Chart of the day: Public #cloudcomputing surpassed $200 Billion in 2022

By 2026, revenues are projected to rise to $323B in the US & $90B in China

via Statista #CoSoFinance

The Citi U.S. Economic Surprise Index has fallen back into negative territory and is at lowest since September. This is generally seen as bearish for the economy. #CoSoFinance

November existing home sales plunged -7.7% vs. -5.2% est. & -5.9% in prior month … monthly supply moved up to 3.3 and median selling price was up 3.5% y/y to $370,700. More important (to me) is the plunge over the past year in existing home sales -- November clocked in 28.4% y/y decline, which was worst since February 2008 #CoSoFinance

One of my artist friends sent me 4 images designed by Midjourney AI using my Twitter bio text: "In a world gone mad with chaos and blood, one man stands alone against the forces of evil. That man is Sean Brodrick" Very cool.

Some Vintage Christmas snaps I found on the web. If these aren't horror movies yet, they should be.

I published this column on #platinum on Tuesday. I'm bullish on the metal going into 2023. #CoSo Finance https://weissratings.com/en/wealth-wave/platinum-coils-up

The U.S. current account deficit narrowed sharply in the third quarter as exports jumped to a record high. The Commerce Department said that the current account deficit, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country, contracted 9.1% to $217.1 billion last quarter. That was the smallest gap since the second quarter of 2021. A big part of it is now the U.S. is a net energy exporter. Thanks, Joe Biden! #CoSoFinance https://www.reuters.com/business/us-current-account-deficit-shrinks-third-quarter-2022-12-21/

Average annual salary for full-time workers increased almost 15% from Nov 2021 to Nov 2022, according to the NY Fed's SCE Labor Market Survey. This worries the Fed and Wall Street, because we can't have the Poors keeping up with inflation. Meanwhile, the profiteering in oil, transports, etc. that has pushed Wall Street earnings through the roof is no concern at all. #CoSoFinance

Nominal wage growth is heading into 2023 on a rather strong note … 6m annualized % change in average hourly earnings (for nonsupervisory private workers) accelerated to +5.8% in November which, before pandemic, is strongest in decades #CoSoFinance What's missing from this report is how it's bad news for Joe Biden.

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Economists surveyed by ⁦
Bloomberg
⁩ say there is a 70% chance the U.S. economy will fall into a recession next year … probability rose from 65% in November and is more than double what it was six months ago #CoSoFinance

S&P 500 Energy on track for best year since launch of ⁦
@SPDJIndices
⁩ sectors > 25y ago, +60%, holding on to massive gains despite steep drop in energy prices (sector only -2.5% since beginning of June). I'll add this is the second positive year in a row for oil/energy.

The House Ways & Means Committee wants to know why there weren’t any mandatory IRS audits of Trump’s tax returns during several years of his presidency:

Cumulative investment in EV charging hardware and installation will reach $62 billion at the end of this year, with $28.6 billion having been invested just in 2022, up 228% from the year before. #CoSoFinance #EVs #lithium https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-20/electric-vehicle-charging-investment-approaches-the-100-billion-mark

Why oil stocks look good now. #CoSoFinance Source: https://grizzleresearch.substack.com/p/oil-stocks-hang-tough-vs-crude

Yes!

The Biden administration is making good on a plan to replenish the nation’s emergency oil reserves, starting with a 3 million barrel purchase of crude.

The purchase follows a historic 180 million barrel release of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tame high gasoline prices.

“This is an opportunity to secure a good deal for American taxpayers by repurchasing oil at a lower price than the $96 per barrel average price it was sold for" #CoSoFinance https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/us-energy-department-to-buy-oil-to-replenish-emergency-reserve

In other news ...

Perhaps the Fed is hiking rates in the face of recession for a simple reason: They are Republicans and they want the Democratic President to fail. #CoSoFinance https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/federal-reserve-forecasts-higher-inflation-despite-recent-cpi-data

Two charts on the housing market from Liz Ann Sonders. Incredibly swift move down in average 30-year U.S. mortgage rate … 8-week change now most negative since beginning of 2009. At the same time, S&P 500 Homebuilding Industry Index surged relative to S&P 500 lately; ratio now at its highest in a year #CoSoFinance