Tag: 2018

How Every Asset Class, Currency, and Sector Performed in 2018

Via Visual Capitalist

We’re only a few days into 2019, but it appears markets have picked up exactly where they left off.

There is growing uncertainty and volatility almost everywhere, and individual events are starting to become catalysts for sell-offs or rallies. Whether it’s Apple’s recent profit warning or Fed chair Jerome Powell saying that he is “listening closely” to the markets, investors are taking cues from current events to figure out where the herd is grazing.

It’s hard to say where markets will head in 2019 – but before we get into the nitty-gritty of a new year, it’s worth taking one final look back at 2018 to see how it impacted investors.

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What We Learned From 2018…

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – Yesterday, we awoke to the sound of sirens.

After a week at the family farm, we had come back to the city for New Year’s Eve. But hardly had the new year begun when the echoes of the old year filled the streets and alleyways.

Over the holidays, a mental defective had firebombed nine cars near our house in Baltimore. And this morning, the bums are still sleeping at the church entrance next door. One of them has turned the whole area into a dump, with trash and rags strewn all over the steps.

“Yes, it looks like 2019 is going to be a lot like 2018,” said one of the children.

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44 Numbers From 2018 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

Authored by Michel Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Was 2018 everything that you expected it to be?  Every year contains surprises, but 2018 truly turned out to be a year that we will never forget.  Over the past 12 months we witnessed great political shaking, Wall Street experienced the worst downturn that we have seen since 2008, the crust of our planet was rattled by an increasing number of major seismic events, social decay spread like wildfire, and America continued to become even more divided as a nation.  In comparison, 2017 was rather bland and boring, and I truly believe that one day we will look back on 2018 as a major turning point.

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/2018-Public-Domain.jpg?itok=iqVChn5J

It is amazing that 12 months has flown by already.  It seems like the years just keep getting faster, and perhaps that is because we are all getting older.

In any event, the following are 44 numbers from 2018 that are almost too crazy to believe…

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2018 Year in Review: Part 2

Guest Post by Dave Collum

If you’ve not yet read Part 1, click here to do so. The whole enchilada can be downloaded as a single PDF here or viewed in parts via the hot-linked contents as follows:

Contents

Part 1

Part 2

Human Achievement

“Opportunities don’t happen; you create them.”

~Chris Grosser

We are now transitioning from economics and markets to the political and social events of 2018. As noted at the outset, I have over a hundred pages of quotes, notes, and anecdotes about Trump, Russian collusion, and the nefarious activities going on in the Deep State. It has grown progressively harder to wrap my brain around what I am actually witnessing. I can no longer write a chapter or two. I may be able to write a book, but certainly not in the months of November or December. It is what it is. I have focused on what catches my eye and what is achievable.

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How Much Death and Destrution Awaits Us in 2018?

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

The New Year is one full of economic, political, and war threats.

Among the economic threats are stock, bond, and real estate markets artificially pumped up by years of central bank money creation and by false reports of full employment. It is an open question whether participants in these markets are aware that underlying reality does not support the asset values. Central banks support stock markets not only with abundant liquidity but also with direct stock purchases. The Japanese central bank is now one of the largest owners of Japanese equities. Central banks, which are supposed to provide economic stability, have created a massive fraud.

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Lead Kindly Light

Guest Post by Jesse

Let me start out by saying that in my estimation, about 95% of short term predictions are worthless from an actionable trading standpoint. In most businesses, short term is less than one year.

That is why so many jokers on Wall Street keep so busy rigging the game, and cutting down their forecasting window to microseconds. It is the only way that they can provide consistent returns— they cheat.

Oh yea, I know that some guys have cobbled together some remarkable runs in the short term, and then generally flame out at some point. I had a run at the blackjack tables in Vegas that had the dealers talking. It seems like everyone gets at least one night like that, they are just flat out golden and can’t seem to lose at the turn of the cards.

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JUDGING MY 2017 PREDICTIONS

“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge. “ – Lao Tzu

“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” –Nils Bohr

Last year about this time I did a two part forecast for 2017: A BIASED 2017 FORECAST (PART ONE) and A BIASED 2017 FORECAST (PART TWO). I hadn’t re-read them until today. They were written just after the biggest presidential upset in modern history. Liberal tears were flowing freely and the accusations of Putin throwing the election to Trump had just begun. Two quotes from Part One are as pertinent today as they were then.

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.” – Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what is going on.” –  Amos Tversky

The Deep State and their use of propaganda through the fake news corporate media have been revealed by Trump during his first year in office to be the true enemies of the people. The Washington establishment on both sides of the aisle have shown their true colors after being goaded by thousands of provocative Trump tweets. The Deep State establishment has been in control for so long they have been flabbergasted by Trump, who plays the game sometimes and then suddenly flips over the game board and reveals how they have been cheating and misleading the American citizens.

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Advice To Help Our Beloved Democrat Friends Win In 2018

Guest Post by Kurt Schlichter

Since we conservatives humiliated Felonia von Pantsuit last November, it’s been all winning, all the time, from Neil Gorsuch to crushing the liberal climate cult to appointing a Defense Secretary nicknamed Mad Dog who prioritizes annihilating jihadists over making the infantry more welcoming to people confused about whether they are boys or girls. But that’s unfair to the Democrats – as our liberal friends teach us, our success belongs to them too, just like everything else we earn, build, or create belongs to them too.

We need to share our winning. We need to be bipartisan-curious!

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