But Europe as a whole is going to move in this direction and New Years Eve parties are going to be off the agenda, along with seasonal vacations.
Most countries that don't restrict large groups over this period will end up paying the price in Jan and Feb and will suffer lockdowns then. (Regardless of whether you think they should or not - they are coming).
And that bring us on to the US...
There is a extremely limited chance that the US government will try to impose broader resuctitions over the holidays. As ever some states will lock down and others won't. The net result will be continued rapid virus spread.
And death rates are near 100% correlated (this chart is 3 week old now but continues to the same pattern)
And that means that the Biden administration in January/February will probably take some tough measures, considering they fought the election on it (again, I don't care if you agree or not, it's about what is LIKELY to happen, not what you WANT to happen).
Globally, Christmas spending and New Years spending will be hugely hit and it's the biggest spending season of the year.
Restaurants and bars will again bear the brunt of the misery through no fault of their own.
January sales will be a write-off too as Europe will be locked down and the US heading that way.
I think people are too early with the reflation trade and at may we'll get severely tested as insolvency events build.
And there is only one outcome... MOAR.
And MOAR...(unlikely to happen...yet, but eventually)
And MOAR....
And MOAR...
And by next March they will all be forced to do MOAR.
There is a growth cliff happening, the market may choose to look through it or not (I think risks are rising of a stumble) but all outcomes lead to further debasement.
We can argue all day if its going to be inflation first or deflation but all roads lead to the same thing - Rising hard asset prices.
I remain in the deflation camp so I own some calls on bonds too.
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So, if the hypothesis that key driver of asset prices is the devaluation of fiat currency it pays to look at assets against G4 Central bank balance sheets as the denominator, to determine what is a store of value.
Here is the G4 balance sheet - 2009 was when it all started.
Commodities have failed to maintain their purchasing power..
Bonds have failed to maintain their purchasing power...even after rallying for the last decade.
Bitcoin is potentially facing some serious technical headways... the daily DeMark is showing a cluster on 2 13's and a 9 and tomorrow might put in ANOTHER 13!
The weekly is stacking up top counts too...and a larger correction looks very possible
MSCI Emerging Markets is the best looking chart in the world right now, outside of bitcoin. If this break is confirmed, then we can expect a decade or more of strong EM performance.
However, its very overbought (the dollar is very oversold) and the weekly DeMark suggests we might fall back for a bit to garner energy for the break. $EEM is the easy way to play it.
I've love to get some Friday evening Fintwit thinking going so I want to pick your collective brains...
I'm mulling over The Death of Macro. Let me explain..
My view (right or wrong) is that rates aren't going up and are pinned at zero or negative for a long, long time. So, there is going to be no bond trading (see Japan and EU). The biggest trade in macro ever is nearly over.
The IMF and the CB's are talking about CBDC's and a new Bretton Woods. That is likely to be something around the original Libra idea of a world currency/currencies, based on a basket that includes the USD.
Let's look at the SPX vs Bitcoin...Our hero has eaten the equity markets lunch, and all-time lows of SPX vs BTC lie dead ahead.
Our good friend gold has also been soundly thrashed by our super hero and new all-time lows of gold in bitcoin terms lie dead ahead too...
But the battle of the super villain versus the super hero is just being fought. The G4 Central Bank balance sheet is breaking key supports and Bitcoin is about to slay the BIG villain of our story (but expect a fight until the death).