TRENDS ON THE ECONOMIC AND MARKET FRONT
JPMORGAN BECOMES A GOLD BUG
With a recession still likely, gold’s price will break through $2,000 later this year and set new records in 2024 as the U.S. Federal Reserve begins cutting interest rates in next year’s second quarter, analysts at megabank JPMorgan Chase predicted.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
The global economic slowdown has begun. The facts are in the figures. Leading the downtrend is China, the world’s #2 economy, whose leaders caused the socioeconomic decay when they launched the COVID War during their Lunar New Year in January 2020, “The Year of the Rat.” After imposing draconian zero-COVID policies for some three years, they have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions across the nation.
STOCK MARKETS SEND MIXED SIGNALS ABOUT THEIR FUTURE
In June, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended its longest bear market since the 1940s, The Wall Street Journal noted, and has leaped up 28 percent since then, ending 26 July at its highest close since April 2022.
CORPORATE DEBT AT RISK AS INFLATION SLOWS
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s steady rise in interest rates has pulled inflation down to 3 percent in June, close to the central bank’s 2-percent target rate—but the economy may pay a price in a rising number of bad corporate loans.
GAMBLERS STEER CLEAR OF CONSUMER STOCKS
Equity investors are diverting money from consumer stocks that are likely to fare badly in a recession, indicating that market players are not fully convinced an economic downturn has been avoided.
CONSENSUS BUILDS AROUND “SOFT LANDING,” END TO FED’S RATE HIKES
Analysts and investors are coalescing around the view that the U.S. Federal Reserve has tamed inflation without knocking the U.S. economy into a recession—creating a “soft landing”—and will end its series of interest rate increases, perhaps as soon as next month.
U.S. ECONOMY GROWS FASTER THAN EXPECTED IN SECOND QUARTER
U.S. GDP expanded by a respectable 2.4 percent in this year’s second quarter, the commerce department reported.
WAGE INCREASES SURPASSED INFLATION IN SECOND QUARTER: BIG DEAL?
In this year’s second quarter, U.S. workers got an actual raise... so says the U.S. government.
FED RAISES INTEREST RATE TO 22-YEAR HIGH
On 26 July, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee voted unanimously to add another quarter point to its interest rates, raising them to 5.25 percent on deposits and 5.5 percent on loans, their highest since 2001.
IS HOUSING RECESSION OVER?
The U.S. housing market’s recession is over, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), said in a statement last week.
INFLATION IS FALLING BUT MAJOR BRANDS KEEP RAISING PRICES
Coca-Cola, Pepsico, and Unilever are among many familiar brands that have raised prices sharply this year while posting comfortable profits, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
VALUE OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS SHRINKS
For the first time in two years, the monthly value of outstanding commercial real estate loans shrank in June, dropping to $5.44 trillion, Capital Economics reported.
TWO MORE U.S. BANKS BITE THE DUST
The troubled PacWest Bancorp, which wobbled in the wake of the mid-March failure of Signature and Silicon Valley banks, has been sold to Banc of California, a smaller competitor, in a stock swap.
THE MOST JUNK BONDS IN THREE YEARS HAVE BEEN DOWN-RATED
In March, April, and May, 120 junk-bond issues worth a total of $136 billion saw their credit ratings downgraded, more than at any time since 2020 during the heat of the COVID War, JPMorgan reported.
TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
INFLATION SLOWS AND GROWTH SLOWLY RISES IN THE EUROZONE
In July, inflation across the 20 countries sharing the euro currency edged down to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent in June, reaching its slowest pace since January 2022, and the area’s GDP expanded by 0.3 percent in the second quarter.
WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
Welcome to week 49 of job losses. Higher interest rates and rising inflation, plus the cheap money flow that governments pumped into economies to artificially drive up equity markets and economies are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees.
ECB BOOSTS INTEREST RATE TO 23-YEAR HIGH
As the U.S. Federal Reserve did a day earlier, the European Central Bank (ECB) added a quarter point to its key interest rate on 27 July, bringing it to 3.75 percent. It began raising the rate in July 2022, when it was -0.50 percent.
