Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network

Jeff Ferry joined us to discuss the latest China developments. Seems that things are not always what they seem. Will Trump sell-out Hong Kong? Will China crackdown on this renegade province? AT some point they're going to act and they won't be looking back. They'll be looking straight down the barrel of a gun. And watch out then, we're going to see a blood bath. How will China trade be affected? Especially with riots breaking out around the globe. Beware of economists because they're always wrong. 

There is no alternative to the stock market - TINA. None dare call it QE. Debt monetization like Zimbabwe. $14 trillion of new confetti since 2007. No wonder the market hasn’t crashed yet. But there will be a day when the recession comes and we’ll turn to central banks and they’ll be powerless. We’re already in QE and zero percent money, what else can they do? What about the fiscal side of the leger? Global debt is now $255 trillion, 330 percent of GDP and economic growth is fettered when we’re at 90 percent. Most of the debt is unproductive by nature. $1 trillion in debt during an expansion, wait for $3 trillion when the recession hits. 

It’s been 10 years now and WS keeps doing the same mistakes over and over again. I urge everyone listening to watch Margin Call and The Big Short, whether you’ve seen them before or not. The lessons of these movies are more relevant than ever. Wall Street has learned that when in doubt, get a bailout. The next one will be here before you know it. As Chris and I discuss, we need a skin-in-the-game economy, where Wall Street and its managers actually risk their own capital and risk complete financial ruin if they tank their companies and industry. Let's go back to the good old day of Wall Street General Partnerships and let's penalize CEO's by taking their accrued fortunes when they kill companies like GE. 

Everything about the Democratic Party's election show is a charade and a farce. Nothing is real, especially the candidates. They're as real as the caps on Joe Biden's teeth or the hair-plugs in his scalp. None of them are legitimate candidates. They've been put up by the elites to give the appearance of a hotly seated contest. It's simply a set-up for a brokered convention, or if Biden actually prevails, his stepping down before the convention, to enable the elites to choose the proper candidate. Either way chaos and havoc will reign. So get ready for Trump's second term. I called him in July of 2016 and I'm calling this one now. 

Poland just took back $5 billion of gold that was being held for it in London. Is that a sign of things to come? Signs of stress. Probably an important development. An unknown speculator bet $1.75 million on gold hitting $4k per ounce at a point in the future. The latest global debt number came out at over $250 trillion. Central banks are starting to act on the fear of an impending credit bust.

While our neighbor to the north has but a fraction of the US’s population, what happens there is important here as well. Miami’s real estate market is near collapse and hedge funds are taking a hit. What’s happening in Canada is no different than what’s happening here. Nonetheless, the migration from North to South continues on unabated. 

Cannabis stocks rallied for a second day last Wednesday, buoyed by a historic congressional committee passage of a bill that aims to lift the federal ban on weed, as well as strong gains for Curaleaf after it posted a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss. 

Curaleaf’s U.S.-listed shares CURLF, +15.23% CURA, +15.07% were last up 15%, as investors shrugged off its revenue miss.

The Massachusetts-based company posted a loss of $6.8 million, or a penny a share, versus losses of $33.7 million, or 9 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $61.8 million from $21.4 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected losses of 2 cents a share on revenue of $63.6 million. 

GMP analyst Robert Fagan, who rates the stock a buy, said the numbers were “largely in line with our relatively high expectations.” The revenue number was below his estimate of $67 million. 

He highlighted positives, including good cost control, a sequential rise in sales and that vaping fears had only a mue effect on Select’s sales in the quarter. The company acquired the Select brand in May for CS1.27 billion ($954.7 million). 

Read now: As pot stocks sink, these two guys just raised $120 million to buy

Don’t miss: All the excuses cannabis companies are making for an ugly crop of earnings

MKM analyst Bill Kirk raised his fair-value estimate on the stock to C$8 from C$6 but stuck with his neutral rating on the stock. 

“Admittedly, after weak earnings reports for most of the sector, it feels nice to use positive numbers when talking about Curaleaf’s profitability,” the analyst wrote in a note. “However, we still can’t quite get there on valuation.”

