The Economic Story

In this episode, I review the latest data we have gathered with regards to inflation in the US. Today, we received the PPI data. Yesterday, it was CPI. Now we can put these two datapoints on top of PCE data for Feb that we received around end of March. This is starting to create a picture of how the producer and the consumer is experiencing inflation, and how the Central Banks are starting to posture in regards to inflation.

I have traded in markets for a number of years now. Based on that experience, in this episode I discuss about the concept of a personality if one were to be attributed to the market. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In this episode, I conclude the topic of markets. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

So far, we have been building a model of a market and a market system. In this episode, we will push that model to the edge. We will explore the dark side of markets. Once I had this model of a market and I started to examinw different things around our world, different phenomenon via that lens, a lot of things started to make sense. What is also interesting is that these occurrences from our real world fit very well into this model of the market and the market system. Let’s take it one more step further – markets not only cannot solve all the problems we have, but they sometimes end up creating new issues. While analyzing the concept of markets, it is important to also understand the dark side of markets as well. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

This is chapter 15 within the mega-episode "What is a market?" In this episode, I plan the discuss about the concept of market failure. Markets do not always work perfectly. Sometimes markets fail as well. So, what do we mean by market failure? And why does it happen? Thus, here are the three scenarios of market failure: Functional failureRole failureOutcome failure Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

This is chapter 10 within the mega-episode "What is a market?" In a number of episodes in the past, I have talked so much about the significance of markets. In this episode, I plan the discuss the exact role a market plays in the economy. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In the construct of a market, there are a few critical elements that play a crucial role. They are - Information, Currency, Value and Property Rights. In this episode, I want to review these elements and the role they play in markets. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In this episode, I want to review the functioning of markets through an example. The point is that if you understand markets well, you should be more comfortable interacting with them, trading in them. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

When we are on the subject of markets, it is important to understand that the word "market" may mean different things under different circumstances. In this episode I attempt to clarify that point. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In this episode, I review various buckets of categories into which markets may be classified. I examine that through the following four perspectives: Based on products that are bought and soldBased on the currency that is usedBased on the number and types of participantsBased on whether its physical or non-physical  Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

On Friday, an important economic data point was released for the US economy - PCE inflation data was reported mostly inline per expectation. PCE index is considered to be the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Thus, this datapoint holds tremendous significance for the macro-outlook, especially Fed’s interest rate policy outlook. In today’s episode we plan to review this latest datapoint and our interpretation of what it means for the macro-outlook and thus the market’s outlook. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay Disclaimer: Please note this is not an investment advice. Your investment philosophy shall be based on your risk profile and financial goals. Please seek investment advice  from your own investment advisor. This article/podcast has been produced only with the intension of sharing observations from research. Copyright: Copyright @ Inceptone Inc., 2024

In this episode we'll look at the system that contains a market and thus impacts the market. We call it the market system. It can encompass more than one market, and it impacts the market via changes to the connections between the markets, government and central bank interventions via policies, taxes, interest rates etc. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In this episode we'll look at some examples of markets to get a better understanding of what markets are. Below are some of the examples: Farmer’s marketWhole Foods MarketWalmart SuperstoreAmazon.comCar DealershipReal Estate marketLinkedIn & MonsterForex marketStock market Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

I this episode I review the definition of a market. It is a simple statement, but it captures the essence of a very important concept in our economy. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

With the intro done, and before jumping into the depth of the topic, I have a few questions for you. If you understand markets you will be able to answer these questions well. So, continue to listen in. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

This is the introduction to the next episode in which I answer the question - What is a market? We begin our journey in the Roaring Twenties and go through the dark days of the Great Depression. Along that journey we trace the path of the stock market which went through a massive rally during the 1920's and then went through a major crash in 1929. This market crash would eventually lead to the Great Depression and set the context for one of the darkest times in human history, World War II. Below is the table of content for the topic of - What is a Market? DefinitionExamples of marketsMarket systemCategories of marketsMarket playersHow markets function?Role of a few critical elements in markets:Role of a market in the economyAttributes of a marketCharacteristics of marketsQuality of marketsWhat can markets not solve?The Dark side of marketsAnswers to those questions Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay

