies.” 

As George Carlin said, “It’s one big club and you ain’t in it.” And as Gerald Celente notes, “Not only is it one big club, it’s an organized crime syndicate. And not only are you not in it, they’ll destroy your life and censor you if you question them… and kill you if you try to stop their murderous ways. As for the White Shoe Boys on Wall Street, they will do all they can to keep artificially propping up equities and make the Bigs Bigger. 

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Happy October!  In the past two days, the Dow rallied over 1,500 points… up 765 points yesterday and 825 points today.

Yet, September ended the worst nine months for U.S. equity markets since 2002 and the Dow racked up its poorest monthly showing since March 2020—the beginning of the COVID War, shrinking by 9.3 percent and posting its third consecutive monthly loss. It waved goodbye to 500 points on Friday alone.

The Russell 2000 index of small companies gave up 9.7 percent last month.

Last week, the Dow dropped 2.7 percent, the NASDAQ fell 2.4 percent, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 2.6 percent. Since the start of the year, the S&P, down 25 percent, has fallen deeper into bear territory. 

Up until yesterday, the equity markets have continued to tank as the gamblers on The Street continued to fear the damage caused by spiking inflation and central banksters interest rate hikes… which is drying up the cheap money pool that artificially inflated equities and economies. 

Repeating what The Trends Journal had forecast several months ago, The Wall Street Journal quoted portfolio manager Sean Sun at Thornburg Investment Management that “It’s not a matter of if we’ll have a recession but what type of recession it will be.” 

Again, coming as no shock to Trend Journal subscribers but was a surprise to “analysts,” last Friday Carnival Cruise Lines led the Dow’s losers, giving up 23.3 percent after it reported revenues short of expectations. 

“Expectations?” People are going broke. Inflation is robbing them of their income. 

Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group sank by 18 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

Also last Friday, Nike gave back 12.8 percent, its poorest one-day performance in more than 20 years. 

Nike and other U.S. firms dealing internationally are paying a price for the dollar’s strength. International revenue rose 4 percent but would have grown by 10 percent if the dollar’s value had remained steady through the third quarter, The Washington Post said.

Also, Nike said profits were cut by the need to offer discounts to clear backlogged inventory. 

Many manufacturers and retailers are dealing with bulging inventories that were ordered while consumers were still spending, only to ship and stock the items as shoppers closed their wallets amid rising prices and economic gloom.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year treasury note moved up from 3.79 percent Thursday to 3.81 percent Friday; the two-year note, a measure of expectations about what the Fed will do next, rose from 4.19 percent to 4.23 percent.

Gold’s price rose 1.1 percent Friday to $1,661 but lost 8 percent during the quarter.

Brent crude ended Friday at 5 p.m. U.S. EDT at $87.96, up 3 percent on the week but off almost 25 percent for the quarter. West Texas Intermediate gained 2.5 percent for the week, ending at $79.49 at 5 p.m. U.S. EDT. 

Bitcoin gained 2.4 percent to $19,712 at 5 p.m. U.S. EDT on 30 September, near its high point of the week, then fell back over the weekend.

Overseas, Europe’s Stoxx 600 index bounced through the week, ending flat at 388.  The Nikkei 225 slid 3.2 percent and the South Korean KOSPI edged down 0.3 percent.

In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3 percent, the SSE Composite fell 1.5 percent, and the CSI Composite edged down 0.7 percent.

But is the rally real?

We don’t believe so and neither does Wall Street on Parade who noted today that “…veterans are thinking that either the Fed’s plunge protection team or the Treasury’s plunge protection team is behind the rally.”

TODAY: STOCKS SEE SECOND DAY OF BIG GAINS AFTER BRUISING SEPTEMBER

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day up 825.43 points, or 2.80 percent, to 30,316.32 and the S&P 500 benchmark was up 112.50, or 3.06 percent, to 3,790.93. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was also up 360.97, or 3.34 percent, to 11,176.41. 

This marked the second-straight day of big gains totaling more than 1,500 points. The feeling on The Street is that traders oversold after the S&P fell more than 9 percent last month and nearly 25 percent year-to-date. 

The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the issues most impacting the market, including the effort by central banks to rein in inflation, soaring energy prices, the Ukraine War, and the lingering effects of the economy-killed COVID-19 lockdowns. 

Traders embraced the jump in prices, but expect volatility to continue to be a factor in the market. 

“People like to hang onto good news but… we’re not going to have a recovery in this market until the Fed signals that they’re going to stop raising rates, and that’s not going to happen until inflation starts coming down,” Holly Newman Kroft, senior wealth advisor at Neuberger Berman, told CNBC.

Traders are looking for any evidence that the Fed could ease up on its monetary policy tightening and found it in today’ release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed job openings in the U.S. falling by 10 percent in August. There were 10.05 million open positions for the month.

