How Today's "Deflation" Can Turn Into Tomorrow's Hyperinflation

 

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.

Since the 2008 Credit Crisis, deflation has been the primary worry of mainstream economists and monetary and fiscal policies that utilize various forms of “money printing” have been implemented throughout the world to try to stop it. Unfortunately, money printing combined with deflation can potentially lead to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation is a little understood and little studied phenomenon. Even inflation itself is only partially understood and traditional university economic programs devote minimal attention to it (just ask someone with an economics degree what courses they took in inflation). Almost no one seems to have made the connection between deflation and hyperinflation, which are intimately related. Hyperinflation in fact could actually be defined as a self-feeding cycle of severe deflation combined with escalating money printing.

Historical analysis shows that hyperinflation is a creature of damaged and dysfunctional economies. It does not come from overheated economies that continue to grow out of control resulting in ever higher inflation rates.  This mythical view may have been created because government stimulus measures the employ money printing in its various guises to deal with   deflation can briefly make the economy fervent because of a declining currency. This creates high export demand since foreigners can buy the country’s goods cheaply and high internal demand because the population becomes desperate to get rid of any currency it holds. This phase does not last however and it takes place just prior to the final hyperinflationary spike. It was seen in Weimar Germany in 1922 because Germany had a developed manufacturing economy and most of the rest of the world wasn’t experiencing currency devaluation.

In many cases in the past, war preceded hyperinflation. This happened in Germany and Eastern Europe after World War I and in Eastern Europe and Japan and East Asia after World War II.  It also occurred in the United States after the Revolutionary War (arguably the first case of hyperinflation in history) and in the South at the end of the Civil War. Demand can collapse after a war and this will cause prices to drop (the U.S. had sharp deflation after World War I for instance). Governments, who were already printing money to support the war effort, then frequently print more to stimulate the economy.  If the economy isn’t brought back to real functionality however, a country’s currency loses its value and an ever-increasing amount of money has to be printed to create the same amount of stimulus.  

Even if there is no war, hyperinflation can exist just because an economy is dysfunctional. This would describe the cases of hyperinflation in South America, post-colonial Africa, and in Eastern Europe during the collapse of communism.  When an economy just can’t create enough demand on its own, the authorities stimulate demand by printing money. This leads to the same cycle of currency devaluation and ever-increasing money printing in an attempt to keep up with the loss of value taking place. In reality, the economy is continually shrinking, even though prices start heading toward the heavens.

While this has happened in a number of countries over time, mainstream economists continually make the claim that inflation can’t exist if there is slack in the economy. Hyperinflationary economies actually have maximum slack, with Zimbabwe in the 2000s being the extreme example. Unemployment reached 94% there, while the inflation rate was climbing to the sextillion percent level (a number so huge it might as well be infinity). Despite this real world example that took place right before their eyes, a number of economists had no trouble looking right into the TV camera and telling the public that inflation can’t exist if there is excess capacity in the economy. If they had been testifying in court, they would have been arrested for perjury.

Since hyperinflation has only occurred in certain countries at certain times, it is important to ask what it the key factor or factors that lead to it. The short answer would be: deflation created by demand destruction, followed by money printing that is taking place because the ability to borrow doesn’t exist or has been exhausted. Since developed countries have better credit and can borrow more, hyperinflation is less likely to occur in them than in more marginal economies – at least until their lending sources dry up.   

Deflation in and of itself does not lead to hyperinflation. It depends on what the root cause of the deflation is. There were deflations in the late 1800s and in the 1920s in the U.S. due to technological innovations and not demand destruction as commonly takes place after wars. Lack of demand was not the cause of falling prices, rising supply was. The exact opposite situation takes place after a destructive war or in an economy in a post-bubble era (as is the case currently in the U.S., the UK, Europe and Japan).  In the latter case, demand needs to be stimulated, in the former it doesn’t.

Countries also don’t print money if they can borrow it. Less developed countries have limited and sometimes no borrowing ability and this means they turn to money printing early on and this makes them more prone to hyperinflation.  Since developed countries can borrow money, they do so for as long they possibly can. This has allowed Japan to get its debt to GDP ratio to an astounding 229%. The U.S. is already over 100% (based on official numbers, the ratio using more realistic numbers is much worse) and rising rapidly.  Despite its twenty years of economic malaise, Japan has managed to support demand by running huge and continuing budget deficits funded by the massive savings of its people (money printing has been relatively minor).  It is not likely any other developed country will be able to accomplish what Japan has done.  Japan also seems to have reached the end of the borrowing road and will have to start revving up the printing presses in the near future.

In contrast to the Japanese, Americans save little and haven’t been able to fund their budget deficits internally for decades —the U.S. relies on foreign sources for this money. When the Credit Crisis arose, foreign lending became inadequate and money printing began in earnest. The Federal Reserve increasing its balance sheet by over $2 trillion is only one example of this. While foreign lending might have continued to fund $400 billion dollar annual budget deficits, it was not adequate to support the $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion and$1.30 trillion deficits that occurred in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Trillion dollar deficits are going to with the U.S. for many years into the future and the only way they can be completely funded is by printing more and more money.  The EU isn’t in much better shape either and has been unable to fund its peripheral country debt by borrowing. Its current solution is to print money through massive credit expansion.

Claims that money printing won’t be harmful in the 2010s because inflationary policies were utilized during the 1930s Great Depression and they worked well back then are moreover completely misleading. The debt level of the U.S. government, businesses and consumers were minimal at that time compared to what exists today. Huge amounts of untapped borrowing capacity existed then, but this is no longer true. Consumer credit expanded so much in the intervening years that during one month of the Credit Crisis it dropped more than the entire amount outstanding at the end of World War II. An apt analogy might be one drink of alcohol won’t be harmful. If you haven’t had anything to drink yet it isn’t likely it will be. If you have already had twenty glasses, it might cause fatal alcohol poisoning. The global financial system now risks being poisoned by money printing.

The monetary authorities worry about deflation and attempts to handle it with money printing are nothing new. The current actions are disturbingly similar to what took place in Weimar Germany in the early 1920s. They handled their deflation problem with money printing as well. As prices rose, instead of facing reality, the economics establishment acted in concert to deny the obvious. Deflation was cited as the biggest danger to the economy until it became laughable. When inflation exploded, the usual scapegoats — foreigners, speculators and minorities — were blamed by the government. Unless human behavior has changed in the last 100 years, the same scenario is likely to play itself out again in the 2010s.


