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A long, long time ago — 1992 to be specific — the American media howled with derision when then President George H.W. Bush professed “amazement” at a new supermarket bar code scanner, the coverage of which was supposed to demonstrate that Bush was hopelessly out of touch with the daily lives of ordinary Americans.
To its credit, the Associated Press a few days later tried to correct that impression, but by then the rest of the press had moved on and the falsehood has lived on ever since.
Bush’s supposed gaffe at least had no policy ramifications, although the story didn’t help his reelection efforts that year.
The same can’t be said about President Biden’s absurd comments to 60 Minutes last Sunday that inflation is now under control, albeit at more than 8%, the highest sustained level in more than 30 years.

After dismissing August’s monthly CPI reading as “up just an inch, hardly at all,” he proceeded to gladly dig himself even deeper, proudly telling the interviewer Scott Pelley that “we’re in a position where for the last several months, it [inflation] hasn’t spiked, it’s been basically even.”
In other words, inflation hasn’t risen to 9% or 10% year-on-year, so we’re in good shape.
This comes on top of other whoppers he and other members of his administration have said over the past several months, such as telling us that the recent student loan giveaway and an earlier deficit-raising budget measure were all already “paid for,” as if there was no cost involved.
Not to mention labeling his most recent budgetary measure the “Inflation Reduction Act.” Talk about Newspeak.
The point here is to demonstrate just how hard Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell‘s job is going to be to try to bring down inflation — yes, Mr. President, it’s really high and not getting lower — without any help from the fiscal authorities led by the White House. So brace yourselves for more interest rate increases.
During the Great Recession and global financial crisis of 2008 and the 2020 pandemic, the fiscal and monetary authorities worked closely together to try to get the American people and economy through with as little pain as possible. Congress and the White House threw massive amounts of money at the problems, while the Fed paid a big part of the bill by buying up an enormous chunk of the U.S. Treasury and mortgage bond markets.
Now that these crises are pretty much over, with inflation as the hangover, government policy needs to move to a tighter monetary policy and a more restrained fiscal policy.
Unfortunately, only one of those authorities seems to have got the message. It’s like a married couple with opposite views of their family budget—one spouse feels the need to tighten their belts, while the other just keeps spending as much as they ever did. That’s usually a marriage headed for big trouble.
Unfortunately, consumers and investors will have to deal with the repercussions, consumers with higher prices for just about everything and investors with lower and likely deeper negative returns. It would certainly be a lot easier and quicker to resolve these post-crisis problems if both fiscal and monetary authorities acted together to try to cure inflation and get the country back to normal, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
Not surprisingly, then, the Fed pretty much had no choice but to raise its benchmark interest rate another 75 basis points at its meeting on Wednesday, to a range between 3.0% and 3.25%, the highest rate since before the 2008 crisis, while signaling another 125 basis points in rate hikes at its two remaining meetings this year (early November and mid-December).
That would put the federal funds rate at 4.25% to 4.5% before the end of the year. By comparison, the fed funds rate stood at 0% as recently as March.
Since the one raising rates is the Fed, it gets the lion’s share of the blame for the resulting drop in stock and bond prices from angry investors. And it certainly deserves its share of the blame, since it allowed its easy money policies to go on way too long.

If it had been a little more proactive, like starting to raise rates last year — maybe even before that — the pain that Powell now speaks about that consumers and investors will need to suffer through might be a little less acute and a soft economic landing might have been achievable.
But that ship looks like it might have already sailed, and we may be heading into rougher economic waters than we otherwise might have.
Yet the folks on the fiscal side, namely the White House and Congress, have gotten off basically scot-free for their role in pumping up inflation and doing nothing to try to stifle it.
Biden’s out-to-lunch comments to 60 Minutes might indicate that investors and consumers shouldn’t even bother to expect anything better from them. Which means the Fed’s rate-hiking policy will need to be even more aggressive going forward.
Don’t be surprised if the fed funds range has a 5 handle sometime early next year.
George YacikINO.com Contributor
Disclosure: This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.

