Good morning,
This week I experimented by making a wonderful risotto dish with Shrimp, butter parmesan cheese, and orange zest, then sprinkled some fresh parsley and Wow! While I was shopping, I picked up some jalapeño peppers in the reduced section, got a boat load at a great price. I decided to try making those jalapeño poppers. My dog, I think is a reincarnation of my father, he loves peppers but for some strange reason he didn’t want these ones. As I finished cutting and cleaning, I had to go to the bathroom to pee. Mama Mia! I howled like a wolf man under a full moon. I salsa danced for an hour, as jingle bells rang throughout the house. It was late and my daughters were asking, what’s the matter with you, Dad? My nuts were roasting, over an open fire of pepper flakes causing agony that no human should ever endure. Point of the story, wear gloves when working with jalapeños and don’t touch sensitive parts of your body.
Speaking of sensitivity, we head toward the year’s end and today is referred to as Super Thursday. The Federal Reserve was the first to deliver its keynote final message. The Fed avoided any remarks of rate hikes and instead stated they would react in any way they see fit to get to the 2% inflation target level. Keep in mind, it is an election year and the influence of power will do whatever is necessary to paint a rosy portrait of life. It will be hard to undo what has happened until now because people just don’t forget painful experiences. Yet Americans can expect interest rates to start coming down to ease some of that pain. Click below, for an educated opinion on how to eliminate deficits;
https://www.tiktok.com/@miltonfriedman1912/video/7283462144337775903?_t=8i4cKPshLBV&_r=1&fbclid=IwAR3853xOqBeMFoZwYb1iIu8639NknlA5hO-DKxrO5fwU0Ucqp61NOGjuhAM_aem_AZ5Cp1bACWfjjIpsWIEgH7fBMYOn0MbgWj1jOPbfyolw7yjHJrRNXUht_LokOreFUMw
On the other side of the Ocean, the Central Banks the ECB, BOE and Swiss National Bank (SNB), diverged from the dovish Fed announcement and were mostly hawkish. The ECB President, Lagarde, stated that there was no discussion revolving around interest rate cuts. I have my own opinion of her and it isn’t admirable as I wonder whose agenda she is promoting.
Conversely, a slew of economic data was presented;
– Jobless Claims lower to 202k vs (221k)
– Retail Sales up 0.3% vs <-0.2%>
– Last Friday USD added 199k new jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7% vs (3.8%)
Note: The Thanksgiving holiday is the biggest shopping event of the year combined with events encouraging Christmas shopping. Therefore the improvements could be justified as seasonal expectations.
Consequently, with the diverging Central Bank opinions and policies, the USD Index dropped below the 102.0 level. As a result, currencies exploded higher, including Precious Metals, Gold toward the $2050/oz level and Silver back above $24/oz. On the Other hand, Oil recently fell toward the $67/B and now is above the $72/B level. The Canadian Dollar has moved favourably above the 0.74 cent level but is mainly a product of USD weakness.
Lastly, Bitcoin maintains a price in USD in the $42k/coin range. I still am trying to wrap my head around the valuation of this item which is a digital currency backed by absolutely nothing but supply and demand. Then again, if the banking system collapses because of the constant printing of money, what alternative will people have? Invest in survival methods, making food and water your top priorities. I can give lessons on cooking risotto if needed but if jalapenos are involved make sure we have gloves.
I think I love you!