Disclosure: None

Daryl Montgomery
Author: "Inflation Investing - A Guide for the 2010s"
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. There is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The Fed's Minimum Price Stability, Maximum Unemployment Policy

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


The Fed says it's worried about deflation and high unemployment. So in order to tackle these two problems it's going to do more of the same things that lead to them.

In its post meeting statement yesterday, the FOMC said that inflation is 'somewhat below' levels consistent with its congressional mandate for stable prices.  Since the official inflation rate is positive, this indicates that under no circumstance should prices actually remain stable in the U.S. It also means that prices have to increase by more than the amount they are rising now. This of course leads to long-term dollar devaluation and indeed the dollar has lost 96% of its value since the Fed has been in business. They obviously can't wait to lop off the remaining 4%. Having a worthless currency is obviously a good thing as far as the Fed is concerned (you might disagree when you have to pay $5,000 for a loaf of bread). Inflation-sensitive gold hit its fifth record high in as many days on the news and was pushing $1300 an ounce this morning.

It order to tackle the non-existent deflation problem, the Fed intimated that more quantitative easing - also known as money printing - is on the way. There is no case in financial history when excess money printing hasn't eventually led to higher consumer inflation and it has frequently led to hyperinflation. The Fed has already done a lot of 'printing' and the ever increasing price of gold is showing the dollar losing value right in front of our eyes. However, the see no inflation, hear no inflation, and speak no inflation Fed ignores the gold market. Instead they are looking at ever dropping interest rates - the two-year treasury hit another record low after the meeting. Falling interest rates are being caused by all the new money they are manufacturing because bonds are being bought with some of it and this drives their price up and rates down. Using some form of inverted, twisted thinking, they view a market reaction caused by excess money printing as a sign of deflation.

The Fed first lowered its Funds rate to zero in 2008. With help from the U.S. treasury, they have engaged in an expansionary money creating policy since then as well. Unemployment is now much higher than when they started these moves and is stuck around the 10% range if you believe the official numbers (if not, it's much higher). After the worst recession since the 1930s, the economy is stuck in neutral, if you believe the official numbers (if not, we have already entered another recession). So the Fed's solution is to ratchet up the same policies that have failed over and over again and they claim somehow they will work now. It is far more likely the Fed's actions will nstead lead to minimum price stability and maximum unemployment.

Disclosure: No positions.

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. There is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Fed Admits 3 Years of Easy Money Hasn't Fixed Economy

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


After three years of easy money the Federal Reserve announced yesterday that it was going to buy around $10 billion a month in treasury bonds - a pittance for an economy the size of the United States. The Fed began its current stimulus campaign with a discount rate cut in August 2007. After using every trick in the book and creating a few new ones, the U.S. economy is still in a troubled state.

In its statement after yesterday's meeting, the Fed admitted that "the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months" and "bank lending has continued to contract." The FOMC went on to say that "the the pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated."   Considering that the Fed was hopeful of preventing a recession in the spring of 2008- months after a recession had already started, these statements imply that the U.S. economy is currently close to or even in a downturn.

The Fed doesn't plan on doing much about it however. It can't lower the funds rate any further because it is has been at zero since December 2008. The major option the Fed has left to stimulate the economy is to expand its balance sheet through quantitative easing, essentially money printing. This would be inflationary as is the case with all forms of money printing. While the Fed constantly says there is no inflation and intimates that it is worried about deflation, it is unwilling to make a move that would be inflationary. If deflation is really a risk, expanding its balance sheet becomes the correct course of action. Investors should wonder why the Fed is unwilling to do this.

What the Fed plans on doing currently is to buy 2-year and 10-year treasuries with the proceeds it gets from selling mortgage backed securities that it acquired from Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) during the Credit Crisis. The Fed has more than a trillion dollars of these on its books. This action will prevent the Fed's balance sheet from contracting. The net purchase in treasuries will be minimal. The overall impact on the U.S. economy will be close to nil.

Investors should look to Japan for a lesson on how inept central bank and fiscal policy can lead to decades of a failed economy and low stock prices. The Nikkei closed at 9213 last night, more than 75% off from its high around 40,000 on the last day of 1989. The Japanese economy has been in the doldrums for two decades now. In the United States, it's three years and counting.


Disclosure: No positions.

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

A New Theory of Sudden Hyperinflation

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


While everyone acknowledges that governments are printing and printing excess amounts of new money, more market observers are currently worried about deflation rather than inflation. There is a smaller group concerned about hyperinflation, but the theoretical underpinnings have been missing up to now that would justify how this could be possible. There is an explanation though and this indicates that hyperinflation can not only take place, but that is can happen suddenly.

There have been a number of impediments in how economists look at hyperinflation that have prevented original thought (and sometimes any thought at all) in this area.  Here are the necessary ideas:

1. Inflation is a currency losing its value (an idea most mainstream economist can't seem to grasp).
2. Severe deflation is a precursor to hyperinflation. They are not inconsistent events as is generally thought, but deflation sets the stage for hyperinflation.
3. Disinflation/deflation and inflation need not by symmetrical. For instance, if there is 30 years of disinflation, this doesn't have to be balanced by 30 years of inflation. The same amount of inflation could take place in only months or even weeks, let alone 30 years.
4. Inflation doesn't have to be a continuous phenomenon. The chart can have gaps in it with prices going up significantly overnight. Furthermore this can start from a low point where almost no inflation exists.

The origins of hyperinflation are with excess 'money' printing by a government. It is not possible to produce an ever-larger amount of currency and have each unit of that currency maintain its value. If it were, real money could be created out of thin air and everyone in the world could become infinitely rich overnight. This would also violate the basic laws of arithmetic. So excess money printing always devalues a currency and because of this less and less can bought with each unit of that currency.

This becomes a potentially dangerous problem when severe deflation takes place because of a shock to the financial system (the Credit Crisis for instance). To make up for the loss in value of assets (deflation), the government prints a huge amount of money. The printing causes devaluation of the currency and requires more printing to try to make up for the additional loss of value. A self-feeding money printing cycle then develops.

