Markets, Economic Data, & The Ben Bernanke Book – Ep. 73

* Markets continue to rally worldwide * Record highs overseas - much more action in Asia * Markets riding a sea of liquidity * Gold had an interesting week, closing at 1207 * The dollar had one of its best weeks in months * In terms of other currencies gold was at a 2-year high * This means that the euphoria about the dollar is not universally shared * Commodities in general were up - crude oil was up - holding above 50 * This is a good indication of a solid bottom on the price of gold * Traders continuing to make bullish dollar bets in the face of bad economic data * Traders are willing to throw out the first quarter - regardless the excuse * The bounceback from Q1 2014 was due to reasons that will not be repeated * Obamacare created a huge rush to sign up * There was a big inventory build anticipating future sales * Bets for a 2015 Q2-3 rebound are based on optimism for consumer spending * February Revolving Credit tumbled by $3.7 billion * Non-Revolving Credit surged $19.2 billion - mostly student loans * Consumers are cash poor, yet Wall Street believes they will start buying when the temperature rises * Government under-reporting student loan defaults due to forbearances * Wednesday release of FOMC minutes encouraged the dollar speculators because there were discussions about higher interest rates in June * Currency traders still haven't figured out the the Fed's comments are all theater * They are playing the game based on FedSpeak until it falls apart * A drastic turn in the FOREX markets will take a lot of people down with it * February Wholesale Trade declined again after January reported biggest decline in 6 years * This marks the first 3-month decline since 2008 financial crisis * Inventories rose slightly because of decline in sales * Inventory to Sales Ratio at 1.29 - highest since 2008 financial crisis * 2014 GDP increase was due to rush to build inventory in anticipation of recovery * Bottom line: economic data shows that a second-quarter bounce in the GDP is just wishful thinking * Ben Bernanke's new book titled "The Courage to Act" belongs in the fiction section * Let historians justify his role in history - it is far to early to claim success * This is the same guy who was blind-sided by the 2008 financial crisis * He claimed courageous decisions in the face of critics, while actually putting politics and the banks ahead of the country * His book may be coming out on eve of next economic fire that he setOur Sponsors:* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.com* Check out Plaud AI and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://plaud.ai* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/gold for a great deal: https://www.quince.com* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code GOLD20 for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy