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7 charts from the past week that tell an interesting story in markets and investing…
At 6.2%, the US inflation rate is now at its highest level in over 30 years…
Here’s a breakdown of price increases in the latest CPI report:
- Gasoline: +49.6%
- Gas Utilities: +28.1%
- Used Cars: +26.4%
- Meats/Fish/Poultry/Eggs: +11.9%
- New Cars: +9.8%
- Electricity: +6.5%
- Overall CPI: +6.2%
- Food at home: +5.4%
- Food away from home: +5.3%
- Transportation: +4.5%
- Apparel: +4.3%
- Shelter: +3.5%
2) Deeper in Debt
Undeterred by rising inflation, the Federal Government continues to spend money like a drunken sailor.
Where is the money coming from?
They’re borrowing it.
The US National Debt has once again hit the “debt ceiling limit” ($28.9 trillion) and the deficit for the latest fiscal year of $2.772 trillion was the second largest in the nation’s history, trailing only 2020.
3) Bitcoin ❤️ Inflation
Investors continue to flock to Bitcoin for protection against fiat currency debasement and higher inflation. The leading crypto asset hit new highs again this week, surging above $68,000. It entered the year below $30,000 and was under $10,000 at the start of the pandemic.
A look back at Bitcoin’s returns since 2010…
4) Crypto Going Mainstream?
The latest coinbase shareholder letter had an interest graphic comparing the adoption of crypto since 2014 to the adoption of the internet back in the 1990s.
In the first half of 2021, the number of crypto users globally doubled to over 200 million. Should it continue to follow this path we’ll see this number continue to increase in the years to come, with crypto eventually going mainstream.
5) Rocketing Rivian
The speculative fever in markets is alive and well.
The electric vehicle maker Rivian ($RIVN) went public this week in one of the largest offerings ever, raising nearly $12 billion.
Its market cap of $110 billion is higher than both General Motors ($92 billion) and Ford ($78 billion). This is an incredible leap of faith given that Rivian has $0 in revenue over the last year versus $131 billion for GM and $135 billion for Ford.
6) Tesla Tanks on a Tweet?
Last weekend Elon Musk asked twitter if he should sell 10% of his shares in Tesla. Here are the results…
This week he followed through in selling $5.7 billion worth of shares, roughly 3% of his total stake (he still owns around 20% of the company).
Why is he selling? Musk faces an estimated tax bill of $15 billion from exercising his expiring options, and will need to raise cash in order to pay those taxes.
Tesla’s stock, which had been on a tear of late, fell 15% last week. It remains the 5th largest company in the US with a market cap of $1.04 trillion.
7) Turkey Troubles
Finding a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner this year is going to be harder than ever before. At the end of October, turkeys were 60% out of stock, with labor and supply chain issues to blame.
This is consistent with what we’ve been seeing across all industries (manufacturing and services alike), and one of the leading causes of higher prices.
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And that’s it for this week. Thanks for reading.
Have a great Sunday and week ahead!
-Charlie
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