Even though huge money creation has occurred because of the Credit Crisis, we still haven't seen significant inflation yet. Indeed, the American government claims the U.S. inflation rate has fallen close to zero. How is this possible? The answer can be found in the banking system. The feds have pumped huge amounts of money into it (U.S. bank reserves have increased approximately 100 times or 10,000% since the Credit Crisis began) and banks have received this money at close to a zero percent interest rate.  Yet, if you look at commercial and consumer bank lending, you will see that they have been declining. So where did all this money go?  It was used to buy treasuries and this is what is allowing the federal government to fund its massive deficits. For all intensive purposes, this is a massive Ponzi scheme being run by the U.S. government.

Ponzi schemes though don't follow the same rules as normal businesses or economic statistics. They build to a crescendo over time and then suddenly collapse to zero instantly. The analogy for inflation will be the opposite however. Inflation will go to zero and then suddenly jump up to some very high level. In theory, zero interest rates should produce infinite inflation (hyperinflation), but nothing mandates that this has to be a gradual, long-term process. If you think about it, the Credit Crisis seems to have come out of nowhere. It didn't of course; there was a slow, long-term build up behind the scenes that just exploded suddenly. Inflation is likely to follow that same path of development. Global governments eventually got control of the Credit Crisis collapse by throwing trillions of dollars at the problem. That solution however won't work for dealing with inflation.

Disclosure: None

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Book Review: "SuperCycles" by Arun Motianey

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


It is common knowledge among market historians and even many traders that there tends to be alternating twenty-year cycles of rallies in commodities and stocks. These long-term rallies and the sell offs that follow them are referred to as secular bull and bear markets respectively. In his new book, “SuperCycles”, Arun Motianey produces an economic theory that ties together these alternating cycles putting them into an even longer-term context and places central bank monetary policy as the originator of the phenomenon.

While superficially, Motianey’s supercycles appear similar to Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev’s long waves, they differ in important aspects. They agree that the length of the supercycle can range from forty to sixty years and that it is global in scope. Kondratiev’s long cycles were an empirical observation though, not a theoretical explanation and they included socio-political as well as economic behavior. Motianey, on the other hand, creates a model to explain why the cycles take place. Their cycles also have different beginning and end points. Kondratiev began his first cycle in 1790 and his second long wave lasted between 1850 and 1896. Motianey begins his first supercycle in 1873, in the middle of Kondratiev’s second cycle. The key for Motianey is the point where the major world economies increasingly adopted the gold standard.

Motianey’s supercycles begin with the arrival of a new monetary regime that promises price stability. The breakdown of that regime ultimately ends the supercycle many decades later. His first supercycle begins with the gold standard years in 1873 and ends in 1930 when many countries were forced to leave the gold standard because of the Great Depression. The second one is Keynesian based and it terminated  in 1979 when U.S. Fed chair Paul Volcker stopped the inflation that began with the breakdown of Bretton Woods in 1971 by imposing high interest rates. Motianey defines the current supercycle as the era of enlightened fiat money – a term that seems inherently oxymoronic. It should end somewhere around 2020 to 2030. The breakdown of our current monetary regime seems to have begun with the Credit Crisis.

In the Motianey model of supercycles, central banks and their mistakes are driving force of the deflationary and inflationary periods that seem to repeat over and over again. Instead of producing their stated goal of price stability, they wind up going too far in one direction or the other and exaggerate the price movements that would have taken place without their intervention. Motianey’s supercycles begin with a period of deflation, as occurred in the late 1800s and the 1930s, or disinflation, which characterized the 1980s. Inflation appears toward the end. Inflation in the 1910s because of World War I and in the 1970s because of the breakdown of the dollar were the two major inflationary episodes in the previous two supercycles. We are now about to head into the inflationary years in the current cycle.

Motianey does nevertheless examine three possible outcomes in his book for the next decade or so. He thinks deflation is highly unlikely as this would indicate a premature ending to the third supercycle and it would make it the only one without an inflationary episode. Motianey considers two ways governments might handle inflation – with indexation and without. While Motianey thinks indexing could be a good idea, history indicates it rarely if ever works out as I pointed out when I interviewed him at the February meeting of the New York Investing meetup (http://investing.meetup.com/21). Brazil implemented a completely comprehensive indexation system starting in the 1960s and this only served to entrench inflation and many years later eventually led to hyperinflation. The U.S. already has minor indexation in Social Security cost of living increases and of tax brackets. An expansion of indexation is actually quite likely to take place; it is not a good idea however.

Motianey is an engaging writer and “Supercycles” should be considered a must read for economic junkies. His ideas are fresh and innovative and he attempts to avoid the dogma that frequently leads those in the profession astray. I highly recommend it for those who want to gain greater perspective on the Credit Crisis and where we might be heading in its aftermath.

Disclosure: McGraw-Hill provided a copy of the book for review purposes.

NEXT:

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The U.S. Imports Inflation

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


U.S. import price data for January indicates a rise of 1.4% from December and a 11.5% rise year over year. The price rise in January was the sixth one in a row. Higher energy prices were the major cause of both the monthly and yearly increases. The implications are inflationary.

Prices for imported oil were up 4.8% in January (the U.S. imports approximately two-thirds of its oil). Non-fuel imports were up 0.4%, led by a 1.5% price increase in industrial materials. Metals and chemicals were responsible for most of that rise. The price for foods, feeds, and beverages were up 1.3%. The report clearly indicated that commodities were responsible for almost all of the rise in U.S. import prices in January. Since all commodities are priced in U.S. dollars and the dollar rallied 0.7% during the month, the jump in import prices could have been worse - and will be if the dollar continues selling off as it did for most of 2009.

There was indeed a stark contrast between price changes for commodities and manufactured goods in January's report. Consumer goods were up only 0.2%, while capital goods and automotive vehicles decreased by 0.1%. Inflation has yet to filter into manufactured goods, which are at the end of the chain for price increases. Commodities are at the beginning. The report also indicated significant drops in air fare and air freight prices, both of which will reverse if oil prices stay high.