Over the past few years, many big technology companies have entered the space race, whether it was Amazon’s (AMZN) Jeff Bezos with Blue Horizon, Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk with Space X, or Alphabet’s (GOOG) satellite internet service, which will be competing with Space X Starlink internet service.
Now the newest technology company to enter space is Apple (AAPL), but in a slightly different way than the others.
On September 7th, Apple released its newest iPhone, the iPhone 14. One of the key features of this new device is the Emergency SOS via satellite feature. This feature allows iPhone 14 owners to contact emergency services via satellites in an emergency when the individual does not have traditional cellular telephone service.
This feature could be a game changer during natural disasters and cell towers are knocked out. Those in need of help will be able to contact first responders with their location, health status, and other pertinent information to help save lives.

Apple is subcontracting the satellite service with a company called Globalstar (GSAT) which already has a network of satellites in outer space for which Apple iPhone 14 and newer phones will be able to access.
The Emergency SOS satellite service will be free for the first two years of owning the iPhone 14; after that time, there will be a price associated with the service, but those details are unknown now.
With more and more of the major technology companies entering space in some form or fashion, it is not hard to see that aerospace technology and the companies currently operating in that industry will benefit from the shift.
That is why I believe you should consider investing a small portion of your portfolio in the aerospace industry. And one of the best ways to gain broad access to any sector is using exchange-traded funds. So, let us look at a few ETFs you can own today, which will give you access to the aerospace industry.
First is the largest and most well-known of the three I will highlight today, the ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX). ARKX is one of Cathie Woods funds. ARKX focuses on global companies engaged in space exploration and innovation.
As described by the fund advisor, space exploration is leading, enabling, or benefiting from technologically enabled products and /or services that occur beyond the surface of Earth and the introduction of a technologically enabled product or service that the advisor expects to change an industry landscape.
The fund’s scope seems broad, but ARKX only has 36 holdings with a weighted average market cap of $82 billion. The fund currently has $293 million in assets and charges an expense ratio of 0.75%. ARKX had an inception date of March 30th, 2021.
Next, we have the Procure Space ETF (UFO). UFO was the first global aerospace and defense fund, founded in April 2019. It focuses on companies that span several industries, including satellite-based consumer products and services, rocket and satellite manufacturing, deployment and maintenance, space technology hardware, ground equipment manufacturing, and space-based imagery and intelligence services. 
UFO has 47 holdings with a weighted market cap of $25 billion and charges an expense ratio of 0.75%, the same as ARKX. UFO has $60.8 million in assets under management.

And finally, the SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT). This ETF has been around since October 2018 but differs from UFO because it focuses more on US-based companies whose products and services drive the innovation behind exploring deep space and the deep sea. 
ROKT has 36 holdings with a weighted market cap of $31 billion and an expense ratio of 0.45%, making it the cheapest of the three ETFs highlighted today.
Year-to-date, all three funds are in the red. ROKT is down 8.5%, while ARKX and UFO are down 27.75% and 25.2%, respectively. But, the whole market is off this year, so I wouldn’t trust these ETFs to stay red over the long run.
Furthermore, as we have seen the progression of technology and outer space collide, with the most recent by Apple, I believe it is hard to deny that more and more companies will make a similar move. In the future, we will have more companies operating in the aerospace industry or the space industry providing them a service, such as internet or cell service. Obviously, that will drive the industry and make any investments you make today much more valuable in the future.
Matt ThalmanINO.com ContributorFollow me on Twitter @mthalman5513
Disclosure: This contributor did not hold a position in any investment mentioned above at the time this blog post was published. This article is the opinion of the contributor themselves. The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. This contributor is not receiving compensation (other than from INO.com) for their opinion.

The Federal Reserve will conclude its September FOMC meeting and release a written statement at 2 PM EDT today. This will be followed by Chairman Powell’s press conference a half-hour later.
It is widely anticipated that the Federal Reserve will raise the “Fed funds rate” by 75 basis points. The CME’s FedWatch tool is forecasting that there is an 84% probability of a 75-basis point hike, and a 16% probability that the Fed will raise rates by a full percentage point.
In the unlikely event that the Federal Reserve raises its benchmark interest rate by 1%, it would most certainly pressure gold to lower pricing.