In today's episode we'll deal with an important question, considering what is happening in the markets. Today BTC crossed the price milestone of $57,000 USD/coin. So, what I plan to explore is the question: Is Bitcoin a currency? Throughout its recent history, Bitcoin has been a truly loved topic of conversation. One of the resons behind this, is that fact that it has managed to polarize people - Some hate it with their life, while others love it with their life. Some believe in the technology, but not in the asset that is traded. Some are very confused about what it means. While others remain clueless even after it has been explained to them like 500 times. One of the reasons it has entered people's imagination is it's wide price fluctuations. If you haven't followed it, here's an example: In Jan, 2016, it traded to $428 (USD)In Jan, 2017, it traded to $940 (USD)In Dec, 2017, it reached a near-term peak of $19,862 (USD)In Jan, 2019, it reached a near-term through of $3,359 (USD)In Nov, 2021, it reached the currently standing all-time high of $68,906 (USD)In Nov, 2022, it reached a near-term through of $15,516 (USD)Currently, it appears to be moving higher to $56,986 (USD) One of the other reason it also grabs so much of attention is the fact that people find it very difficult to define as to what it is: Is it a security?Is it a commodity?Is it a currency? If they don't know they just keep debating. So, is Bitcoin a Currency? What do you think? Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay Disclaimer: Please note this is not an investment advice. Your investment philosophy shall be based on your risk profile and financial goals. Please seek investment advice  from your own investment advisor. This article/podcast has been produced only with the intension of sharing observations from research. Copyright: Copyright @ Inceptone Inc., 2024

In this episode, we're going to cover the earnings report that apparently was the most important one for the street - NVIDA. Yesterday, on Feb 21st, NAVDIA posted its Q4 and Full Fiscal 2024 financial results. The results were mind-boggling. If anybody had any doubt about the progress on the first chapter of AI, all those doubts were put to rest. NVDIA showed that demand for its chips, that are powering the AI revolution was not only high, but they pretty much dominated this market. This was proven by the strong revenue growth and the huge profit margin they commanded. Credits: Narrated by Sid BarthakurMusic by Alexi Action from Pixabay Disclaimer: Please note this is not an investment advice. Your investment philosophy shall be based on your risk profile and financial goals. Please seek investment advice  from your own investment advisor. This article/podcast has been produced only with the intension of sharing observations from research. Copyright: Copyright @ Inceptone Inc., 2024

In this episode I plan to review the answer to this interesting question - What's the connection between inflation and immigration? In the last 2 - 3 years the developed world has experienced very high inflation. And in the last couple of years, immigration has also been relatively high. Non only that, even during early 80's, there was a co-existence of high inflation and high immigration (per relative standard of that day and age). That leads us to an obvious question - is this just a coincedence or is there a connection between the two? While coincidences do occur from time to time, there are also many connections that we fail to uncover. In this case, there is at least one connection - What is it? Narrated by Sid Barthakur Music by Alexi Action from Pixabay

Today is Feb 20th, 2024. Canada reported inflation numbers earlier this morning. Here's a snapshot: - Inflation MoM: 0.0/0.4 - Inflation YoY: 2.9/3.3 - Core Inflation MoM: 0.1 - Core Inflation YoY: 2.4 Overall, the 6-9 month trend for Inflation rate appears to be heading towards -0.1% mark, while the trend for Core Inflation appears to be heading towards the 0% mark. This datapoint and the trend picture leads us to ask a few important questions: 1) Can we declare victory over inflation, at least during the most recent battle? 2) Are we on the verge of flipping over into deflation? 3) Is the Bank of Canada ready for this economic turn? I won't tell you I have all the answers. The fight with inflation (& deflation) is a day-to-day thing. Everyday you almost start from square one. That being said, numbers don't lie (of course unless its cooked or revised away), and the numbers are clearly pointing towards the fact that the most recent battle with inflation has been won, and the bigger risk right now is appearing to be deflation. And its time to prepare for that. That being said, we can't ignore the X-Factors. And those are as follows: 1) We're highly integrated to the global market via currency and trade. And a complete out-of-step move could result in currency devaluation, which might hasten the return of inflation. 2) Of those global integrations, our deepest integrations is with the US. So, be it leading or lagging, we ought to be in-step with the US. The issue is, US is undergoing an economic boom, and there is almost no spillover into Canada. This creates a structural issue, that needs to be resolved between fiscal and monetary policies. 3) The Volker resurgence continues to remain an ongoing risk. Credits: Narrated by Sid Barthakur Music by Alexi Action from Pixabay