Sentiment on Wednesday was boosted after the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which looks to remove the federal ban on cannabis and expunge past convictions. 

Read: Aurora Cannabis stock suffers worst day in more than five years, analyst says ‘it would be fair for investors not to believe them’

The bill, which is being introduced by Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, passed Wednesday by a 24-10 vote in favor.

“The Senate will take its own time, but then the Senate always does,” Nadler said at a press conference on Tuesday to introduce the bill. He also aimed to sound upbeat ahead of Wednesday’s markup session for the bill: “The energy and the political pressure from the various states is growing rapidly. The Senate is subject to that, too. We’ll accomplish this.”

Also read: House panel passes bill that aims to legalize marijuana, but top Democrat concedes ‘Senate will take its own time.’

In company news, Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. HRVSF, +8.07% HARV, +6.64% became the latest cannabis company to scale back a previously agreed deal, its plan to buy cannabis licenses in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland from CannaPharmacy Inc. in a deal originally priced at $88 million in cash. 

See now: Canada tells cannabis companies to improve disclosures of cross-holdings

Instead, the companies have agreed that Harvest Health will acquire Franklin Labs LLC, a unit of CannaPharmacy, for $26 million that will be split between $15 million in cash and an $11 million promissory note.

Harvest Chief Executive Jason Vedadi said the new terms will help the company advance its revenue and profitability goals. 

Cannabis stocks are still going through a period of retrenchment after a deep slump in stock prices. Many companies are revising deal terms, cutting costs and considering asset sales as the legal market is developing more slowly than expected and companies continue to post losses.

Harvest made the announcement as it posted a third-quarter loss of $39.1 million, or 14 cents a share, wider than the $453,000 loss posted in the year-earlier period. The company did not offer a per-share loss number for the year-earlier. Revenue rose to $33.2 million from $11.2 million. There are too few FactSet estimates to offer a reliable consensus.

In a similar move, Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. NEPT, +1.11% NEPT, +3.30%said Wednesday it has reached a mutual agreement with Canopy Growth Corp.CGC, +13.21% WEED, +15.66% to amend and restate their cannabis-processing agreement. The parties have agreed to an amended schedule of processing volumes committed to Neptune by Canopy and to the removal of certain preferential rights granted Canopy related to Neptune’s capacity and pricing. 

“Effective June 30, 2020, volume and pricing will be negotiated between the two parties based on market conditions,” Neptune said in a statement. The 3-year term of the deal remains intact. Neptune’s U.S.-listed shares were down 3.7%, while Canopy was up about 12%.

US exports more petroleum than it imports for the first time ever in November. Stock markets hit all time highs again with DJIA up a huge 3.70%. Dollar was up 1.1%. Euro down to 1.10. Bitcoin crashed yet again to 7705. Metals were off substantially with gold closing at 1464 and silver closing at 17.0. Palladium shot up again to 1822. WTI flat. Uranium up a bigly 8.0 percent to 25.93. Pt to Pd even lower all time low of .49. Gold to silver up again to 86.1. Till next month!

According to Cyrus Parsa the greatest threat to humanity comes not from war, over population or disease. No artificial intelligence has the potential to wipe out hun=mantis and the Chinese are leading the way. The big tech companies are at the forefront as well. AI is taking over. 

George Gammon is one of the most articulate YouTubers out there. George believes that the world is insolvent, especially the United States. The US has been paying interest on interest for decades. There's a limitation to how much money can be printed. Inflation has greatly diminished the purchasing power of the dollar and the worst is yet to come. 

Fidelity has been granted a trust licence to offer trading and custody of bitcoin by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as the asset management group continues to woo cautious institutional investors into the “Wild West” of digital assets.

The move allows Fidelity’s new digital assets subsidiary to launch a digital currency custody and execution platform “on which institutional investors and individuals can securely store, purchase, sell, and transfer bitcoin” to New York residents, the DFS said.

Boston-based Fidelity, which has about $2.8tn of assets under management, made clear last year it intended to take the plunge to offer digital assets services to Wall Street, where other regulated groups have held back from the nascent marketplace.

