#TESLA Stock #Slump Leads To Lower Car Prices

HIGHLIGHTS

• "Tesla has reduced the prices of its two most expensive models, raising concerns about fading interest in its cars and whether the company can generate enough cash to pay all the bills.
• On Monday, Tesla cut $3,000 from the price of the Model S sedan and $2,000 from the Model X SUV.
• The decreases offset price increases from a month ago when Tesla offered longer battery range and added a new drive system and suspension."
• 

Tesla lowers prices on Models S and X amid stock slump

Tesla has reduced the prices of its two most expensive models, raising concerns about fading interest in its cars and whether the company can generate enough cash to pay all the bills.

On Monday, Tesla cut $3,000 from the price of the Model S sedan and $2,000 from the Model X SUV.

The company said in a statement that it periodically adjusts prices and available options like other car companies. The decreases offset price increases from a month ago when Tesla offered longer battery range and added a new drive system and suspension. The statement didn’t say if slowing sales influenced the decision.

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TOP WALL ST. BROKER, SETS OUT $10 WORST CASE FOR STOCK 

$20.6 Billion Lost As #Canada Bungles #Pipelines

"This loss of revenue means less investment, less job creation and ultimately less prosperity for Canadians."

Pipeline shortage cost Canada’s energy sector $20.6 billion in 2018

By Elmira Aliakbari
and Ashley Stedman
The Fraser Institute

With pipeline shortages driving down the price of Canadian oil, the losses for the energy sector – and for Canada’s economy – are staggering.

According to a new study, insufficient pipeline capacity cost Canada’s energy sector $20.6 billion – or one per cent of the country’s economy – in foregone revenues last year.

Despite increased oil production in recent years, Canada has been unable to build any new major pipelines. High-profile projects including the Northern Gateway and Energy East projects have been cancelled. And the Trans Mountain expansion, Line 3 replacement and Keystone XL pipeline remain mired in delay.

Take the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, for example. After years of regulatory delays and political interference, the project’s future remains uncertain. The proposal to expand the existing Trans Mountain pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., was first approved in 2016. However, the Federal Court of Appeal rescinded that decision last year, ruling that neither the environmental review nor the Indigenous consultation were properly completed.

And despite a revised National Energy Board ruling that deemed the project in the public interest, the B.C. government continues to oppose the project and is pursuing legal means to block the expansion.

Such delays and political opposition raises serious concerns about whether the pipeline will ever be built.

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ALBERTA NOT HAPPY

#Shale Oil Peak Signals Serious #Economic Decline

"It will severely impact the world economy because with U.S. shale oil accounting for 66% of the rise in global oil production over the past decade, it was the leading driver for economic growth"

Global Economic Growth In Serious Trouble When U.S. Shale Oil Peaks & Declines

The global economy would be in serious trouble if it weren’t for the rapid growth of U.S. shale oil production.  Since the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. shale oil production has increased by more than 6 million barrels per day.  Without these additional barrels of oil, the massive money printing and asset purchases by the central banks would not have been as successful in propping up the economy and markets.

We must remember this simple fact; energy drives the markets, not finance. Finance steers the market.  So, for the economy to expand, there must be oil production growth.  However, it would be unwise for the market-economy to rely upon the U.S. shale industry as the leading driver of global oil production growth for the foreseeable future.

Why?  Well, there are several reasons, but let’s first look at how much the increase in U.S. shale oil production has accounted for the rise in global oil supply since 2008. Of the 9.6 million barrels per day (mbd) of global oil production growth 2008-2017, the United States supplied two-thirds or 6.3 mbd of the total:

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THE FALSE PROMISE OF SHALE OIL

Stage Set For A BIG Bear #Market

"Without a game-changing trade deal, all we’re left with is a slumping global economy, growing civil unrest across the world, a looming corporate debt crisis — all while are assets still hovering at all-time high valuation multiples."

by Adam Taggart

At The End Of The Day, It’s All About Confidence

And sentiment in the markets is now souring. Bigly.

While many factors contribute to their creation, market reversals only happen when a shift in sentiment occurs.

That’s why bull markets can go on for much longer than reason merits. As long as the marginal buyer is keeping the faith that he can sell to someone else for more, prices will remain elevated no matter how ugly the underlying fundamentals:

But at some point, the once-bulletproof euphoria becomes exhausted. And at the critical margin, net buyers become net sellers. (For a reminder of the supreme importance the margin plays, revisit our report The Marginal Buyer Holds The Pin That Pops Every Asset Bubble)

Here at PeakProsperity.com, we’ve been waving a giant warning flag of late that the scorching rally since January is a massive head-fake; unwarranted and completely unsustainable.

In our recent piece, The Bull(y) Rally, we exposed how an extreme and unnatural amount of hand-waving, jawboning and razzle-dazzle from the central State has been expended to ‘justify’ the ludicrous levels today’s prices are at given the preponderance of data showing the world economy is sliding into recession.

We’ve been shining a bright light on the technical compression seen in the major stock indices, indicative that a major breakout move is coming — one we’ve argued is much more likely to happen to the downside.

Well, with the recent fizzling of the principal storyline supporting the bullish narrative — an imminent trade deal with China  — our predicted downside breakdown finally occurred this week:

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TEN YEAR BULL MARKET OVER?

#Economic Collapse Looms - Just Do The #Math

"The main lesson for me is that growth is not a “good quantum number,” as physicists will say: it’s not an invariant of our world. Cling to it at your own peril" 

By Tom Murphy

 

Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist

Some while back, I found myself sitting next to an accomplished economics professor at a dinner event. Shortly after pleasantries, I said to him, “economic growth cannot continue indefinitely,” just to see where things would go. It was a lively and informative conversation. I was somewhat alarmed by the disconnect between economic theory and physical constraints—not for the first time, but here it was up-close and personal. Though my memory is not keen enough to recount our conversation verbatim, I thought I would at least try to capture the key points and convey the essence of the tennis match—with some entertainment value thrown in.

Cast of characters: Physicist, played by me; Economist, played by an established economics professor from a prestigious institution. Scene: banquet dinner, played in four acts (courses).

Note: because I have a better retention of my own thoughts than those of my conversational companion, this recreation is lopsided to represent my own points/words. So while it may look like a physicist-dominated conversation, this is more an artifact of my own recall capabilities. I also should say that the other people at our table were not paying attention to our conversation, so I don’t know what makes me think this will be interesting to readers if it wasn’t even interesting enough to others at the table! But here goes…

Act One: Bread and Butter

Physicist: Hi, I’m Tom. I’m a physicist.

Economist: Hi Tom, I’m [ahem..cough]. I’m an economist.

Physicist: Hey, that’s great. I’ve been thinking a bit about growth and want to run an idea by you. I claim that economic growth cannot continue indefinitely.

Economist: [chokes on bread crumb] Did I hear you right? Did you say that growth can not continue forever?

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MIT LIMITS TO GROWTH

#Reasons Why The #CPI INDEX Misleads

The CPI no longer measures the true increase required to maintain a constant standard of living. This is the main reason that more people are falling behind financially,

The Real Cost Of Living Increase Index

The Chapwood Index reflects the true cost-of-living increase in America. Updated and released twice a year, it reports the unadjusted actual cost and price fluctuation of the top 500 items on which Americans spend their after-tax dollars in the 50 largest cities in the nation.

It exposes why middle-class Americans — salaried workers who are given routine pay hikes and retirees who depend on annual increases in their corporate pension and Social Security payments — can’t maintain their standard of living. Plainly and simply, the Index shows that their income can’t keep up with their expenses, and it explains why they increasingly have to turn to the government for entitlements to bail them out.

It’s because salary and benefit increases are pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which for more than a century has purported to reflect the fluctuation in prices for a typical “basket of goods” in American cities — but which actually hasn’t done that for more than 30 years.

The middle class has seen its purchasing power decline dramatically in the last three decades, forcing more and more people to seek entitlements when their savings are gone. And as long as pay raises and benefit increases are tied to a false CPI, this trend will continue.

The myth that the CPI represents the increase in our cost of living is why the Chapwood Index was created. What differentiates it from the CPI is simple, but critically important. The Chapwood Index:

• Reports the actual price increase of the 500 items on which most Americans spend their after-tax money. No gimmicks, no alterations, no seasonal adjustments; just real prices.
• Shines a spotlight on the inaccuracy of the CPI, which is destroying the economic and emotional fiber of our country.
• Shows how our dependence on the CPI is killing our middle class and why citizens increasingly are depending upon government entitlement programs to bail them out.
• Claims to persuade Americans to become better-educated consumers and to take control of their spending habits and personal finances.

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REAL CPI OR RUNAWAY INFLATION?