Investment Watch Blog

BY PATRICK WATSON Around this time last year, I wrote: “Stronger-than-expected wage growth will make the Fed see inflation, tighten policy more than presently expected, and probably send stock prices lower.” Sure enough, the Fed tightened more than people thought it would. And stock prices indeed dropped. But I also said the best long-term outcome of higher … Read more

Amazon Starts Testing ‘Scout’ Delivery Robots Near Seattle E-commerce giant brings automation to expensive last-mile Cooler-sized bots will operate Monday to Friday during day Amazon.com Inc. will use robots to deliver packages in the suburbs north of Seattle, its latest experiment to automate the last-mile of delivery that’s a labor-intensive and costly component of buying products … Read more

AP sources: Trump, others agitated by Giuliani’s performance NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani’s latest media blitz, which was filled with a dizzying array of misstatements and hurried clarifications, agitated President Donald Trump and some of his allies, who have raised the possibility that the outspoken presidential lawyer be at least temporarily sidelined from televised … Read more

via YAHOO: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is on track to spend nearly as much this year as Ottawa did to stimulate the economy at the height of the global recession, according to a new study. The right-leaning Fraser Institute tracked inflation-adjusted annual per person government spending by prime ministers since Canada’s confederation. The … Read more

Rising interest rates and credit card balances from CNBC. via CNBC: Over 1 in 3 people —or 86 million Americans — say they’re afraid they’ll max out their credit card when making a large purchase. Still, most Americans continue to take on ever-increasing amounts of credit card debt. Despite the dangers of high-interest loans, more consumers … Read more

by FS Ryan Sweet, Director of Real-Time Economics for Moody’s Analytics spoke with Financial Sense’s Jim Puplava on the impact of the government shutdown on U.S. GDP and how it’s not only affecting thousands of American families but is beginning to trickle into areas of the economy like housing and small business. Sweet tells us when he … Read more

via aier.org: In fiscal year 2018, $137 billion was paid “improperly” by the federal government, according to arecent report. That number sums all the improper payments by what the government calls high-priority programs. They are programs with improper-payments estimates exceeding $2 billion annually. If it makes your head spin, it should. Always the optimist, I have … Read more

via Reuters:  The Bank of Japan cut its inflation forecasts on Wednesday but maintained its massive stimulus program, with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warning of growing risks to the economy from trade protectionism and faltering global demand. Rising pressure from the trade war between China and the United States — Japan’s biggest trading partners — is adding … Read more

When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s what Hillary Clinton’s machine did in 2016, eventually getting the FBI to bite on an uncorroborated narrative that Donald Trump and Russia were trying to hijack the presidential election. Between July and October 2016, Clinton-connected lawyers, emissaries and apologists made more than a half-dozen overtures … Read more

by Shaun Richards The Italian banks have certainly kept us busy in the credit crunch era. We have found ourselves observing a litany of cash calls, bad debts, crises, and official claims that there is no problem. Of the latter the worst was probably the claim by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that equity investors in … Read more