Tech Rally Stalls; Food Rally Begins

While the Nasdaq has finally hit some resistance, this sector is on a tear. [The Rude Awakening] June 22, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Tech Rally Stalls; Food Rally Begins - After a two-month rally, the Nasdaq finally hits resistance. - But resources have been rocking. - Corn, wheat, and Bitcoin are screaming higher. [11 Words Biden HATES]( [Click here to learn more]( There’s a message hiding in plain sight on the front of this $1 dollar bill… A message so critical… Former CIA and Pentagon advisor, Jim Rickards, recorded [this urgent new message](. The simple, 11-word message is the most important piece of information on EVERY single dollar you own… And Joe Biden wants to completely CHANGE it! [Click here NOW to learn the truth about this urgent threat to your freedoms](. [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Dear Reader, Good morning from a warm, sunny Piedmont. I booked my holiday to Sicily in two weeks, so I’m in an excellent mood. I’ll be writing the Rude from there. I love my holidays, but they also give me much to write about. It’d be a shame to waste those thoughts on a beach without writing them down. After that, I’ll be off to New York City to teach for two weeks. It’ll be my last teaching assignment in a slow summer. The banks were reluctant to book too much as the bailout situation was unclear until late this spring. Finally, two weeks after I return from NYC, I’ll be off on an excursion with my in-laws to Barcelona, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Pam’s family is getting a version of The Grand Tour because Pam and one of her sisters live in Europe. And I’ll still be writing from all those cities, as well. It’s a packed summer, for sure. But before I start sounding like a travel writer, let’s look at what’s happening in the markets. Some of it may have passed you by. I certainly missed it. Today, we’ll look at tech, resources, and Bitcoin. Tech Rally Slows… Finally, Mr. Market seems to be cooling on AI. Don’t get me wrong; I love ChatGPT and all its offshoots. It makes my research infinitely easier. But is it ready for its close-up? Perhaps not. The Nasdaq has rocketed over the last two months, pulling up the rest of the equities complex. [SJN] But in the last few days, this has stalled: [SJN] Does this mean it’s time to throw in the towel on the Nasdaq? No, of course not. But we may be seeing a shift out of the tech sector and into another. But before I go there, let’s check Bitcoin. …But Bitcoin Rallies Hard In the last week, Bitcoin is up nearly 20% against the dollar: [SJN] Besides those who abhor the Fed’s policies, the only thing I can see that’s lifted BTC is that BlackRock successfully applied to the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF. [SJN] On the daily chart above, that rally was furious. Before it, there was nothing but a downtrend. So while the Nasdaq has faltered, Bitcoin has done the opposite. For now, the positive correlation between the two is no more. [Beginning of the largest stock run in history?]( [Click here to learn more]( Hi, Zach Scheidt here… I’m the Chief Income Officer at Paradigm Press. With inflation raging (and showing no signs of coming to an end any time soon), almost everyone in America is feeling the pain in a big way. Which is why, several months ago, I set out on a big mission… my goal was to create a [complete, step-by-step plan to surviving and beating inflation]( one that anyone could take advantage of. Today, after hundreds of hours of research, I’m revealing all of my findings. [Simply click here now to see how to survive America’s deadly inflation crisis](. [Click Here To Learn More]( …And Food Goes on a Tear My friend and Paradigm colleague Alan Knuckman discussed corn on yesterday's editorial call. I hadn’t been watching, but my goodness, has that rally been pronounced or what? [SJN] From [Reuters]( The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its corn and soy crop ratings more than expected on Tuesday, including steep drops in top-producing states Iowa and Illinois, as a deepening drought stressed crops in the heart of the Midwest farm belt. Selected states showed a decline in "good-to-excellent" corn of 6%, with Iowa and Illinois in the worst condition, according to a note from commodities research firm Hightower. Not surprisingly, "poor-to-very poor" crops increased, with the biggest jump in Illinois, it said. This comes as concern is also mounting about crops elsewhere, including Europe. It continued: In the United States, the Biden administration plans to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next three years, but the plan includes lower mandates for corn-based ethanol than it had initially proposed, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Turning food into fuel in the name of the environment is lunacy. It makes both food and fuel more expensive. The food part is the worst because people starve on the back of these stupid policies. [Former Dubya speechwriter and]( Atlantic]( David Frum wrote]( (bolds mine): For decades, the U.S. government has, at great expense, encouraged farmers to grow more corn so that it can be turned into ethanol, a gasoline additive. Ethanol makers receive all kinds of grants and subsidies. Federal regulations require ethanol to be blended into gasoline, creating a giant industry that would not exist without large subsidies and imperious mandates. America’s largest ethanol company earned annual revenues of $8 billion pre-pandemic. Demand from the ethanol industry, in turn, bids up the price of corn and the income of those who farm it. … Converting corn into fuel has never made economic sense. It