From the always excellent Simon Rosenberg:
Under Biden the US has been creating about 500,000 jobs a month.

Under the last 3 GOP Presidents it was 10,000 jobs a month.

500,000 is a lot more than 10,000.
#CoSoFinance

BullionVault.com has an excellent article on the mystery of central bank #gold buying. Read it here: https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-news/gold-central-banks-120220222

OPEC+ is officially cutting production quotas, but Russia is cranking up production. Moscow ramped up oil production to an 8-month high of 10.9 million barrels a day in November. #CoSoFinance https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-02/opec-oil-export-cut-blunted-by-surge-in-russian-shipments

From Charlie Bilello: US Jobs increased 263k in November, the 23rd consecutive monthly gain. The longest streak in history was 113 months of jobs growth from Oct 2010 to Feb 2020. #CoSoFinance

Unlike Trump, Biden is actually able to oversee a drop in the Fed's balance sheet. This has little to do with him, but since he gets blamed for high gas prices he doesn't cause, let's give him credit for this as well. #CoSoFinance

I know it seems like I am obsessing on the October PCE inflation (and maybe I am) but some great charts are being published today. Here's one from Schwab's Kathy Jones. Look at how durable goods prices are dropping and bringing everything down.
#CoSoFinance

Funny to see these two headlines side by side. Let's hope the Robotaxis aren't Chevys, or otherwise don't crash.

The October PCE report says there was "widespread decreases in prices for durable goods" while noting that the prices for services increased 0.4% m/m led by food services, accommodations and housing. You can see the rollover in goods here while restaurants and hotels survive. #CoSoFinance

US October PCE core inflation is in,a nd it sure looks like core inflation is rolling over. But will it roll over enough to stave off Fed rate hikes in 2023?
Prior was +5.1% (revised to 5.2%)
PCE core MoM +0.2% vs +0.3% expected
Headline PCE +6.0% vs +6.2% expected (prior +6.2%)
https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-october-pce-core-inflation-50-vs-50-expected-20221201/

Another chart on the potentially explosive demand growth in battery metals. #EV #lithium #nickel #aluminum #copper #graphite #CoSoFinance

He who smelt it ... can charge higher prices! 😀 #Copper mining grows at last but now smelters can’t keep up. Benchmark annual smelting fees jumped 35% to the highest in six years when they were agreed on Thursday by US miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Chinese smelters at an industry gathering in Singapore. Source: Mining.com https://www.mining.com/web/copper-mining-grows-at-last-but-now-smelters-cant-keep-up/

Q3 GDP was just revised up to 2.9%.
Q4 GDP is expected to be 4.3%, according to Atlanta Fed GDPNOW.
This is one of the strongest "recessions" we've ever seen. #CoSoFinance

Here's a forecast on what the world needs in amounts of energy metals for a successful energy transition. Again, this may not be possible. #CoSoFinance

Just so everyone is aware; this may not be possible. The Rio Times reports that Argentina wants to triple mining exports: increase due to exponential growth in #lithium (from US$190 million to US$2.1 billion) and #copper (from virtually zero to US$5.42 billion). #CoSoFinance

Are we at peak #gold supply? Maybe. As supply tightens, prices should rise. #CoSoFinance

Why the MSM acts like we're already in recession: Because their friends in the tech industry are getting laid off, big-time. One third of total layoffs in November were in the tech sector.

Falling GDP estimates for next year would not matter except that the stock market has turned into an anticipation machine, and corporate America will likely do the same. We can expect less investment by companies that expect less growth. Anyway, Liz Young reports that "Consensus points to only 2% EPS growth for the S&P 500 next year, that's less than the 8-9% that was expected in Q2. 2022 EPS estimates are down 3.2% from their peak while 2023 estimates are down 8.5%" #CoSoFinance

“Excess corporate profits or price gouging, has come into the cross-hairs.” Importantly, the Fed can hike rates to the moon, but that's not going to stop corporations from price gouging.
Corporate America’s cash machine has disproportionately fueled the inflationary boom, according to Josh Bivens, at the Economic Policy Institute. As price pressures rose in 2021, fattening company margins accounted for >50% the increase. Labor costs were less than 8%. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-30/fat-cat-margins-make-s-p-a-high-value-target-in-inflation-wars

The squeeze is on for lithium supply. BloombergNEF predicts shortages of lithium will be a problem until 2026 for companies that refine the products into chemicals used in EV batteries. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-29/tesla-tsla-lithium-mine-strategy-tested-by-ford-gm

Is the stock market going to get visited by Santa or the Grinch this year? Fingers crossed for a Santa Claus rally
https://www.marketwatch.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-futures-gain-as-china-covid-fears-ease/card/santa-and-the-stock-market-december-has-highest-winning-percentage-of-any-month-for-dow-s-p-500-and-small-caps-l5zgEdXVYDzUcGAaqPYj