Traders were optimistic that the numbers are a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are taking hold and therefore cooling the labor market, a priority for the Fed. The job market is considered one of the top contributors to inflation, which has hit a 40-year high.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has reengaged with Twitter about his potential acquisition. The Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter shares were halted after increasing to $47.93 on rumors of the meeting. Sources told CNBC that Musk has agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share and a deal could happen by the end of the week. 

Elsewhere, the European markets were up with the FTSE increasing by 177.70 points, or 2.57 percent, to 7,086.46 and the STOXX 600 also rising by 12.20 points, or 3.12 percent, to 403.03. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was up 776.42, or 2.96 percent, to 26,992.21. China’s financial markets remain closed for its Golden Week holiday. South Korea and Hong Kong’s markets were also closed. 

Traders in China can use a breather as stocks struggled under Beijing’s COVID-19 restrictions and property issues. Economists are going to consider how people spend during the holiday week to get a sense of overall optimism in the country.

OIL: Brent crude saw another day of gains on speculation that OPEC+ will announce plans to cut its oil output due to slowing demand. Brent was trading up $2.78, or 3.13 percent, to $91.63 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate was also up $2.64, or 3.16 percent, to $86.28 per barrel. 

The international oil cartel is meeting in Vienna to discuss policy. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister, told reporters today that there will be an announcement on Wednesday about oil production. Oil prices have increased on speculation that OPEC+, which includes Russia, will reduce daily output by 1 million barrels due to weakening global demand. There was also speculation that the cartel could reduce output by 2 million barrels per day.

Amin Nasser, the chief executive of Saudi Aramco, told the Energy Intelligence Forum today that the market is focused on what will happen to demand if recessions occur in parts of the world as governments tighten monetary policy to combat inflation, Investing.com reported.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on the Biden administration to deal with the Saudis “harshly” if they go through with significant cutbacks in supply.

“They are a third-rate power. We are the most powerful country in the world. I don’t know why we kowtow to them,” he said. 

He continued, “They are not our allies. They are hurting the American people. And we need to be tough with them. The president needs to make it clear we will cut off their supply. We could ground their air force in a day.”

TRENDPOST: President Joe Biden had announced sanctions against Russia to cripple the Russian economy. That plan backfired and it is Europe and other nations that face economic turmoil as they try to survive the winter without Russian energy. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeals to other countries to support his effort at a multipolar world by framing the U.S. as a bullying power that uses smaller countries to achieve its own goals, oftentimes at the expense of stability in the smaller nation and even Americans.

While the European Union is also expected to continue its pursuit of slapping caps on prices, the measures will fail overall and consumers will pay more to buy less as inflation keeps rising and economies decline: Dragflation.

GOLD: The precious metal was up $32.40 per ounce, or 1.90 percent, to $1,734.40. Silver was also up about 53 cents, or 2.58 percent, to $21.12.  

Gold hit a 3-week high today as buyers welcomed news of a weakening U.S. dollar and bond yields.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was down 0.03 percent to 3.619 percent and the U.S. dollar fell against other currencies. Economists said the recent job numbers and slowing economy in the U.S. is evidence that the interest rate hikes are working. But the central bank has suggested that future rate hikes are warranted. 

TREND FORECAST: Gold prices may have hit their bottom. The world’s socioeconomic and geopolitical turmoil keeps worsening. And despite central banks raising interest rates which brings non-yielding gold prices down, we forecast that is temporary since, as global tensions rise and economies decline, gold will be the #1 safe haven asset. 

BITCOIN: The world’s most popular crypto currency was up $475.90 per coin, or 2.42 percent, to $20,109.40 as of midday today, building off momentum from the equities market that saw its second straight day of gains. 

McDonald’s is now accepting Bitcoin and Ether at locations in the Swiss city of Lugano. Coin Telegraph reported that the city of 63,000 has generally embraced cryptos as forms of payment and residents can pay their taxes using the currency. The report noted that the fast-food franchise accepts bitcoin payments at all of its locations in El Salvador. 

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long noted that much of the appeal of these decentralized currencies is that they lack oversight from governments and central banks. We noted that these currencies will lose some of their shine when agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission begin to exert control in these markets.

Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, gave a speech on “Digital Asset Financial Stability Risks” on Monday and said cryptos “cannot exist outside of our public policy frameworks, regardless of what the crypto industry initially expected or what certain market participants might say today.”

“The policy frameworks include protecting investors and consumers, guarding against illicit activity, and supporting financial stability,” he said. “Whether you call something a crypto token, stablecoin, or decentralized finance platform (DeFi), those public policy goals remain the same. As Aristotle said: ‘Treat like cases alike.’”