“Do it now. Do it today.”
Great life advice? Well yeah. “A good plan violently executed is better than a perfect plan never executed and all that.”
Still, while that’s true 99% of the time, sometimes it’s best to go Zen in trading. Don’t act on impulse – act on a plan.
But who was saying JUST DO IT yesterday? It was President Joe Biden’s command to oil companies. He told them to reduce prices, as he is lifting the federal gas tax and is asking states to do the same.
Our departed friend Dr. Kent Moors wrote in one of his last columns that oil companies actually were making obscene profits from high gas prices. Yet market dynamics don’t simply obey political commands.
After all, we’ve seen how a “command economy” worked in the USSR – and the results weren’t very impressive.
The truth is that even the so-called experts can’t manage an economy from the top down. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently said the global environment is “uncertain” and we might get further inflation “surprises.”
Well, if that’s the case, what exactly is the Fed for?
I suspect that there’s a bit of desperation when it comes to the federal government’s handling of the economy. And this isn’t a political charge – I’m not sure it would have made a difference if someone else was in power.
What we’re really seeing is the culmination of negative trends that have been building for decades.
Just in time supply chains that require uninterrupted transit of key materials.
National governments assuming that geopolitical tensions and the possibility of great power wars can simply be wished away.
A fascination with the possibilities of the future instead of the realities of today.
Remember, focus on what’s real. What are the charts telling us? What are the realities about energy needs? What political obstacles can get in the way of the global economy?
More importantly, in a world that’s rapidly moving towards competing power blocs, can we even still talk about the “global economy?”
The world is changing fast. We need to change with it. Ignore the rhetoric, focus on the numbers, keep winning and…
Keep Moving,
In this week’s Hood Talk, Chris looks at the market through three time frames – the daily, monthly, and weekly charts.
This isn’t just guesswork, but an analysis using tools that hedge funds are willing to pay millions of dollars to use.
WORD ON THE STREET
Tesla Burning Money, POTUS Tries To Command Prices, Europe In Crisis
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So, At Best, We Get 18 Cents – President Joe Biden asked Congress to suspend the federal gas tax (18 cents a gallon) and said state governments should lift their own equivalents. He also bluntly ordered companies profiting from the situation to reduce prices and pass on the total savings to customers. However, some analysts argue that this move may be self-defeating. Higher demand created by the gas tax holiday might simply lead to higher prices from producers. After all, America’s refineries are already at capacity, and it is doubtful new ones will be built anytime soon.
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At Least He’s Honest About It – Elon Musk dropped several bombs during a recent video interview. Bankruptcy for Tesla? It’s a possibility. The new factories in Germany and Texas? They’re “gigantic money furnaces.” Musk blamed continuing supply chain disruptions, especially the “very, very difficult” shutdowns in China.
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Zuck’s Billion Dollar Dream – Meta Platforms head Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday that he hopes for a “billion people in the metaverse doing hundreds of dollars of commerce” buying digital goods. The Company Formerly Known As Facebook has been hard hit by the decline in tech stocks as well as declining user growth. Zuckerberg has essentially bet it all on his metaverse dream – and he’ll either go down as a visionary genius or the equivalent of the guy who bought a million dollar NFT just before the market collapsed.
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Imagine Alaska Was Blockaded – No, seriously. Alaska isn’t connected to the rest of the USA by land. Imagine if Canada, for some reason, blocked rail traffic to it. How would we react? The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad has been cut off from rail traffic for certain goods by Lithuania. Russia says it “will certainly respond to such hostile actions,” but remember – Lithuania is a NATO member. Russia is still struggling to take on just Ukraine.
HOT SPOTS: What’s Going on in Geopolitics
- Railway Strike Rocks UK – The biggest railway strike in about 30 years has brought transit in the United Kingdom to a standstill. The famous London Underground was also closed in many locations. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer charged Prime Minister Boris Johnson with not having lifted a finger to prevent the strikes. However, Boris Johnson appears eager for a showdown, potentially allowing railway companies to bring in agency workers to replace union members.
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Afghanistan Hit By Earthquake – At least 1,000 are dead after an earthquake in Afghanistan. The Taliban has been reduced to begging for international aid. While the United States has pledged humanitarian assistance, China challenged Washington to give the ruling Taliban billions of dollars in funds that Washington has frozen to keep out of the terrorists’ reach.
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China Tilting More Towards Russia? – China has been restrained in its support for Russia’s war of conquest in Ukraine. However, President Xi Jinping gave an unmistakable signal at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit. He warned against “expanding military alliances” – which is hard to see as anything other than a reference to NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe.
CUTTING EDGE: What‘s Happening In Tech
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China Claims New AI Equal To A Human Brain – Oh, I know where this is going. The “Newest Generation Sunway” computer can almost match the speed of a human being changing his mind, according to boasts from Chinese state media. The computer is supposed to be used for innocent goals like autonomous driving… but I doubt it will stop there.
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Moon Rocket Halted At The Last Minute – The Space Launch System had to cut a launch simulation short after a hydrogen leak emerged. NASA put a brave face on the test, with launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson saying the “majority of the objectives” were achieved. Still, they better fix the leak… the SLS is the rocket that is supposed to take America back to the moon with the Artemis program.
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POLIO Making A Comeback – For the first time in almost half a century, polio has been located in the United Kingdom. Multiple versions of the polio virus have reportedly been identified in sewage. Thus far, there have been no cases – but all of that is dependent on whether most Brits have been inoculated against the disease. If we start seeing cases, it could get ugly fast.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
“This isn’t something I wanted to write, but we must both mourn and move forward together.”
This may be the last Classified Intelligence Brief… and sadly, it wasn’t written by Dr. Kent Moors. Our friend passed last weekend. Read Corey’s tribute to this great man, especially if you are a Sigma Trader or Prism Profits subscriber.
We won’t leave you hanging. We will honor our departed colleague’s legacy and work by doing as much as we can to help you win.
The information in this email is intended for informational purposes only and does not guarantee specific results as there is a high degree of risk involved with trading. Also, our traders are real traders and may have financial interests in the companies discussed. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information