Leading economic indicators are negative
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Your only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” – Robin Williams
TECH CORNER
The economy is definitely slowing. Even though Wall Street thinks we are going to have a “soft landing”, we are skeptical. It looks as though the markets will stay up until the election so we have added some new positions to balance our bond positions. We have added small positions in gold, consumer staples, utilities, real estate, and the S&P 500. We don’t know when the markets will react to the following indicators. All of these are showing caution.
*Leading Economic Indicators are negative and have been headed down for an extended period of time.
*Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) for new orders is at 46. 50 is neutral meaning no contraction or expansion.
*Consumer Sentiment is down.
*Manufacturing is down.
*Housing cycle is down.
*The Yield Curve has been down for over a year and is now steepening.
*Fed liquidity is slowing.
*Bank lending is down.
*The Sohn Rule was triggered.
I have discussed all of these indicators in prior letters with some of them having a 100% reliability in predicting a recession. So where do we go from here? Time will tell. But we are still maintaining a low-risk position in all the accounts