According to MarketWatch, “economists at the brokerage Nomura Securities … became the first on Wall Street to predict a full-percentage-point increase in the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate.”

However, if the Fed raises rates by 75 basis points as expected market participants could see some short-covering activity amid a relief rally. As of 5:05 PM EDT yesterday gold futures basis, the most active December contract is trading five dollars lower and is fixed at $1673.20.
The hard truth is that after four consecutive rate hikes beginning in March inflation remains extremely elevated and persistent. The latest data revealed that the CPI index had a slight decline from July’s 8.5% to 8.3% in August. While the headline CPI had a fractional decline the core CPI which strips out food and energy costs increased 0.6% more than double the prior month’s increase. This means that the core inflation rate climbed to 6.3% from 5.9% in August.
Because the August core inflation rate is three times the 2% target the Federal Reserve wants to achieve members of the Federal Reserve will continue the exceedingly hawkish tone expressed at the Jackson Hole economic symposium.
Based on the hot and persistent core inflation participants can expect to see interest rates continue to rise during the remaining three FOMC meetings in September, November, and December. The CME’s FedWatch tool is forecasting that there is a 38.9% probability that the Fed will raise rates to between 400 and 425 basis points and a 44.8% probability that rates will be between 425 and 450 basis points by December 2022.

Interest rate hikes that began in March were the primary fundamental events that resulted in a major price decline in gold. After four consecutive interest rate hikes gold has declined by approximately 19% or $400 per ounce.
In his speech last month Jerome Powell acknowledged the severe fallout of reducing inflation. “The Fed’s drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates would bring some pain.”
For those who would like more information simply use this link.
Wishing you as always good trading and good health,Gary S. WagnerThe Gold Forecast

Meme stocks witness unusual rallies solely based on retail investors’ interest in them. Retail investors gather on social media platforms such as Reddit, Stocktwits, Twitter, and Facebook and bet on fundamentally weak stocks to trigger a short squeeze. As the skyrocketing rallies in these stocks have little to do with the fundamentals of the companies, they fail to sustain the high price levels they reach.
The meme stock mania, born during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, has recently returned after a pause for a few months, as evident from unusual rallies of certain fundamentally weak stocks. Since the surge in meme stocks is usually disconnected from the companies’ fundamentals, investors should shun them amid an uncertain market outlook.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August rose 8.3% year-over-year. And the rampant inflation enhances the chances of the Federal Reserve maintaining its hawkish stance, pushing an already weakening economy into a recession. Thus, the stock market is expected to remain under pressure in the foreseeable future. This is a good enough reason to avoid the risk associated with meme stocks.
Hence, fundamentally weak meme stocks Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD), AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC), and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) are likely best avoided now.
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD)
HOOD operates a financial services platform in the United States. The company’s platform enables users to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), gold, options, and cryptocurrencies. In addition, it provides learning and education solutions, including Snacks for business news stories, News Feeds that give access to free premium news from different sites, and first trade recommendations.

