"The golden age of America begins right now." What is it?

essentialsaltes said:

Truly. I've set several trailing stops in case the market wakes up.

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BofA warns investors to take profits as 70% of the bank's bear market signals flash red​

A growing number of "bear market signposts" are signaling that the market could be approaching a top and that investors should take profits now before a pullback, according to Bank of America.

Seven of the bank's 10 bear market indicators have been triggered in recent months, strategists led by Savita Subramanian wrote in a recent client note. Five were triggered by April, and two more of those indicators flashed red in May.

essentialsaltes said:

The OECD predicts that America could have the highest inflation in the G7 by the end of this year, in large part due to the war and the ongoing impact of Trump’s tariff policy.

Here are the projected 2026 inflation rates for G7 countries:

• U.S. 4.2% (up from 2.6% in 2025, according to its calculation)

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Projected, nothing. It's here.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% annually in May, highest in three years​

essentialsaltes said:

DOW broke 51,000

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And now under 50,000. Epstein Files are again important.

PepsiCo says economic concerns weighed on customers in North American during recent quarter​

[Sales were up globally] But in the second quarter, as gas prices spiked due to the Iran war, PepsiCo’s snack sales volumes were flat in North America, while its beverage volumes fell 4%.

While Trump declares that U.S. is enjoying ‘best economy ever,’ manufacturing jobs have been disappearing​

Here’s what the government’s own statistics tell us: Manufacturing investment has crashed during his watch, with construction spending in the manufacturing sector down 26.4% from Trump’s inauguration through May, to $174.8 billion. That’s the lowest figure since February 2023, when the economy was in the midst of a post-pandemic recovery.

[The graph in the link is worth looking at. There was a huge boom after the pandemic that had nothing to do with either Biden or Trump, really. But the fact is that we've been on the downslope for all of Trump's 2nd presidency. While investment is still elevated by historical levels, whatever golden age there was by that measure is now fading.]

White House spokesman Kush Desai told me by email that “the last two jobs reports” showed manufacturing job growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a seasonally-adjusted decline of 2,000 manufacturing workers in May and a gain of 3,000 in June. But the June 2026 figure was 38,000 jobs, or about 0.3% below the level in June 2025, and 75,000 or about 0.6% below the level in January 2025, when Trump took office.

To put things another way, the actual figures show the U.S. economy to be sputtering, and the “vibe economy” as measured by consumer confidence is doing even worse.

essentialsaltes said:

But the fact is that we've been on the downslope for all of Trump's 2nd presidency. While investment is still elevated by historical levels, whatever golden age there was by that measure is now fading.]

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It must be a difficult task to plan for the future when one will not know with any certainty what goods will cost, (due to fluctuations in tariff schedules) when envisioning a manufacturing plan’s innards.

Oompa Loompa said:

So this is just another Trump bashing group therapy session. I hope that after it is out of everyone's system, everyone feels better and are able to continue another day with Trump as president.

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Are you happy with his war and the devastating consequences for everyone?

Shell profit more than doubles to $9.8 billion, second-highest on record, as Iran war lifts prices​

Shell's refineries were running at 102% of their nameplate capacity during ⁠the quarter to make the most of high fuel prices, which helped increase production of jet fuel by a fifth from a year ago, according to a Shell spokesperson.

essentialsaltes said:

The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% in the second quarter.

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My economics foo is (admittedly) lacking but combined with the 3.5% inflation rate for June ‘26, wouldn’t this suggest that the economy is shrinking but inflation is keeping the numbers ticking upwards?

Pommer said:

My economics foo is (admittedly) lacking but combined with the 3.5% inflation rate for June ‘26, wouldn’t this suggest that the economy is shrinking but inflation is keeping the numbers ticking upwards?

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AIUI, GDP figures are reported in 'real dollars' so inflation has already been taken into account.