Business

Much was made of Berkshire's unexpected infatuation with AAPL yesterday (which was not actually driven by Buffett but by one of his new ex-hedge fund heirs, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who have "shown a willingness to wade into other corners"), which catalyzed the recently beaten down stock's biggest surge in months.  Not as much was made of the selling in AAPL in the first quarter, but perhaps it should have been because while the Top 20 buyers of AAPL stock added a grand total of 101.5 million shares, the Top 20 sellers liquidated 50% more, or 157.5 million.

A significant downward revision for March (from -0.6 to -0.9% MoM) enabled April to beat handsomely (+0.7% vs +0.3% exp.) pleasing headline-tracking algos. While this is the biggest monthly jump in Industrial Production since Nov 2014 - all thanks to the biggest spike in Utilities since 2007; the year-over-year tumble continues with IP -1.07% YoY for the 8th month in a row. Industrial production has never fallen for this long - in 96 years - without the US economy being in recession.

Headline CPI rose 0.4% MoM (above +0.3% exp) for the biggest jump since Feb 2013 but sadly at the same time, price-adjusted hourly wages slid 0.1% in April.

Following a small drop in March, from 8 year highs, Core (ex food and energy) Consumer Prices rose 2.1% YoY (as expected) abesent the effect of Gasoline's huge 8.1% MoM surge.

Of course this is probably transitory but we note that rent inflation remains at 3.7% YoY - its highest since 2008 and definitively not transitory.

Submitted by Clint Siegner via Money Metals Exchange,

A respectable number of Americans hold investments in gold and silver in one form or another. Some hold physical bullion, while others opt for indirect ownership via ETFs or other instruments. A very small minority speculate via the futures markets. But we frequently report on the futures markets – why exactly is that?

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