TRENDS ON THE ECONOMIC AND MARKET FRONT
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
The Street is surprised, but Trends Journal subscribers aren’t. Ready for this “shocking” Bloomberg headline? “Canada inflation quickens to 4 percent, driven by higher gas prices.”
U.S. CONSUMER INFLATION, WHOLESALE PRICES SPEED UP IN AUGUST
U.S. inflation rose from July’s 3.2 percent annually to 3.7 percent in August, driven higher by rising gasoline prices, the U.S. labor department reported. Analysts had expected the figure to rise to 3.6 percent.
IS INFLATION HEADING BACK HIGHER?
In August, U.S. inflation moved up to 3.7 percent after registering 3.2 percent in July. It was the first month-to-month increase in a year.
RETAIL SALES ROSE IN AUGUST THANKS TO RISING OIL PRICES
Retail sales ticked up 0.6 percent in August from July as consumers were forced to pay more for heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel. Wholesale prices for gasoline leaped up 20 percent, year on year, jet fuel 23.6 percent, and diesel 41.1 percent.
U.S. CONSUMERS CONTINUE TO PILE UP HUGE CREDIT CARD DEBTS
U.S. households added $43 billion to their credit cards in this year’s second quarter, according to WalletHub.
MORTGAGE RATES UP. WHAT’S NEXT?
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s high interest rates, abetted by inflation, are keeping U.S. mortgage interest rates above 7 percent.
DRIVERS DROPPING AUTO INSURANCE
In this year’s second half, the share of U.S. households with at least one uninsured vehicle rose from 5.2 percent to 5.7 percent, data service J.D. Power reported.
WORLD’S LARGEST LITHIUM DEPOSIT DISCOVERED IN NEVADA. BIG DEAL?
Inside an extinct Nevada volcano, geologists have found what may be the world’s largest lithium deposit, which they estimate to be between 20 and 40 million tons.
RECESSION COMING? RETAILERS HIRING FEWEST SEASONAL WORKERS SINCE PANIC OF ‘08
U.S. retailers plan to hire the smallest number of seasonal workers since 2008 because of higher labor costs and uncertainty over consumers’ holiday spending, according to a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC) obtained by Reuters.
MANHATTAN’S APARTMENT RENTS AT RECORD HIGH
The median apartment rent in New York City’s Manhattan borough remained at $4,370 in August, maintaining the record set in the month before, according to brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
WELLS FARGO EXECUTIVE RECEIVES NO JAIL TIME FOR CRIME
Carrie Tolstedt, former head of Wells Fargo’s community banking division, was sentenced to three years’ probation, including six months’ home confinement, last week for her role in the bank’s 2016 scandal in which more than two million credit cards and bank accounts were created for existing customers without their knowledge.
TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
MONEY MARKET FUNDS UP $1 TRILLION THIS YEAR
Money market funds’ assets have grown by $1 trillion so far this year, the Financial Times reported, and are poised to end this year with an additional $1.5 trillion if the current pace of deposits continues.
WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
This is the 54th week that we have been reporting job losses. And as we note in this Trends Journal, the outlook for hiring workers for the holiday season is at a Panic of ’08 low.
OIL SUPPLIES WILL REMAIN SHORT OF DEMAND
Since January, oil production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have subtracted 2.5 million barrels a day from the world’s oil supply, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has calculated.
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK RAISES INTEREST RATE TO RECORD HIGH
On 14 September, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its key interest rate for the 10th time in as many meetings, bumping it by a quarter point to an even 4 percent, the highest since the euro currency was introduced in 1999.
ECB RATE HAWKS HOLD OUT FOR ANOTHER INCREASE IN DECEMBER
The European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) decision last week to signal that its interest rate may now have peaked was not unanimous.
U.K. ECONOMY SHRANK IN JULY AT FASTEST PACE THIS YEAR
In July, Britain’s economy contracted most sharply since December, with GDP puckering by 0.5 percent compared to July and busting analysts’ expectations of a 0.2-percent slide.
CHINA’S ECONOMY PERKS UP IN AUGUST
Last month, economic activity picked up in China’s retail and travel industries as well as at computer chip and smartphone factories, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
As we had long forecast, the higher central banks raise interest rates, the lower the Merger and Acquisition trend… which hit record highs at the height of the COVID War in 2021 when interest rates sank and governments pumped in countless trillions to artificially prop up sinking economies.
UKRAINE WAR TREND UPDATE
GERMANY’S BAERBOCK FOLLOWS BIDEN’S LEAD, CALLS CHINA’S XI A DICTATOR
If you’re not a member of the so-called Western “democracies” whose politicians launch endless wars and rob people of their freedom, non-members are labeled dictators.
NATO CHIEF ACKNOWLEDGES THAT ALLIANCE’S EXPANSION LED TO RUSSIAN INVASION
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, gave some of the history that led up to Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine—notably his alliance’s decision to continue its march eastward.
