Retail sales were disappointing, just as I thought that they would be. Looks like the “fluff” from the stimulus checks has all gone through the wringer! And credit cards are getting maxed out.
“Bank stocks are getting extremely cheap,” my friend Andrew told me over breakfast yesterday.
Imagine waking up on a sunny Saturday morning to find you can’t use your debit card to buy groceries or pay for gas any longer? You can’t withdraw a single dollar from the ATM. And your bank froze your credit cards.
Yesterday, I left you with the thought that the London traders had been buying dollars since they arrived back from their three-day Holiday weekend. The U.S. traders did the same… And I believe profit taking was the order of the day.
I was talking to a friend of mine, Richard, last night… about the economy, the thrilling life I lead, eh? “They should just hike rates and be done with it. Jack them up to a crippling level,” he said, emphasising the word ‘crippling’. “Start the recession, so we can get it over with, quicksticks!”