Category: Currency

Gimme (Cheaper) Shelter! US Core CPI Falls To Slowest In 4 Years (Real Wage Growth Rises As Rent CPI Rose Only 0.2% In January)

Gimme (cheaper) shelter!

Rate-cut expectations have surged (dovishly) higher this week (along with tumbling Treasury yields) amid a mixed macro picture (Labor market ‘good’, Retail sales bad, Housing ugly).

Today could change all that as CPI for January prints with risk skewed to the upside. January brings annual resets and they tend to surprise on the high side.

Despite the ‘hot’ whisper numbers (and 4 previous Januarys in a row of upside surprises), headline consumer price inflation came in cooler than expected in January (+0.2% MoM vs +0.3% expected). That pulled the headline CPI down dramatically from +2.7% to +2.4% – near the lowest in 4 years.

Core CPI printed +0.3% MoM (in line with expectations), lowering the YoY change in core prices to +2.5% – the lowest since March 2021.

The Shelter index rose 0.2% in January and was the largest factor in the all items monthly increase. The food index increased 0.2% over the month as did the food at home index, while the food away from home index rose 0.1 percent. These increases were partially offset by the index for energy, which fell 1.5% in January.

January saw real average weekly earnings rise 1.9% YoY – its highest since March 2021…

The US-Weimar Republic! Gold Soaring With M1 Money Printing (Good Governments Don’t)

Money makes the world go around and gold prices soar!

Gold is looking eerily like gold prices during the Weimar Republic in Germany.

Tomorrow belongs to Socialists like AOC and Bernie Sanders who want to keep spending. Along with Senator Chuck

Good governments don’t print insane quantities of money.

Wipeout! $6 Trillion Erased In 60 Minutes At Opening

Wipeout! $6 TRILLION ERASED IN 60 MINUTES

Gold wiped out nearly $3 trillion
Silver erased nearly $790 billion
S&P 500 lost nearly $780 billion
Nasdaq wiped out $750 billion
Crypto market erased $100 billion

Insane crash at US market open.

Gold suffered too.

Along with Bitcoin.

Strong Buyers Market In Housing! 47.1% More Sellers Than Buyers

Its some kind of wonderful … for home buyers.

Home sellers outnumbered buyers by 47.1% in December 2025, the largest gap since Redfin data began in 2013.

The percentage jumped by +7.1 points from November, the biggest monthly increase since September 2022.

The number of active homebuyers fell -5.9% MoM to 1.34 million, the lowest level on record.

Meanwhile, home sellers declined -1.1% MoM to 1.97 million, the lowest since February 2025.

By comparison, in November 2021, there were 36.5% fewer sellers than buyers.

This all comes as elevated housing costs and economic uncertainty continue to push buyers to the sidelines.

Buyers now hold unprecedented negotiating power, but only if they can afford to enter the market.

Let’s see what sugar babe (aka The Federal Reserve) does.

Mortgage Market After Covid! Soaring Home Prices And Mortgage Rates Led To Collapse Of Mortgage Originations

Like The Talking Heads song “Life During Wartime,” we are dealing with the mortgage market affer Covid. What happened? Mortgage originations plunged after mortgage rates (red line) soared.

In addition, insane Federal spending levels caused housing prices to soar.

‘Stay warm!

Good Feds Don’t! Fed Money Printing Benefits The Top 1%, Not The Bottom 50% (The Fed Acting Like Somalian Daycare Centers)

A good Federal Reserve don’t. Print money, that is.

The Federal Reserve prints a lot of money (M2). Unfortunately, it largely benefits elites (the top 1%). The bottom 50% get some benefits, but the gains in net worth largely benefits the elite class.

This sounds like a legal Somali daycare scheme. Perhaps The Fed should be renamed “The Federal Quality Learing Center.”

Yes, Somalis have daycare centers in Columbus Ohio. Thanks Governor Dewine for doing absolutely nothing to reign in their fraud. /sarc

Gold And Silver: Silver Up 10% On Friday, Gold Outperforming Stock Market Over Last 30 Years (Silver Hit $79.2708!)

Gold and silver. Gold is now outperforming the Stock Market over the last 30 years.

Silver is up 10% on Friday.

Silver (XAG) just hit the $79.2708 price point.

Dino’s song. A shout-out to David Freiberg on the Gibson SG bass and John Cipollina on the Gibson SG guitar. I love the Gibson SG!

Federal Government Continues To Spend Like Drunken Sailors In Port Despite Schumer Shutdown (Federal Debt Breaches $38 Trillion, Budget Deficit Breaches $7 Trillion)

Of course, CPI data release has been delayed thanks to the US Federal government shutdown (aka, the Schumer Shutdown). But never fear, the Federal government is continuing to spending like the proverbial drunken sailors in port. The Federal debt just breached the $38 trillion mark.

And the Federal budget deficit just breached the $7 trillion mark. Why? Too much Federal spending! The Federal government COULD raises taxes, but that would strangle the economy. But politicians in DC are terrified of not being re-elected, so they are terrified of cutting spending.

What about The Federal Reserve? M2 Money printed by The Fed now exceeds $22 trillion and The Fed’s balance sheet is now around $6.6 trillion. Can The Fed print our way out of the debt crisis? Think of the Weimar Republic with its hyperinflation due to excessive money printing.

The only way out is to drastically cut Federal spending. Or we could rename the US Dollar as the Reichsmark.

Any wonder why gold and silver prices are through the roof?