“The custody and trade execution services that we provide are essential building blocks for institutional investors’ continued adoption of digital assets,” Michael O’Reilly, chief operating officer for Fidelity Digital Assets, said on Tuesday.

“The designation as a New York trust company under the supervision and examination of the DFS builds on the credibility and trust we’re establishing among institutions and other market participants,” he said, adding that the group wanted to continue to play a “leading role” in “supporting the maturation of the entire ecosystem”.

Last month, Abigail Johnson, the investment group’s chief executive, told the Financial Times that what had started as a “just for fun” experiment had become a serious drive to build up a viable crypto custody business for hedge funds, family offices and financial adviser clients.

Safekeeping of crypto assets has been a concern for institutional investors because exchanges have been plagued by outages and hacks. Prolific market manipulation and scams in the loosely regulated space have been a deterrent.

Nevertheless, yield-hungry speculators have continued to flock to volatile crypto markets, while some are optimistic that Facebook’s plan to spearhead the launch of its own digital currency, Libra, will further legitimise the space. The price of bitcoin has risen this year from less than $4,000 at the beginning of the year to more than $8,000 today.

To date, New York has issued 23 of the highly coveted licences to companies involved in virtual currency activities in the state. Earlier this year, the department granted a licence to the Intercontinental Exchange, the world’s second-largest exchange group by market value, to provide custody of bitcoin futures via Bakkt, its digital assets arm.

The move signals New York’s keenness to promote itself as a hub for crypto activity, alongside countries such as Switzerland and Malta.

“This approval is further evidence that innovation and consumer protection can coexist in New York’s evolving and expanding financial services industry,” said Linda Lacewell, the DFS’s superintendent of financial services.

Investigative reporter par excellent Tracy Beanz joined us for the first time. And yes Virginia, there is a deep a state and they're in big trouble. Over the past 50 years the US Government has become a giant Piñata, but you had to be part of an exclusive club to take a swing at it. Trump is kryptonite to this group and they've been trying to take him out since he was inaugurated. The unholy alliance of various bureaucrats, the intelligence community and the media has led to a global nightmare and they almost succeeded in their question for absolute power. Now the question is will AG William Barr, IG Horowitz and US Attorney Durham purge these parties and cut the heads off the hydra? Tracy is optimistic as are we. 

Dusty Rollins specializes in income planning and tax-saving strategies for business owners, as well as college planning, social security maximization, investments, and debt/interest cost reduction. As owner and founder of Oxford Wealth Strategies, his goal is to help his clients design an income plan to make their money last as long as they do, as well as leave a legacy. From his boarding school days in Penang, Malaysia to his graduate studies in Oxford, England, traveling around the world has given him a global perspective on finances and life. 

https://www.dustyrollins.com/fsn

Noted crime researched and gun law expert John R. Lott, Jr and I review the latest developments in gun law and state trends. There’s a big case coming up before the US Supreme Court dealing with New York City’s clearly unconstitutional gun law. John wants to see more cases coming before the Court dealing with the actual right to bear arms, not just to own them in the home. Let’s see what happens next. 

Brett Swarts is the Founder of Capital Gains Tax Solutions and host of the capital gains tax solutions podcast. Each year, he equips hundreds of business professionals with the Deferred Sales Trust tool to help their high net worth clients solve capital gains tax deferral limitations. 

His experience includes numerous Deferred Sales Trusts, Delaware Statutory Trusts, 1031 exchanges and $85,000,000 in closed commercial real estate brokerage transactions. He’s an active commercial real estate broker and investor with brokerage experience and ownership in multifamily, senior housing, retail, medical office, and mixed-use properties. He is a licensed California Real Estate Broker who holds Series 22 and 63 licenses.  

Mr. Swarts is passionate about educating people in Capital Gains Tax Deferral with a Deferred Sales Trust, how to divest from a business or real estate, and gain freedom from feeling hostage to a 1031 exchange, then invest back in to a new business venture or investment real estate at any time [all capital gains tax deferred] which he calls optimal timing.