happens only because of a mass of federal regulations and subsidies that began during the Carter administration and were widened and deepened in 2005 and 2007. You can read the gruesome details in this Atlantic article from 2019. But if the rules are complicated, the results are not. From 2001 to 2005, the United States’ share of world wheat exports averaged 25 percent; since the new ethanol rules were adopted in the first decade of this century, the U.S. share has tumbled by half, to about 13 percent. Ethanol was historically justified as an energy-independence strategy. Campaigning in Iowa for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2007, Barack Obama declared that ethanol “ultimately helps our national security, because right now we’re sending billions of dollars to some of the most hostile nations on earth.” Obama had plenty of practice defending ethanol: He’d entered federal politics as a senator from Illinois, the nation’s second-largest corn producer after Iowa. But whatever the (slim-to-none) merits of that argument in 2007, its merits are zero in 2022, when the United States has become the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. And though ethanol may have some small environmental advantages over gasoline, those arguable benefits are nullified by ethanol’s terrible toll on world food output. Let’s move on to another staple food. How about this wheat chart? [SJN] Wheat has been rallying this entire month, but it really went hyperbolic last week. Again, this is an entirely unexpected turnaround from the formerly prevailing downtrend. Again, from Reuters: Germany's 2023 wheat crop of all types will fall 2.9% on the year to 21.87 million metric tons, the country's association of farm cooperatives said in its latest harvest estimate on Wednesday, as plants suffered from dry, hot weather. The European Union's crop monitoring service MARS on Monday reduced nearly all its average yield forecasts for this year's grain and oilseed crops in the bloc, citing adverse weather conditions. Soybeans have also had a rip-roaring rally: [pub] From [AGCanada.com]( CBOT November soybeans were 34-1/4 cents higher at $13.77 a bushel after rising to $13.78, the highest peak for the new-crop contract since March 8. “Given the situation around the Corn Belt, it now seems highly unlikely that the USDA’s yield estimate will be achievable,” Summit Commodity Brokerage said in a research note. “If we stay dry, it will be hard for this market to do anything but work higher.” To summarize, staple foods like corn, wheat, and soybeans are rallying hard. I don’t know how long this can last, but it may be a while. Wrap Up Nazzie is stalling, though that may not last. Bitcoin is ripping it up, trading at over $30,000. Corn, wheat, and soybeans, all important staple foods, are rallying hard on bad weather, worse soil, and idiotic government policies. When any opportunity closes down, another opens up. Have a great day! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( In Case You Missed It… Never Rat on Your Friends… [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Dear Reader, Happy Hump Day from a gloriously sunny Northern Italy! There are some things I see on Twitter I can scarcely believe. Like when a BlackRock recruiter brags about being someone who “decides people’s fates.” And, sure, to a certain extent, recruiters do. They’re the ones who get out and find good people to work for their firms. But to act like a recruiter controls every part of the hiring process is overegging the pudding. However, our newest best bud, Serge, has created such a social media shitstorm for BlackRock, I’m not quite sure how they’ll get out of it. To be clear, I’ve worked in Talent Development for a large investment bank. Adjacent to our desks was the recruiting team. And honestly, they were the nicest bunch of people I worked with. That’s why I laughed so hard when this nincompoop from BlackRock got caught. I couldn’t imagine my former recruiting colleagues bragging about controlling people’s fates or some such nonsense. They just wanted to get good people in the door (which isn’t easy for Swiss banks bleeding deposits). But this Serge guy believes he works for Emperor Palpatine. And maybe he does. Let me time you the story of an egomaniacal recruiter from the world’s largest asset manager. But first, we go back in time… Villanova, Mid-1990s When I was at Nova in the 90s, my buddies and I watched three movies over and over again. They were Animal House, Tombstone, and Good Fellas. At least once a week, we watched one of these three films. We never seemed to tire of them. To this day, I can quote chapter and verse from each of these films. Of course, the most critical lesson from Good Fellas is to “never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” Being an Italian-American from Joisey, that made immediate sense to me. I don’t know why so many of this generation spill their guts anywhere they can. In public. On social media. In their blogs. Did they never watch Good Fellas? Didn’t anyone lavish them with affection and attention? Why do they whine (or boast) so publicly? James O’Keefe and Project Veritas According to the organization's mission statement, James O'Keefe founded Project Veritas in 2010 to investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in public and private institutions. O'Keefe is a conservative political activist who first rose to prominence with undercover videos showing unethical behavior by organizations such as ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and NPR. His founding of Project Veritas was driven by a belief in the necessity for citizen-led investigative journalism to hold institutions