The summer doldrums are back!

That is the only conclusion one can draw after observing the market action last week from my mountain lair in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Try as I might, it is impossible to flee this connected world, unless the power is cut off by an avalanche and your batteries die.

As I expected, last week stopped the monster stock market rally in its tracks. Every other asset class behaved accordingly.

Even the most wildly bullish investor has to be deeply concerned about the extreme overbought condition of the market on a short term basis, the incredibly narrow focus of buyers on a handful of names, and the utter lack of volume.

The bears have to be worried abut the failure of the of the market to selloff last week in the face if such sky high valuation parameters.

The S&P 500 (SPY) begrudgingly gave up a few points. Ten year Treasury bonds (TLT) suffered a much more serious seven-point hickey. Oil (USO) dove. Gold (GLD) flat lined. The Japanese Yen (FXY) churned.

But what else would you expect with someone like Donald Trump sucking all the oxygen out of the room?

And here?s the bad news. Next week, another political party will repeat the feat. Financial markets will react accordingly.

In other words, they won?t react at all.

We might get some nice month end mark ups on Friday to assure managers have some decent performance numbers to report.

That?s if anyone is around to notice.

This is definitely the week of the ?B? Team, with senior decision makers on risk and asset allocations more likely to be found in Southampton, New York, Newport Beach, California, or Cannes, France.

It?s not like they?ll be missing anything, as this coming week is relatively devoid of significant economic data, except for one big one.

At 10:30 AM EST on Monday, July 25, we get a peak of how seriously the oil collapse is affecting the rest of the Texan economy with the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey.

I?m looking for continued weakness, as shocks of this magnitude, like the oil crash, take years to work themselves out.

On Tuesday, July 26 at 9:00 AM Eastern the S&P 500 Case Shiller Home Price Index should deliver a housing market going from strength to strength.

As this is a three-month lagging indicator, the benefits of the ultra-low interest rates brought to us by Brexit won?t be apparent for another few months.

The big event of the week will be the Federal Open Market Committee decision on overnight interest rates, out at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, July 27.

Any action, other than a change of a word or two in their public statement, is highly unlikely. This cautious group of people is highly focused on the negative economic impact of Brexit and a strong dollar that are still unfolding.

Thursday, July 28, will be dominated by the Weekly Jobless Claims at 8:30 EST. It is unlikely that we will see a break down to a new 43-year low during the traditional summer slowdown.

Friday, July 29 at 8:30 AM brings us another look at Q2 Real GDP. These pre-Brexit estimates should continue to deliver a clear uptrend.

The bottom line here is that we should be setting up for a 4% correction in stocks in August.

If that happens, surely load the boat with risk, as we are headed for higher highs in everything going into the presidential election and the yearend.

I was awoken from a dead sleep in the middle of the night in my suite on the Orient Express by a juddering halt and the smell of burning brakes in the air.

We were somewhere high in the Swiss Alps, and every single passenger on the first class only train had to be thinking that a murder had just been discovered.

It turned out that in the darkness we had hit a 400-pound wild boar astride the tracks. We spent four hours on a remote siding waiting for Swiss National Rail to deliver us a new engine.

I elicited chuckles when I ordered boar for lunch the next day. The ma?tre d? assured me it wasn?t ready yet, as the meat had to soak in vinegar for 48 hours before cooking.

That's the kind of thing you only hear in Europe.

I boarded the train that morning at London?s Victoria station in anticipation of the trip of a lifetime.

Venice Simplon Orient Express didn?t disappoint, although I would not be surprised if the IRS questioned the $8,500 cost for the 34-hour trip as a business expense on my tax return this year.

The legendary train has been featured in a dozen films (James Bond and Agatha Christie), two dozen television shows, and played a major part in countless novels. You can even buy the video game.

The modern Orient Express is in fact three different trains.

From Victoria Station in London to Folkestone on the coast, I traveled on a vintage British train that was definitely showing its age.

Then I boarded a bus, which drove on to a flatbed rail car that whisked us through the tunnel under the English Channel.

There, we claustrophobes closed our eyes and held our breath for 20 minutes, which at the nadir my altimeter watch showed us at 1,500 feet below sea level.

The real luxury started when I boarded a vintage 1924 Pullman first class sleeping car in Calais, France, lovingly restored to the day it was built.

