TRENDS ON THE ECONOMIC AND MARKET FRONT
FED RAISES KEY RATE A QUARTER POINT: WHAT’S NEXT?
The U.S. Federal Reserve added a quarter point to its key interest rate last week, lifting the yield it pays on deposits to 4.75 percent and the rate it charges borrowing banks to 5 percent.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
In February we warned Trends Journal subscribers to prepare for “March Economic and Equity Market Madness.” We also provided proactive measures to consider taking.
FREIGHT COMPANIES FEAR RECESSION
Logistics companies had hoped for increased business in the last half of this year, but retailers are cautious about placing orders after being overstocked for months last year and earlier in this one, The Wall Street Journal reported.
TOP TREND 2023, OFFICE BUILDING BUST: THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE FACE OFF
Small and regional U.S. banks hold about 80 percent of all commercial real estate loans in the country, totaling around $2.3 trillion, according to data service Trepp.
TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
This is week 34 of our reporting the long trend-line of layoffs that signal recession in a country near you. To illustrate the depth and range of the layoff trend we note that Recruit Holdings, owner of online job placement service Indeed, is laying off about 2,200 workers or about 15 percent of its staff.
TOP TREND 2023, GOING GREEN LIKE IT OR NOT: EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES “GREEN DEAL”
A “green deal” industrial initiative proposed by the European Commission (EC) would see a minimum of 40 percent of the green energy technologies installed in European Union (EU) countries in 2030 made by businesses located there.
INFLATION UP IN U.K., LIVING STANDARDS DECLINE
According to “experts,” it wasn’t going to happen. Inflation in Great Britain ticked up in February to 10.4 percent after finishing January at 10.1 percent, according to the Office for National Statistics reported.
BUNDESBANK BOSS SAYS ECB MUST KEEP RAISING INTEREST RATES
The European Central Bank (ECB) must remain “stubborn” and continue to raise its interest rates to bring inflation to heel, Joachim Nagel, president of Germany’s Bundesbank and Europe’s chief rate hawk, said in a public statement after the bank bumped its rate by a half-point on 16 March.
LAGARDE WARNS OF WAGE-PRICE “TIT-FOR-TAT DYNAMIC”
Europe risks a “tit-for-tat dynamic” between workers and employers as each pushes for higher incomes to escape inflation’s bite, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB) warned at a German financial conference last week.
SPECIAL UPDATE: THE BIG BANKSTER BUST
While the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve have vowed to do all it takes to prevent a banking crisis, there are fears of a bad situation becoming much worse.
UKRAINE WAR TREND UPDATE
FORMER RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: U.S. IS OUR ENEMY
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s national security council and former president, didn’t mince words last week when he identified the U.S. as an enemy.
XI MEETS WITH PUTIN IN RUSSIA, VOWS CONTINUED PARTNERSHIP
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week where the two spoke about their growing economic and security relationship, which was seen as a clear challenge to U.S. hegemony.
CHINA RESPONDS TO CRITICISM FROM U.S., WEST OVER UKRAINE PEACE PROPOSAL
China called out the U.S. hypocrisy when Washington dismissed Beijing’s peace proposal.
TOP TREND, WWIII: U.K. NUKE NUTS SENDING KYIV DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONRY
The U.K. laughed off Russia’s latest threat after announcing that it will provide Ukraine with Challenger 2 tanks and munitions made with depleted uranium.
RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT: NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON LOOMS ‘EVER MORE DISTINCTLY’ THANKS TO U.S., ALLIES
Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., said in an interview last week that the world is on the brink of a nuclear showdown unlike any time in history thanks to the West’s provocation and support for Ukraine.
BIDEN PROMISED TO DESTROY NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE: VIDEO PROVES IT
About three weeks before Russian tanks began to move into Ukraine last year, President Joe Biden held a news conference in Washington with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and said—in no uncertain terms—that the first casualty of the war would be the Nord Stream pipeline.
IMF REACHES AGREEMENT $15.6B LOAN FOR UKRAINE WITH SPECIAL DEAL
The International Monetary Fund, the international lender of last resort, announced last week that it reached a staff-level agreement to provide Ukraine with a $15.6 billion loan to make sure the country can continue its fight with Russia for years to come.
MEDVEDEV CALLS ON ‘PROPER PIRATES’ TO STEAL WESTERN ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT AS PAYBACK
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s national security council and former president, has called on Russians to attempt to...
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by Dr. Joseph Mercola
TURNS OUT, EBOLA LIKELY LEAKED FROM A LAB AS WELL
In December 2013, Zaire Ebola hemorrhagic fever broke out in Guinea and over the next three years spread across West Africa, ultimately killing 11,323 people. It was the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.
TRENDS IN THE MARKETS by Gregory Mannarino
CENTRAL BANKS MUST NOW HYPERINFLATE, AND YOU WILL PAY FOR IT
For those of you who may not know, I am going to let you in on a nasty secret. THE POWER OF ANY GIVEN CENTRAL BANK RESIDES IN ONLY ONE THING, AND ONE THING ONLY… ITS ABILITY TO INFLATE.
TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY by Joe Doran
WHAT AI CAN’T KNOW, MAY JUST KILL YOU
While there’s still time, humans would do well to contemplate worst case scenarios of creating AI which can outdo humans in every respect.
MICROSOFT SAYS CHATGPT4 AN “EARLY FORM” OF ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
Has the newest version of ChatGPT achieved a human level of general intelligence? Microsoft is now making that claim for ChatGPT4.
THIS WEEK IN SURVEILLANCE
A Congressional appearance this past week by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was widely viewed as a disaster for the company.
TRENDS IN CRYPTOS
FEDNOW FURTHERING GOVERNMENT CBDC AND DIGITAL PAYMENTS GOALS
The fast approaching FedNow instant payments system serves two goals.
NASDAQ SET TO BECOME A CRYPTO CUSTODY PROVIDER
Nasdaq is currently working out regulatory clearances in order to offer crypto custody services. That’s according to a 24 March Bloomberg report.
LARRY FINK ON CRYPTOS, THE BANKING CRISIS AND DE-GLOBALIZATION
Gerald Celente named “Self-Sufficient Economies” as a de-globalization related Top Trend in November of 2021.
BITCOIN GETS BANK BOOST IN GERMANY
Several moves in Germany spell good news for bitcoin adoption and investment. Via a new platform called wpNex offered by securities processing giant Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG (dwpbank), some 1,200 German banks will be able to offer bitcoin to retail customers.
BLOCKCHAIN BATTLES
Several reports involving cryptos and a possible U.S. CBDC were released this past week. But the reports themselves, and much of the media attention surrounding them, failed to get at the core issue.
TRENDS IN THE COVID WAR
COVID VACCINE DEVASTATION, QUANTIFIED
1.36 million individuals aged 16-64 actively engaged in the labor market were disabled by COVID vaccines, and 310 thousand deaths were caused by them.
TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
U.S. PROVOKES CHINA AFTER SAILING DESTROYER AROUND DISPUTED ISLAND CHAIN
China accused the U.S. of violating its sovereignty and security after its decision to sail a destroyer near the Paracel Islands, which has historically been claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
U.S. BOMBS SYRIA IN RETALIATION STRIKE AFTER CONTRACTOR’S DEATH
The U.S. announced last week that it launched a missile strike into Syria in retaliation for the death of an American contractor in the country.
SPOTLIGHT ON NEW WORLD DISORDER TOP TREND
One of our Top Trends for 2020 was New World Disorder. Long forgotten are the facts that back in 2019 people across the globe were taking to the streets in protest of government corruption, crime, violence, and the decline and/or lack of basic living standards.
WAR-MONGERS IN SENATE EASILY KILL EFFORT TO END 2001 AUTHORIZATION FOR THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE USED TO JUSTIFY WARS
Sen. Rand Paul’s effort to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force was easily rejected by the war-mongers in the Senate.
ISRAEL BLAMED FOR ANOTHER ATTACK ON SYRIAN AIRPORT
Another day, another Israeli bomb explodes on a civilian target in Syria.
TRENDS-EYE VIEW
NEAR-TERM AI JOB CASUALTIES
New research has listed a “top 20” of human occupations facing competition from Artificial Intelligence systems.
SHORT-SELLER HINDENBURG CLAIMS IT’S ALL ABOUT OUTING CORPORATE FRAUD
Hindenburg research made big news this past week plying their by-now familiar trade: exposing “fraud” at a major company that they just happen to have placed huge short bets against.
77 PERCENT OF YOUNG AMERICANS TOO FAT TO FIGHT
The Pentagon found in a recent study that 77 percent of military-age Americans are too fat and drugged up to serve in the Armed Forces, which adds an additional strain on the country’s recruitment efforts.
COVID-19 SCARED AMERICANS THIN?
A recent study found that more Americans grew concerned about their waistlines as COVID-19 spread as research showed overweight individuals were at greater risk of hospitalization and death from the virus.
CHIPMAKERS: WE NEED ‘FOREVER CHEMICALS’ FOREVER. WE DON’T CARE IF THEY KILL YOU
Major companies lashed out at lawmakers in Minnesota last week over a bill that would ban certain products that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”
AMERICAN CONFIDENCE IN BANKS TAKES HIT
The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature have made more Americans lose faith in the country’s banks with...
TRENDS IN HI-TECH SCIENCE by Ben Daviss
ROBOTS THAT READ YOUR MIND
Working with the Australian army, researchers at the University of Technology at Sydney have developed a way for humans to control robots through brainwaves.
ENGINEERED MOLECULES KILL CANCER
Immunotherapy is cancer treatment’s new go-to remedy. Technicians take white blood cells from a patient—the “killer T cells” of the immune system —isolate the ones best suited to fight the patient’s form of cancer, then genetically engineer them to be “super T cells” able to overcome cancer’s defenses.
INTRODUCING THE OXYGEN-ION BATTERY
Engineers at the Vienna University of Technology have created a battery that needs no hard-to-come-by materials, uses no nickel or cobalt, can’t catch fire, and can be regenerated when the performance begins to degrade with time.