Podcasts about Deflation

This is simply insane – new car sales among American households making $75k or less have crashed by 30% since 2019. Car prices soared. Incomes didn't. They can't afford a new car. But it's not just the lowest incomes. Those making between $75k and $150k have bought 7% fewer cars than in 2019. This is a lot more than the K-shaped economy and to call it an affordability crisis seriously understates the problem. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fox Business Fed Governor Stephen Miran says more than 100 basis points in rate cuts justified this yearhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/media/fed-governor-stephen-miran-says-more-than-100-basis-points-cuts-justified-yearBloomberg Slowing Auto Sales Stoke Concern Over Near-Record Car Priceshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-05/us-auto-sales-poised-to-slip-as-middle-class-buyers-retreathttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

PREVIEW FOR LATER TODAY: Alan Tonelson forecasts a difficult year for the PRC's economy in 2026, citing deflation and a property collapse. He predicts a strong global backlash against the surge of Chinese exports, which threaten foreign manufacturing sectors, as trading partners begin to prioritize their own national economic interests.1939 SHANGHAI

First off — Happy New Year. To kick off the year, this week's episode of the Wealth Formula Podcast is a solo one from me. I spend the episode walking through my outlook for 2026 and sharing a few predictions for how I think this cycle is going to play out. Lately, I keep hearing the same question phrased in different ways. The economy feels tight, but markets are holding up. Growth is coming in stronger than expected, inflation is easing, and yet a lot of the signals people usually rely on just don't seem to be lining up. That disconnect is really the starting point for this episode. Rather than reacting to headlines or making short-term calls, I wanted to step back and talk through the mechanics of what's actually driving this environment — and why it looks so different from the cycles most of us learned about. A lot of it comes down to debt, policy constraints, how capital moves today, and the growing influence of technology. When you start looking at those pieces together, some of the things that feel confusing begin to make a lot more sense. This isn't meant to be alarmist or overly optimistic. It's simply an attempt to frame the environment clearly so you can think about it more intelligently — especially if you're deploying capital or deciding whether it makes sense to sit on the sidelines. If you've felt like the economy and the markets aren't really speaking the same language right now, I think you'll find this episode useful. Transcript Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you notice any errors or corrections, please email us at phil@wealthformula.com.  You need to be out of the dollar and into the investor class because that that widening gap between those who have, who own things, who own assets and those who do not is gonna continue to widen. Welcome everybody. This is Buck Joffrey with the Wealth Formula Podcast, and today I am going to do something a little bit different. I’m gonna kind of give you. My perspective, maybe predictions I dare say about, uh, the upcoming year in 2026, how I look at it, what I think, uh, uh, is likely outcome and why. Not that I am any smarter than any of you on this stuff, but I’ve actually kind of sat down and, and thought about, you know, the things that are going on in the macroeconomic. Side of things and, um, put some stuff together and, uh, hopefully you’ll enjoy it. We’ll have, uh, that right after these messages. Wealth formula banking is an ingenious concept powered by whole life insurance, but instead of acting just as a safety net, the strategy supercharges your investments. First, you create a personal financial reservoir that grows at a compounding interest rate much higher than any bank savings account. As your money accumulates, you borrow from. Your own bank to invest in other cash flowing investments. Here’s the key. Even though you’ve borrowed money at a simple interest rate, your insurance company keeps paying you compound interest on that money even though you’ve borrowed it at result, you make money in two places at the same time. That’s why your invest. Get supercharged. This isn’t a new technique. It’s a refined strategy used by some of the wealthiest families in history, and it uses century old rock solid insurance companies as its backbone. Turbocharge your investments. Visit Wealthformulabanking.com. Again, that’s wealthformulabanking.com. Welcome back everyone, and, uh, happy New Year to you. I forgot to even say that in the intro. How rude of me. Hopefully you had a great holiday, you had a great Christmas, and you’re bringing in the new year with a vision of health and wealth and PO prosperity and all that stuff. So anyway, let’s talk a little bit about, uh, you know what I am. Kinda looking at for 2026. Now, when you think about, well, what are these predictions and what could they be and all that, um, interest rates, inflation markets, you know, uh, let’s set the foundation for how I’m thinking about it, because everything else really kind of builds on it. And the most important thing to understand is that debt. Is really now I think the main character in the economy. I know we, people have been talking about this for a very long time, but I think, I think the debt issue is really, really becoming something that cannot be ignored, and I’ll get into that in a while. Obviously, I’m not saying that inflation and interest rates don’t matter. They matter enormously. Uh, those are the things that people actually feel, right? Higher prices, higher mortgage rates, higher insurance costs. What I’m saying is that the level of debt now determines really how decisions on those things are made from policy makers. You know, how do they respond to inflation and interest rates, recessions market stress. What debt does is it actually kinda limits the range of choices around how policy makers react to all these things. So once you see that, the behavior of the economy starts to, I think, make a lot more sense. So let’s start with. Sovereign debt, and I’m gonna start really basic here because the question is, you know, what exactly is sovereign debt? Okay. And sovereign debt is the money a government owes, okay? In the US it exists because the government consistently spends more than it collects in taxes, and that gap is called the deficit. When that happens year after year, you have an accumulation of debt. Now, when debt is low, it’s, it’s pretty manageable, right? But when debt gets very large, it starts to influence policy decisions, and that’s where we are right now. Uh, here’s the key mechanic that I think most people don’t really think about, right? Governments don’t pay off debt the way you and I, you know, pay off our debt, like mortgage or whatever. They always refinance it, right? So when the US government borrows money, it issues bonds. That’s how it does, those bonds have maturity dates, and when you buy a bond, you’re, you know, you’re loaning the government money. So when a bond matures, the government owes that principle back to you. Right? So that’s, that’s kind of how well we talk about, we talk about debt, but the government doesn’t save money over time to pay off that bond. Like, I mean, that’s the way you would think about it for you and me, right? I mean, at some point you’re like, ah, I really need to pay off this debt. I’m just gonna pay it off with this money that I saved. Instead, what they do is when a bond comes due, it issues a new bond and uses the money from that new bond to pay back the old one. Okay. Now, if that sounds familiar, uh, to you, it’s because it’s pretty much what we would call in plain English refinancing, right? Now imagine though, the government issued a bond a few years ago when interest rates were near zero. That bond matures today, interest rates are much higher, right to pay off the old bond. The government issues a new one at today’s higher rates. So the debt doesn’t disappear, it just becomes more expensive to carry, right? I mean, it’s just like you got a mortgage, you know you had a, a great rate, but you only got it for seven years and all of sudden you gotta refinance it. Gosh, all of a sudden that rate went really higher and your payments are much higher, and the debt payments going up, you know, for the government, what adds to that deficit? It’s a really, really vicious cycle. Now, take that process and multiply it across trillions of dollars of debt. Now you can start seeing why interest rates matter so much in a high debt system. Now, what makes this especially important right now is that for over the last several years, the US issued a very large amount of short-term debt. Short-term debt matures quickly, and that means large portions of government debt. Come due every year and have to be refinanced at whatever the interest rate exists at the time. So even if deficit stock growing tomorrow, which they won’t, the government would still need smooth functioning financial markets just to keep refinancing what it al what already exists now. This is why the economy has become so sensitive to interest rates, liquidity and confidence. Higher interest rates increase the cost of refinancing, right? We’ve mentioned that already. And that pushes deficits higher and forces even more borrowing. So I mentioned liquidity. What is that? Well, liquidity is about how easily money moves through the system. When liquidity is good, bonds are easily absorbed. Banks lend markets function normally, and when liquidity dries up, refinancing becomes fragile. That stress. Stress in the market spreads quickly. And then finally, confidence I mentioned too. Why does confidence matter? Well, confidence matters because investors need to believe that the system is gonna hold together. When confidence weakens, guess what happens? Well, what would happen if you think about it with a loan, a higher risk loan? While investors demand higher yields like refinance, it becomes even more expensive. And problems compound fast. Now, this is why Pol policymakers are extremely uncomfortable with high borrowing costs, reduced lending, falling asset values, and deep recessions. Recessions, by the way, don’t make debt easier to manage. They make it harder by reducing tax revenue and worsening debt ratios. Now that brings me to a, something that I am feeling sort of back and forth with. Um. You know, a listener who sent me some commentary about, you know, the fear of going back to 1970s, eighties style interest rates. But the thing is that I just don’t think that comparison works, and here’s why. Okay, so in the 1970s, the US had far less debt. Interest rates could go very high without threatening the government’s ability to refinance itself. Now today, with debt much larger relative to the economy, very high rates don’t just fight inflation. They stress the entire financial structure, right? You can’t just say, oh, we’re gonna make super high rates because the cost of all that debt the government has is gonna be extraordinarily expensive. Now, that doesn’t mean that rates can’t rise. It means policymakers have far less tolerance for how high and how long rates can stay elevated. It’s a completely different system from the 1970s and eighties. So I think trying to put things into that context is probably not, um, not a, a good way to think about it. So why am I fo focusing on this right now? Uh, instead of a few years ago, because again, we stu we didn’t suddenly become a high debt economy this year. So what changed? Well timing a massive amount of debt that was issued at very low interest rates, as I mentioned before, is now maturing and being refinanced at much higher rates, and that shift is no longer theoretical. It’s happening in real time. Last year, much of that low uh, rate, debt was still in place. Interest costs hadn’t fully reset, but going into 2026, they have no, I, I keep talking about, you know, how much we’re paying an interest, right? Because again, that’s a big difference between now and the 1970s when you could have, you know, you didn’t have as much debt so you could pay more interest on it. Right now, the US is now spending roughly a trillion dollars a year just on interest. Her perspective, right? I mean, what’s a trillion dollars? Uh, what does that even mean for the normal person? Well, for Perce perspective, that’s the defense budget. $1 trillion. It’s more than Medicare, more than most major federal programs. And the thing is that money doesn’t do anything, right. It doesn’t create growth. It just services past borrowing. And this is the point where debt stops being background noise, kind of an annoyance that people just say, well, we’ll kick it to the next generation. It start starts actively shaping, uh, policy decisions because it’s, it’s a thing that you gotta pay for. You gotta keep paying for it. So the takeaway I want you to carry forward is simple. We now live in a system where policymakers don’t have the luxury of letting things break when debt is low. Governments can tolerate deep recessions like you saw in the seventies and eighties and long recoveries. When debt is high, they can’t because even small shocks can just really get outta control quickly. And that’s the framework I think, uh, that I’m using as we move into interest rates, inflation, and what all this means for markets going into 2026. So let’s talk about interest rates. You’ve heard me say that I think that interest rates are gonna come down. Um, they’re gonna continue to tick down a little bit. I don’t think a lot, but I do think there’ll probably be at least one more rate cut. I think, you know, you’re probably gonna have some, um, uh, some lowering in the 10 year and, and the bond market in general. Uh, but interest rates are not gonna go back to 2010, right? They just aren’t. And. The 2010s were not normal. There were a very specific period created by very specific conditions, right? Inflation was persistently low, uh, but just wouldn’t go up. Globalization, uh, push prices down. Capital was abundant. Debt levels, well, they were high, but they’re rising, but they hadn’t become what they are now. And because of that, central banks could hold rates near zero without much consequence. That environment, unfortunately, does not exist now. So today, debt is much higher. Inflation risk is real again, and investors expect to be compensated for lending money long term. So even when rates decline from current levels, they do not return, uh, they will not return to where people, uh, anchor them psychologically. If they’re thinking about the 2000 tens, they’re gonna settle higher. Within the 2000 tens baseline, you see policymakers are kind of stuck if rates, uh, say too high for too long. We mentioned this before. Refinancing government debt becomes increasingly expensive. Interest costs rise, deficits, widen, and then you get that financial stress that’s spreads through the credit markets. But if rates are pushed too low for too long, borrowing accelerates. And that’s. When inflation resurfaces and confidence in the currency weakens, so then that’s the tug of war. So policymakers, uh, you know, they, they can no longer choose between high rates and low rates. They’re gonna be choosing how to manage, uh, the trade-offs, right? So what’s gonna happen is that you’re gonna see that rates are gonna move within a range. Uh, they come down when something breaks, they move back up when inflation pressures recurrent. Um, that’s why volatility matters more than the exact. Level of rates going forward, in my opinion. So we’re, we’re not returning to free money. We are also not headed to a permanent 1970 style high rate world. What we are doing is entering a time where borrowing costs matter. Again, refinancing is not guaranteed, and rate swings are part of the system, and that naturally leads to the question of inflation. So once you understand why rates. You know, don’t go back to the 2010. The next question becomes, uh, well, if policymakers can’t keep rates