Over the last year there has been a dramatic change in the inflation picture based on import prices. Year over year price changes were negative and dropped each month from January to July 2009. Yearly prices decreased 12.5% in January and were down 19.1% in July. Since then, a major reversal from deflation to inflation has taken place. In November the yearly import price change became positive and was up 3.4%. It increased to 8.6% in December. In only six months from July 2009 to January 2010, the yearly change in U.S. import prices went from -19.1% to +11.5%. These are truly shocking figures.

In the last month, central banks have indicated they are starting to worry about inflation - China increased required bank reserves twice, the U.S. Fed halted five Credit Crisis liquidity programs and the Bank of England paused its quantitative easing (read money printing) program. All in all though these actions are merely very minor adjustments in monetary policies that are still highly expansionary. Inflation takes years to work its way through the financial system and by the time it is recognized, it is well-entrenched and it is too late to stop it without taking drastic action. Investors should consider the U.S. import price figures as a warning of things to come.

Disclosure: None

NEXT: Gold Down on IMF Sales, Then Up on Inflation

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The Deflation Boogieman, Oil and Intel

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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The PPI report yesterday and CPI report this morning both indicated deflation - at least in the headline numbers. PPI was down 1.2% and CPI down 0.1%. The core rates were flat and up 0.2% respectively. Falling energy prices, and falling food prices as well this month, are responsible for the "deflation" that is being reported by the government. NYMEX oil prices meanwhile closed yesterday in New York at $49.41, but were once again above $50 again in European trading this morning (the weekly storage report is out today at 10:30AM New York time). Oil is well off the $33 low being reflected in recent inflation statistics. Tech bellweather Intel released earnings last night and there was actually some good news in the numbers. The CEO also blatantly stated the PC market had bottomed. Apparently traders don't believe him though since the stock had a big drop in the aftermarket.

We have covered many times in this blog how the U.S. government manipulates the inflation statistics to lower the reported inflation rate, so you should always add a few percent to whatever numbers it releases. We have also demonstrated several times how falling oil prices are almost solely responsible for the recent drop in U.S. inflation rates (falling oil along with drops in other commodity prices were the key components of the deflation that took place in Japan in the late 1990s and early 2000s as well, but you will never see this mentioned in media reports). The U.S. government reported this morning that year over year headline CPI is down 0.4% - the first annual decline since 1955 - but the core rate is up 1.8%. Yesterday, the headline PPI was reported down 3.5% since last year, the largest decline since 1950. Gasoline and food prices were down over 13% and even food prices supposedly dropped (something I haven't noticed in the real world).

Considering the light sweet crude oil is already around 50% above its February low, the days of the current "deflation" may be numbered (and of course the U.S. is printing new money at an outstanding rate to make sure they are). During the entire time that oil prices have rallied, the mainstream media has continually stated that the price can't go up until the economy recovers and demand for oil increases (neither has occurred, yet prices have risen) . A quote from an article this morning, "Demand will have to come back before you see the oil price move up from $50 in a sustained way." You can find very similar statements when oil was at $40 and yet the price rose to $50. My guess is you will see similar statements at $60 and probably $70 as well. Interestingly, the people being quoted in the articles today are different from the people that have been quoted, and who have been continually wrong, during the last few months. Is the mainstream financial press actually starting to realize that their credibility is damaged when they continue to quote a source that has been wrong a few dozen times in a row? Perhaps, although you should note that the quotes themselves that contain the inaccurate information are not changing, just the people they are attributed to.

Finally, Intel earnings last night were significant. While they don't exactly indicate that the global economy is running on all cylinders, they do indicate that tech spending is not collapsing. It is also unusual for a CEO of a major company to state so blatantly an opinion of overall market conditions. So why isn't the market giving his bullish comments any credibility? My feeling is that it is because tech spending in the U.S. may not have bottomed. However, the U.S. is not the center of world when it comes to technology spending (and many American traders have yet to realize this). The market for computers in East Asia became twice as big as the market in North America long ago. If demand for tech is picking up in Asia, the market could have indeed be turning around.

NEXT: Economic Statistics are Yesterday, Stock Prices are Tomorrow

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

No Longer Gilt Edged - the Inflation Implications

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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Yesterday, a regular government bond auction in Britain failed for the first time since 1995. There were more 45-year gilts for sale than buyers willing to purchase them. The British government is only printing money to buy its bonds in the 5 to 25 year range and it is now obvious the printing presses are going to have to be reved up to expand this program if Britain wants to fund its various bailout and stimulus packages. Meanwhile the U.S. bond auction yesterday was a 'success', although in order to insure that success the Fed had to purchase a higher amount of bonds than was previously thought necessary. The inflation implications of more money printing did not escape the market's attention with almost every commodity rallying strongly this morning.

The commodity rally took place even though the economic news was gloomy across the board. U.S. fourth quarter 2008 GDP was revised further downward to a drop of 6.3%. Businesses and consumers are both cutting spending and unemployment roles are swelling weekly. The mainstream press has continually told investors that commodity prices can't pick up until demand increases and this will require the economy to start picking up. They have been continually wrong. Commodities are all inflation hedges and the big money is well aware of this. Even the most cursory examination of the charts indicates many commodities bottomed last fall and their prices have been moving up since then. You should ask yourself why doesn't the press just report this simple factual information?

This blog has covered the mainstream media's misreporting of the oil market in detail many times. Headlines for the weekly supply picture from Cushing, Oklahoma were uniformly bearish yesterday. Oil in storage increased 3.3 million barrels, instead of the 1+ million increase that had been predicted and was more than 15% higher from the same time last year. As usual the press quoted 'experts' indicating demand has to pick up or the current rally will falter (as opposed to the previous reporting that stated that demand has to pick up or there wouldn't be a rally). Oil indeed sold off on this bearish news. What the press didn't report or buried at the bottom of its coverage was that demand for gasoline has actually risen for the last four weeks (even though the press will tell you this is not possible during a recession - the facts sometimes get in the way of the story the media wants to tell you). Gasoline in storage is actually more than 5% below year ago levels and the beginning of the heavy usage summer driving season is only two months away.

