Thursday, stocks were higher yesterday. The news good and markets were higher across the board.
Silver was up another 8% and the housing numbers were great.
Tesla announced they will build a gigafactory in Austin,Tx.
The attached article was too good to ignore. It's a perfect example of the 'law of unintended consequences'.
The monetary policies we are experiencing has been used before, a short history lesson.

Good news Wednesday. The DOW was up yesterday but well off its high of the day. The National Activity Index rose yesterday confirming the information in the attached article. Quote from the article: "Some sectors have sprung back to life more decisively than expected, and they include retailing and manufacturing."
The stand out in the investment world yesterday was silver which surged over 7% and is now trading over $22 per ounce.
After the 10 year bull market in stocks and the bounce back since the March drop it is hard to find sectors to could be considered undervalued. The second attached article identifies one place where big investeors have started looking for value. In full disclosure we have significant positions in this sector.
Walmart is paying bonuses to employers again.
Coca-cola says the worst is behind them.
Let's talk about inflation and demographic shifts.

Tuesday, The DOW was slightly positive yesterday but the NASDAQ hit another all time high. Some people are really benefiting from the markets move higher. The attached article reminds Mark Cuban of the dot com bubble of the late 1990s. A quote from the article: "Everybody’s a genius in a bull market".
The move in the stock market has caused some eye popping gains for some big names. Elon Musk is now the 5th richest man in the world. Musk's wealth is built on Tesla stock, a company that has never had a profitable year. Jeff Bezos (Amazon) saw his net worth increase $13 billion in one day.
We have talked about real estate and the rising prices but here is a look at where prices are rising most. In the last year urban prices are up 19%, suburban prices are up 30% and rural prices are up 34% Remember there is no inflation because the government told me so.

Monday, DOW stocks were down an insignificant amount on Friday but the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ were up.
Housing starts rocketed 17.3% in June. The attached article indicates the cars and housing are major supporters for the economy.
Low interest rates support the purchase of assets the can be financed for long time periods. Quote from the article: “Buyer demand is out of control,” Mr. Orlando said. “There’s not enough houses.”
Munchin say the PPP loans small businesses took may be a grant with no need to prove how it was used. If the loan was for less than $150,000 there is support to turn them into grants. The SBA cannot process the volume of applications for forgiveness. Quote from the article attached. "Lawmakers in both parties expressed support Friday for extending help to small businesses. “There are still challenges that are presenting obstacles for the nation’s smallest firms,” said Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio, the House panel’s top Republican. “We aren’t done yet.”
Governor of Tennessee Bill Lee said last week there will be no more business shutdowns and no mask mandate for the State.

Friday, stocks were down slightly yesterday. Nothing to get excited about. But according to the attached article Jim Cramer knows exactly when the stock market will hit the skids. Jim is failing to follow a cardinal rule of investment advisors "never predict an exact date nor an exact price".
The good news yesterday came from the housing market. The articles are attached below, Home builders confidence surged to pre-pandemic levels, the flight to the suburbs picks up steam and a 30 year, fixed mortgages dropped below 3%.

Thursday,stocks were up yesterday but the high of the day came around 11 am.
We are seeing prices rise, slowly now but the pace is picking up. Online food prices are up 4.2% during the past six months. Cooper prices are also rising. Copper prices are very sensitive to changes it economic conditions. We have talked over the past few weeks about price increase
in oil, real estate, auto prices and precious metals. It looks like a pattern is developing.

Good news Wednesday and stocks came through. The Dow was up and late day trading added to the gains.
CPI surprised to the upside. Inflation? Chain store sale declined.
Futures and foreign stocks are up driven by positive news by Moderna saying they are seeing positive signs developing a corona virus vaccine.
Robert Shiller, co-founder of the Case Shiller Home Price Index, says the pandemic will encourage people to leave the cities for suburban living reducing demand and prices for urban housing.
Lucas County is back in the real estate development business again. We'll see how it turns out this time.

Tuesday, great ride in stocks yesterday but like a roller coaster we got off about where we got on. Concern about another shut down of the economy is weighing on stocks.
Some time ago we talked about the big '5' carrying the stock market indices higher. They are doing so again. The attached article shows that without the gains in those 5 stocks the markets would look very different.
In a conversation with a friend yesterday it occurred to me that everyone has their own 'facts'. The facts are so different they can't all be true. Your 'facts' will not convince me and my 'facts' will not convince you. It is a problem/condition that will not be resolved anytime soon.
The question for the day is "will the economy shut down again"?

Monday, what a great weekend. Stocks were up Friday but have been trading in a narrow range waiting for earnings to kick off this week.
Earnings estimates are all over the place basically they are guessing. Not that they will all be lower. Some are going to surprise on the high side.
Remember bad information whither in investments or medicine leads to bad decisions.
Crisis accelerates change and this one is no exception. So far we are seeing changes in retail, and the real estate involved in retail, education at all levels, next may be in nursing facilities.
The article below is one way the changes may develop. Frankly, I think it's a good idea.

Friday, finally a break from the heat and mother nature decides to water the plants. DOW stocks declined yesterday. But there are exciting places in the markets. If you think gold and oil have been on a tear look at lumber prices and Tesla.
Some people treat investing as a game and some of the popular phone apps encourage that feeling. The attached article is another example of what can happen.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden released his economic proposal yesterday and the only thing that is apparent is that no matter who is elected President the government is going to spend, spend, spend. Modern Monetary Theory is no longer a theory but us now an experiment. All I can say is buckle up buttercup, this is going to get interesting.