The Peter Schiff Show Podcast

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ No Relief As I said on yesterday's podcast, I did not we had a "Wall Street Relief Rally", based on the stand down or truce in the trade war following the backtracking by the Fed on the potential number of rate hikes and the distance we were from neutrality. Interest Rates Anything But Neutral By the way, yesterday I referred to the rate hikes as normal; I should have said neutral - obviously what we have now is not even close to being normal. The Fed is trying to convince us that the new "neutral" rate of interest is now lower than what was considered neutral in the past. Why is that? Because we have such an enormous amount of debt now, the Fed has to keep interest rates much lower in order to achieve neutrality.  But, of course, if the Fed needs to keep interest rates low, it's not neutral. Those low interest rates are actually stimulative. What the Fed is trying to do is use artificially low interest rates to prop up the economy and then claim that those artificially low rates are neutral. They're anything but neutral. They are accommodative.  This is cheap money, this easy money, and ultimately it is going to set off massive inflation. A Terrible Day, Technically Nobody seems to understand that yet, but that's what's coming. People are continuing to be complacent despite today's substantial drop in the value of stocks. Today the Dow was down just shy of 800 points - 799 points.  At the lows, it was down over 800. We didn't close on the exact low; maybe they're going to somehow claim that that was a rally or something - the fact that we closed slightly off the lows.  This was a terrible day, technically, and in fact I mentioned again on yesterday's podcast, the fact that the market made the highs on the open - it did not trade very well, and it looked to me that we would fall down. I did not know that we would drop this much this quickly, but it doesn't surprise me.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Interest Rates and Trade War The two things that everybody seems to agree were weighing down the markets were the Fed's relentless drive to normalize interest rates, and figure out where "normal" was, and, of course, the trade war - the threat of additional tariffs overhanging the markets.  So I think it was pretty clear to President Trump who is hanging his hat on the stock market, has decided that the stock market performance is the best barometer of his Presidency. So the fact that the stock market was falling was really a big problem for the President so he had to do what he could to try to get the stock market to go back up. Fed Restated "Normal" The first part of the two-pronged attack was the interest rates. Whether he was able to convince Powell to change his tune or whether Trump just got lucky and the Fed decided to backtrack, as I mentioned in my last podcast, the Fed has now said, "We are just below normal." Meaning that we only need one more rate hike before we get to normal, whereas in the past the Fed had said that normal was quite a ways away, and that the Fed would have to raise rates many, many more times in order to achieve normal.  And of course, anybody who knows anything about the history of interest rates would have to agree that where we are now, at 2% is historically abnormal. It obviously could not be considered neutral based on any kind of past precedent. So the fact that the market was able to backtrack so quickly really threw a bone that the market and Donald Trump badly needed.. Trade Tensions Weighing Down the Market But the other factor that was weighing down the market was all the trade tensions, and all the talk about the tariffs that were going to be imposed in less than a month. The first of next year we were going to get these 25% across-the-board tariffs.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ The Fed's Game of Chicken The big news was yesterday, when Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, basically flinched. I've been talking about the game of chicken that the Federal Reserve has been playing with the markets. The way the game of chicken goes, is the markets keep moving lower and the Fed keeps talking about how great the economy is and how many rate hikes are coming in the future. Somebody has to flinch - somebody has to blink. It's like you have these two automobiles driving toward each other, and there's going to be a major crash unless somebody turns the wheel.It seems like it was Jerome Powell who turned the wheel first, and, in fact, was chicken. The Fed Is Worried About All Asset Prices, Not Just the Stock Market As much as the Fed wants to pretend they don't care about the stock market - they absolutely care about the stock market. They are tremendously worried about a weakening stock market.  Remember the goal of quantitative easing was to lift the stock market - to create a wealth effect and it was that stock market-created wealth that was going to drive consumption and the economy. And it wasn't just the stock market; it was also the real estate market.  So the Fed is worried about all asset prices, not just the stock market.  