The numbers are in and my January RAGE Gauge has never looked better, with a reading of Neutral. This is not a stock market indicator, far from it, stocks are not cheap. It is a pulse of the social, political and economic landscape using a proprietary method I’ve devised and tweaked over time. I use it as a back-of-a-napkin snapshot to give me a feel for the current landscape.
One component I like to use is background checks, a barometer for final handgun sales, and a measure of fear. The December reading is the first since April 2014 that didn’t produce a record high for its month. This isn’t great news for gun shop owners, but the key to their survival, one owner told me yesterday, in addition to moving the goods, will be through special builds for pistols and rifles and training courses. Gold was down again, but the decline slowed and T-Bill yields were way up—the highest since 2008.
This is certainly not a time to be sticking your neck out as an investor but it is time to get your financial house in order, put your lazy money to work and finally beat inertia by doing something. I’d be happy to talk with you how to do it. You can email me at ejsmith@youngresearch.com.