high for long and they can’t push them back to zero either, then what are they actually trying to ac accomplish? Well, the answer is that, that the goal is kind of shifted for decades. Economic policy was focused on disinflation, um, you know, pushing inflation lower and lower. Over time, uh, and inflation was actually treated as a failure, and that made sense. In a world with lower debt in a high debt world, that logic sort of breaks down, right? Deflation, which is actually falling prices, increases the real value of debt. Think about that for a moment. Like just in terms of. You know, you have a mortgage and you know, sometime, you know, your parents might have like a 30 year mortgage or something like that, that they’ve had for 25 years. They’ve been paying it off and it’s great. But the bigger thing to notice is the amount of money that they borrowed is actually very small in real world dollars because it’s, you know, 25 years later. See, inflation is bad when it’s, you know, you’re dealing with it, but inflation is. Good at one other thing, which is it’s good at eroding debt. It will make, uh, the amount of the value of the, you know, the actual money that you owe on debt lower over time. So that’s why you can’t have deflation, right? You can’t have deflation because that increases the real value of the debt. It discourages spending, slows growth and makes refinancing harder. So in today’s system, deflation is way, way more dangerous than moderate inflation. And so because of that inflation really isn’t something that I think is quite as important that has to be eliminated at all costs. That, you know, you have to be right at 2%, which is, you know, kind of what the, the fed his, his target is, right? Instead, what you gotta do is you gotta manage it. Of course, that doesn’t mean you want runaway inflation. What they wanna do is have enough inflation to keep nominal growth positive and prevent debt burdens from become heavier again. Why? What do I mean by that? You gotta have enough inflation to erode the debt that we have, right? So this is why that 2% inflation target should be understood. As, you know, kind of aspirational, but not absolute because having a little higher inflation, yeah, it hurts people. It’s, uh, it hurts people on a day-to-day basis, but actually helps with that. So even at, uh, you know, inflation sell a bit higher than, than, than the, you know, 2% fed target say it’s 4%, it’s actually eroding, uh, you know, it is eroding purchasing power, but it’s also eroding debt. It’s, it’s stabilizing debt dynamics. From the system’s perspective, of course that’s helpful. But for us, we’re paying for things on a day-to-day basis to see the cost of eggs and all that. It’s, it’s frustrating, right? And that tension between system stability and personal cost, it’s one of the defining features of the economy heading into 2026. So when you see policymakers tolerate inflation, uh, longer. Then you think they should or step in quickly When markets kind of wobble, it’s not confusion or incompetence, it’s actually constraint because debt limits the available choices. Rates are managed within a range. Inflation is guided and not eliminated. Now put those together and you get the environment we’re moving into, which is an economy where markets can look. Resilient, even while people feel stretched, right? I mean, that’s kinda what we’re feeling. Everybody’s like, oh, these markets are doing fantastic, you know? But then, you know, you look at consumer confidence, it goes down. It’s been going down every month. This is an environment where asset prices recover faster than wages, and we’re understanding how policy reacts becomes a real advantage. So that’s kind of my macro setup for 2026. Um, you know, with that framework, we can start looking into the first prediction I’ll make. And again, these are not, you know, crazy predictions. Uh, they are just generalized things that I think you’re gonna see. So, like the first one is that the markets will stop being reliable proxy for the economy. You could argue that’s already happened, right? Markets in the economy kind of stopped correlating. We saw it after the financial crisis, right? We saw it very clearly even during COVID. The decoupling itself is not new. What’s new is that that decoupling is no longer temporary. It’s become the baseline that’s become the new normal. Uh, for most of modern history people had a fairly reliable mental model, right? You probably do. If you grew up in the eighties and nineties, uh, as a kid or whatever, when the economy felt bad, layoffs, we growth falling in con incomes, markets usually reflected the pain. Right. Sometimes there was a gap. Sometimes markets recovered a little earlier, but eventually things kinda re converged. The economy healed. We just caught up in the markets and lived experience kinda lined up. Now that’s the model that most people still have in their heads, and that’s why so many people feel so confused right now. I mean, I feel confused by it. So what’s changed going into 2026? You know, it, it is, it’s structural Now. We’re no longer living in a system where policy intervenes only during emergencies. We are, uh, in a system where policy is always on, debt is permanently high, rates are actively managed, inflation is tolerated rather than eliminated. And as a result of that, markets aren’t really necessarily responding primarily to how. The economy feels to people they’re responding. Uh, you know, it’s responding to refinancing needs. Liquidity management. Uh, confidence preservation. That’s a very different signal. COVID is the clearest example of that ship, but it’s, it’s important to understand it correctly. So in 2020, the economy was literally shut down, right? Unemployment exploded. Uh, small businesses were collapsing, right? Like, this is COVID and yet markets bottom quickly. We saw that and then bam. All time highs, even though life kind of felt terrible for a lot of people. And that wasn’t because the economy was healthy, it was because policy overwhelmed fundamentals. And at the time that felt extraordinary. It felt very different. Like this doesn’t make any sense. What’s different now is that we’re still using the same playbook but with out in obvious crisis. So intervention is no longer reactive. It’s, you know, uh, it’s preventative. So what do I predict for 2026? Well, markets are gonna stop being a reliable proxy for economic health. Uh, you, you people can just stop talking about that. Like it, like it, it means anything anymore. Markets going to increasingly reflect how constrained policymakers are and how much liquidity is in the system, and how aggressively risk is being managed. They’re not gonna, the markets are not gonna tell you. About affordability, wage pressure, or whether life feels easier or harder for people. Right. Those are completely gonna, those are, it’s just a standard thing now that those are uncorrelated and the gap is not, uh, abnormal anymore. It’s. The operating environment. So what do you do with that information? Well, for an individual investor, this environment requires a real mindset shift, right? You can’t rely on your gut anymore. You can’t say, man, I feel like this economy doesn’t feel good. So the market’s gonna look at the, I mean, you, you, you know, a lot of people feel like the economy doesn’t feel good to them because of inflation, because of what happened with interest rates and all that stuff, right? But look it, you’ve got. Record breaking, uh, stock market numbers. You can’t rely on your gut anymore. Your gut is telling you the economy feels bad. For many people, that’s absolutely true. Costs are high. Again, things feel tight, and the instinct is to wait to sit in cash. To assume markets would reflect that pain, but that instinct used to work. And in this system it doesn’t because markets are no longer pricing in how the economy feels. They’re pricing policy response. Liquidity and constraints. So if you wait for the economy to feel good before you act, it’s gonna be way too late. So instead of asking, does the economy feel weak, you need to start asking different questions. You need to ask how constrained policymakers are, how quickly liquidity will return if markets wob on it, and where capital tends to flow first when policy steps sit. In other words. You gotta start really thinking about investing, right? Like you gotta, like right now. Now I’ve talked, I’ve beat this over many times before, but you know, you have, if you’re, if you’re saving money right now and you’re looking and you are wondering what to do, look for things that are on sale now. I spent real estate’s on sale right now. Right? Get your money into the markets one way or another. That’s what I would say. Whatever it is that you want to invest in. Don’t let your money just erode because this lack of correlation is, it’s a really, really important thing and it’s, it’s gonna continue to happen and you know what else is gonna happen Because of that, you’re gonna see an increasing widening up the wealth gap. People whose income is tied primarily to wages are, are gonna experience that inflation directly, right? Their money’s trapped in the real economy where costs rise faster than income. But investors on the other hand, have an opportunity to participate in the markets that are supported by this sort of unnatural infrastructure that I just mentioned, right? As asset prices are gonna continue going up. Now, I’m not here to judge whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’m just telling you how it’s functions. So the investor class increasingly benefits from asset appreciation, right? Early access to liquidity. While lower income groups often can participate in that upside. Even as their cost of living rise, because they’re not in the markets, they’re not, they don’t own assets. So again, you have to stop, you know, using how the economy feels is your primary investing signal. If you wanna protect and grow your wealth in this environment, you need to understand how policy reacts, how you know liquidity moves, how assets behave when the system is under constraint. And in other words, uh, you know. Frankly, you just need to be part of the winning class, which is the investor class. Alright, so that’s kind of, uh, hopefully that made sense to you. Here’s another prediction for you, and this is probably more related to some of the things that we talk about usually, but I’ll say that multifamily and commercial real estate are going to finish their washout, and the window is gonna start to really close again. I’ve talked about this. Before, you’ve probably heard me say this, but let’s talk about multifamily and commercial real estate again, because you know, this audience doesn’t need just theory. You’ve already lived through the pain or the past two years you’ve seen deals blow up, capital calls go out, refinancings fail. So the real question going on in 2026 is not whether real estate breaks. It’s already, it already did. It already did. The real question is how much longer this phase lasts and what replaces it. My view is that 2025 into early 2026, um, represents the final phase of this unwind in the beginning of stabilization. I’m not predicting an immediate boom, not a return to 2021 by any means, but the end of obvious distress. So what’s happened already from 2022 to 2024? Multifamily and commercial real estate absorbed the fastest rate shock in modern history. Many of you lived through that. I lived through that. It’s painful. Debt costs doubled or tripled. Cap rates moved hundreds of basis points. You know, bridge debt structures broke, uh, refinancing assumptions collapsed. Now, a lot of the deals, I mean, I would say most of the deals, uh, uh, that, you know, kind of imploded, uh, shared the same DNA, you know, peaking price, uh, purchases, uh, during peak prices in 2021, early 2022. Uh, you know. Floating rate thin or negative cash flow based on, you know, the rates at the time. Maybe it was positive business plans that were really dependent on refi and rent growth. Um, those deals though, have largely already defaulted, recapitalize, or, you know, they’re being quietly handed back. And that matters because markets don’t keep breaking the same wave forever. If, if you’re seeing right now and if you’re in our investor club, you are. 30% discounts on a regular basis. Right? On a regular basis compared to the peak. Don’t assume that’s gonna last. That this is the key point I wanna make very clearly. If you’re looking at multifamily or commercial deals today that are trade trading at that 30% below where they were a couple years ago, you should not assume that window stays opening. Definitely because the level of discount there, uh, the level of discount exists because. Dried up liquidity, uh, because of that violent rate reset, uh, uncertainty. But here’s the thing, markets don’t stay frozen forever and as soon as pricing stabilizes, even at higher cap rates, which are going to be higher than they were, because you’re not gonna see interest rates down at zero, capital is gonna start to move again. And stabilization doesn’t require rates to go back to zero. It just requires some level of predictability. So here’s the sequence of what happens first, you know, the distress slows, uh, you see less and less defaults, and then slowly but surely cap rates stop expanding, right? That alone brings back buyers. Then as rates drift mo lower and volatility declines, lenders reenter selectively, debt becomes a billable again. It’s not cheap. It’s definitely usable and that brings more liquidity. When I say liquidity, in this context, I’m talking about just more deals getting done. And once liquidity returns, cap rates don’t stay wide forever. They compress, right? It’s competition. And again, when they compress, they’re not gonna go back to 2021 levels, but enough to meaningfully lift asset values from distressed pricing. This can happen faster than people expect, right? People underestimate the fact that there is an enormous amount of capital sitting on the sidelines right now in money market funds, short term treasuries, private capital, waiting for clarity. That capital isn’t, you know, permanent. The moment investors believe that rates of peak, that prices of stabilized downside risks is contained, that money starts to chase yield. When it does the transition from, nobody wants this, everyone wants exposure again, can happen surprisingly fast. In other words, I’m not saying I think this will happen in 26, but the shift from a market that is on sale, which I’ve described it as to a market that is starting to look a little frothy, can really be just a couple of years. And in that situation, I’d rather be a net seller, right? You wanna be accumulating. During this phase of for sale so that you can sell in froth. So what this means is that the market is, you know, uh, is not a market to wait for everything to feel perfect, because by the time it does, the obvious discounts are gonna be gone. And if you wait for perfect clarity, you’re gonna be competing, you competing with institutional capital, with large private funds and, and, and yield hungry money coming outta cash. The opportunity is not assuming distress lasts forever. It is. It’s in recognizing when the market is transitioning from forced selling, which is what is happening even now to price discovery. So ultimately, the prediction is this multifamily and commercial real estate, that that washout is completed in 2026 and the window created by distress really starts to close. Deep discounts don’t persist. Once market stabilized, which I think is what’s gonna happen, and then I think you’re gonna start to see a shift. You’re gonna start to see more deals, more liquidity, and that’s gonna return faster than people expect. In other words, this is gonna be the end of, you know, sort of this bargain basement, you know, panic pricing. And once real assets stabilize and liquidity returns, attention inevitably turns, uh, to the currency, those assets are priced in. Which brings us to the prediction number three. That dollar, okay, the dollar doesn’t collapse, but it does continue to erode. It slowly leak, right? Let’s talk about the dollar, ’cause