Investors should all keep in mind that commodities are inflation hedges and the U.S. and Britain are admitting they are printing new money. This doesn't mean that they just started printing additional money, but that the money printing is so out of control that it can't be hidden any more. There is no time in history where the money supply hasn't been expanded beyond the economic growth rate and inflation hasn't resulted. The inflation this time is going to be considerable. If you haven't done so already, you should be adjusting your portfolio accordingly. By the time the mainstream media tells you to do so (they are currently telling you the deflation is your big worry), it will already be too late.

NEXT: In the Eye of the Financial Hurricane

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

What happened to Deflation?

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Video Related to this Blog:

The CPI for February was out this morning and it was up 0.4%. Producer prices were up yesterday as well. Both were up in January too. Where did the deflation go that the mainstream media was warning us about over and over and over again at the end of last year and the beginning of this year? It seems to have been chased back to whatever part of Fantasy Land it came from by rising oil prices. The CPI report this morning did indeed indicate that two-thirds of the price increase was caused by more expensive gasoline.

While the official government inflation figures (not actual inflation, never confuse the two) were hoovering around zero levels at the end of last year, this blog pointed out that it was due to falling oil prices. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, never got anywhere near zero. It was also clear to us that oil prices couldn't fall much further because they were too close to production costs and the next move would have to be up. While light sweet crude double bottomed in December and February, gasoline prices bottomed in December and have been going up since then. U.S. gasoline demand actually went up at least three weeks in a row recently. This is happening even though there is a severe recession (really depression) and demand is supposed to be dropping sharply or at least the media constantly tells us this. Since it isn't, this indicates prices have become too depressed and need to go up.

Oil has indeed moved up nicely since it February 18th low in the high 33's. The NYMEX contract closed at $49.16 yesterday. There is resistance just above $50.00, so prices should get stuck at that level before they can break higher. Surmounting this level will confirm that oil put in a double bottom at 33. Our oil tracking stock DXO had a significant breakout by closing at 2.71, 20 cents above its 50-day moving average. DXO actually traded above its 50-day five out of the six previous trading days, but couldn't close above it. Finally, the bulls gathered enough muscle to push it over. You should expect this line to be tested in the future.

Oil is in its seasonally strong period and should be bullish until at least June and possibly into the summer. The move is not going to be straight up however. Expect lots of volatility along the way. The weekly storage reports from Cushing, Oklahoma (one is due out today) can always cause sudden moves up and down.

NEXT: Invest Now for the Coming Inflation

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Quantitative Easing Today, A $50 Cup of Coffee Tomorrow

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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This morning, the Bank of England (BOE) lowered interest rates (already at 300 year lows) to 0.5% and the European Central Bank (ECB) lowered them to 1.5%. Like the U.S. Fed, both central banks are worried about deflation, which is like someone in the Amazon worrying about the next blizzard. The Bank of England even announced it was embarking on a quantitative easing program (as if this is something new) that would purchase $106 billion of commercial paper and government bonds. British gilts soared on the news (interest rates went down) and inexplicably the pound rose and then more logically fell. Why someone would buy a currency, just after the issuing government announces it's embarking on a currency debasing program is something to ponder.

Quantitative easing is the creation of money out of thin air by a central bank, followed by its injection into the country's banking system. Central banks can accomplish this by using the new money to buy government bonds in the open market, lending the money to banks, or buying assets from banks in exchange for currency. It is not the only form of new money creation, just the most extreme. Quantitative easing causes government bond rates to go down. It should also lower the value of a country's currency.

The U.S Fed has effectively been using quantitative easing since late 2007. Note that government bond interest rates have gone down substantially during this time (and the U.S. dollar had a massive sell off from the fall of 2007 until spring of 2008). Records also indicate that only 20% of U.S. treasuries are in private hands. The rest are held by the Fed, its subsidiaries and foreign central banks. The U.S. government has essentially been printing money and then buying its own bonds with this newly printed money. According to many economic experts, including noble prize winners, this is somehow not going to lead to inflation.

The thinking (or lack thereof) of central bank heads on the deflation issue was demonstrated clearly in the rate cut announcements this morning. Both the ECB and BOE are worried about inflation rates falling below 2%. Trichet the ECB head, admitted that the a sharp drop in commodity prices was the cause of this 'deflation' (although official inflation rates in the Eurozone are still above 1%) and apparently he thinks commodity prices can continue falling below the cost of production and there won't be any reduction in supply (did he take economics 101?). This argument is used by the U.S. as well, along with the 'inflation can only happen if wages are rising' line of reasoning. That argument is false as well and is based on the interpretation of the mechanism of the course of inflation in the U.S. in the 1970s. Even if this wage rate argument was true, revised figures came out this morning showing U.S. wages actually rose sharply in Q4 2008, instead of falling as had originally been 'mistakenly' reported by the government.

Ultimately, inflation comes down to whether of not the value of a country's currency is maintained and all other issues are secondary. When countries issue money faster than justified by economic growth, whether in the form of actually printing it as hyperinflationary superstar Zimbabwe has done or by using the more sophisticated tricks of the U.S Fed, the value of that country's currency declines against hard assets and consumer prices rise. Only if the money does not flow into the greater economy because it gets stuck in banking system because you have continual recession/depression, can you avoid inflation. Either way you lose.

NEXT: U.S. Unemployment reaches 15%

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Deepening Global Recession Means More Inflation

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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The economic news out this morning corroborates a deepening global recession. GDP in the eurozone fell 1.5% during Q4 2008. This is the third drop in the row and the steepest. Predictions are that Japan's Q4 GDP will fall somewhere around a 10% annual rate. Media coveraged emphasized how the U.S. economy was doing better than those overseas, rather than questioning the absurdity of the U.S. GDP figures. Dire warnings of DEFLATION were mixed in with the reporting.

While it is true that declining economic growth leads to falling demand (an economic argument that discusses only demand and not supply is meaningless) and the current declines are rivaling the Great Depression in the 1930s, this doesn't mean there will be deflation this time around. During the Depression, the U.S. monetary authorities contracted the money supply in the beginning, which is a major reason the Depression lasted so long and became so steep. Currently, the monetary authorities are inflating the money supply at a rate worthy of Weimar Germany in the early 1920's or Brazil in its inflationary heyday. Simple common sense indicates the outcome will be different now than it was in the 1930s.