FALLING INFLATION RAISES HOPE THAT ECB WILL PAUSE RATE HIKES
Slowing inflation in the Eurozone’s two largest economies have raised hopes that the European Central Bank (ECB) will not raise interest rates again when it meets in September after it raised its key rate by another quarter point on 27 July.
EUROPE’S BANKS INCREASE CASH RESERVES AGAINST FAILING LOANS
In the first six months of this year, London-based Barclays bank set aside £896 million, or about $1.2 billion, to cover loans likely to turn sour, the bank disclosed on 27 July. The amount is more than double that in the first half of 2022.
CANADA’S ECONOMY SLOWS IN SECOND QUARTER, SHRINKS IN JUNE
Canada’s GDP grew a scant 1 percent in this year’s second quarter, Statistics Canada reported, slower than the 3.1 percent posted in the first quarter and below the Bank of Canada’s 1.5-percent forecast.
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC STRUGGLE
China’s manufacturing sector contracted again in July for the fourth straight month.
The country’s official purchasing managers index (PMI) registered 49.3 last month, after notching 49.0 in June, May and 49.2 in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported. Ratings below 50 indicate shrinking economic activity.
SPOTLIGHT, TOP TREND 2023: OFFICE BUILDING BUST
A tech company with a staff of 500 workers will need 20 percent less office space now than in the past, due to layoffs and the adoption of remote work, brokerage firm CBRE projected in a new study of North America’s top 50 job markets.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Private equity firm Tiger Global has sold its 4 percent of Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce company, to Walmart for $1.4 billion, Tiger told investors last week in a letter.
UKRAINE WAR TREND UPDATE
RUSSIA ONCE AGAIN CALLS NATO MEMBERSHIP FOR UKRAINE ITS ULTIMATE RED LINE
Russian President Vladimir Putin told African leaders last week that Moscow will never allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO, despite bluster from the West that its membership into the anti-Russia alliance is inevitable.
SWISS INTEL: ZELENSKY SHOWING ‘AUTHORITARIAN TRAITS’
Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported last week that an assessment by its country’s Federal Intelligence Service found that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is showing authoritarian characteristics and is attempting to eliminate his chief rival in next year’s election.
UKRAINIAN DRONE ATTACK STRIKES MOSCOW: ZELENSKY SAYS HE WANTS TO TAKE THE WAR TO RUSSIA
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said Sunday that it is inevitable that Russian territory becomes engulfed in the war after a drone attack on Moscow that resulted in two government buildings sustaining damage and Moscow’s main airport being forced to temporarily close.
RUSSIA ACCUSES U.S. OF HYPOCRISY FOR APPROVING UKRAINE’S ANTI-CHURCH CRACKDOWN
The Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the U.S. for “hushing up information” about Kyiv’s crackdown and crimes committed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that maintained close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
U.S. AT WAR WITH RUSSIA: PENTAGON APPROVES DANGER PAY FOR FORCES SERVING IN UKRAINE
The Pentagon announced last week that U.S. troops who have been stationed in Ukraine can earn “imminent danger pay” since they are in a warzone, which amounts to more than $200 a month in their paychecks, according to Stars & Stripes.
WESTERN MEDIA NOW REPORTING WHAT CELENTE, RITTER, AND MACGREGOR HAVE BEEN REPORTING FOR MONTHS: UKRAINE WON’T WIN
The Ukraine War has been nothing if not an evolution of journalistic groupthink in the U.S.
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by John & Nisha Whitehead
SUPREME COURT PROTECTS ANTI-GOVERNMENT SPEECH, NARROWS SCOPE OF IMMIGRATION LAW TO NOT CRIMINALIZE ENCOURAGEMENT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
In a 7-2 ruling that protects anti-government speech, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of a federal law that makes it a crime to “encourage” illegal aliens to remain in the country.
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by Dr. Joseph Mercola
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT CATARACTS?
Cataracts is an eye condition that causes your vision to blur due to a buildup of proteins on the lens of your eye. Left untreated, cataracts can result in progressive loss of vision and, ultimately, blindness.
