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Daily Commentary

The Morning Line

Rick Ackerman’s daily market commentary — blunt, specific, and free of Wall Street spin. Browse the full archive below.

July 15, 2024

San Francisco Isn’t Dying

Stories about San Francisco’s death appear to have been exaggerated. I arrived there Saturday for a five-week stay, a getaway from Florida’s insufferable summer heat. It didn’t take me long to recall why, at age 28, I came to San Francisco and stayed until I was 50. For one, the weather rarely turns hot, even […]

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July 7, 2024

Summer Doldrums It Ain’t

The dog days of summer have returned with a vengeance to Florida this year, especially in my home. The air conditioner’s condenser coil sprang a leak, which is hardly unusual considering that it’s eight years old. What is unusual, and causing more than a little inconvenience, is that the broken part will take a month […]

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June 30, 2024

Dollar Derangement Syndrome

Of all the markets tracked by Rick’s Picks, the dollar arguably has been the most interesting. This might seem paradoxical, given the relatively placid look of the Dollar Index chart above. Although there has been moderate turbulence since early last year, the overall impression is of a transoceanic flight cruising within a vertical range of […]

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June 23, 2024

‘Strong Economy’ Is a Dirty Lie

The disconnect between tight Fed policy and a U.S. economy on the brink of recession is growing more unsettling every day. A key question is which economy we are talking about, since there are two distinctly different ones that Fed actions can affect. The first is the economy of consumer goods and services. It is […]

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June 16, 2024

Short Squeeze Blows the Roof Off Stocks

Last week’s rabid short-squeeze punctured bull-market targets I’ve been drum-rolling for months in Microsoft, Apple and QQQ. Moreover, the bullish look of the S&P 500 chart shown above is so clear and compelling that even the most stubborn permabears will need to make room for more upside to at least 6118, a nearly 13% rally […]

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June 9, 2024

Soft Landing Fantasies

Those who think the wizards at the Fed have engineered a soft landing for the grotesquely pumped U.S. economy are in for a rude awakening. Strip out the “wealth effect” from mega-cap stocks driven mostly by hot air and short covering, and the economy is already in recessionary muck. Although yacht sales reportedly are still […]

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June 2, 2024

Market’s Insanity Is Tightly Scripted

Speaking of my fellow gurus, our switchboards have lit up to warn that something big is looming.  Even the oddballs who think stocks are headed much higher seem to agree that a punitive correction is long overdue. And although each of us would like to believe that the arrival time of whatever dreadnought is coming […]

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May 26, 2024

Do You Exit Now, or on Borrowed Time?

Is the bull market about to come crashing down, or will we have to wait until autumn when such disasters traditionally occur? I’m a traditionalist myself and expect the bear that’s looming to usher in America’s umpteenth panic and sixth full-blown depression. The hard times ahead will see the collapse of private and public pension […]

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May 19, 2024

Silver Eager to Settle a Score

The white-collar thieves who manipulate bullion appear to be losing their grip. Silver bulls have long wondered how prices could languish even when demand for physical appeared to overwhelm dealer supplies. Blame paper proxies for precious metals, since many if not most investors would rather store and swap the stuff in virtual form than pay […]

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May 12, 2024

Don’t Be Fooled by Gold’s Stealth Bull

Although there is no publicly traded company called Pirate’s Treasure, the impressive price history displayed in the chart above is real enough. The Canadian company holds royalties to five gold mines that could conceivably rank among the largest in the world someday, according to ‘Spartacus’, a Rick’s Picks regular known for his street savvy, his […]

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May 5, 2024

Gold, Oil and Putin’s Grand Plan

Some of you may remember Gary Liebowitz, a troll that I 86’d from the site years ago. He still harangues me now and then, and I am saddened to report that his rage has only worsened, especially where Trump is concerned. Here’s a pungent note from Gary that just plopped into my email box. I […]

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April 28, 2024

Red-Hot Nvidia Recalls RCA Mania of 1929

The chart above shows RCA’s spectacular climb to the Mother of All Tops in 1929. The larger chart that frames it shows what Nvidia shares would have to do to replicate the peaks and troughs that set up RCA’s plunge into hell. Notice that the stock’s final top (#4) was just marginally higher than one […]

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