The S&P is barely keeping its head above water this morning as it struggles to stay afloat long enough to show gains for the fourth day in a row.  Helping is recent news on inflation which came in about exactly as expected this morning showing the painful rise in prices to be slowing.

Keep in mind, however, that recent positive economic news … including gains in real household income … bodes well for the economy but still causes concern for those fearful of inflation reigniting … and odds of a 50 bp (0.50%) rate cut by the Fed next week are in fast decline.

And remember how the inverted yield curve finally “uninverted?”  Well, cheers surrounding this have been softened to a whisper (and maybe even a whimper) … as with recent economic reports the 10-year yield is now ahead of the yield of the 2-year by a scant 0.03% … and just one sneeze could result in yet a return to inversion.

Oh well.

Tonight, there is another football game (how I love football season) but, again, if you don’t subscribe to Amazon Prime you might not be able to watch it. A bit of relief is mentioned below as students can subscribe at a greatly reduced price … which, for some, makes the greed factor exhibited by the NFL a bit more tolerable.

But let’s review greed factor … as one player, Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals … turned down a contract offer of $140 million for 4-years … (with $90 million guaranteed and $30 million signing bonus).  Sure, there are little nuances that he didn’t like … but … I don’t know … this seems like a lot of money to me. Somehow, in my view … the price to attend games … parking … concessions … fees to watch on TV … salaries … ugh. I may be naïve, but it really does seem to have gotten out of hand.  And it’s our fault … for continuing to pay (and watch) with only minor complaint. Thankfully we can now easily bet on the games to make up for the high fees.

Finally, I see the U.S. is number one in something … as a new report in The Economist shows the average consumption of ultra-processed foods in the U.S. is, by far, tops in the world … and constitutes almost 60% of our daily calories.  Maybe this is why our longevity is lower than in many other nations, even with our “world class” healthcare.

This type of stuff reminds me to get back to focusing on my own health … and I’ve started.

My doctor told me that even light jogging and exercise could add years to my life.

He was right.

… I feel ten years older already.

Have a great day,

Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA

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