Clearly the real estate market is in even more trouble than the stock market, but both of these markets were headed lower, and I think that is what really prompted the Fed to blink - to swerve in this game of chicken. Powell Suddenly Dials Back the Narrative Now, of course you also had President Trump pressuring the Fed, you had Mnuchin putting some pressure on the Fed, which I think should also be a worrying factor.  We don't really know. There was a lot of speculation about what was behind the Fed's change of heart - change in policy.  After all, up until yesterday, even when you had the Vice Chair speak, the tone was very hawkish: "Yep, we've got lots of rate hikes coming." And now all of a sudden, Powell dials it all back.  Basically, what Powell said that convinced people that maybe there will not be as many rate hikes in the future, is, "We're just below neutral. We're almost there, maybe one more rate hike ought to do it." Is 2.25% to 2.5% Neutral? First of all, we're still at 2%, so that would imply neutral is 2.25% or 2.5%. That really shows you how low the neutrality bar has been lowered given the enormity of the debt bubble that have.  Once upon a time, and not too long ago, a 2.5% Fed Funds rate would have been considered highly stimulative.  Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ 25% Tariffs Will Inflict Rather Substantial Damage to the U.S. Economy The Dow Jones managed to finish the day up just over 100 points - I think that was about the high of the day, and we erased a loss that at one point was better than 200 points.  I think a potential catalyst was a talk given by Larry Kudlow earlier in the day in which Kudlow raised some optimism over the possibility of a deal with China that would, of course avert the 25% across the board tariffs that are going to go into effect at the beginning of the new year. Of course, there is always the possibility of a resolution, and I still thin that there is going to be some type of face-saving resolution on both sides to avert these 25% tariffs.  I do think that they will inflict rather substantial damage to the U.S. economy, which is already rapidly decelerating, despite everybody's refusal to admit that (including the Federal Reserve, and I'll get to some comments later in the podcast). Trump Is Pulling the Strings But I don't think the President can risk the 25% tariffs as much as he wants to posture that the U.S. economy is in great shape, and we are in a better position than China to weather any kind of short-term damage that might be created by the tariffs.  I don't think the President is eager to test that hypothesis.  I think he would rather take credit for averting the crisis, even if the crisis was a matter of his own doing. He throws out the potential for the crisis, but of course, the only reason why the crisis is dangling in front of us is because Trump is pulling the strings. It's Impossible to Consume What Has Not Been Produced To the extent that the Chinese can produce all these products, they don't need America to consume them; they can consume the products themselves. Once the products are produced, consumption is a foregone conclusion. It's easy to consume what's been produced; it's impossible to consume what has not been produced.  Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Dow Could Not Hold Onto the Gain After yesterday's, I think 550 point drop in the Dow, the market bounced back a bit today.  I think at one point earlier in the day the Dow managed to gain over 200 points, but it could not hold on to that gain.  It closed down just under one point.  Very weak technical action for today's pre-Thanksgiving bounce. Normally, the markets are up on the day before Thanksgiving, and in general, they were.  The other indexes all managed to close in the black, although considerably off their intra-day highs. Decline in Retail Touted as Excuse, But It's Just a Bear Market The XRT, which is an index of retailers (I talked about that on this podcast before) snapped an 8-day losing streak.  More bad news came out from retailers yesterday; that was part of the reason that you saw the big sell-off in the Dow.  That was the excuse; I don't think the market needs a reason to go down. It's a bear market, and that's what bear markets do - they go down. Of course people who don't know that they're in a bear market make excuses to try to rationalize why the market is going down because they don't want to admit that they are, in fact, in a bear market. Dead Cat Bounces All Around Everything bounced today, I guess dead cat bounces all around. Even Bitcoin managed a rally. In fact yesterday, Bitcoin got as low as $4,050.  So it held $4,000.  Of course, you have people saying, "Ah Ha! $4,000 is the bottom!" I doubt it. It makes sense that there'd be some support at a round number. I doubt that this is THE low. It may not last more than a day or two, given the momentum in this decline. Malinvestments are a Classic Part of Every Bubble Remember I have talked about all the malinvestments that are taking place. When a lot of people argued with me about why Bitcoin was going to succeed, they pointed out that all this capital was going into the industry; all this infrastructure was being built up, and so therefore Bitcoin was going to work because it had all this infrastructure behind it. My argument was always that  infrastructure represents malinvestment. That is a classic part of every bubble.