- Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon caanot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
- Yeats (poem)
The falcon is a metaphor for humanity and the widening gyre represents the motion of history toward chaos and instability. Could the current news, other than the feel good opening act of the Olympics, be any more volatile? Did the lies of the GOP like "I could end the war in Ukraine in one day with one call" go unnoticed? Did the GOP ever mention the national debt of $35 trillion that they are partly responsible? Here is a prediction. At the Democratic convention, they too will not mention the debt that they are half responsible.
What is wrong with people? Netanyahu is guitly of excessive bombing and killing of Palestians. Why does he get invited to speak and influence Congress? On the street, protestors paint HAMAS as good when they are equally bad, is truly a sin and mind boggling. There are many more examples, but space is limited.
Little Things...
are building up to make serious big problems. Last week we saw day-after-day of announcements by companies of closing stores or laying off of workers. One firm that was in business for 134 years, Conn's Home (furniture and electronics) is closing its doors on 70 sites. Big Lots declared 40 closings and then, it changed the number to 150. Think about all those jobs and then, related jobs in the delivery chain? It keeps coming. National furniture and hardware will shut 70 locations. Three more shipping truck firms are filing for bankruptcy. Walgreens is about to announce layoffs.
Insiders
These are corporate directors and officers of public companies. They are selling their shares. They see less growth and value. This is a long-term indicator. It points to a stock market that will be lower in July 2025 than present.
Home Flippers
These are small buyers of fix'em up homes that are flipped to resell into the market. Well, they are having a hard time selling with high interest rates. Their short-term construction loans are due. They cannot afford to pay the higher costs and still hold onto the property. This is the same story for large commercial buildings that lost tenants. They cannot make the projected costs with our higher interest rate environment. There is some disharmony here. Home builders like Toll Brothers are seeing their stock at all-time highs. Maybe because the price of lumber is dropping like a brick in water?
Tapped Out
We see the consumer reaching its limit. Contrary to the last consumer spending report, we see car repossessions on a huge upswing. They have spiked 50% in the last two years and 23% yoy. Banks are noticing more and more partial payments in credit cards and even Dominoes Pizza is seeing less deliveries and more customers picking up their pizza.
Dichotomy
The stock market is still not sure which way things are going. The firm, Dexcom (DXCM) plunged from $140 in April to $108 on Friday, while 3-M (MMM) was $102 on Thursday and upto $127 on Friday. We told you about the three black crows and we remind you that the market has a tendency to top in Summer with a drop until Fall. We feel it is looking that way.
More Danger
Foreigners (read Commies) are buying land adjacent to our military bases and we see many Chinese people sneaking through our southern border. Meanwhile, the cameras used on our bases are mainly from China. How stupid is the pentagon? Meanwhile, Nvidia is retooling three chip factories to supply China and avoid government regulation with chip sales to China.
With the heat of summer try to take your family, friends or self to a water body. The cool waters will allow your mind to reflect His greatness and knowing that, not to worry. Peace.
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