Can The Crypto Ethereum Hedge Against Inflation? (Inflation Rate Highest In 40 Years)

Inflation is the highest in 40 years. There used to be a lot of discussion about hedging against inflation in the 1970s and 1980s, but discussion subsided as inflation cooled in the US. But now it is roaring back as Fed monetary stimulus continues unabated and The Federal government continues to spends like crazy.

So, how do we protect ourselves against inflation caused by Federal government policies (or follicies)? How about cryptocurrencies like Ethereum?

Ethereum really started to take off as US inflation took off. Not a perfect fit (or hedge), but on average Ethereum has kept up with inflation.

If you believe in technical analysis, Ethereum is in the 3rd wave on the downside.

But if you believe the Ichimoku Cloud, Ethereum lies BELOW the cloud indicating that Ethereum is likely to rise.

Bear in mind that Biden’s energy policies have created large increases in energy prices which lead to large increases in other products such as food prices. Again, not all inflation is due to Federal policies. Arabica coffee prices are driven by droughts and excessive rainfall, etc. But inflation causes a rise in agriculture prices due to transportation cost increases, increases in fertilizer prices (thank to natural gas price increases), and panic buying by consumers.

Despite what Federal officials jawbone about, inflation has momentum and is unlikely to swiftly subside, particularly if the Build Back (Inflation) Better Act passes in 2022.

Remember, consumer purchasing power of the US Dollar has declined dramatically since the creation of The Federal Reserve System in 1913. The Fed isn’t going away and neither is wasteful Federal spending, like BBB.

Protect yourself! Or at least Treat Yo Self!

Should Speaker Pelosi Replace Cramer At CNBC Investing Club? (Insider Trading Of Impending Regulations And Government Spending IS Insider Information And Should Be ILLEGAL)

I thought US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was going to retire, but now it looks like she wants to keep inside trading with information about regulation and government spending that investors don’t have.

Today, her investments were released for the last two weeks of December.

Largely, her investments were in call options for Disney, Saleforce, Roblox, Micron and Google (Alphabet).

I would prefer that she retire and replace Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money. So she could bang the gong instead of her gavel. Or call it CNBC Investing Club with Nancy Pelosi.

Her defense that she should be allowed to invest in stocks and options since the US is a free-market economy was comical at best, and extremely hypocritical at worst.

US Treasury Yield Curve Now Back Where It Stated With Biden At The Helm (Inflation Crushing America And The Yield Curve)

It has been almost a year since Joe Biden has been President of the United States and a Democrat majority took control of The House and Senate. And what has happened to the US Treasury yield curve slope over the past year?

The yield curve is back where it started. There was the “honeymoon effect” where the curve slope rose. After all, Biden was Obama’s Vice President for 8 years and The Democrats has promised so much in the 2020 election. But by early April, the reality of the massive Federal spending (combined with Fed Stimulypto) began showing what was feared: inflation (blue line) started to grow at a rapid rate of speed. With inflation now at 6.8% YoY,

In fairness to Biden, The Federal Reserve has been overstimulating the economy since The Federal Reserve since Ben Bernanke and the Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) dropped the hammer on The Fed Funds Target Rate once the rate hit 5.25% in September 2007. They kept cutting it reached 25 basis points (or 0.25%) in December 2008. In August 2008, Bernanke and Company began their “Quantitative Easing” or asset purchasing programs. Between The Fed’s Target Rate and QE, The Fed has continued to overstimulate markets ever since. Under Biden, The Fed Funds Target Rate remains at 0.25% and The Fed’s Balance sheet has grown to $8.79 Trillion (bigger than the entire economies of Japan and Germany put together!).

How about housing? Home prices are growing at 19% YoY while rents are growing at 12.65% YoY.

Energy prices have risen dramatically under Biden. Gasoline is up 46% despite a slight reprieve recently. WTI crude prices are up 64%.

How about food? Beef prices are up 20% and chicken prices are up 10%.

On a positive note, the S&P 500 index has soared … thanks has soared during Biden’s term thanks to Fed stimulus and Federal spending on COVID.

The Build Back Better Act if passed (in its entirety or on a piecemeal basis) will lead to even MORE inflation.

Perhaps Biden’s spokesperson Jen Psaki can recreate the Biden Administration as a lovable, hilarious family like the comic strip Gasoline Alley with old Joe Biden as Skeezix. And insider-trading star, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the family matriarch.

Housing Inflation? Construction Materials Rising At 34.7% YoY In November While Median Price Of New Home Sales Rose 18.8%

Well, at least construction materials are growing more slowly than energy prices!

The Producer Price Index for Construction Materials rose at a 34.7% YoY pace in November.

So it is no surprise that the median sales price for new homes rose 18.8% YoY in November.

FOMO Housing Market: October Home Prices “Slow” To 19.08% YoY As Mortgage Rates Rise (Phoenix Fastest At 32.3% And Minneapolis And Chicago Slowest At 11.5%)

There is a lot going on in the US housing market. Excessive monetary stimulus keeping mortgage rates low, historically low inventory available for sale, and FOMO (fear of missing out … on rapidly rising home prices).

