A collection of the 28 best traders and managers in the world, or eight a day, each giving an educational webinar. Back-to-back one-hour presentations are followed by an interactive Q&A. It will be hosted by John Thomas from 9:00 AM sharp each day. Watch for the Pink Floyd music.

It’s a smorgasbord of trading strategies, so pick the one that is right for you. Covering all stocks, bonds, commodities, foreign exchange, precious metals, energy, and real estate. It’s the best look at the rest of 2023’s money-making opportunities you can get anywhere.

Oh, and you will have a chance to win $100,000 in prizes.

To view the schedule and speakers and register NOW, click here.

 

A few years ago, I went to a charity fundraiser at San Francisco’s priciest jewelry store, Shreve & Co., where the well-heeled men bid for dates with the local high society beauties, dripping in diamonds and Channel No. 5.

Well fueled with champagne, I jumped into a spirited bidding war over one of the Bay Area’s premier hotties, who shall remain nameless. Suffice it to say, she has a sports stadium named after her and is now married to a venture capital titan.

The bids soared to $36,000, $37,000, $38,000. After all, it was for a good cause. But when it hit $39,000, I suddenly developed a lockjaw. Later, the sheepish winner with a severe case of buyer’s remorse came to me and offered his date back to me for $38,000.  I said “no thanks.” $37,000, $36,000, $35,000? I passed.

The current altitude of the stock market reminds me of that evening. When people ask me what I do for a living, I answer, “Convincing people not to sell at market bottoms.” This is one of those times.

I realize that many of you are not hedge fund managers and that running a prop desk, mutual fund, 401k, pension fund, or day trading account has its own demands. But let me quote what my favorite Chinese general, Deng Xiaoping, once told me: “There is a time to fish, and a time to hang your nets out to dry.”

At least then, I’ll have plenty of dry powder for when the window of opportunity reopens for business. While I’m mending my nets, I’ll be building new lists of trades for you to strap on when the sun, moon, and stars align once again.

And no, I never did find out how that very expensive date went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to Mend the Nets

When I visited the local Safeway over the weekend, I was snared by some green uniformed pre-teens, backed by beaming mothers behind a card table selling Girl Scout cookies. I was a pushover. I walked away with a bag of Thin Mints, Lemon Chalet Creams, Do-Si-Dos, and Tagalongs.

I have to confess a lifetime addiction to Girl Scout cookies. During the early eighties, one of the managing directors at Morgan Stanley's equity trading desk had a daughter in this national youth organization. One day, she pitched to all 200 traders on the floor, going from desk to desk with sheets of paper taking orders.

I used to buy two of everything she offered, as some clients preferred a few boxes of these delectable treats over lunch at the Four Seasons any day. Others ordered hundreds. I later heard that the girl was the top performing scout in the greater New York area two years running.

But this year, when I got home and opened a box, I was shocked. While the price was the same, the number of cookies had shrunk considerably. I knew it was not my waistline the scouts were concerned about. I was seeing the dastardly hand of 'stealth inflation' at work.

In this highly inflationary environment, companies loathe to raise prices. Food companies are especially hard hit, with many commodities like wheat, corn, sugar, soybeans, and coffee up 50%-300% in a year. Any attempt to pass these costs on to consumers is punished severely. So, companies cut costs, quantity, and quality, instead, by shrinking the size.

I think you are seeing stealth inflation breaking out everywhere. It is not just in food. Many products seem to be undergoing a miniaturization process while prices remain unchanged. It also extends to services, where a dollar buys you less and less. This is how the consumer prices index is staying in the high single digits.

 

Meet the Ugly Face of Stealth Inflation