Our weak economy has been propped up by government spending fueled by borrowing. That gravy train is threatening to slow down as the interest to pay that debt balloons. We are headed for a very bad time. None of what we are arguing about now will matter when the national debt crushes the economy. Neither Kamala nor Trump seem to give a dang. Frankly, why would they? The American people don’t seem to give a dang either.
The broad market index dropped 1.84% to end at 5,346.56. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.43% to close at 16,776.16, bringing the decline for the tech-heavy index from its recent all-time high to more than 10%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%, to finish at 39,737.26. At its session low, the 30-stock index was down 989 points.
Stocks sank after July job growth in the U.S. slowed more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to the highest since October 2021. Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 114,000 last month, the Labor Department reported, a slowing from 179,000 jobs added in June and below the 185,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate increased to 4.3%.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest since December as investors flooded into bonds for safety on the fear the Federal Reserve made a mistake this week by keeping interest rates at current levels.
Also interesting: Buffett dumped his Apple stock holdings and half of his Wells Fargo.
Correction: HALF his Apple holdings.
Not mentioned: May/June job #s revised down. Since 3QTR ‘23 the Biden admin has overstated job gains by 1,000,000. Most job gains have been in g’vment, social work, and health care jobs.
Also not mentioned: US natives are losing jobs, immigrants (legal and not) are gaining them in approximately the same number of 1.2 million…..
Well, some US natives are just losing jobs to no one, too.
Back in March BJ awarded Intel $8.5 BILLION in direct grant dollars, tax breaks of up to $25 billion, and a portion of $11 billion in g’vment loans. (All this aside from Commerce giving Intel $3.5 billion to upgrade security).
What we get?
Intel cutting 15,000 jobs.
MJM. Intel has absolutely just been a clusterfuck over the past few years. Their 13 & 14th gen chips are crashing regularly with no real resolution, and they have let ARM eat their lunch for Mac and now Windows. It probably won’t be for another 2 years that Intel will have a comparable chip to Intel for battery life and mid-level performance.
Honestly, if you are looking for a long-term buy, Intel may be a good bet. They tend to bounce back and catch up on specs every few years and haven’t been this low priced since 2012. I am not personally making this gamble, but I wouldn’t fault anyone for speculating.