you hear about this all the time, right? A nausea, you hear the, the weakening of the dollar. Um, this is one of those topics that where people tend to jump to extremes. You know, on one side you hear the dollar is about to collapse. On the other side you hear the dollar’s strong and everything’s fine. I think, um, the truth is somewhere in, in the middle. And my prediction for 2026 is simple. Um, again, the dollar doesn’t really explode. It doesn’t get replaced. It can just continues to erode slowly but surely. And that’s how reserve currencies actually behave when debt gets high. Right. So why no collapse, right? Because you got like people out there, uh, worried about the collapse of the US dollar. The US dollar is gonna remain dominant, not because it’s perfect, but because there’s no real alternative at scale. There just isn’t. Okay? There’s no other currency with markets as deep, as liquid and as widely used for trade debt and collateral. So, you know, reserve currencies, you know, you hear about the, the worry about us being the reserve currency. Well, reserve currencies don’t disappear overnight. They erode gradually, but they don’t disappear overnight. And that erosion shows up not as a crash, but again as persistent inflation, right? It’s rising, you know, real asset prices, which is again, where you wanna be, and a slow loss of purchasing power over time. Again, that brings us back to the whole issue of debt we were talking about, right? So in a highly indebted system, policymakers are not incentivized to aggressively defend the currency at all costs, right? So very high interest rates might strengthen the dollar in the short term, but they also make debt harder to service and financial stress worse, right? So instead of choosing strength or collapse. Um, you know, policy drifts towards tolerance, right? Inflation is allowed to run a little hotter than people expect, because again, it’s gonna erode that debt. The currency weakens slowly, therefore, rather than violently, right? Again, currency weakening. It’s that, it, it’s so entwined with this idea of inflation because debt becomes easier to manage in real terms. And one of the things I hear, and I’ve been sort of in these conversations back and forth with, um. At least one of you out there, uh, in, in emails is that, you know, I hear, uh, that, that, that there’s a, a serious problem for interest rates because of, you know, China, uh, selling US treasuries. And because of that you might get the collapse of the dollar. In fact, in this conversation, it was not only about China, but also Europe. Which, you know, I hadn’t actually heard anybody mention that before, but I guess that’s out there in the ecosystem and some of the newsletters. Now, all that sounds scary, but it really misunderstands how the system actually works. What exactly happens when someone or a country sells treasuries? Well, they don’t dis, they, they don’t just destroy the dollars. What they’re doing is they just swap $1 asset for another, right? The dollars don’t even lead the system. They change hands. So this idea of China selling off all it t trade, well, China’s been, uh, reducing its treasury holdings for years and the dollar hasn’t collapsed. The market absorbed it because treasuries are the deepest, most liquid market in the world. And then this idea of Europe, of of Europe actually dumping treasuries because, you know, they’re not happy with Donald Trump and what he’s doing in Ukraine and all that, that would be an absolute nightmare for, for Europe. That would hurt their own economy. That’s the last thing that an indebted government wants. So foreign selling, yeah, sure it’s gonna move yields, but it, it’s not gonna implode the dollar. But the reality of the, uh, erosion of the dollar is real. I don’t think anybody questions that anymore, and I think that is another reason that you need to be buying. Real assets. You need to be buying equity. You need to be on the side of the investor class. Okay? That’s, that’s how you combat all of this. So the real takeaway here ultimately is that, you know, it isn’t, uh, to abandon the dollar, right? It isn’t. It’s, it’s just to stop pretending that holding cash is neutral. It’s not, it, most of your wall suits and assets that, that can’t adjust. You know, they can’t grow as, you know, as, as asset prices grow, then you’re making a bet on currency stability that literally no one believes is, is going to be the base standard anymore. Everybody knows, every economist, every country, every everywhere knows that these currencies are eroding. You don’t freak out about the dollar, but don’t, don’t, don’t be like heavily in dollars. Start getting into the markets. Alright, well, you know, I’m talking a lot about esoteric macro stuff, but let’s kind of get into some stuff that you might think is fun, more fun maybe. Okay. You, a lot of you are into Bitcoin. Well, I think that, you know, Bitcoin is gonna continue to mature. And the next look, leg up looks like, you know, because of more adoption, not because of hype, which isn’t maybe not as, as, as fast and violent, but it’s, it’s, it’s a lot more predictable. For those of you who are still unfortunately listening to the likes of Peter Schiff about Bitcoin, you gotta stop doing that because Bitcoin is not tulips. Right? A lot of people still talk about it like it’s a fad that could just vanish. We’re long past that phase. Bitcoin is, is, is a $2 trillion asset and in the history of the world, there has never been a $2 trillion asset that went to zero. Is it volatile? Yeah, it is. It can absolutely continue to be wildly volatile, but you’re not going to zero. And my prediction is not overly crazy. It’s just that. Bitcoin is going to continue to increase in price, but it’s not become, not because of speculative, uh, you know, because it’s a speculative trade anymore, right? I think it’s because of adoption. Uh, adoption is going to become the real meaningful driver of market capitalization. So what do I mean by that? It just means more people are seeing it as a real asset, and it has to become, when it becomes a real asset class, everyone has to have some of it. Every major institution has to have some of it because it’s an its own asset class. And when they do that, it just drives up the entire market capitalization of that asset. And when you have an asset that has a finite amount, which in the case of Bitcoin, there will never be more than 21 million Bitcoin. You have constant adoption, constant slow, but persistent growth in market capitalization, the asset has to become more expensive. Now, what do I mean by this adoption? Well, places that you would never think in a million years, a few years ago, that that would be buying Bitcoin or you know, ETFs, B to Bitcoin ETFs are doing. So Harvard. Harvard is a great example. Because it’s not, it’s not crypto influencer, right? It’s actually one of the most conservative, brand sensitive pools of capital in the world. But their endowment management, uh, disclosed roughly 443, uh, million dollars in its position in BlackRock, uh, BlackRock, iShares Bitcoin, Bitcoin Trust, which is ibi for those of you who, who, uh, don’t know, that’s how you can just go to your New York Stock Exchange and, and buy. Bitcoin ETFs with ibit. Now, whether you love this whole Bitcoin idea or hate it or whatever, that’s a signal that is increasingly treated like a portfolio asset. It’s not a fringe experiment, and it’s not only universities. Uh, institutional comfort is it’s just there, right? Um, custody, uh, custody regulated vehicles, positioning, size, risk controls, those kinds of things are all become part of the Bitcoin uh, environment. Many countries are already holding meaningful amounts of Bitcoin. Uh, even the US has, there’s a, there is a formalized Bitcoin reserve. Now we aren’t actively buying it, but here’s an interesting thing with Bitcoin, you can, when it is, uh, the way that the US is accumulating Bitcoin is through seizures. Alright? Bad guy gets caught. His boats, his house and his Bitcoin get, uh, confiscated. So the US will sell the house, they will sell the gold, they will sell the boats, but they will keep the Bitcoin. What does that tell you? You know? And, and there’s a lot of nations that are actually openly holding and, and buying Bitcoin. I mentioned the US China. This always seems to be, uh, you know, anti Bitcoin. Well, they actually own quite a bit the UK, Ukraine, Bhutan, El Salvador. Bottom line is there’s a big change in narrative, right? That this is a real asset. So this is something that, you know, even if it’s 1% of a major, uh, institution’s assets or less than that, or whatever, it’s part of it. And that adoption alone can move prices from, from here. And that’s what I think a lot of people miss because they’re like, well, you already had a big move and you know, instead a hundred, it’s 80 or 90 or a hundred, whatever. It’s, it’s not going much better, bigger than that. Well, Bitcoin is, is actually really small relative to global pools of capital. So at this stage, adoption alone. Not even the crazy mania of the past can make a non-trivial increase in market capitalization and therefore a mark, you know, a non-trivial increase in the actual price of Bitcoin. All it’s gonna take, and you’re gonna see this, you’re gonna see more endowments, you’re gonna see more sovereign wealth pool, pensions, mod model portfolios, all they guys daisy side, when you know, even with a small allocation. It doesn’t take too much to overwhelm the available float because Bitcoin is scarce and a lot of it’s held tightly. So as far as Bitcoin goes, what do I think is gonna happen? I believe all time highs are gonna get challenged. They’re gonna get broken again in 2026, not because again, everyone’s suddenly becoming a crypto maximas, but because adoptions could just gonna continue to grow. The wild card, I should say, is that the US moving from, we hold. What we seized in terms of Bitcoin to actively acquiring reserves could be enormous catalyst. And there is a lot of talk about this right now. Um, if the market ever believes that the US is a consistent buyer, even in a constrained budget neutral way, that changes the psychology fast. And in that scenario, I think 200,000 plus, uh, $200,000 plus Bitcoin by the end of 2026 becomes very plausible. Zooming out. I’ve said this before, you may think I’m crazy, but again, because of adoption, I think that Bitcoin is at a million dollars five to seven years from now. So what does that mean for you? Well, I mean, I think at the end of the day, if you don’t own some, you might want to, I’m not gonna give you financial advice, but again, just like Harvard’s doing it, you know, major, major endowments are saying, well. You know, maybe we’ll just buy, like, you know, 2% of that, 2% of our, our, uh, endowment will be made of something like that, right? Uh, you know, it’s just even a very small amount, but exposure to it makes a lot of sense. So I think that is something to highly consider if you are still on zero when it comes to Bitcoin. All right, now here’s my last, uh, prediction. You may have heard me talking about this before as well, that AI becomes a deflationary force that policy makers finally wake up to. And I think this is actually one of the most important and misunderstood economic developments, um, that is currently already out there. But I think it’s, it’s gonna be really recognized. By the end of 2026. Okay. Artificial intelligence is gonna stop being just a tech story, and it’s gonna become a macroeconomic story. I think that by the end of 2026, artificial intelligence is clearly, uh, you know, it’s clearly, um, going to be boosting corporate earnings while beginning to materially reshape the labor force. Um, and what’s gonna happen is that central banks and policymakers are gonna start treating it. Is a genuinely deflationary force over the next several years, and they’re gonna try to have to figure out what to do about it. And again, going back to our earlier conversation, because deflation is really a real problem for a country with an enormous amount of debt. So let’s get a little bit into the whole deflationary uh, conversation. So artificial intelligence at its core is a productivity machine, right? It allows companies to produce more. Without, with fewer inputs, fewer hours, fewer people, fewer stakes and productivity always shows up in profits before it shows up in everyday life. Right now, lower cost per transaction, faster execution, fewer people doing the same amount of work, widening margins without price increases. That’s the tell. That’s when profits rise without raising prices, something deflationary is happening underneath the surface. The biggest impact there is the labor market, right? It’s gonna be impossible to ignore. And this is where the conversation really shifts because artificial intelligence doesn’t need to eliminate jobs outright to matter. It only needs to reduce the number of people required to do it, right? So you’re thinking the labor markets, you’re gonna see a lot of this. You’re gonna see more slowing in hiring. Um, even while productivity expectations rise, and I think by late 2026, the public conversation is gonna change from will artificial intelligence affects jobs someday to why aren’t companies hiring the way they used to? And of course, that’s when people are gonna start paying attention and they’re gonna notice it’s deflationary because it’s going to be because artificial intelligence is gonna push down the cost. Of services, administration, customer support, research, and eventually decision making itself. That’s why it’s, it’s deflationary, it’s structural, right? Just think of all those things you can do for so much cheaper. That is what deflation is, right? And again, we mentioned before deflation is not something central banks are comfortable with because of debt and because debt heavy systems rely on nominal growth. Deflation makes debt heavier in real terms as opposed to what we said before, which is that inflation actually erodes debt. And that is a, a very, very challenging problem. And by 2026, I think you’re gonna hear a lot about this, you know, policy problem that we have. Which is innovation versus, you know, deflation. You make a lot of money, but are still worried about retirement. Maybe you didn’t start earning until your thirties. Now you’re trying to catch up. Meanwhile, you’ve got a mortgage, a private school to pay for, and you feel like you’re getting further and further behind. Now, good news, if you need to catch up on retirement, check out a program put out by some of the oldest and most prestigious life insurance companies in the world. It’s called Wealth Accelerator, and it can help you amplify your returns quickly, protect your money from creditors, and provide finance. Financial protection to your family if something happens to you. The concepts here are used by some of the wealthiest families in the world and there’s no reason why they can’t be used by you. Check it out for yourself by going to wealthformulabanking.com. Alright, well, so that’s basically it for my, uh, predictions. And I know I’ve kind of. Off on many different tangents, so hopefully it’s useful to you at least to start thinking and doing some of your own research. Bottom line is this, I mean, as, as a investor, what can you do? I think the big story here is understanding that, um, you need to be out of the dollar and into the investor class because that that widening gap between those who have. Who own things, who own assets, and those who do not is gonna continue to widen. And so, you know, my best, uh, won’t call it advice, but my own belief is that it is a, it is a very good time to look around and look for assets that are underpriced because I think everything is going to expand and it’s gonna ex expand. Uh, and you don’t wanna be caught, you know, on the, uh, dollar side of that equation. So. That’s it for me this week on Wealth Formula Podcast. Happy New Year. I’ll see you next week. If you wanna learn more, you can now get free access to our in-depth personal finance course featuring industry leaders like Tom Wheel Wright and Ken McElroy. Visit wealthformularoadmap.com.