The truth will be found in the markets. While they can be manipulated in the short term, in the long term they have to move to accurate price levels (unless the government bans trading, which has indeed happened many times in the past). Even though constant efforts are made to suppress the price of inflation-indicator gold, it is nevertheless still rising and could easily hit a new all time high sometime within the next several weeks. It reached 950.00 in futures trading yesterday, just a smidge below the 1000 level. Silver has also been rallying strongly in the last two months. Oil is trying to find a bottom at current levels and expect it to put in a good rally once it does.

Anyone who reads this blog knows the alledged deflation that is taking place is accounted for almost completely by falling oil prices. While the manipulations in the gold market are well documented, oil is probably even more manipulated but in different ways. Right now Light Sweet Crude is in extreme contango (prices for futures months are much higher than the current price). While the current oil contract was trading at $34.45 this morning, April was trading at $42.14 and June was trading at $47.62. Also the price of Brent (an inferior grade of oil) is way above Light Sweet Crude, with Brent trading at $45.90. This is the reverse of the usual price relationship and is somewhat analogous to table wine costing more than a good champagne. Light Sweet Crude may have put in a double bottom yesterday (only time will tell), falling to $33.98, close to the low of $33.16 reached last December 19th. Press coverage on oil seems to have changed this morning, with some talk about how supply is going to be reduced at current prices and how this can support prices even though demand is falling (did someone recently give the reporters a basic lesson in economics?).

Ignore all the talk about deflation coming from the press and well-known deflationists like Noriel Roubini (who is predicting a big decline in consumer prices). Yes, global economies are sinking, but monetary and fiscal stimulation (both of which are inflationary) are being applied at historically high levels. It's only a matter of time before they work their (black) magic. Just remember though that it takes many years before the full impact of inflation shows up.

NEXT:

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Only TARP Recipients Should Worry About Deflation

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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Finally some minor logical restriction has been added to the historically wasteful TARP program. TARP is essentially welfare for Wall Street and companies receiving welfare should be forced to live like people who used to receive it, if they want the handouts. The $700 billion of taxpayer money was supposed to be used for lending, but nothing in the bill mandated that would happen. There aren't even records of where the money is going, although maintaining exorbitant executive salaries and bonuses is obviously one of destinations for the funds. President Obama has now restricted these salaries to a still generous $500,000 (the President of the U.S. is paid only $400,000). Stock options are allowed, but only once the U.S. is paid back the money it has given to these financial companies. This is only likely if major inflation reduces the debt (and your savings and retirement payments) to essentially nothing.

Anyone who reads this blog is well aware that we have been predicting just such an economic scenario for a long time. Central banks throughout the world are engaging in policies that will insure massive inflation is inevitable and they are covering their irresponsible policies by waving the threat of deflation flag. The Bank of England just cut rates to 1.0%, down from 1.5% (which was already the lowest since the late 1600s - yes, 1600s). The BOE has more than hinted that this is just another step on the way to ZIRP (zero interest rate policy), which now exists in the U.S. and Japan. It also stated that it WILL BE expanding the money supply (as if somehow they haven't already been doing this). Like the U.S. central bank, the BOE claims that it is worried about deflation, even though the official inflation rate in Britain is 3.1% (you may assume the actual rate is somewhat to a lot higher) and the pound is dropping precipitously, which is highly inflationary. Lower interest rates and increased money printing will only weaken the currency further. Yet the BOE is worried about deflation.

Central banks are taking the disastrous decisions to create inflation in a desperate attempt to prop up their collapsing economies. The true depth of the economic downturn is being hidden from the public by manipulation of the data and a compliant press that fails to question even the most absurd claims of the government statistical offices. As an example, the U.S. Labor Department released productivity figures for Q4 2008 today. Productivity (the amount of output per hour of work) was allegedly soaring at the end of last year. The claim is that the number of hours worked is dropping a lot faster than output. The alternative (and correct) explanation is that the government has lied about output and overstated it considerably. While there is a lot of evidence to support that U.S. GDP is being overstated, you will not see it in mainstream press coverage of the Productivity story... just an emphasis on the ridiculous headline numbers.

The press articles on Productivity are also being used to prop up the deflation bogeyman. One AP article (likely to be reprinted in hundreds of papers across the U.S.) stated, "The results underscore how the deepening recession has removed the threat of inflation". No AP, the results underscore the depth of lying that the U.S. government will engage in to hide the real economic story from the American public.

NEXT: U.S. Unemployment Rate Rises to 13.9%

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

GDP - Report is Bad, Reality Worse

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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The U.S. government released the fourth quarter GDP figures today. The report showed a 3.8% annualized decline in the economy, which would be the worst showing in 26 years if it were true. It is not. This report continues the unbroken chain of fantasy that has emanated from the U.S. commerce department recently (the Inflation and Employment reports are the U.S. government's other great works of fiction). Even the internal figures in the GDP report show that the economy is in much worse shape than the top line number indicates. The lie was so outrageous this time that even the ever credulous mass media included statements in its reporting about the likelihood of the number being revised downward when 'new' data becomes available (or when the embarrassment of so many people laughing at the report becomes so great that the government is forced to publish a somewhat more realistic number - don't expect the truth under any circumstances however).

The first place to look for manipulation in every GDP report is in the inflation figure used to adjust the nominal figure to get the reported or 'real' number (growth caused by inflation is not actual growth and that is why this adjustment has to be made, this adjustment is the GDP deflator). According to the U.S. government, prices FELL by 5.5% in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2008. The government also claimed that the prices rose only 1.2% in the second quarter of 2008 (a time when gas prices were heading above $4.00 a gallon, food prices were soaring, and the government's own PPI report indicated inflation of around 13%, yet somehow the GDP statiticians couldn't find any inflation that quarter). If a more realistic inflation figure had been used, GDP for the fourth quarter may have declined 8% or 9% - a depression level drop.

