May’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped the most since 2009. That follows a similar gain over the past three months that has brought the total increase to 6.9% on an annualized pace. That is the largest gain in 13 years. Excluding the notoriously volatile food and energy components, however, the “core” CPI rose by 0.7%, which was still larger than the forecast of 0.5%. Readers might scratch their head when looking at those numbers, since excluding food and energy makes little sense to us, who are faced with weekly rises in both commodities. The difference is that the price of…
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Tips for preventing fraud
Cybercrime and fraud are serious threats and constant vigilance is key. While BMM plays an important role in helping protect your assets, you can also take action to protect yourself and help secure your information. This checklist summarizes common cyber fraud tactics, along with tips and best practices. Many suggestions may be things you’re doing now, while others may be new. We also cover actions to take if you suspect that your personal information has been compromised. If you have questions, we’re here to help. Cyber criminals exploit our increasing reliance on technology. Methods used to compromise a victim’s identity…
Want equality? Start with better jobs
Jobs. They are the primary focus of the Federal Reserve Bank, the Biden Administration, the Republican opposition, and most U.S. corporations. Supposedly, with all this high-powered attention, we still can’t find enough workers to fill all the positions available. Has anyone questioned why? One important reason might be that 60% of jobs in the U.S. are considered “mediocre” or “of poor quality,” according to a recent Gallup survey. If you combine those findings with the fact that many workers in the service economy are poorly compensated, the problem begins to come into clearer focus. If you listen to the free…
More people expecting a correction
“Oh, there’s my phone … What’s that? Then SELL, SELL SELL. They’re all selling? Then BUY, BUY, BUY!”—Al Czervik I fancy myself a contrarian investor. Famed investor Warren Buffett would advise a contrarian investor to “be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” Today, I am a conflicted contrarian. There is a lot of optimism around the stock market. Per the contrarian textbook (if there were such a thing), I should be reducing a lot of my equity allocation. But I’m not doing so in a significant way. Yet. It’s always hard to pull the proverbial…
A churn at the top
It was a sleepy week in the markets for the major averages. Stocks flirted with the old highs, only to fall back by the end of the week. Energy and a few meme stocks occupied most of the attention. Crude oil spiked higher, nearing almost $70 a barrel (bbl), pulling energy stocks along with it. Energy traders were heartened by the latest OPEC meeting. The cartel expects demand to outstrip supply by more than a million barrels a day for the foreseeable future. As a result, the members intend to gradually increase production as the global economy gathers steam. Most…
The movies return
The Memorial Day weekend launched the unofficial beginning of the summer season. Movie owners are holding their breath in hopes that consumers, once vaccinated, may start to return to the cinema. Is it a false hope? Much has been written about the demise of the movie theater, even before the world was ravaged by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Sky high prices for tickets and the exorbitant costs of concessionary items like $8 bottles of water and $15 baskets of popcorn had made the movie-going experience almost as costly as a rock concert. At the same time, consumers were being offered the…
Pay up
Weekly pay is up 3.9 percent from March 2020 to March 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That may not sound like much. However, before the pandemic, growth rates had ranged from -0.8 percent to 2.9 percent, dating back to January 2011. From January 2011 to March 2020, there were 20 occurrences of zero or negative weekly earnings growth. In contrast, there were only seven occurrences that exceeded 2 percent. Year-over-year growth of weekly earnings since April 2020 has been stellar, averaging 5.1 percent. It’s not uncommon for average wages to grow higher during recessions. Sounds crazy, right? When…
Market rotation continues
One day, it’s all about technology. The next day, back to commodities. And on the third, defensive plays like healthcare shine. Next week, we could see a new player lead the markets higher. The Russell 2000 Index, which is chock full of small cap stocks, has been trading back and forth, but basically going nowhere over the last month. I detected a stirring of upside momentum this week and will be watching that index closely after the Memorial Day weekend for additional follow-through. The small cap universe, (one of my picks to outperform this year) has done “okay” so far…
The carbon market comes of age
At the beginning of this year, the global price of carbon was $24.05 per ton of CO2. In order to achieve the emissions reduction goals of members of the Paris Agreement, prices need to reach a range of $50-$100 per ton of CO2. That makes buying carbon an attractive investment.The ongoing concerns about climate change have spawned several emission trading schemes over the last decade. The reasoning is simple: if left unchecked, carbon emissions (among other factors) will have a material impact on our environment and will do severe damage to the global economy.The ratification of the Kyoto Protocol of…
Sit here in your Bitcoin chair
Bitcoin crashed. Again. It got cut down by more than half the high it made on April 13, 2021. Though, let’s be honest about it. By the time this column goes to print, it could have restored its losses. I don’t own Bitcoin. Or any cryptocurrencies, for that matter. I know lots of people who do, including at my workplace. I’m not against it. I tell everyone who has the aptitude to do so, “Go ahead and trade it. So long as you know the risks and have an exit plan, trade it.” I know — I’m an old man…