Commodities are going nuts right now, with copper now parabolic joining silver on the crazy train. Gold is lagging behind both, which is not a good sign for each's ability to stay on the upside. Meanwhile, at the complete other end of the commodity spectrum is oil, not just in terms of prices but key spreads in Middle East markets. One of those just flipped for the first time in years, signaling growing worries about global demand.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------What is a Eurodollar University membership? It's where understanding the monetary world isn't a mystery, it's a method.If you're serious about your financial education and want clarity in a world of volatility and massive uncertainty, you're in the right place. Mainstream education has left so many massive gaps on the most foundational concepts, making sense of everything is practically impossible otherwise. With our memberships, we'll fill in everything that you've been missing. Join us: https://web.eurodollar-university.com/eurodollar-vsl-pagehttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Loss of momentum isn't just happening in the US, it is very well synchronized globally with practically the same pattern showing up everywhere. Updates from neighbors Canada and Mexico show a deepening downturn at the end of last year, especially Mexico putting up its deepest contraction since April. Over in Europe, Germany fell back bringing Italy down with it. Plus, global bellwether Switzerland experienced its own “unexpectedly” sharp setback. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SPG Canada Manuhttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/78c6ddcb80cf4ef0b14fc9dc3c091c86SPG Mexico Manuhttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/47f22c8de61b4d54965a25c3d3c417caSPG Germany Manuhttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/bd3c462f68704c5ea1613f2fce2879fdSPG Italy Manuhttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/be3b992b4ebb4b4db3030abaff5e0bc5Bloomberg Swiss Manufacturing Contracted More Than Anticipated in Decemberhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-05/swiss-manufacturing-contracted-more-than-anticipated-in-decemberhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