In August, HOOD announced its second round of layoffs this year, slashing 23% of its headcount by letting go of 800 employees, with marketing, operations, and product management functions of the firm being the most impacted. The company blamed the worsening of the economy, including inflation and the crypto market crash, which had reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.
Financial services companies are also struggling with a shrinking active user base and increasing regulatory pressure. The monthly active users (MAU) declined 1.9% million sequentially to 14 million for June 2022, as consumers navigate an environment marked by high-interest rates and surging inflation.
For the fiscal 2022 second quarter ended June 30, 2022, HOOD’s revenues decreased 43.7% year-over-year to $318 million. Its operating expenses increased 21.8% from the year-ago value to $610 million. The company’s adjusted EBITDA was negative $80 million, compared to $90 million in the prior-year period.
In addition, the company’s net loss and loss per share attributable to common stockholders amounted to $295 million and $0.34, respectively.
The consensus revenue estimate of $353.60 million for the fiscal year 2022 (ending December 2022) represents a 24.7% decline from the prior-year period. The company’s loss per share is expected to come in at $1.14 for the current year. Furthermore, the company has missed the consensus revenue estimates in each of the trailing four quarters.
HOOD’s shares have slumped 21.4% over the past six months and 44.4% year-to-date to close the trading session at $10.26.
HOOD’s POWR Ratings are consistent with this bleak outlook. The company’s overall F rating translates to a Strong Sell in this proprietary rating system. The POWR Ratings assess stocks by 118 different factors, each with its own weighting.
HOOD has an F grade for Quality. It has a D grade for Value, Stability, and Sentiment. It is ranked #141 of 152 stocks in the F-rated Software – Application industry. Click here to learn more about POWR Ratings.
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC)
AMC is a leading theatrical exhibition company that delivers distinctive and movie-going experiences. The company owns, operates, and has interests in theaters in the United States and internationally. It owns and operates more than 950 theaters and 10,600 screens.
In August, Cineworld Group, the second-largest British theater company in the world which owns Regal Cinemas, released a statement to the London stock exchange, stating that its liquidity is in doubt amid a disappointing moviegoing recovery from pandemic lows. Then, in the same month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the theater company was preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks.
The news of Cineworld, AMC’s closest rival, filing for bankruptcy alarmed its shareholders because of the terrible industry dynamics.
AMC’s operating costs and expenses increased 59.5% year-over-year to $1.18 billion in the fiscal 2022 second quarter ended June 30, 2022. The company’s operating loss and net loss amounted to $16.10 million and $121.60 million, respectively. AMC’s adjusted loss per share came in at $0.20 for the second quarter.
Analysts expect AMC’s loss per share for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter (ending December 2022) to worsen 138.6% year-over-year to $0.26. Also, the company’s loss per share for the current and next year is expected to come in at $1.10 and $0.54, respectively. The company has missed the consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters.
The stock has plunged 49.6% over the past month and 65.4% year-to-date to close the last trading session at $9.18.
AMC’s POWR Ratings reflect this poor outlook. The stock’s overall D rating equates to a Sell in this proprietary rating system. AMC has an F grade for Stability and Sentiment.
Within the F-rated Entertainment-Movies/Studios industry, it is ranked #6 of 7 stocks. Click here to learn more about POWR Ratings.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY)
BBBY operates a chain of retail stores. The company sells a range of domestic merchandise, home furnishings, and other juvenile products. The company owns more than 953 stores and offers its products through various websites and applications comprising bedbathandbeyond.com, bedbathandbeyond.ca, facevalues.com, buybuybaby.ca, and decorist.com.
BBBY’s Interim Chief Executive Officer, Sue Gove, stated, “In the quarter, there was an acute shift in customer sentiment, and since then, pressures have materially escalated. This includes steep inflation and fluctuations in purchasing patterns, leading to significant dislocation in our sales and inventory.”
In the fiscal 2023 first quarter ended May 28, 2022, BBBY’s net sales decreased 25.1% year-over-year to $1.46 billion, and its gross profit declined 44.9% from the year-ago value to $349.31 million. Its operating loss widened 371.9% year-over-year to $339.16 million. Its adjusted EBITDA loss amounted to $223.54 million, compared to an $86.07 million EBITDA reported in the prior-year period.

Furthermore, the company’s net loss and loss per share came in at $357.67 million and $4.49, widening 603% and 835.4% year-over-year, respectively.
Analysts expect revenues to decline 21.9% year-over-year to 1.47 billion in the fiscal 2022 third quarter (ending November 2022). The $1.49 consensus loss per share estimate for the ongoing quarter indicates a 496.2% worsening from the prior-year period.
Also, the company’s revenue and EPS for the current year (ending February 2023) are expected to decline by 22.3% and 539.3% year-over-year, respectively.
It’s no surprise that BBBY has an overall rating of D, which translates to Sell in the POWR Ratings system. It has a grade of F for Stability and Sentiment and a D for Growth and Momentum.
BBBY is ranked #58 among 62 stocks in the Home Improvement & Goods industry. Click here to learn more about POWR Ratings.

About the Author
Mangeet Kaur Bouns’ keen interest in the stock market led her to become an investment researcher and financial journalist. Using her fundamental approach to analyzing stocks, Mangeet’s looks to help retail investors understand the underlying factors before making investment decisions. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from BI Norwegian Business School. Mangeet is a regular contributor for StockNews.com.