First-Time Buyers Must Earn $120,000 To Afford The Average Home Earlier today we reported that for at least 40% of Americans – up from 27% just two years ago – the American Dream is dead and buried and has been replaced with the American nightmare: renting for life. And here’s why: according to a new survey from Clever Real Estate, a St. Louis-based real estate company, thanks to the galloping housing inflation, the median-priced […]

Police Officer Disciplined Over Undercover Conduct On Jan. 6: Agency Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A police officer in Washington was disciplined after violating rules guiding the conduct of undercover law enforcement, according to Washington’s police department. The investigator “was disciplined for violating general orders relating to undercover operations” during the breach of the U.S. […]

Boeing Dumps After Moody’s Downgrade To One Notch Above ‘Junk’ Update (1420ET): Moody’s Ratings downgraded Boeing’s credit rating to Baa3 from Baa2 – just one notch above ‘junk’ status (with a negative rating outlook) – with headwinds related to the Commercial Airlines segment expected to persist at least through 2026 The downgrades reflect the inadequate performance of Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes segment (“Commercial […]

Watch: Migrants Gone Wild On Streets Of Midtown Manhattan  A pack of illegal aliens viciously fought each other with sticks, belts, and whatever they could get their hands on outside a migrant hotel in Midtown Manhattan.  Footage of the fight was uploaded on X on Sunday. The scenes show parts of Manhattan transformed into what appears to be third-world-esque as law and order lapses under a city controlled by rogue […]

You Only Had To Listen: Ron Paul Destroys Mike Johnson For Betraying America Former US Congressman Ron Paul has gone completely ham on Speaker Mike Johnson, first – writing in a recent Op-Ed that Johnson has “betrayed liberty and the Constitution” after reauthorizing FISA surveillance but casting the deciding vote that tanked an amendment to require a warrant. Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. […]

Market Is Splendidly Indifferent To Rising Inflation Risks Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist, There continues to be scant evidence of inflation hedging in markets despite clear signs price-growth risks are rising. Inflation remains in focus this week as we get the first quarter’s update for US PCE on Friday. Regardless of one data point, the trend is clearly that inflation has stopped falling, with multiple […]

Subpar Record 5Y Auction Tails, Pushes Yields To Session Highs One day after the US sold a record amount of 2 Year paper in a very strong auction, the Treasury has followed that up with a record amount of 5 year paper, this time in a less than impressive sale. The $70BN in 5Y paper was up $3BN from $67BN last month and was the highest amount on record offered for the tenor. But don’t worry there will be plenty more record auctions […]

Romney & The Wrong Question: Senator’s Statement On Trump’s Guilt Captures The Problem With The Manhattan Trial Authored by Jonathan Turley, Yesterday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) had a much covered interaction with CNN’s Manu Raju who asked him about Trump’s criminal trial and whether he was guilty of the underlying criminal conduct. Romney responded “I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s […]

Cocoa Drops Most Since April 2009, Some Losses Recovered In Muti-Day Volatility Rollercoaster Cocoa futures in London on Tuesday plunged the most since April 2009, tumbling as much as 8.1%, while prices slid as much as 7.7% in New York. Prices recovered some losses on Wednesday morning. It appears the downdraft was caused by fast-money traders taking profits after a record high of $12,250 per ton was recorded in New York on […]

Cities’ “Doom Loops” Are Even Worse Than You Imagined Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, This is why those who understand these dynamics are getting out, even though the city was their home. A correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous sent me this account of the “doom loop” that is playing out in many American cities. The correspondent makes the case that the Doom Loop is not limited to specific cities, but […]

Apple Slashes Vision Pro Shipment Projections By 50% As Demand For $3,500 Headset Craters In what will come as a surprise to exactly nobody, the revolutionary if ridiculously overpriced Vision Pro virtual reality headset, which retails for $3,500, is not selling. While it was hardly necessary – at least for anyone with a functioning frontal lobe –  an analysis published this morning by the widely-read TF International Securities […]

Yields Will Trigger “Serious Earthquakes” Across The Economy, Former Floor Trader Says Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance Jack Boroudjian is a legendary former floor trader and now Chairman of SmartXData. Aside from over 30 years of industry experience, Jack is a published author “Secrets of the Trading”, Wiley 2007 and has countless articles published in industry periodicals and websites. Jack appears regularly as a paid, guest […]