In this episode of Coin Stories, Natalie Brunell is joined by Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow, for a deep conversation about why what we call "capitalism" has never truly existed. We discuss: The truth behind rising prices & declining quality Myths of the free market and deflation How Bitcoin could reshape economic incentives The difference between capitalism and crony capitalism The impact of government regulation: does it really protect us? Why monopolies are incompatible with a truly free market Watch our first masterclass on inflation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tQIGuCyOHQ  Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU  --- Coin Stories is powered by Gemini. Invest as you spend with the Gemini Credit Card. Sign up today to earn a $200 intro Bitcoin bonus. The Gemini Credit Card is issued by WebBank. See website for rates & fees. Learn more at https://www.gemini.com/natalie  ---- Ledn is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $9 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. Get .25% off your first loan, learn more at https://www.Ledn.io/natalie  ---- Earn passive Bitcoin income with industry-leading uptime, renewable energy, ideal climate, expert support, and one month of free hosting when you join Abundant Mines at https://www.abundantmines.com/natalie  ---- Natalie's Bitcoin Product Partners: For easy, low-cost, instant Bitcoin payments, I use Speed Lightning Wallet. Play Bitcoin trivia and win up to 1 million sats! Download and use promo code COINSTORIES10 for 5,000 free sats: https://www.speed.app/coinstories  Block's Bitkey Cold Storage Wallet was named to TIME's prestigious Best Inventions of 2024 in the category of Privacy & Security. Get 20% off using code STORIES at https://bitkey.world   Master your Bitcoin self-custody with 1-on-1 help and gain peace of mind with the help of The Bitcoin Way: https://www.thebitcoinway.com/natalie  With BitcoinIRA, you can invest in bitcoin 24/7 inside a tax-advantaged IRA. Choose a Traditional IRA to defer taxes, or a Roth IRA for tax-free withdrawals later. Take control of your future with BitcoinIRA: https://www.bitcoinira.com/natalie  Natalie's Upcoming Events: Bitcoin 2026 will be here before you know it. Get 10% off Early Bird passes using the code HODL: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2026?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=  Strategy World 2026 in Las Vegas on February 23-26th - Use code HODL for discounted tickets: https://www.strategysoftware.com/world26  Extra Services to Consider: Protect yourself from SIM Swaps that can hack your accounts and steal your Bitcoin. Join America's most secure mobile service, trusted by CEOs, VIPs and top corporations: https://www.efani.com/natalie   Ditch your fiat health insurance like I did four years ago! Join me at CrowdHealth: www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie  ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