accountable. He and his team used undercover tactics to reveal "hard truths" about corruption and misconduct, making their investigations public through videos and reports. Of course, as with all non-profits, the Board didn’t like that the head honcho was getting all the credit, so they forced him out. At the time, [Daily Reckoning colleague Jeff Tucker wrote for The Epoch Times]( Without knowing any of the details in the complaint against him, this episode has all the earmarks of a terrible institutional problem in nonprofits that we’ve seen many times before. All it takes is a remarkable public relations success and a big infusion of funds, plus a weak, jealous, and confused board using disgruntled employees as shields for their misdeeds. The board develops a backward-looking focus, taking apart whatever the success was. Why did management take such huge risks with money and reputation? Why didn’t the head of the organization consult with the board before going ahead? Why didn’t the head follow industry-established best practices? How come the organization’s president didn’t do something different that would supposedly better establish long-term success? Above all, why is this guy getting all the attention and the rest of us none? Other jealous insiders within the company start consulting with the board and the plot is hatched. All it takes is a fake investigation, some claim that the guy at the top is making everyone work too hard and that this creates a burned-out staff or really any other kind of malarkey you can dream up. You can fill in the blanks with fake complaints and there are always and everywhere there. The scheme usually involves fake claims of financial improprieties, such as drawing attention to office-party expenses or chartered flights—anything to make management look like bums and robbers who need to be monitored and controlled by committees hand-picked by the board. Once the decision is made to oust the guy, he really has no chance. All that remains is the need to find a pretext. Next thing you know, the unthinkable happens: The hardest working, most innovative, and most effective person at the top is out. The board gets to keep the money. The disgruntled employees get their pound of flesh. Everyone who stabbed the guy in the back gets a raise. Project Veritas looks like a spent force. But luckily for us, O’Keefe recovered and formed the O’Keefe Media Group (OMG - really…). And he’s just taken his biggest scalp yet. [Beginning of the largest stock run in history?]( A tiny stock is trading for around $1 and could potentially double overnight... ...and hand early investors a shot at one of the fastest gains of their lives. A run so massive it could turn every $10,000 invested into a shot at over $1,000,000 in the coming decades. If you do one thing today, take five minutes to see [this.]( Because with news of this story already starting to break… And shares of [this company]( have already up 20% in just the last 5 days… Come tomorrow, you’ll be very happy you did. [Click Here To Learn More]( Sir Serge of the BlackRock Now to the main bit. Serge Varlay is (or was?) a recruiter for BlackRock. Obviously, Serge was trying to impress his date when he spewed some of these choice quotes (from [OMG]( You can take this big f*** ton of money and buy people, I work for a company called BlackRock…It’s not who is the president it’s who is controlling the wallet of the president. You could buy your candidates. First, there is the senators these guys are fuckin cheap. Got 10 grand you can buy a senator I’ll give you 500k right now It doesn’t matter who wins they’re in my pocket. Ukraine is good for business, you know that right? Russia blows up Ukraine’s grain silos and the price of wheat is going to go mad up. The Ukrainian economy is the wheat market. The price of bread goes up, this is fantastic if you’re trading. Volatility creates opportunity for profit. And this doozy from the article: Despite the fact that Varlay literally asked the OMG journalist if she was “undercover” based on the nature of her questioning, Varlay didn’t know he was being recorded when he was sharing his thoughts. He was skeptical of the reporter’s questioning because “normal people don’t give a s***” about these harsh realities. “It’s beyond them,” says Varlay. [Twitter]( and [Zero Hedge]( are having a field day with this. Listen, I get it. You’re at lunch with a hottie and want to impress her. You think, if she knows you “control people’s fates,” you can get in her drawers. But I think a bit of mystery would’ve worked out better here. “I work for BlackRock. It’s incredibly important to our financial system, and my discretion is paramount. Shall we order another bottle of rosé?” Since she works for OMG, he had no chance to begin with. So there’s no harm in keeping one’s mouth shut, but enormous damage in opening it. And he even had an inkling she was an undercover reporter! He should’ve trusted his instincts. Now he’ll indeed be fired, and Larry Fink will have a shitstorm on his hands… for a few days, at least. Wrap Up Gentlemen, if you keep your mouths shut, you’ll never have to worry about this kind of idiocy. Discretion is one of the great virtues, especially regarding your business. Not only are great things done in secret, but your colleagues will trust you, and you’ll never have to worry about your mug getting splashed across the Twitterverse. French fabulist Jean de la Fontaine once said, “Nothing is more dangerous than a friend without discretion; even a prudent enemy is preferable.” Have a great day! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, [contact us here]( or call (844)-731-0984. 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