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ FAANG's Took a Big Bite Out of the Market Another Monday, another big down day for the U.S. stock market, it is turning out to be one hell of a quarter; not all of the declines happening in October. But as I said earlier, it doesn't have to be in October for the market to crash. Today wasn't a Black Monday; certainly the percentage decline wasn't out of the ordinary.  Although the FAANG stocks, in particular, there was a big bite taken out of those stocks, and it wasn't just the bite that was taken out of the Apple, which was some of the news that precipitated today's decline. A big down day nonetheless. NASDAQ Having one of the Worst Quarters Ever The Dow Jones down just shy of 400 points - 395, or 1.5%. On the lows, we were down better than 500 points.  The Russell 2000 closed down just over 30 points - that's a 2% point drop.  But the big drop was the NASDAQ - down 219 points, just over 3%, pretty close to the lows of the day. The NASDAQ is now down 12.5% so far this quarter - probably one of the worst quarters ever. I think the only thing that may slow down the decline is if the Fed skips the December rate hike. Although, even that may not be enough. If the Fed doesn't hike in December, the markets might get worried that the Fed knows something and that the economy is much weaker and therefore earnings will be much weaker, so, to me, i think if the market's going to get a stay of execution from the Fed, it's actually going to have to be a rate cut. Homebuilder Sentiment Lower Than Expected There are plenty of other data points that are coming out, both corporate news and news about the overall economy,  In particular, today, that I think weighed heavily on the markets. The first one being the Homebuilder Sentiment for November.  That came out at 10am. So the markets were already trading based on another piece of news which I will get to. Last month, Homebuilder Sentiment's number was at 68. Now anything above 50 is supposedly O.K. It still means they're optimistic. And the consensus was for Homebuilder Sentiment to stay at 68. Instead, it plunged all the way down to 60. In fact, the range of forecasts went from a low of 66 to a high of 69. That drop, from what I've read, that is bigger than any drop we've had during any month of the last bust that led to the 2008 Financial Crisis. We've never seen a rate of decline like this. Obviously that scared the market. This is just one of the first sentiment indicators that is giving way. Obviously, home sales are imploding so you might expect builders to be a little bit nervous about this, even though they are still somewhat optimistic. But remember, this whole rally is built on confidence and the confidence is going to start going everywhere, In addition to the Homebuilders, you're going to see business confidence, particularly small business confidence, which was at a record high. Apple Now in a Bear Market But there was some other particularly bad news that came in before the opening bell, and that one was from Apple. They said they will be cutting production because of lower sales. That decision trickles down, effecting a lot of companies who count on those orders from Apple. The price of Apple is down by 4% on the day. But if you now look at the total drop - just over 20% - and that means the way Wall Street scores it, Apple is now in a bear market. Facebook Led the Market Down Of course, not just Apple, the FAANG's in general, the market took a bite out of those guys today. Facebook leading the market down - down another 5.5% on the day. That brings the total decline for this bear market to 40%. In second place is NETFLIX, that was down 5.5%, today so pretty much neck and neck with Facebook. But since its peak, NETFLIX is down 36%.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Optimism Over No Tariffs Fueling Market Move Donald Trump, I think, was the reason the markets ended up finishing in the black today, at least most of the major indexes.  In fact, the only index that was down on the day was the NASDAQ - the NASDAQ was the only major index that was down on the week, thanks to weakness in tech stock, in particular, the FANG stocks.  The comments that Trump made today basically gave hope to some people that potentially 25% across the board tariffs on all Chinese imports may not go into effect at the beginning of next year, which is the threat. If the Chinese ant Trump don't come to an agreement, then those tariffs are going to hit. Tariffs Are the Stick Apparently the tariffs are the stick that is going to be brandished by Trump, and he is going to use it to hit the Chinese over the head. But the threat of this big stick is supposedly going to bring the Chinese to the table, and there will be a deal that is favorable to the United States.  Of course, if these tariffs actually go into effect, the people who are really going to be hit with the stick are going to be Americans.  