The number of legendary investors calling this an AI bubble continues to climb, with Howard Marks, co-founder of Wall Street giant Oaktree flatly stating if AI isn't conforming to the historical bubble pattern, it will be a first. But there are some key differences within that pattern that just aren't being fully appreciated. Starting with how this AI bubble isn't actually about the stock market. Eurodollar University's conversation w/Steve Van Metre------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Bull steepening on the Treasury curve, falling energy prices especially gasoline, the final look at the US economy in 2025 shows it losing momentum again as the new year begins. In fact, even mainstream Economists, the most optimistic bunch you'll find, they're growing concerned again, with Moody's chief economist saying, quote, “nothing else can go wrong” because in his words, we're already on the edge of recession. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------S&P Global US Manu PMIhttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/7ca2ebfa9cce4c768e0cf449ba966293https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

There was an explosion, a record spike – and it's not even close - in lending by European banks to European shadow banks in October and November. This spike in European bank lending wasn't some newfound enthusiasm to take on risks. It was emergency lending, a shadow bank shadow bailout which was every bit the other side of the US$ repo tightness I've been telling you about. This surge in shadow bank borrowing in euros shows how widespread and global funding pressure has already been.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Banker Explainer: Why the IMF fears contagion from lenders' shadow bank exposurehttps://www.thebanker.com/content/0ec3d3f5-62bc-4aa1-8202-9cccb6ebc2a3Bloomberg Deutsche Bank Leads EU Lenders' Exposure to Shadow Bankshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-11/deutsche-bank-most-exposed-in-europe-to-shadow-banks-ubs-sayshttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

The Fed is going to need some more not-QE and fast. We've got the year-end surge in repo borrowing at its window that is already way more than expected. At the same time, front end Treasury bill yields tumble in what is looking more like collateral scarcity along the lines of repo fails. Plus, the rest of the yield curve spent the entire fourth quarter – doing nothing. Literally nothing - and that's huge. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Massive protests have broken out in Iran as the economy there implodes. This is no longer an uncommon occurrence as we're seeing more signs of the most dangerous phase of the economy. Spurred largely by younger generations who have born the brunt of economic suckitude their entire lives, political upheaval is spreading and intensifying – maybe presenting opportunity but either way it is, by far, the greatest risk the world faces in 2026.Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg Gen Z Revolts Against Dystopian Future as Protests Spread Worldwidehttps://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-gen-z-protest-worldwide/Gallup George H.W. Bush Retrospectivehttps://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/234971/george-bush-retrospective.aspxCSpan October 1992 Presidential Townhallhttps://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/user-clip-clintons-i-feel-your-pain-moment/4842764https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Repo fails just exploded, coming in at the highest weekly total since 2022. And this isn't even year-end. This is mid-December. It's the flat Beveridge economy that is exposing cracks in the credit markets. And along those lines, we've got an update on the Tricolor debacle and how it was actually uncovered that will knock your socks off u But it also does a really good job of explaining why there is so much risk aversion exploding throughout the monetary system. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

CarMax is back as a microcosm of the entire consumer economy. The company stumbled back in the spring then at the end of summer declared – no big deal - everything was turning around. Instead, not long after management eventually admitted it didn't turn around which, this past week, was totally confirmed when CarMax reported sales that had basically crashed during the quarter. Eurodollar University's conversations w/Steve Van Metre---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

The Bank of Japan keeps hiking its policy rate, Japanese bond yields continue to rise, yet no matter how high interest rates go over there the weaker the Japanese yen seems to get. And no one can figure out why. The government is stumped. Central bankers can only complain. And the yen is not the only one, but is a critical example of what everyone leaves out because they don't really know what they're looking at, or even looking for. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. Reserve your spot below but you better hurry, there aren't many left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's After-Christmas SALEGet $1,000 off an annual subscription to our DDA+ or 40% off an annual membership. Complete details and checkout at our website link below:https://www.eurodollar.university/holiday-offer---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Repo fails, a measure of collateral flow throughout the entire financial system, soared to more than $300 billion as of the middle of December. It was the highest for any non-quarter end week going back to June 2023. At the same time, borrowing from the Fed's repo facility is way up again as investors refuse to buy the spin from private credit that their portfolios are just fine and from central bankers who say the same thing about the economy. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's After-Christmas SALEGet $1,000 off an annual subscription to our DDA+ or 40% off an annual membership. Complete details and checkout at our website link below:https://www.eurodollar.university/holiday-offer---------------------------------------------------------------------------------WSJ The Private-Credit Party Turns Ugly for Individual Investorshttps://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-private-credit-party-turns-ugly-for-individual-investors-287356f9https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Guests: Captain James Fanell (USN Ret.) and Bradley Thayer. Fanell argues the U.S. must "admit failure" regarding China, likening the situation to a patient acknowledging cancer to begin treatment. To combat "threat deflation" and institutional bias in intelligence, they propose a "Team B" of independent analysts to objectively assess PRC capabilities. Thayer advocates moving oversight of foreign investment (CFIUS) to the Department of Defense and ultimately cutting off all trade to deny the CCP resources and protect intellectual property.

US GDP utterly crushed it in Q3 and that was following Q2 when output supposedly was well more than expected, so two quarters in a row of booming numbers. So why isn't anyone buying it? To begin with, just look at gold and silver. Safe haven buying is literally off the charts. Bond yields didn't react at all. And consumer confidence keeps falling deeper into recession territory.Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Back in October, foreigners sold a massive $61.2 billion in LT UST assets, the most since April. While that may sound like the “sell America” and Treasury rejection narrative from the summer, it's actually proof that the Fed's bank reserves are irrelevant. Remember October? Repo rates soaring. Use of the Fed's repo facility skyrocketed. Cockroaches and garbage lending. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Blue Owl is back, the beleaguered alternative fund manager making news this time by refusing to partner back up with beleaguered former AI bubble star Oracle. This is big, especially since before now Blue Owl and Oracle worked together on seemingly everything. We've even got Tether's CEO feeling the winds shift, admitting how Bitcoin's struggles, for example, are a reflection of both the credit cycle and bursting AI anxiety. Eurodollar University's conversation w/Steve Van Metre------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To reserve your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar Series REPLAYThere is a ton of smoke coming out from the credit markets right now. But is there fire? For the next hour and a half, join us in examining the issue from all the relevant angles and perspectives. Just how big is the "garbage pool"? What is the driving force behind the credit cycle? How can we tell if it is turning, or maybe has turned? The most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention. Replay the full webinar at the link below:https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/go/replay/1ym21cpxh8zfw3f4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Miami leads the nation in home de-listings, that is number of sellers who realize the housing situation is bad and getting worse, therefore simply pull their property off the market. De-listings nationally have soared this year, led by Miami and Florida. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Sellers came back into the market thinking lower interest rates were going to lure buyers. Why wouldn't they? That's what everyone says. Falling rates are stimulus and real estate is the most sensitive to it.Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE PRESIDENT'S DAY FEBRUARY 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, plus deep discussions about what truly is the greatest threat we all face, join me, Hugh Hendry, George Gammon, Steve Van Metre, Brent Johnson, Mike Green at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot just go here but you better hurry, there aren't many spots left:https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page------------------------------------------------------------Realtor.com November 2025 Monthly Housing Market Trends Reporthttps://www.realtor.com/research/november-2025-data/NAR NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 0.5% Increase in Novemberhttps://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/nar-existing-home-sales-report-shows-0-5-increase-in-novemberFlorida Housing Market https://www.redfin.com/state/Florida/housing-marketBloomberg US Existing-Home Sales Edge Up With Help From Tamer Priceshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-19/us-existing-home-sales-edge-higher-with-help-from-tamer-priceshttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Tariff inflation continues to go down in flames, yet central bankers refuse to let it go. The US CPI report for November was released today and the details should help put all this to rest – especially alongside the payroll numbers from earlier in the week. However, over in Europe both the ECB and Bank of England claim they need to be vigilant about tariff inflation at the same time job losses and unemployment pile up even higher.   Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar Series REPLAYThere is a ton of smoke coming out from the credit markets right now. But is there fire? For the next hour and a half, join us in examining the issue from all the relevant angles and perspectives. Just how big is the "garbage pool"? What is the driving force behind the credit cycle? How can we tell if it is turning, or maybe has turned? The most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention. Replay the full webinar at the link below:https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/go/replay/1ym21cpxh8zfw3f4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

The BLS confirmed the US labor market has indeed entered flat Beveridge territory with profound implications. What are they? What does this mean moving forward? Join me at 1:30pm ET to find out.Also, join me later tonight for a very special webinar where we are going to be doing a COMPREHENSIVE review of on set of consequences from flat Beveridge: cockroaches and the credit market cycle. We'll go over all the smoke rising from the space and assess whether or not there's fire behind it - and take a few reasonable stabs at estimating how much.EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks

Chinese investment crashed yet again in November, the second straight month of bigtime declines. Only this time FAI was joined by consumer spending. Retail sales over in China also crashed last month, dropping by almost half a percent in November alone. That's enormous. It follows terrible data on household lending and bank credit. All of it points to an increasingly familiar topic and condition: China big economic slide is sliding right onto flat Beveridge. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg China's Labor Market Distress Spreads at Worst Time for Deflation Fighthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-22/china-s-labor-distress-spreads-at-worst-time-for-deflation-fighthttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

So, Jay Powell just casually strolled to the podium at his press conference last week and announced the Fed now believes the US has been losing jobs at a rate of 20,000 per month. From strong and resilient to solid to, ah, so what we're now shedding jobs by the tens of thousands per month. Do you see it yet? The Treasury curve does, which is why it is moving into its final form in this long un-inversion process, with the big moves taking shape and doing most of the reshaping right in Chair Powell's conference room.   Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page------------------------------------------------------------NBER Determination of the December 2007 Peak in Economic Activityhttps://www.nber.org/news/business-cycle-dating-committee-announcement-december-1-2008FOMC Press Conference, December 10, 2025https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-_yb2UkDkTranscripthttps://www.federalreserve.gov/mediacenter/files/FOMCpresconf20251210.pdfBloomberg Fed's Goolsbee Says He Sees More Cuts Than Most Others Next Yearhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-12/fed-s-goolsbee-cites-need-for-more-data-in-dissent-against-cuthttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