The bigger decline in GDP is supported by looking at the individual components of business and consumer spending. Spending by businesses on equipment and software fell at a whopping 27.8% annualized pace, the most since 1958. Hard hit homebuilders slashed spending by 23.6%, even deeper than the 16% annualized cut in the prior three months. While internal U.S. economic conditions were bad, there was no relief from exports either. U.S. exports, whose alledged growth earlier in 2008 helped produce better GDP figures, turned negative. Exports plunged at a rate of 19.7%, the most since the deep recession of 1974. Despite these horrendous conditions, the GDP report also claimed businesses increased inventories substantially (which adds to current GDP growth, but would subtract from it in the future). just taking out this supposed inventory increase, U.S. GDP would have contracted by 5.1% instead of 3.8% last quarter.

The consumer component of the GDP equation didn't look any better either. U.S. consumers cut back spending on durable goods (items expected to last a year or more such as cars, appliances, furniture, etc) by a huge 22.4%, the largest amount since 1987. Spending on non-durables (which includes most necessities such as food and clothing) fell by 7.1%. A decline of that magnitude has not been seen since 1950. Despite these very large declines, the GDP report stated that consumer spending fell by only 3.5% in total (on the surface it doesn't seem possible that you could get this number from the component parts).

Despite the Credit Crisis which had ravaged the economy in 2008, the U.S. government claims that the American economy grew (yes, grew) by 1.3% in 2008. This is down from 2.0% growth in 2007. Anyone who believes this number, probably also thinks that pigs can fly. Obviously, the Commerce Department in Washington is trying to statistically prove that this can happen, although it doesn't seem to be possible anywhere else in the country.

NEXT: Negative Outlook for the Market from January Barometer

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The Real Deflation is Taking Place in Bank Stocks

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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PPI came out this morning and the U.S. government is now claiming that there has been wholesale price deflation in 2008. At least this is what the headline number indicates. Core inflation wasn't as benign, rising the most since 1988. The media is of course now hyping the headline number, which it downplays when it indicates inflation and ignoring the core number which gets a lot of attention when it's the better number (the advantage of having two numbers, one is likely to look better). The prices that are really dropping are assets, not those that are consumer related, with bank stocks yesterday taking a real hit.

According to the BLS wholesale prices in the U.S. fell by 1.9 percent in December. The yearly drop of 0.9% compares with a rise of 6.2% in 2007. As has been pointed out repeatedly in this blog, recent drops in the PPI are due almost exclusively to declining energy prices. These led the price declines last month, with energy prices overall going down 9.3% and gasoline dropping by a record 25.7%. For a change, food prices also fell, or at least the reports indicates a 1. 5% drop for the month (there was no drop for 2008, nor have U.S. food prices fallen year over year in the last four decades). Core inflation told a very different story however. It was up 0.2% in December and 4.3% in 2008. The last time it was higher was 20 years ago.

Mainstream media reporting on the PPI, as has been the case recently, has indicated the risks of consumer price deflation because of the headline numbers. The media usually reassures the public that economists (almost all of whom missed the Credit Crisis, the recession and are usually wrong in almost all of their predictions) have "confidence that the Federal Reserve (which has totally and completely mishandled the Credit Crisis since its inception) has the tools needed to keep deflation from becoming a problem". The media usually follows this up with 'isn't it great that the Fed had the foresight to cut interest rates to zero'. Certainly, you can not argue that what the Fed is doing will keep the threat of deflation away. Central Bank monetary policies that have given rise to hyperinflation in the past are usually very effective in preventing prices from falling.

While there is no actual deflation going on in consumer prices as the mass media would have you believe, assets prices are indeed deflating (the two are not interchangeable) because of the collapsing financial system. That collapse is by no means done. Bank America actually hit a new yearly low in aftermarket trading yesterday. Citigroup fell over 20% into the 4's (its yearly low is just above 3, a price that large cap financial stocks trade at only if they are on the verge of oblivion). Wells Fargo was also down quite a bit. The charts for JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are not looking particularly healthy either. Even after the U.S. government has pumped almost an unlimited amount of money into these companies, they are faltering again. As we have said in the New York Investing meetup over and over, "there is no such thing as a single bailout for an insolvent financial institution". We'll just have to see what the government does next.

NEXT: Bank(rupt) of America Gets Government Bailout

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Retail Sales Plummet, More Trouble in Banks

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Video Related to this Blog:

Retail sales dropped 2.7% in December, far more than Wall Street's prediction of 1.2% (just another example of how to this day Wall Street is continually underestimating the impact of the Credit Crisis on the economy). For the year, retail sales were down 0.1%, the first drop since the series has been reported by the government. Since retail sales have accounted for approximately 72% of the U.S. economic activity in recent years, whether or not they rise or fall has a strong impact on GDP. Since the Credit Crisis is by no means over yet, clearly indicated by today's news about Citibank, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, retail sales are likely to continue to be weak into the foreseeable future.

The drop in retail sales in December was a record sixth drop in a row. Virtually all areas of retail sales showed declines. Auto sales fell by 0.7 percent and are down 22.4 percent year over year. Excluding autos, retail sales were down 3.1%, the most ever since the report has been published. Retail sales did not drop during the recession of 2001, the only recession in history where this unlikely condition took place (this was only possible because of vast consumer credit expansion at that time which we are now paying for with the current Credit Crisis). When interpreting retail sales figures, it is important to realize that they are not adjusted for inflation. Gasoline sales dropped by 15.9% in December, but this is the result of falling oil prices, not a big decline in actual sales. While some of the drop in the December report took place because of lower prices, most of it did not. On the other hand, much of the gain reported in retail sales in the last several years has been a consequence of price rises and not a better economy.

The Credit Crisis backdrop is not likely to improve any time soon either. Three international banks made the news today. Deutsche Bank announced it expected a $6.4 billion loss for the fourth quarter. A brokerage report cited the need for global bank HSBC to raise up to $30 billion in new capital, citing 57% of its loan exposure was in the troubled UK and US markets. Finally in a deal between the dead and the dying, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are creating a new business entity consisting of Citigroup's Smith Barney's unit and Morgan Stanley's wealth management (some would say mismanagement) business. Morgan Stanley gets a controlling interest and Citigroup gets $2.7 billion in desperately needed cash.

For many years, Citibank was the largest bank in the United States. If the U.S. government hadn't bailed it out both behind the scenes and more publicly in November 2008, it would possibly already be out of business. Citigroup was created by a merger of Citibank and Traveler's Insurance in 1998. This was hailed as a brilliant move by Wall Street. Only four years later Citigroup spun off Travelers Insurance (many things Wall Street considers brilliant fall apart within a few years or so). Ten years later the financial supermarket approach that Citibank built itself on is disintegrating, much like the entire global banking system.