CHASE SHUTS DOWN BANK ACCOUNTS OF MERCOLA AND KEY EMPLOYEES
July 13, 2023, JP Morgan Chase Bank informed me they are closing all of my business accounts, along with the personal accounts of my CEO, my CFO and their respective spouses and children
PRESIDENTIAL REALITY SHOW® 2024
RFK JR. SLAMS COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS DURING FOX NEWS TOWN HALL
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Democratic challenger to incumbent President Joe Biden, said during a town hall last week that the COVID-19 lockdowns did nothing but make matters worse for the country and “violated all of the orthodoxy” of acceptable pandemic protocols.
TRENDS IN THE MARKETS by Gregory Mannarino
ARE YOU READY? CENTRAL BANKS WILL VASTLY INFLATE FROM HERE
Being that not a single developed nation on Earth is going to implement any real cuts to spending, you can count on one thing happening, much higher global debt.
TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY by Joe Doran
“SAFE AND COMPLIANT” AI REQUIRES SAFE AND COMPLIANT HUMANS
Officials and “experts” are now beginning to argue that developing “safe and compliant” generative Artificial Intelligence is being made more difficult, due to human created “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
TRENDS IN CRYPTOS
COMPETITION OR COMPLEMENTARY? SURPRISING DATA SURROUNDING CRYPTO EXCHANGES
Large Crypto exchanges are serving to complement, and not just compete with smaller crypto exchanges in ways that have proven mutually beneficial.
HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES TWO SIGNIFICANT CRYPTO BILLS
The House Financial Services Committee marked a historic first this past week, approving several crypto focused bills that will now be considered by the full House.
BLOCKCHAIN BATTLES
Blame it on the Bahamas.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, won’t be prosecuted for a campaign finance violation, as part of a case involving embezzlement and fraud involving the company.
TRENDS IN THE COVID WAR
HEART ATTACK DEATHS IN U.S. JUMP AFTER COVID-19 OUTBREAK, WITH YOUNGER AMERICANS SEEING BIGGEST INCREASE IN CASES
The number of heart attack deaths across the U.S. has jumped since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, drawing new concerns about the virus’s impact on heart health and if vaccines play any kind of role in the increase.
COVID-19 KILLED THEATERS ACROSS THE U.S.
As we have long reported, the COVID War, launched by politicians across the world with their draconian lockdown mandates have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of billions across the globe.
FACEBOOK AMERIKA: SILENCE THE PEOPLE, ONLY BELIEVE THE GOVT’S COVID WAR
Facebook executives conspired to silence debate on the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak after being pressured by the Biden administration, according to a report last week in The Wall Street Journal.
2020 LETTER PROVES FAUCI LIED TO CONGRESS
New evidence shows that Dr. Anthony Fauci, who acted as a policy Czar during the COVID War, lied to Congress about the nature of experiments occurring at a Wuhan China lab.
TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
WASHINGTON LOVES WARMONGERS. VICTORIA ‘FUCK THE EU’ NULAND GETS PROMOTION
Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland, the former undersecretary of state for political affairs in the State Department got a promotion Monday to the acting second-in-command at the State Department.
ISRAEL’S APARTHEID STATE NOT AN APARTHEID DECLARES WASHINGTON
Israel can burn down Palestinian homes, kill innocent civilians, and conduct near-nightly raids in some of the poorest refugee camps in the world, and the U.S. will still support its government with funding and weapons, Lloyd Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, said last week.
JAPAN SAYS MILITARY RUSSIA/CHINA IS A THREAT
Japan has identified China’s expanding military activity in the region as its biggest threat with a special focus on Beijing’s growing relationship with Russia, according to its newly approved 2023 defense white paper.
U.S. WEAPONIZES THE WORLD: BIDEN ANNOUNCES ANOTHER $345 MILLION IN MILITARY AID FOR TAIWAN, WITH CHINA IN FOCUS
The U.S. dreams of Taiwan becoming the next Ukraine.
AUSTRALIA WILLING TO FOLLOW U.S. TO WAR, ANNOUNCES PLANS TO PRODUCE GUIDED MISSILES FOR WASHINGTON
It’s WWIII and you just don’t know it yet.