IBM's CEO said there is “no way” that the massive spending on AI and data centers will ever pay off. For the first time in this bubble cycle people are finally wondering if maybe he is right. It couldn't have come at a more critical time in light of Oracle's shocking results. And then Broadcom failed to live up to the hype. In many ways, AI is the last pillar holding the forgot how to grow economy together, from both investments and stock-fueled consumer spending. Eurodollar University's conversation w/Steve Van Metre---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

France's President called it a matter of life and death for European industry. The head of the European Commission said it has reached “an inflection point.” The Chinese have been trying to export their way out of what is now a major downturn. The truth is, neither side has much choice; the Chinese have to do it and the Europeans have to start resisting it. What China just reported in banking and the economy shows they're out of options even if it means sinking relations with an entire continent.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg China Forces Reckoning in Europe as Trade Turns Existentialhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-12/china-forces-reckoning-in-europe-as-trade-boom-turns-existentialPolitico EU European industry faces ‘life or death,' Macron says — and China needs to helphttps://www.politico.eu/article/europe-china-emmanuel-macron-foreign-investment-trade/Bloomberg China Politburo Member Misses Two Key Meetings as Mystery Buildshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-12/china-politburo-member-misses-two-key-meetings-as-mystery-buildshttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/register/n0rnxu7n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Live replay on December FOMC decision.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/register/n0rnxu7n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU LIVE 2026If you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-page---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swiss central bankers are being forced to choose between negative interest rates and negative consumer prices by the increasingly negative direction of the globally synchronized system. On a monthly basis, Switzerland's CPI declined in November for the fourth straight month as the country tries to work through contractions in output and a small but noticeable rise in unemployment. This all should sound familiar because, again, globally synchronized.   Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/register/n0rnxu7n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

There is a debate raging on Wall Street and across the markets about what's happening in private credit right now and what that might mean moving forward. We've gotten past the initial shock, the Tricolor and First Brands fiascos, the first round of hedge fund redemptions, so now what? Well, to begin with, there's what banks are doing right now and then there are warnings still coming in from key players across the industry.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro AnalysisIf you're a serious investor and want to capitalize on what the monetary system is signaling right now, join me at Eurodollar University's very first Live Event, President's Day Weekend February 2026. To get your spot, just go here: https://eurodollar-university.com/event-home-pageBloomberg Private Credit Woes Should Put Banks on Noticehttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-12-05/banks-need-shoring-up-against-private-credit-risksBloomberg Private Credit ‘Hysteria' Will Get Very Real Next Yearhttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-12-01/private-credit-risk-apollo-ceo-hysteria-claim-is-not-totally-rightBloomberg Private Credit's Sketchy Marks Get Warning Shot From Wall Street's Top Cophttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/private-credit-s-sketchy-marks-get-warning-shot-from-wall-street-s-top-copBloomberg Private Credit on Defensive Again Over ‘Mark-to-Myth' Studyhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-16/private-credit-on-the-defensive-again-over-mark-to-myth-studyhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

The most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals. Most people won't notice until it's too late.I'm hosting a free webinar to break down what's happening and what it means for your portfolio.  https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/risks--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Automotive insurance claims are estimated to have dropped around 9% so far this year. That sounds like a good thing, but it's an ominous sign. There haven't been fewer car accidents, instead more people just can't afford car insurance. Just recently, Gallup found at its midseason Christmas update, holiday shopping plans plummeted by a record amount. More than during late 2008. Why? Same reason people aren't buying car insurance. There are no jobs and not nearly enough income.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro AnalysisGallup Economic Confidence Slips; Holiday Spending Plans Plummethttps://news.gallup.com/poll/699311/economic-confidence-slips-holiday-spending-plans-plummet.aspxBloomberg More Americans Are Skipping Car Insurance to Save Moneyhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-12-05/more-americans-are-skipping-car-insurance-to-save-moneyhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

The yen has made a huge move over the past seven months and no one can figure out why. According to every mainstream economic theory, JPY should be soaring not sinking. It's got the government in Tokyo hollering about currency intervention claiming there is no fundamental reason for the yen's plight. Except, there is and we just got more confirmation as household spending there utterly plunged in September and October. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/register/n0rnxu7n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Jordi Visser is a macro investor with over 30 years of Wall Street experience, and he also writes a Substack called “VisserLabs” and puts out investing YouTube videos. In this conversation we break down the major forces driving markets today — bitcoin's price action, accelerating institutional adoption, the latest AI developments, internal tensions at OpenAI, and an overlooked industrial company he believes will be critical to the future economy. We wrap with a sharp look at the Fed, interest rates, deflation signals, and why easy money is still flowing through the system. ======================Need liquidity without selling your crypto? Take out a Figure Crypto-Backed Loan (https://www.figuremarkets.co/pomp), allowing you to borrow against your BTC, ETH, or SOL with 12-month terms and no prepayment penalties. They have the lowest rates in the industry at 8.91%, allowing you to access instant cash or buy more Bitcoin without triggering a tax event. Unlock your crypto's potential today at Figure! https://www.figuremarkets.co/pomp Disclosures: Figure Lending LLC dba Figure. Equal Opportunity Lender. NMLS 1717824. Terms and conditions apply.======================Bitizenship gives Bitcoin-forward investors a fast, compliant path to EU residency. Our Bitcoin Dolce Visa lets you invest in a 100% Bitcoin-aligned startup and qualify for Italy's Golden Visa with one strategy. Claim your free strategy call at https://www.bitizenship.com/pomp.======================Simple Mining makes Bitcoin mining simple and accessible for everyone. We offer a premium white glove hosting service, helping you maximize the profitability of Bitcoin mining. For more information on Simple Mining or to get started mining Bitcoin, visit ⁠https://www.simplemining.io/⁠======================Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro1:50 – How to evaluate bitcoin right now6:29 – The AI boom impact on asset prices & macro environment11:59 – Deflation impact & Elon says will work be optional?18:25 – Evaluating jobs data in an AI-driven economy25:57 – The AI impact on the economy41:42 – Michael Burry & Elon's view on the economy & the future48:16 – Where to find Jordi's content

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After weeks of speculation, back and forth over bad theories on inflation and what seemed to be a steady stream of hawk-sounding Fed policymakers, the market has spoken. We know right now what the FOMC is going to do next Wednesday. But what comes after that is still somewhat up in the air, though not nearly as much as you might think given all the noise recently.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDU's Webinar SeriesThursday December 17, 6pm ETA Trillion-Dollar Eurodollar Bomb is going Off on Wall StreetThe most important funding system in the world is flashing warning signals, and almost no one is paying attention.https://event.webinarjam.com/m9wym/register/n0rnxu7n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Connect with Will at: https://bsky.app/profile/wiverson.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiverson Mentioned during the series: Will's Youtube channel: https://changenode.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@ChangeNode Mentioned in this episode: killed by google: https://killedbygoogle.com build your own LLM: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-an-llm-from-scratch-theory-to-rlhf/ The post 314 Deflation Economy and Unemployment—Why although unemployment is low you still don't have a job first appeared on Agile Thoughts.

November now makes three of the last four months and four of the last six with negative private payrolls. According to ADP, the US private economy shed 32k jobs last month, the most yet in the cycle. And it turns the 6m average negative for the first time, so serious problems in labor – which are creating bigger ones in the housing market. According to the latest official numbers from the government, home prices fell for the fourth time in the last five months and that brought the annual rate of change down to the lowest since February 2012. Yes, February 2012, the bottom of the housing bust. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Federal Reserve Beige Book November 2025https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/BeigeBook_20251126.pdfBloomberg A Historic Housing Disconnect Is Forcing Prices Downhttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-12-01/a-housing-disconnect-points-to-lower-priceshttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble just came out with an unusual warning about its core business, consumer products meaning consumers. The maker of Tide detergent, Mr. Clean, Pampers, Gilette and whole bunch of other brands you use every single day just said that sales were down “significantly” in October and that it likely continued right on through November. This tracks with where Christmas holiday shopping has been so far with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg P&G Warns US Sales Down ‘Significantly' Entering Current Quarterhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-02/p-g-warns-us-sales-down-significantly-entering-current-quarterBloomberg Cyber Monday Spending Pace Lags Black Friday for Second Yearhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-02/cyber-monday-online-spending-in-us-increases-7-1CNN You're paying more for less this shopping season. Now there's proofhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/12/01/business/black-friday-shoppers-holiday-seasonhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