NEXT: The Real Deflation is Taking Place in Bank Stocks

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

U.S. Trade Deficit - There's Good News and Bad News

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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The U.S. Trade Deficit dropped by a whopping 29% in November, one of the biggest drops in history, if not the biggest. Much of the 'improvement' was accounted for by price changes in imports (the numbers are not adjusted for inflation or deflation as is the case for most U.S. government economic reports) Nevertheless, both imports and exports declined significantly, indicating a shrinking global economy. Imports of course dropped much more than exports and this took place because of falling oil prices.

Oil prices (the U.S. is a major oil importer) have the biggest influence by far in determining the U.S. Trade Deficit. The trade deficit overall dropped 29% and oil imports dropped by a similar amount. Based on the average price for a barrel of oil used in the report, oil prices dropped 27% during the month, although the report itself states that 'petroleum prices' fell 32%. Imports of industrial supplies, the category in the report that includes petroleum products and natural gas, fell by 25%. Based on these figures it looks like a little less oil is being consumed by the U.S., but not much. Almost the entire change is merely a change in pricing.

On the flip side of the equation, imports were also falling in November, but that decline seems somewhat more related to an actual drop in trade than a drop in prices. U.S. exports of industrial supplies, capital goods, autos, consumer goods, and food and feed all fell. The one significant rise was in the aircraft category, which jumped 7.1%. This was caused by a strike in Boeing ending and should be assumed to be a one-time event. Drops in imports and exports of services were approximately equivalent.

The average price of a barrel of oil used for the November report was $66.72 a barrel and oil has fallen much lower since then. 'Improvements' in the U.S. Trade Deficit are likely for the next few months because of this. As the price of oil gets to its cost of production, the 'improvements' will disappear however. When the price of oil rises again, the 'improvements' will reverse. The drop in U.S. exports is actually the much bigger story. It was a collapse in U.S. exports that was a key marker of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

NEXT:

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The Truth About Deflation - A Crude Analysis

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Video Related to this Blog:

In a carefully orchestrated media campaign to justify its money printing spree, the U.S. government has been trumpeting the need to counteract the threat of deflation. While there has been disinflation (lesser inflation) since this July when a concerted global central bank intervention began to drive up the value of the U.S. dollar, even the highly under reported inflation rates that the U.S. government publishes are still positive. A look inside the figures indicates quite clearly that there is only one major source for dropping prices - oil and its derivative products. If this reverses (and it will), watch out.

The PPI for November fell 2.2% after a record drop of 2.8% in October. The core which excludes food and energy was up 0.1%. Energy prices fell 11.2% after a 12.8% drop in October. Gasoline prices had a second record monthly decline. Home heating fuel fell by a whopping 23.3% (you should note that prices are down the most just as demand it rising substantially, which doesn't make sense if supply is not changing). Food prices were unchanged on the month. For the year, PPI is up 0.4%, but the core is up 4.2%. Overall PPI could indeed be reported as negative for the year when the December figures are released.

The seasonally adjusted CPI fell by 1.7% last month - the biggest drop since 1947 when seasonal adjustments were created. Core prices were unchanged however. Food itself was up. The cost of home ownership was up. The cost of health care was up. Energy prices however were down 17% . Gasoline prices fell an eye-popping 29.5% (gas prices went down at least 75 consecutive days in a row this fall, something which has never happened before). For the year, CPI was up 1.1% and the core is up 2.0%.

This morning the NYMEX light sweet crude contract hit $38.16 even though OPEC just said it would cut daily production 2.2. million barrels (the market is sceptical that this will actually happen). This is approximately a 75% drop from the early July high. This amount of drop is too much too fast. While I do not have exact figures, oil appears to be getting close to its cost of production. Could that level be as low as $35 or even $30? Yes it could. Whatever the bottom price is, the threat of deflation will likely disappear once it is reached .. and that should be soon.

NEXT:

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Synchronized Contractions Give Birth to Global Recession

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Video Related to this Blog:

Recently released manufacturing numbers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are off the charts. Unfortunately the part of the charts they are off is the downside. While the media was trumpeting the biggest global expansion ever last year, the New York Investing meetup pointed out that every economic expansion in history has been followed by a contraction and therefore the biggest expansion ever was likely to be followed by the biggest contraction. The most recent figures for manufacturing activity show that this is exactly what is taking place.

In the U.S., the ISM fell to 36.2 (anything under 50 indicates contraction), the lowest since the recession of 1982. The Prices Paid component fell to 25.5, the lowest since 1949. Falling commodity prices were blamed for the sharp drop. The Order Backlog component was the lowest ever. Manufacturing in Europe isn't in any better shape. In Britain, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply index fell to 34.4. The VTB Bank Europe Index for the Eurozone including Russia fell to 39.8. In Asia, two purchasing manager surveys in China fell to 38.8 and 40.9 respectively. The Yuan fell limit down on the news. As further corroboration of a global contraction, the most recently released semiconductor sale figures indicated a drop of 2.4% in sales year over year.

The markets didn't react kindly to this plethora of bad economic reports. As of this writing, NYMEX oil has dropped as low as $50.76. The markets in Europe had crash level drops on the day, with the exception of the FTSE in Britain, which missed the cut off by a hair. In the U.S., the Nasdaq and S&P 50 are trading at crash levels so far. This is taking place after the biggest up week for the U.S. indices since the mega-bear market in 1974. Last week the S&P 500 rose 12%, the Nasdaq 11%, and the Dow 9%. Too much, too fast is never sustainable in stock market action and today's trading is showing that once again the validity of this rule.

Retail reports for Black Friday aren't much to cheer about either. While sales supposedly went up 7.2% from last year, surveys indicate that 70% of shoppers purchased only deeply discounted items. So sales might hold up, but retail profits are likely to plummet. The desperation for bargains was so acute that a Walmart worker on Long Island was trampled to death. In bad economic times, the public's actions can indeed become quite ugly.

NEXT: NBER Admits that New York Investing Was Right

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.