It's going to be American consumers who have to pay 25% more for everything they buy, and it's going to be American retailers who, of course, are going to sell a lot less stuff, because, if they have to raise prices by 25%, sales are going to collapse. Fed Hinting that "Data Dependent" May Signal Slowdown in Rates We had a couple of Fed guys out today -Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida - was interviewed today on CNBC by Steve Liesman -  I happened to catch that interview, and was listening closely to what Clarida had to say.  To me, he almost admitted that when the Fed pretended to be "data dependent" early on, they really weren't data dependent at all. They were just raising interest rates because they wanted to get them higher. They were afraid of getting caught with rates too close to zero in the beginning of the next recession, so they wanted to re-load that gun, so they wanted to get interest rates higher.  They kept saying they were data dependent, but I never really thought they were. Once they started to raise rates, they were just on auto pilot. But now, Clarida seems to open the door to the possibility that maybe, some of the rate hikes that we think are coming aren't going to come, because he talked about how now, the Fed can be more data dependent than it was in the past. Optimism Among Warning Signals Where in the past, we talked about being data dependent, but we really weren't, but now we actually can be because now we're closer to neutral. And since we're now closer to that number  we can take the data more seriously, meaning that if the data comes out weaker than we expect, well maybe we won't raise rates as much as we think.  and I think Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan was also out today making similar comments that were initially taken as Dovish by the markets, because he was leaving the door open, apparently to the fact that the Fed may not deliver as many rate hikes as the markets believe. Both of these guys are extremely optimistic and upbeat about the U.S. economy. As if none of the bad news  that is happening around them matter. You've got the semi-conductors, you've got the retailers, you've got the autos, you've got the home builders.  All these sectors are blowing up one after another and they guys at the Fed are thinking "No Problem!" Cramer Exceeding Very Low Bar Set By Fed Also today, Jim Kramer, on CNBC, was out there critical of the Fed, basically saying that these guys don't know what they are talking about and that he's smarter than them, and they should pay attention to what he's saying.  Kramer may in fact know more than the Fed,Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Very Negative Technical Action We had another roller coaster ride in the stock market today, with the Dow Jones ending down about 200 points, but that was well off the lows of the day. I think we were down about 350 points, or close to it, at the lows. But, more interesting, we were up over 200 points earlier this morning. So this is very negative technical action, when you have these rallies and then close negative.  In fact, we were down another 100 points yesterday on the Dow, and today, we came to within, I think 10 points of taking out yesterday's high - and then we not only crashed below yesterday's low, but we closed below yesterday's low.  So another very weak day. A Change in Name Only I think one of the catalysts for the late afternoon rally, before the selloff, was all of the headlines coming out of Europe - the UK, regarding a Brexit deal, and I think that caused some people to buy stocks.  The dollar actually sold off.  It was down already; it sold off some more on that news coming out of Europe. But I don't know if this deal is going to fly . we'll see.  I read through some parts of the deal, and to me, it looks like Theresa May is trying to borrow a page from President Donald Trump. Basically, what she is doing, is she is trying to rename the union that the UK has with Europe . If you read what they are going to sign on to, it is going to be some kind of trade pact that really kind of subjects the UK to all the rules and regulations that prompted them to want to get out of the European Union in the first place.  So they're going to Brexit, but they're not actually going anywhere. Kind of like renaming NAFTA the USMCA . Basically, you're re-branding what you had before and claiming a victory. Maybe, politically speaking, May wants to try to honor the will of the voters by saying we accomplished Brexit, but basically not change anything.  It's just a change in name only.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Surrendered Rest of Post-Election Gains in One Day As I thought, it didn't take long for the markets to surrender all of the post-election gains.  The Dow Jones today was down 602 points, so we've already lost it. It took one day.  On my podcast on Friday I said that we would surrender the remainder of the gains this week and we did it in the first day of the week.  