December begins with a decided risk-off mood in financial markets, led by more painful liquidations in crypto. Bitcoin starts off the month with a nearly 7% drop to what would be a new recent low. Why? Economic woes continue to dominate concerns. Starting with Chicago, ISM's regional business barometer put up its largest single month decline in new orders in more than two years. Backlogs crashed by nearly 22 points to the lowest since March 2009. Its employment index fell to the worst since May 2009, with not a single respondent saying it had increased employment last month. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's AFTER BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ISM Chicago Business Barometer November 2025https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N7xXT_P4Z_g7u0dJYI_kOYkSk1fcvLcQ/viewISM Manufacturing November 2025https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/november/S&P Global Press Releaseshttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/public/release/pressreleasesBloomberg Small Businesses Turn to Lending Startups as Tariff Costs Mounthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-15/tariffs-drive-small-importers-to-costly-loans-as-lending-startups-surgeBloomberg First Brands' Blowup Puts Trade Finance in Spotlighthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-19/first-brands-blowup-puts-trade-finance-in-spotlight-jnj-jpm-ubs-jefhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

HP becomes the latest big name to announce major layoffs, said to be around 6000 more white collar jobs. It's getting to the point where despite all the mainstream and social media attention, call it fixation, on the tariff inflation faction at the Fed, the latest economic update from the central bank has almost nothing in it about that. Instead, it's cover-to-cover with worries about HP, Amazon, and all the smaller businesses we never hear about who nonetheless are finding themselves on the same part of the flat Beveridge curve. Eurodollar University's conversation w/Steve Van Metre---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's EARLY BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

China sold a record amount of Treasuries last quarter, which is actually more confirmation of the monetary tightening story over the summer which is now spilling out into the mainstream in the form of elevated repo rates, SOFR, and repo borrowing from the Fed. At the same time and for very much related reasons, private foreign counterparties were buying huge amounts of, yes, US Treasuries. There was no rejection at all, quite the contrary all of it pointing to growing expectations for the fallout from flat Beveridge. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's EARLY BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Donald Trump got elected in 2024 because voters felt prices were too high. But, as our guest says, that's not really a great thing for a politician to promise. So, as we head into the holiday season of Trump's first year back in office, how are his voters feeling about the state of the economy? New Bulwark economics editor Catherine Rampell joins the show to discuss the state of the economy and what politicians can and cannot do to fix it. We also hear from voters about how their holiday spending habits have changed since last year. By Catherine Rampell: Trump Is Falling Into the Same Trap That Ensnared Biden Trump's One Weird Trick for Eliminating Bad News: Delete It

Repo. It's back. Or more accurately, never really left. When we last left off with it, things were calming down which is not unusual in these circumstances. That didn't mean it was a one-time, one-off matter, just that in the middle of the month there isn't a whole lot going on. But now with the Thanksgiving holiday here and December approaching, repo rates are up, borrowing from the Fed is back, and in related developments the hedge fund-private credit world is getting spicier.  Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's EARLY BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg UBS Boss Is Right on Private Credit Rating Riskshttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-11-06/ubs-boss-scores-one-for-banks-over-private-creditBIS The transformation of the life insurance industry: systemic risks and policy challengeshttps://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap161.htmhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Despite half the Federal Reserve's best efforts to take away the December rate cut, the bond market is signaling from top to bottom, back to front it doesn't care one bit. The FOMC can spout off on tariff inflation, they can claim there is no way they'll support lowering rates next month, yields are going down and taking inflation expectations with them. The bond market is making big moves despite KC Jeff and his federal funds band.   Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's EARLY BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Conference Board US Consumer Confidence Fell Sharply in Novemberhttps://www.conference-board.org/topics/consumer-confidence/Bloomberg Retail Sales Lost Steam in September as Shoppers Pulled Backhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/us-retail-sales-rose-0-2-in-september-as-consumers-pulled-backCNBC Core wholesale prices rose less than expected in September; retail sales gainhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/25/core-wholesale-prices-rose-less-than-expected-in-september-retail-sales-gain.htmlhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

India's rupee broke, plunging and I mean plunging Friday to a new record low and once again embarrassing the country's central bank which had been intervening heavily for the past month. The funny thing is, there really wasn't much of a trigger to it, at least not on the surface. The rupee continues to be a major global bellwether that often has less to do with India specifically. This once again appears to be one of those cases especially with the dollar making big moves against other important currencies, too. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis-------------------------------------------------------------------Get the free guide that breaks down the real economic signals behind America's shrinking consumer demand, and how to protect your wealth before the slowdown hits your income: https://web.eurodollar-university.com/home-------------------------------------------------------------------Bloomberg Indian Rupee Sinks to All-Time Low as RBI's Absence Sows ‘Panic'https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-21/indian-rupee-slides-to-record-low-on-delay-in-us-trade-dealBloomberg Korean Won Approaches Dollar-Sale Trigger Zone Before Rate Callhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-24/korean-won-approaches-dollar-sale-trigger-zone-before-rate-callhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Over half of American homes lost value over the last year, the highest number since...2012. More importantly, even the media is catching on that something big changed this summer in real estate. The reason why the housing market is retreating isn't interest rates. Lower mortgage costs have not sparked a turnaround in the face of all expectations they would. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro AnalysisIn a world where markets swing on every headline, focus matters. That's why Eurodollar University offers One Big Weekly Theme — a disciplined, thematic analysis you can count on. If you don't have the time to go all the way to the depth of Eurodollar University's comprehensive Deep Dive Analysis and want the next best thing, One Big Weekly Theme is for you. https://eurodollaruniversity.substack.comZillow 53% of U.S. homes lost value in the past year, the most since 2012https://investors.zillowgroup.com/investors/news-and-events/news/news-details/2025/53-of-U-S--homes-lost-value-in-the-past-year-the-most-since-2012/default.aspxHome Value Declines Spread, But Losses Since Last Sale Are Rarehttps://www.zillow.com/research/home-value-decline-35724/Bloomberg Job and Housing Stresses Are Caught in a Vicious Loophttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-11-21/job-and-housing-stresses-are-caught-in-a-vicious-loophttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

Nvidia was a bust. Not the company's earnings and forecasts, those were stellar. Instead, it didn't provide the buying boost everyone thought it would. Stocks lost ground. Bitcoin continues to get hammered, down by a third in roughly six weeks. What is going on here? The answer, or answers, are coming from the cockroaches. There's more to the Blue Owl hedge fund story. Plus, Bitcoin is correlating with what we call the triple hooks.   Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CNBC Stocks tumble, Nasdaq closes 2% lower after stunning reversal in AI, Nvidia stockshttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/19/stock-market-today-live-updates.htmlCNBC Blue Owl calls off merger of its two private credit funds after announcement rattles stockhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/19/blue-owl-calls-off-merger-of-its-two-private-credit-funds-after-announcement-rattles-stock-sources-say.htmlBloomberg Blue Owl Money Machine Sputters in Face of Private Credit Crackshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-20/blue-owl-money-machine-sputters-in-face-of-private-credit-crackshttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

After Home Depot disappointed and Target got slammed, Walmart reported results that were above expectations because in this economic climate the Target and Home Depot's losses are Walmart's gains. And its strength came from all income brackets, though high-income Americans are increasingly turning to Walmart. That's not good. But it does fit with the long-delayed payroll data that just came out, which you'll be shocked to learn has another revision turning another monthly number negative. That makes two. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOMC October 2025 Minuteshttps://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20251029.pdfNBC News Walmart raises sales outlook, boosted by e-commerce and higher-income shoppershttps://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/walmart-earnings-ecommerce-rcna244853CNBC Walmart hikes sales and earnings forecast as it attracts shoppers across incomeshttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/20/walmart-wmt-q3-2026-earnings.htmlhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

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While everyone else is glued to Nvidia, the results from Home Depot and Target will have far more to say about the markets and a lot more. Plus others like TJ Maxx, Bitcoin and the surprising Fed minutes that has a lot to say about the status of December's rate cut.Bloomberg Wary Stock Bulls Eye Walmart, Target for Clues to Consumer Healthhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-17/wary-stock-bulls-eye-walmart-target-for-clues-to-consumer-health?srnd=phx-economics-v2Economic Times TGT stock falls today as Target cuts guidance and predicts weak holiday saleshttps://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/tgt-stock-falls-today-as-target-cuts-guidance-and-predicts-weak-holiday-sales/articleshow/125437666.cms?from=mdrRead more at:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/tgt-stock-falls-today-as-target-cuts-guidance-and-predicts-weak-holiday-sales/articleshow/125437666.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppstYahooFinance Target cuts earnings guidance, warns about high prices, and predicts a weak holiday seasonhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/target-cuts-earnings-guidance-warns-about-high-prices-and-predicts-a-weak-holiday-season-113001475.htmlCNBC TJ Maxx and Marshalls owner hikes outlook as CEO says holiday season is off to a ‘strong start'https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/19/tjx-companies-tjx-earnings-q3-2026.htmlFOMC Minuteshttps://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20251029.pdf