The Iceman Goeth, Robots Cometh – Ep. 229

* The Dow finished with yet another gain today * We closed at 20,775.60 * I've been told that this is the longest consecutive winning streak for the Dow Jones since 1987 * Of course, we all remember how that streak came to a crashing end in October with the 1987 stock market crash * We'll see if the market has better luck this time around * We got the FOMC minutes released earlier today * I think they were interpreted as being hawkish; remember, this is all on a relative scale, they're all doves now * It is simply degrees of dovishness, there are no actual hawks on the FOMC or on any central bank * The question is, "Who is more dovish and how dovish can you be?" * But there were some statements that caused the markets to think, "Hey, maybe a rate hike is coming." * Because I think the members said it would be appropriate to raise rates sometime soon * What is sometime soon? * Is that March, or is that April, May or June? * That's still soon, in the scheme of things * If you look at how slowly the Fed has been moving * Glacial speed, when it comes to raising rates * Soon can certainly be a few months from now * It doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to be March * They could have said March - "It might be appropriate to raise rates in March" * They didn't say March - they just said soon * Nobody really knows what soon is * They did comment that they thought the markets might interpret gradual rate increases as meaning only 1 or 2 rate hikes a year * And they were troubled by that, because maybe by saying that, by gradual, they mean 3 a year * Not 1 or 2 * I heard some people saying, * "Maybe the Fed is not going to go slowly." * Even if they do 3 - we're still talking very gradual rate hikes, especially if you put it in context of how low rates are right now and how high inflation is already * I keep hearing these comments from Fed officials * They're doing interviews and they're saying, "Yes, we're making progress; we're moving slowly toward our goal of 2% inflation." * 2% inflation!  They left that in the dust *  The last number we got in January showed a year over year increase of 2.5% * So why are they saying they're making progress toward getting to 2% when they've already zoomed past it * They're looking at it now in the rear view mirrorOur 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