The NASDAQ actually had an even bigger decline; down over 200 points - 206.03 to be exact -down 2.78%. The Russell 2000 was also down 1.98% - just over 30 points - just shy of 2%. The S&P 500 was almost down 2% - 1.97% - 54.79 points . NASDAQ: Usual Suspects The usual suspects, of course, having some of the big declines.  Apple computer came out with worse than expected earnings last week- down another 5.45% today - down 194.  It is now below 250 - This is a new low for Apple.  A lot of the other computer stocks got beat up today: NVIDIA down 7.7%, Broadcom down 6.5&, so the entire tech sector really got beaten up. Of course, Swiss National Bank was a big loser; they are one of the largest investors in U.S. Technology stocks.  I did read an article, though, that said that they trimmed their portfolios rather significantly before the October decline, so the Swiss National Bank did not quite take it on the chin as badly as might otherwise have been the case. But, potentially, the news that the Swiss Central Bank was paring back its portfolio could be part of the negative news that is currently weighing down the market. $15 Billion of G.E. Shareholder Wealth up in Smoke Looking at stocks like G.E. - have been talking about G.E. on this podcast for quite some time. It is down again another 7% today, closing below $8 - $7.99 - the low price on the day was $7.72.  This is a perfect example of what happens when the buyback chickens come home to roost.  General Electric was buying back a lot of stock when money was cheap.  The company is loaded up with debt - $45 - 50 billion of debt.  They also have $20 billion + of underfunded pension liabilities which I think are going to be more under funded when the market goes down.  When money was cheap, yes, it was easy to borrow money and buy back stock; the price of the stock was going up. Look at 2016 alone. I think that was the biggest year of buy backs, although they have been buying back every year, but in 2016, G.E. bought back about $20 billion worth of stock, and the stock was around $30. It is now under $8.  The stock is down 75%. That means if they bought $20 billion worth of stock, that stock now has a market value of just $5 billion. $15 billion of shareholder wealth up in smoke!Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

RATE AND REVIEW this podcast on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/PeterSchiff/reviews/ Dead Cat Bounce Flattens Out The Dow Jones was down a little over 200 today, closing back below 26,000. NASDAQ composite down 124 - that's a bigger percentage decline, 1.7%, approximately.  The Composite is being led lower by the tech stocks, particularly the FANG stocks once again taking a bite out of the market.  The markets, though, were positive on the week, thanks to that huge relief rally that took place on Wednesday following the results of the midterm elections on Tuesday. But as I said on my Wednesday podcast, I thought that relief rally was  just another dead cat bounce, that the fundamentals and the technicals still looked horrible for the U.S. stock market. I expected that rally to reverse, and of course that process had already begun Thursday and Friday.  I think it will continue next week and I think the rest of those gains will be surrendered. Higher than Expected PPI Sparked Sell-Off The catalyst for today's selloff was a much hotter than expected Producer Price Index number. The PPI was up .6% in 1 month, which is a big gain.  In fact this is the biggest jump in the PPI in 6 years. On a year-over-year basis, producer prices are up 2.8%.  The market was looking for an increase half that size: .3%, Even year-over-year, when you strip out food and energy we were still up 2.6%, which is considerably above the 2% level that the Fed is looking at. Of course, the Fed is looking at consumer prices, not producer prices, but of course, nobody can consume what is not produced.  These are really wholesale prices and of course they are going to get passed on to the consumer, so consumer prices are headed higher. The Markets Don't Get It But, again, the markets don't get it.  Gold dropped the minute this number came out, gold dumped about $10. It was already down on the day, and then it sold off and never recovered. On the other hand, bonds were relatively stable when the number came out. Maybe rates ticked up just a smidgen, but actually bonds rallied on the day.  Now maybe the weak stock market had a little bit to do with it, but the irony of it is that you get these numbers that show much more than expected inflation, and what do investors do?  They sell gold and they buy U.S. treasuries. Now, that is the worse thing to do if there's more inflation. Gold is an inflation hedge. So, if inflation is picking up, you would want to own gold to protect yourself from inflation.  On the other hand, the one asset that suffers the most, where the most value is eroded away because of inflation is a bond. A bond is specifically payments of cash in the future, and the more inflation we have, the less that future cash is worth.Our Sponsors:* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com* Check out Boll & Branch: https://boilandbranch.com/SCHIFF* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy