Crash Alert: Priced for Perfection in an Imperfect World

December 12, 2024 • 51 second read

The last few US inflation reports have been ominous, with the general trend morphing from sharp decline to gradual increase. Here’s the Core Services index, which is now rising at a 4% annual rate:

Stocks, meanwhile, are priced for perfection, with the second highest price/earnings ratio on record:

Investors are getting cocky, as evidenced by the soaring popularity of leveraged ETFs:

And gold has shaken off its post-election correction and is now threatening its all-time-high:

Can the Fed keep easing into all this?

Today’s stock market enthusiasm is based in part on the expectation of ever-easier money for the balance of the decade. But can the Fed really deliver this in the face of soaring financial assets, off-the-charts speculation, and rising general inflation? Wouldn’t that spike inflation? Probably. So at some point in 2025 the Fed will have to stop lowering rates.

What happens then? Well, check the above P/E chart for what became of the last few priced-for-perfection markets.

Beneath the Surface

Crash Alert: Priced for Perfection in an Imperfect World

John Rubino

December 12, 2024 • 51 second read

crisis gold Inflation

By John Rubino, John Rubino’s Substack

The last few US inflation reports have been ominous, with the general trend morphing from sharp decline to gradual increase. Here’s the Core Services index, which is now rising at a 4% annual rate:

Stocks, meanwhile, are priced for perfection, with the second highest price/earnings ratio on record:

Investors are getting cocky, as evidenced by the soaring popularity of leveraged ETFs:

And gold has shaken off its post-election correction and is now threatening its all-time-high:

Can the Fed keep easing into all this?

What happens then? Well, check the above P/E chart for what became of the last few priced-for-perfection markets.

Silver’s Parabolic Move

January 26, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

Silver is now up 54% year-to, err, month-to-date. And up over 280% since the start of 2025.

While we don’t know how much further upside is left, prior parabolic moves like these tend to lead to big pullbacks when they end.

“If you’re tempted to take a screenshot of your portfolio, it’s a good idea to take some profits while you’re doing that,” suggests our Portfolio Director, Andrew Packer.

We’d do so to grab some of those silver profits, simply because even though we started dollar-cost-averaging (DCA) into gold and silver in 2018 – silver was $16.47 – no assets can go parabolic, like silver has, indefinitely.

Consensus Is a Dangerous Drug

January 23, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

We’ve entered a new territory on Wall Street: for the first time in recorded history, zero strategists are predicting a down year.

Not “most are bullish.”

Not “nearly all expect gains.”

Zero bearish calls for 2026.

Unanimity so complete it resembles a vote in a collapsing authoritarian state.

Japan’s Own Buyer of Last Resort… Sells

January 23, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

The Bank of Japan’s holdings of its own government’s bonds are now near a 10-year low.

The yen carry trade has been a constant in global finance for 3 decades. Currently, the unwind is throwing the Japanese government into a crisis of historic proportions.

Americans take note. Not only are Japanese bonds undermining the AI rally on Wall Street. The crisis is a cautionary tale for the U.S. efforts to finance its own historic debt load.

The Leverage Doctrine

January 22, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

The dollar’s share of global reserves is now roughly 40%, down from 60% in 2016. No other fiat currency filled the gap. Gold did.

That is the only fact you need to understand the long-term arc.

After the West demonstrated it could seize reserves, “safe” became a new word. Gold has no counterparty. It cannot be frozen with an executive order. It does not require permission to settle.

Silver’s Parabolic Move

January 26, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

Silver is now up 54% year-to, err, month-to-date. And up over 280% since the start of 2025.

While we don’t know how much further upside is left, prior parabolic moves like these tend to lead to big pullbacks when they end.

“If you’re tempted to take a screenshot of your portfolio, it’s a good idea to take some profits while you’re doing that,” suggests our Portfolio Director, Andrew Packer.

Consensus Is a Dangerous Drug

January 23, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

We’ve entered a new territory on Wall Street: for the first time in recorded history, zero strategists are predicting a down year.

Not “most are bullish.”

Not “nearly all expect gains.”

Zero bearish calls for 2026.

Unanimity so complete it resembles a vote in a collapsing authoritarian state.

Japan’s Own Buyer of Last Resort… Sells

January 23, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

The Bank of Japan’s holdings of its own government’s bonds are now near a 10-year low.

The yen carry trade has been a constant in global finance for 3 decades. Currently, the unwind is throwing the Japanese government into a crisis of historic proportions.

Americans take note. Not only are Japanese bonds undermining the AI rally on Wall Street. The crisis is a cautionary tale for the U.S. efforts to finance its own historic debt load.

The Leverage Doctrine

January 22, 2026 • Addison Wiggin

The dollar’s share of global reserves is now roughly 40%, down from 60% in 2016. No other fiat currency filled the gap. Gold did.

That is the only fact you need to understand the long-term arc.

After the West demonstrated it could seize reserves, “safe” became a new word. Gold has no counterparty. It cannot be frozen with an executive order. It does not require permission to settle.