WESTERN MEDIA REPORTS ON SMALL GAINS IN UKRANIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE, BUT BARELY REPORTS THEIR LOSSES
The Western news media reported on Saturday that Ukrainian fighters—who have been locked in a bloody effort to retake Russian-occupied...
RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT: MOSCOW DOESN’T NEED WASHINGTON’S APPROVAL FOR WHO TO CONDUCT BUSINESS WITH
Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., brushed aside Washington’s criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s high-profile meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un last week to reportedly discuss some kind of military partnership.
PUTIN: U.K. TRAINED SABOTEURS TO TARGET RUSSIAN NUKE PLANTS, BUT WE DON’T BELIEVE HIM!
President Vladimir Putin told reporters that a U.K.-backed plot to sabotage a Russian nuclear power plant was foiled after the group of “saboteurs” were nabbed by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
NATO HEAD: GET READY FOR A LONG WAR IN UKRAINE
Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, told a German news outlet on Sunday that the Western countries supporting Ukraine should prepare for a “long war” because most conflicts stretch longer than first thought.
LAVROV: U.S. IS WAGING WAR ON RUSSIA THROUGH UKRAINE
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, said in an interview that the U.S. has been grooming Ukraine for years to fight Moscow in hopes of “inflicting a strategic defeat” on the country.
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by Dr. Joseph Mercola
MICROPLASTICS MAY BE HARMING YOUR BODY AND BRAIN
Discarded plastic—both large and microscopic—circles the globe, choking our oceans and polluting our food supply, ultimately finding their way into your body where they can accumulate over time
FEATURED TRENDS GUEST ARTICLE by Philip Giraldi
AMERICANS ARE BEING LED BY A LYING MEDIA AND CORRUPT POLITICAL CLASS
Each morning I do a quick scan of the headlines coming over the wire services, clear my emails and Facebook entries, and then take a closer look at The New York Times online, paying particular attention to the opinion pages. I usually am not disappointed in my belief that the President Joe Biden Administration as well as ex-President Donald Trump, have been and continue to be collectively destroying what was once an admirable nation, something like flushing us repeatedly down the toilets of their ambition and greed.
PRESIDENTIAL REALITY SHOW
BIDEN LIES: HE NEVER TAUGHT AT IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL
What would be worse: President Joe Biden lying about teaching a course on political theory at the University of Pennsylvania, or the president not knowing if he ever taught at the school?
REFUSED BY BIDEN, RFK JR AGAIN SEEKS SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AFTER SCARE ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee that the media and establishment ignores and or denounces, once again called...
TRENDS IN THE MARKETS by Gregory Mannarino
THE GLOBAL DEBT MARKET IS NOW FLASHING RED
Last week Bloomberg reported this: “The Bond Market Has Not Flashed a Warning Sign for This Long in Over Six Decades.”
TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY by Joe Doran
TECHNIQUES BEING USED TO TRAIN AI WILL BE USED TO TRAIN—AND LIMIT—HUMANS
For years, scientists have been developing, with increasing success, AI that can self-learn in more sophisticated ways.
Neural net learning, modeled on the way human brains process and hold onto or discard information, is one of the most advanced ways AI systems “self-learn.”
TRENDS IN CRYPTOS
HOW LONG CAN HONG KONG REMAIN CRYPTO FRIENDLY?
Right now there’s no question that Hong Kong is friendlier to crypto companies and web3 development than New York, or the Biden Administration in general.
BLOCKCHAIN BATTLES
Scaling Ethereum “to the size of the internet.” That’s a sizable goal, but one that Polygon developers have set for the future of their “Layer 2” blockchain, which is known for offering technology which can reduce transaction costs of utilizing the Ethereum network.
TRENDS IN THE COVID WAR
CIA BRIBED ANALYSTS TO CONCLUDE COVID DIDN’T ORIGINATE FROM WUHAN LAB, HIGH-LEVEL WHISTLEBLOWER TELLS CONGRESS
It wasn’t just faulty analysis, or even a desire to protect their own pro-genetic experimentation scientific orientations.
TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
HYPERSONIC? RUSSIA AND CHINA HAVE IT…U.S. DOESN’T
In November 2021, China successfully launched a hypersonic missile that caught the U.S. off guard.
WAR DRUMS BEATING IN SWEDEN: STOCKHOLM SEEKS BIG INCREASE IN DEFENSE SPENDING AS NATO MEMBERSHIP LOOMS
Sweden announced last week that it will increase military spending by about 30 percent in 2024 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, stating that it now faces its “most serious security situation” since WWII.
SYRIA ACCUSES U.S. OF PLUNDERING OIL, OTHER ‘STRATEGIC RESOURCES’
Gerald Celente has long asked: Would the U.S. have invaded Iraq and Libya if the country’s chief export was broccoli?