I set my watch ahead one hour and back 92 years. Suddenly, the trees resembled those in impressionist paintings, the land was dotted with Norman fortresses, and gasoline was $8 a gallon.

The original Orient Express, from Paris to Istanbul, made its inaugural journey in 1882, and quickly became famous for its unheard of luxury and speed. Modern bullet trains and cut-rate airlines put it out of business 100 years later.

The current incarnation started in 1977 when James Sherwood, who had built up a fortune through Sea-Land Containers, bought three dilapidated Pullman rail cars at an auction in Monte Carlo.

Like all of us with insanely expensive hobbies, he sought a way for outsiders to fund his passion.

Hence, the Venice-Simplon Orient Express started luring big spenders and the romantically inclined in 1982 (click here for their site http://www.orient-express.com/web/vsoe/venice_simplon_orient_express.jsp).

I became one of the original passengers in England when my broker chartered it for a day of client entertainment, an ancient steam engine laboring all the way.

Over the next 30 years, Sherwood built Orient Express into one of the world?s preeminent luxury brands, on par with Cartier, Tiffany, and Chanel.

He developed a massive global network of cross marketing deals that tied in package tours, hotels, cruises, and other vintage trains.

Today, the parent company, Orient Express Hotels (OEH) carries a market cap of $1.15 billion (click here for that site http://www.orient-express.com/).

Ironically, the company today still only owns one of it's dozens of rail cars. The rest have been sold to Middle Eastern investors with long-term leaseback contracts.

The dinner onboard is the highlight of the trip, a fabulous six course, three hour affair. There you meet the other passengers, all dressed to the nines.

Most were wealthy elderly couples knocking off a bucket list item, along with a few young hedge fund managers and a passel of mistresses.

I was one of the few Americans. I ate with a casino operator in Ireland and the owner of a manufacturing company in the UK. All I can say is thank goodness for the elastic waist on my tux trousers.

Having spent a lifetime analyzing corporate managements, I was fascinated by the operation of the train.

While the onboard staff is limited to 79, they are supported by a management, marketing, and engineering team of no less than 4,500.

You don?t just show up with a 17-car train in Europe?s incredibly congested rail network. You must first file a route plan and get a clearance slot, much like any airline.

Engines and crews must be changed at every border. Mechanics are onboard with an ample stockpile of 1920?s rail car parts.

Oblivious passengers are frequently left stranded behind at stations along the way and must be retrieved by taxis, which catch the train down the line.

To make up the time we lost due to the unlucky boar, the rail authorities routed us though the 12 mile long transalpine tunnel under Spl?gen Pass, then along the sublime shores of Lake Como, where the train rarely travels.

We roared past George Clooney?s house, who, I am told, is a frequent passenger on the train.

Amazed Italians were waving and taking pictures of us with their cell phones at every stop.

Suddenly the buildings were all shaded in pastels, the churches changed from Protestant to Catholic, and the trees resembled those in Renaissance religious paintings.

We raced over the causeway to Venice?s Marco Polo station that evening, dumping our considerable luggage into a private speedboat which whisked us away down a Grand Canal crowded with gondolas, en route to the fabled Cipriani Hotel.

To be continued.

Urgent business with the German government requires me to be in the Fatherland for an extra day.

It seems that someone high up wants to know about the long-term economic impact of Brexit (terrible), the possibility of avoiding it (excellent), and what to do with one million refugees.?

Apparently, no one else but me can put all of this in the 50 year global context they require.

That is a windfall for my readers in the southern part of Germany, who will find me in their fair city for a few hours.

So come join me for lunch for the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Global Strategy luncheon, which I will be conducting in Baden-Baden, Germany on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.

A three-course lunch will be followed by an extended question and answer period.

I?ll be giving you my up to date view on stocks, bonds, foreign currencies, commodities, precious metals, and real estate.

And to keep you in suspense, I?ll be tossing a few surprises out there too. Enough charts, tables, graphs, and statistics will be thrown at you to keep your ears ringing for a week. Tickets are available for $267.

I?ll be arriving at 11:30 AM and leaving late in case anyone wants to have a one-on-one discussion, or just sit around and chew the fat about the financial markets.

The lunch will be held at an exclusive five star hotel in the downtown area of the city, the location of which will be emailed with your purchase confirmation.

I look forward to meeting you, and thank you for supporting my research.

To purchase tickets for the luncheons, please click here.