Seriously this is like a scratch in a vinyl record skipping on and on.
The S&P 500 climbed to near 6100, Bitcoin is over $100,000 and gold is climbing toward $3,000.
Last week, the jobs report was neutral with unemployment moving up to 4.2%, while those without jobs over 225,000.
Nothing really bad and therefore few believe that the Fed will pass up moving interest rates down another quarter point next week.
While it appears to be nothing bad, I would point out that the in-
terest spread that banks make
money trading has closed if not inverted.
This is what happened to Silicon Valley Bank and a couple of
other failed banks that failed in
the last couple of years.
This is the type of thing that lead to the financial crisis in 2008.
I am not saying we are there, but it is not all roses out there.
We have no idea what the next President's policies will do to the economy.
The last President lost due to economic concerns.
Our incoming President was doing well until the Pandemic, but that is no guarantee for this time around.
Not to be repeating myself but we do have a significant amount of national debt.
I am hopeful that we can reduce such, but I find it hard to believe any politician alive will support what is in fact needed in more taxes and less spending.
I am in that end of year mode where you comb through your portfolio and get rid of any laggards.
It is hard this year as almost everything has climbed.
I do have some Intel that I hate to admit.
This is an example of hanging on to a solid firm that lost its way.
Should have sold a couple of years ago.
I do harken back to my ownership of GE.
I held it too long and was punished with the collapse of the stock.
I decided at the bottom to buy back in.
I have been rewarded as the company has spun off segments and is now doing quite well.
I can't see that for Intel.
Its core business has been lost to others and I see no way back.
I won't be buying back here at the bottom and hopefully will learn a lesson here.
You can't get lazy on monitoring your investments.
There are real reasons to get out.
Not sure I learn much at this advanced age.
It seems the Santa Claus rally is in full force and will carry into next year.
Retail sales are holding up even though it is being financed with too much credit card debt.
That will come home to roost.
I am going to enjoy the Christmas season and just get things in place to make some seriously hard decisions in the New Year.
Spring is not always a renewal.
In the stock market, the first quarter can be quite challenging.
We have been going up for over 18 months.
This can very easily go on for another 12, but I am not going to bet my retirement on running this poor nag into the ground.