Barter, Media of Exchange, and Colonial America

Core US Factory Orders Better Than Expected In December While sentiment is sagging to multi-year lows, 'hard' data is helping support growth forecasts (GDPNOW) and holding stocks at record highs. This morning we get a fresh glimpse at America's manufacturing segment - hard data - with Orders data (which is expected to drop MoM in December). After surging higher in November (+2.7% MoM), analysts expected US Factory Orders to drop 0.6% MoM in December but the actual print disappointed, dropping 0.7% MoM Source: Bloomberg Interestingly, Core Factory Orders rose 0.4% MoM - better than...

Priced Beyond Perfection: Samsung Electronics Tumbles As Soaring Profit Not Good Enough The memory bubble appears to be rapidly deflating. After the semiconductor/memory sector was walloped in Monday US trading without any clear negative catalyst, the semiconductor-chasing world was eagerly waiting to hear what Samsung - the world’s largest memory maker - would report in its preliminary Q2 earnings report as investors sought to justify sky-high investments and valuations around AI. In the end, it was not good enough, and the stock is down 5% at last check.  Samsung Electronics’s quarterly profit surged...

Futures Rise As Dip Buyers Rush Back Into Chips After Worst Nasdaq Week Since Liberation Day US futures are higher - but well off session highs hit before the European open - as dip buyers storm back into chipmakers after the Nasdaq's worst week since the April 2025 tariff turmoil, while oil slides after President Trump waived Russian sanctions to seal a diesel deal and Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Persian Gulf flows have recovered to about 80% of pre-conflict levels; as a result Nasdaq futures are up more than...