NIGER COUP: ENOUGH OF THE WEST, MOVING TOWARD RUSSIA. EU/FRANCE WANT ITS URANIUM
Pro-junta protesters took to the streets in Niger’s capital city, Niamey, waving Russian flags on Sunday and chanted “Putin” just days after soldiers in the country ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, a major ally of the U.S. who was elected in 2021.
DUH-MOCK-RACY: BRITISH BANK HEAD RESIGNS AFTER FARAGE ROW
The CEO of one of the U.K.'s largest banks announced her resignation last week after her bank, NatWest, dealt with the fallout after canceling the account of one of Britain's most prominent politicians over his political statements.
RUSSIA SAYS U.S. MEDIA HIDING BIDEN’S MENTAL DECLINE
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman from Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said last week that the U.S. media has conveniently ignored President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
PROTESTS KEEP ROCKING ISRAEL AS NETANYAHU MOVES AHEAD WITH JUDICIAL REFORMS
Demonstrators took to the streets across Israel on Saturday to keep up the campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the country’s judicial system after a major vote last week scrapped the “reasonableness law” that allows the court to keep the Knesset in check.
TRENDS-EYE VIEW
HORROR STORIES TIED TO WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS START TO EMERGE
Americans who were prescribed diet drugs for weight loss are beginning to tell stories about how these drugs may be tied to serious digestive issues they now face.
WHO KNEW? THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS ELITES, ELITE MOUTHPIECE TELLS US
Believe there are elites who spend their time—and copious amounts of money—trying to influence and steer policies to their liking?
TRENDS IN HI-TECH SCIENCE by Ben Daviss
OLD TECHNOLOGY GIVES NEW LIFE TO THE QUEST FOR GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy’s champions point to enormous amounts of energy locked in hot rocks under the ground: we drill down, pipe hot water down into the rocks to make steam, and collect the steam to spin turbines and generate electricity.
A RIBBON IN YOUR EAR MAY CONNECT YOUR BRAIN TO A COMPUTER
Linking the human brain with a computer makes good science fiction and has inspired ventures such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which aims to let you control devices with electronics implanted in your brain. Other less adventurous, and invasive, trials have outfitted subjects with skullcaps studded with electrodes.
“RAIN PANELS” MAY SOMEDAY COMPLEMENT YOUR SOLAR PANELS
Falling water holds a lot of power, as any 18th-century mill operator knew. For some time, scientists have been trying to figure out how to capture the power of falling raindrops to generate electricity.
TRENDS IN AI
MAKING CHATGPT SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE WAS SOUL-DESTROYING WORK FOR HUMAN TRAINERS
Beneath ChatGPT’s ability to converse easily on an Internet’s worth of subjects lies the psychological wreckage of scores of Kenyan trainers: employed by a contract labor firm, squads of low-wage workers in this East African country spent thousands of hours teaching the chatbot to not talk about subjects such as bestiality, child rape, and torture.
FOUR KEY AI DEVELOPERS FORM AI OVERSIGHT PARTNERSHIP
Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, an AI startup created by former OpenAI employees, are collaborating in an effort to promote responsible development and use of AI.
AI ROILS THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY
Video game producers are among AI’s most eager adopters, with employees paying the price.
In the $200-billion-a-year industry, costs have risen faster than revenues and players are always demanding something new and more exciting. Recent best-sellers “The Last of Us Part II” and “Horizon Forbidden West” cost Sony Group Corp. more than $200 million each and took hundreds of workers several years to produce.
USING AI TO TRAIN AI
ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and other “generative” AIs have been trained by filling them with the contents of the Internet—poems, legal analyses, scientific papers, travel guides, and any other items the trainers can find.
GOOGLE USES AI TO GIVE ROBOTS THEIR OWN “BRAINS”
In a recent demonstration, a Google engineer showed a visually-equipped robotic arm three figurines on a table: a dinosaur, a lion, and a whale. The engineer told the arm to “pick up the extinct animal.” The arm reached across and plucked up the dinosaur, even though the robot had not been programmed to know what a dinosaur is.