EUROPEANS FORCED TO EMBRACE ‘THE AMERICAN WAY’: MILITARY FUNDING ABOVE ALL
As we have been reporting in The Trends Journal, much of Europe is suffering from Dragflation: high declining economic growth and inflation rates.
WWIII: NATO PLANS LARGEST MILITARY EXERCISE SINCE COLD WAR
NATO is planning to carry out its largest military exercise in decades this spring and drills—which will include 41,000 troops and more than 50 ships—will be designed to square off to a model coalition led by Russian forces, according to reports.
UKRAINE’S COUNTEROFFENSIVE COLLAPSE FOLLOWED BY U.S.’s G20 COLLAPSE
The best the U.S. could muster from the G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month was what has been called a “watered-down” declaration that critics noted did not even identify Russia as the aggressor.
BLINKEN: OLD WORLD ORDER DEAD…UP NEXT, A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, gave a speech last week at Washington D.C.’s Johns Hopkins University and told the audience what everyone seems to already know: the post-Cold War World Order has come to an end, and will give way to a fight-to-the-death among superpowers.
DUMBFUKISTAN: MOST AMERICANS HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION, THEIR RIGHTS
How can the Biden administration continue to send Ukraine billions to fight a war that is no threat to America without any public debate?
TRENDS-EYE VIEW
FRANCE MOVES TO RECALL iPHONE 12 OVER RADIATION FEARS
French regulators announced last week that they will stop the sales of iPhone 12 models in the country unless Apple reduces the amount of radiation exposure from the device.
WALKING DEAD: AVERAGE AMERICAN SPENDS MORE TIME ON THEIR DEVICES THAN WITH THEIR CHILDREN
Last week, The Trends Journal’s cover featured an image of a city with people crossing a busy street with their eyes glued on their smartphones.
AS FORECAST: OBESITY KILLING AMERICANS
A newly released study found that more Americans are dying from heart disease—caused by obesity—at a faster rate than ever and triple the amount recorded in 1999.
IS YOUR MULTIVITAMIN FEEDING YOUR CANCER?
Common supplements that millions of Americans ingest to ward off the common cold and keep their joints healthy could—when taken in excess —increase the growth of blood vessels in cancer, according to researchers in Sweden.
ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS LEAD TO INCREASED RISK OF HEART DISEASE
A new study conducted in France found that certain additives in ultra-processed foods could elevate the risk of heart disease in the general population.
TRENDS IN HI-TECH SCIENCE by Ben Daviss
CAN WE DRILL FOR HYDROGEN THE SAME WAY WE DRILL FOR OIL?
Hydrogen, a growing factor in the global green-energy transition, is usually distilled industrially from natural gas. Now the U.S. energy department is going to test a controversial theory that we can suck hydrogen out of the ground the way we do oil and gas.
PIG EMBRYOS GROW HUMAN KIDNEY CELLS
Pigs have long been seen as possible incubators of human organs to use in transplants. Experiments at California’s Altos Labs have moved science closer to that goal.
TESLA’S NEW WAY TO MAKE CARS SLASHES MANUFACTURING COSTS
Tesla has invented a car-making technique called “gigacasting” that could cut manufacturing costs in half and help Elon Musk achieve his dream of profitably supplying the world with millions of cheap electric vehicles.
TRENDS IN AI
SCHOOLS SURRENDER TO AI
Last February, the 5,400-student school district in Walla Walla, WA, banned ChatGPT. In August, the district held a workshop on how to use chatbots and how to teach students the skills to make the most of them. About 100 teachers—almost a third of the district’s faculty—showed up.
COMPANIES ARE FIGURING OUT HOW AI FITS IN—AND, YES, JOBS ARE DISAPPEARING
Automation in factories gutted the legion of blue-collar workers who made their living with their hands.
Now AI is automating knowledge work and it’s white-collar employees’ turn to be shown the door.
OPENAI OFFERS BUSINESS VERSION OF CHATGPT
OpenAI has released a version of its GPT artificial intelligence tailored specifically for businesses that will help employees write code, search documents, analyze corporate data, and carry out a range of other tasks, the company announced.
PENTAGON PLANS AI-POWERED AUTOMATED FORCE
The U.S. military plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build thousands of AI-enlivened drones, surveillance craft, and other nimble machines that are “small, smart, and cheap,” deputy defense secretary Katherine Hicks revealed in a 6 September speech to a defense industry conference in Virginia.
IRS ENLISTS AI TO TRACK DOWN TAX CHEATS
The IRS is using some of its $80-million windfall from last year’s Inflation Reduction Act to bring AI to bear in tracking down taxes not paid by hedge funds, real estate investors, limited liability partnerships, and wealthy individuals, The New York Times reported.
GOOGLE ENTERS AI CLOUD CONTEST
Google has finally begun selling PALM-2, its most powerful AI technology, to the general public in an attempt to make up for time lost to Amazon and Microsoft, which have been offering similar tools broadly for months.