Tennessee Republicans Pass Law Allowing Teachers To Be Armed – Democrats Cry “Fascism” Tennessee House Republicans on Tuesday passed legislation to allow some trained teachers and school staff to carry firearms despite aggressive opposition from Democrats and gun control advocates calling for the bill to be defeated.  The bill is all but guaranteed to become law within weeks, as Gov. Bill Lee can either sign it or allow it to […]

Hong Kong Bitcoin And Ether ETFs Officially Approved To Start Trading On April 30 Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com, The first wave of spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been officially approved to start trading in Hong Kong on April 30. Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), announced the official approval of the first batch of spot Bitcoin and Ether […]

Chinese Have “Grabbed Gold By The Throat” As Capital Flight Accelerates “Chinese speculators have really grabbed gold by the throat…” That is how John Reade, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council, describes the scramble in the communist nation among investors looking to move money anywhere but in the yuan or Chinese assets. As evidenced by soaring Chinese FX outflows, the recent surges in ‘alternate currencies’ […]

Overconfidence In NFL Drafts: A Lesson For Investors Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Most NFL general managers (GMs) are optimistic and displaying overconfidence today as they prepare for tomorrow’s NFL draft. The draft is a once-a-year opportunity for GMs to acquire talent. Like investors, GMs often think they are smarter than their competitors, aka the market. Yet, they frequently have similar […]

WTI Jumps After Bigger-Than-Expected Crude Inventory Build, Gasoline Demand (Reportedly) Slumps Oil prices are drifting lower this morning, despite API reporting a surprise crude inventory draw last night, as hopes that geopolitical tensions are easing (hope is not a strategy) combined with a reduced expectation of economy-juicing rate-cuts are weighing on crude prices. Supporting the upside, the US Senate, meanwhile, […]

Germany Arrests Unprecedented Six Spies In Less Than A Week German security services say they’ve arrested an unprecedented six suspected spies in only the past week, and four of these are believed to have been working for the government of China, while the other two are suspected Russian agents.  As we reported earlier, the latest case unveiled Tuesday centered on a staffer who worked for a high profile German AfD member of […]

Kering Tumbles On Profit Warning As Gucci Revamp Stumbles  Gucci owner Kering SA’s problems in mainland China are only mounting as the French luxury giant issued a profit warning. As a result, shares of the company in Paris plunged to a six-year low.  Lackluster Chinese demand for the luxury goods maker, which includes the Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Creed, and Alexander McQueen brands, sparked […]

Primary Protest Vote: 17% Of Republicans Vote Nikki Haley In Biggest Battleground State On more than one occasion this primary season, the Biden-Harris campaign has been found itself on the wrong side of significant protest votes — for example, when 13.3% of Michigan Democrats voted “uncommitted” to register their deep dissatisfaction with his handling of the Israel-Gaza war among other things.  On Tuesday, it was Trump’s turn to […]

Jack Dorsey’s Block Announces Development Of ‘Full Bitcoin Mining System’ Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com, Payments firm Block, formerly known as Square, has announced plans to develop a Bitcoin mining system in response to challenges faced by mining operators. In an April 23 blog post, Block said it had completed development of a three-nanometer chip used for BTC mining, which led to the firm announcing a […]

Durable Goods Orders Suffers Biggest YoY Decline Since COVID Lockdowns The roller-coaster ride that is ‘Durable Goods New Orders’ continues this morning after the last six months of so have seen monthly swings higher and lower with no trend discernible whatsoever (especially noteworthy given yesterday’s slump into contraction for the Manufacturing PMI) amid the on-again-off-again turmoils of Boeing’s orders. Preliminary March data […]

Aussie Senator Says Elon Musk Should “Be In Jail And The Key Be Thrown Away” Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, An Australian Senator has called for X owner Elon Musk to be jailed for life for refusing to adhere to the Australian government’s demands to remove a video of the brutal attack on a Christian Bishop in Sydney last week by an apparent Muslim extremist. After Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked at his […]

Futures Rise For Third Day As Tesla, Texas Instruments Surge Boosts Tech Stocks Equity futures rose for the third day in a row – last week’s brutal drubbing a distant memory –  with tech outperforming as Tesla soars premarket after Elon Musk vowed to launch less-expensive vehicles as soon as late this year while Texas Instruments jumped 7% after it forecast revenue above the average analyst estimate.  The tech rally has kept […]

New Footage Shows Possible Explosion Before Cargo Plane Crashes In Fairbanks  New footage has emerged on X of what appears to be a possible explosion moments before the Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo plane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Tuesday evening.  AP News said the Douglas C-54, a variant of the DC-4 airliner, crashed about 7 miles from Fairbanks International Airport.  Clint Johnson, chief of […]