The Retired Investor: Re-Starting the Space RaceBy Bill Schmick,
04:27PM / Thursday, August 31, 2023 | |
Decades after the first lunar landing, the space race has come back into vogue. Driving the competition is the potential value of the moon's economic, scientific, and even geopolitical promise.
Dominance in space, while I was growing up, was something confined to comic books and sci-fi movies. In 1969 that changed. Three astronauts from the U.S. made "one giant leap for mankind" by walking on the Moon. As a high school student, I marveled that Mars would be next, but space exploration quickly took a back seat to other issues like Vietnam, Civil Rights, and the arms race.
Fifty-four years later, space is back, and it is now a real proposition. 0 Comments
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@themarket: Markets in a Topping ProcessBy Bill Schmick,
10:37AM / Saturday, August 26, 2023 | |
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that he was "prepared to raise rates further" at the Jackson Hole Symposium this week. Investors who were hoping to hear a more dovish outlook were disappointed.
The market walked away with an understanding that interest rates had two paths forward. The best case was flat for a longer period, or higher if inflation persists. About last year's address, Powell said "The message is the same: It is the Fed's job to bring inflation down to our 2 percent goal, and we will do so."
Beyond Friday's event, it was a slow week with little volume and plenty of volatility. Second-quarter corporate 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: Automobile Becoming a Luxury ItemBy Bill Schmick,
04:14PM / Friday, August 25, 2023 | |
Henry Ford must be rolling over in his grave. His vision of making an automobile that would be accessible to all Americans was embraced by the car industry for decades. That era has come to an end.
The demise of the reasonably-priced auto is happening before our eyes. The last car with an average price of less than $20,000, the Mitsubishi Mirage, a compact, is being discontinued. It joins models such as the Honda Fit, Chevrolet Spark, and Volkswagen Beetle in the graveyard of small, affordable cars.
Over the last few years, Americans for the most part have forsaken "small" for "big" vehicles like the SUV, pickups, and crossovers. For 0 Comments
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@theMarket: Bond Yields Up, Stocks DownBy Bill Schmick,
02:57PM / Friday, August 18, 2023 | |
The seasonal influence of what is normally a weaker August through September continued this week. All the averages have declined since the end of July and will continue to do so in the weeks ahead.
My expected pullback in the equity averages continued this week. So far in August, the S&P 500 Index is down 5 percent, the NASDAQ has fallen 7 percent-plus, while the Dow Jones industrials outperformed with a 2.4 percent decline. There are several reasons investors could point to in explaining the pullback, but for me the reasoning is simple.
All the markets were extended beyond reason after a great first half of the year. The prices of the Magnificent Seven 0 Comments
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The Retired Investor: Millions of Americans Migrating to Climate Danger ZonesBy Bill Schmick,
04:25PM / Thursday, August 17, 2023 | |
Over the past decade, a large swath of the American population has migrated to the Sunbelt in search of a better climate, fewer taxes, and lower costs of living. Unfortunately, this area is among the most vulnerable to extreme changes in climate.
In total, nearly 5 million Americans abandoned states in the Northeast and Midwest and migrated to the Sunbelt states in the last 10 years. As such, it has become the fastest-growing region in the country. At the same time, as climate change accelerates, this region has been experiencing higher temperatures, more frequent hurricanes, and in some metro areas a scarcity of water.
Of course, this is not the only U.S. 0 Comments
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