The Case-Shiller repeat sales index for October is out … and the national home price index “slowed” to 19.08% YoY as mortgage rates rose. Note that available inventory of homes for sales remains very low.

By metro area, Phoenix AZ once again leads with 32.3% YoY. Minneapolis MN is the slowest growing metro area in terms of home prices at 11.5% (tied with Chicago, IL).

A distant relative of Anthony Fauci.

The Great Distortion! Since COVID And Fed Hysteria, First Gold Then Bitcoin, Then Ethereum Surged While The US Dollar Declined Then Rallied

The global economy has certainly been turned on its head by the COVID outbreak in early 2020. Not so much by the virus itself, but by Central Bank hysteria in terms of rate lowering and balance sheet expansion. Which The Fed has not yet unwound.

Let’s look at what has happened since the mini-recession caused by COVID in early 2020. The shortest recession in US history, a measly 2 months. The Fed expanded its balance sheet from $4.17 million in February 2020 to $8.79 million today. That is, The Fed over doubled the size of their balance sheet in reaction to the shortest recession in US history. Overreaction much?

What has happened since the mini-recession and The Fed’s massive overreaction?

First, gold (gold line) surged then calmed down. Then cryptocurrency Bitcoin (while line) surged, then calmed down, then surged again only to calm down again. Then crypto Ethereum surged, calmed, surged, calmed. Meanwhile the US Dollar Index crashed only to start rising again.

The Fed’s overreaction and failure to withdraw excessive stimulus has led to the rise of alternatives to the deflating dollar due to inflation.

When will The Fed ACTUALLY start removing the overreaction stimulus? Let’s get it started.

Perhaps only April Ludgate can kill The Fed’s overreaction stimulus.

GameStop: Rage Against The (Financial) Machine? Or Bidenflation? (Meme Stocks, Gold And Cryptos)

2021 has been a very weird year. Inflation has boomed (highest in 40 years) after the election of Joe Biden as President of the USA (call it Bidenflation). Then we have The Federal Reserve barely acting on the booming inflation (keeping rates at 25 basis points while withdrawing the COVID-related monetary stimulus).

Then we have the rise of cryptocurrency Ethereum and the surge meme stocks such game store GameStop, a favorite of the internet site Reddit.

Given the volatility of GameStop (Reddit-inspired), you can see the strange shape of GameStop’s volatility surface.

By contrast, gold is now where it was was at the beginning of 2021 and the surge of Bidenflation.

Here is volatility surface for gold.

So, there are a number of meme stocks (GameStop is just one example), gold, silver, cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. But gold seems to be placid with respect to inflation, but the meme stocks and cryptos seem to be motoring. Or is it rage against the financial machine? Or rage against Bidenflation??

The US stock and bond markets are closed today and tomorrow, Christmas day.

Have a Merry Christmas! And celebrate the “Santa Pause” as Powell refuses to raise rates to combat inflation until 2022.

US New Home Sales Decline 14% YoY In November While Median Prices Rise By 18.8% YoY

Inflation keeps clubbing Americans to death. This time in the form of New Home Sales prices.

November’s New Home Sales figures are out. New Home Sales declined 14% YoY while the median price of New Home Sales is up 18.8% YoY.

The West saw a MoM increase in new home sales of 53%! While the Midwest saw a decline of -25.35%.

I can this the Baker Mayfield effect. The Los Angeles Chargers drafted superb QB Justin Herbert, the Cleveland Browns drafted QB Baker Mayfield. The West wins, the Midwest loses.

As a long-time Browns fan, I dread the upcoming Browns-Packers game.

U.S. Inflation-Adjusted Spending Stagnates To 0% Growth As Prices Surge (Core PCE Deflator Rises To 4.7% YoY, Highest Since 1989 Implying A Taylor Rule Rate Of 11.84%)

The core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) deflator numbers for November were released this morning and the print was a whopping 4.7% YoY, the highest rate since 1989.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer spending, adjusted for inflation (aka, REAL personal spending), stagnated in November as the fastest price gains in nearly four decades eroded purchasing power. Stagnated to 0.

Purchases of goods and services, after adjusting for higher prices, were little changed following a 0.7% gain in October, Commerce Department figures showed Thursday.

And as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story.

Core PCE growth YoY of 4.68% implies a Fed Funds target rate of 11.84%. Powell and the gang have the target rate at 0.25%. But the Taylor Rule doesn’t take into account the latest FEAR raging in Washington DC … the Omicron variant. Just another excuse for The Fed to do nothing and let asset bubbles blow out of control.

Tiny bubbles? How about HUGE bubbles!

Stimulypto! US Q3 Price Index Grows 3X Personal Consumption (Real GDP +2.3% QoQ)

The good news is that US Real GDP grew at 2.3% QoQ in Q3 thanks to massive Federal government and Federal Reserve stimulus. The bad news? Prices are growing at rate of 6% QoQ, three times higher than the growth of real personal consumption.

Runaway inflation, cooling personal consumption. This is the definition of “stimulyltpo”: the excessive spending by Washington DC in conjunction with excessive monetary stimulus from The Federal Reserve.

Let’s see if Christmas season is jolly with Sewage Joe trying to scare everyone about Omicron.