Brett is considered one of the most well-rounded Capital Gains Tax Deferral Experts and informative speakers on the west coast. His audiences are challenged to lean into multiple capital gains tax deferral strategies, create and develop a tax-deferred passive cash flow optimal timing wealth plan of their own, and execute on this plan so they can create and preserve more wealth. 

Last piece of fake good news? China trade deal coming? Not so fast. Phase 1 is the easy part. Bloomberg enters the presidential fray. Is he for real? Deval who? They’ve lost faith in Biden and they’re completely panic-stricken. Neither of these candidates has a prayer. They’ve jumped in very late and really can’t be taken as serious candidates. The idea of a Bernie candidacy has smoked them out. 

New report out about divergences in the economy. Corporate share buybacks are down year over year. The CFO confidence survey is at the lowest level since 2009. Ratio of job openings to GDP, job offerings have plunged while GDP has not. Ratio of consumer confidence  to the unemployment rate. This ratio usually peaks at the peak of the cycle. It’s at it’s cyclical high now. Central bank assets are raising much faster than the global gold supply, which implies that gold has to go up. It’s more true now than in the recent past. These divergences are all in the wrong direction. 

Walmart jumped pre-market after the company reported Q3 EPS that beat expectations and boosted its year end earnings outlook. The largest US retailer reported Q3 adjusted EPS $1.16, stronger than the estimate of $1.09 and 8 cents higher than a year ago on revenue of $127.99 billion, slightly below the consensus est. of $128.67 billion which was a $3.1 billion or 2.5% increase from a year earlier.

Q3 adjusted EPS excluded a non-cash impairment charge of $0.06, net of tax, and an unrealized gain of $0.05, net of tax, on the company’s equity investment in JD.com.

While profit margins dipped modestly, down 36bps to 24.5%, the bottom line beat was largely due to the 5.4% drop in the effective tax rate, which declined to 24.1% in Q3.

Comp sales ex gas in the U.S. rose 3.2%, beating the 3.1% consensus growth estimate and marking the 21st straight gain.

Both the number of customers and the size of their average orders were up, fueling the growth.

There was more good news for Walmart’s online penetration as web sales in the U.S. rose 41%, beating its expected growth rate for the full year. As Bloomberg notes, "it has rapidly expanded its online grocery service and in recent weeks debuted a new offering in three cities where employees put the food right into customers’ fridges. Profitability has been a concern on the dot-com side, though, and Biggs said in prepared remarks that the company needs to sell more general merchandise, which delivers better margins than bread and bananas."

Sam’s Club, Walmart's warehouse division that accounts for 11% of its revenue, was the one weak spot as comparable sales there rose only 0.6%, just one-third the pace analysts had been expecting. A drop in tobacco sales negatively hit sales by 350 basis points, it said. The chain is still without a leader a month after Sam’s CEO John Furner was tapped to replace Greg Foran as head of Walmart’s U.S. stores division. Biggs provided no update on the search Thursday.

Commenting on the results, Walmart CEO said "Walmart U.S. business saw strong comp sales and expense leverage, and operating income grew for the sixth consecutive quarter."

Echoing the CEO, Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs told Bloomberg that "It was a really good third quarter," adding that he’s “pleased” with how shoppers are responding so far to the rollout of early holiday deals.

Most importantly, Walmart now sees full-year adjusted earnings per share increasing "slightly" compared to last year, after saying in August either a slight decrease or slight increase was possible.

• FY20 Adjusted EPS is now expected to increase slightly compared to FY19 adjusted EPS , including Flipkart, and is expected to increase by a high single-digit percentage range, excluding Flipkart.
• Expectations for the dilution from Flipkart remain unchanged, excluding a non-cash impairment charge.
• The effective tax rate is now expected to range between 25% and 25.5%.

As Bloomberg notes, "this is the second time this year Walmart has upgraded its outlook. The rosier view contrasts with more downbeat expectations from retailers like Macy’s Inc., which slashed its profit guidance in August. Earlier this month, Moody’s cut its expectations for the entire U.S. retail sector, citing “intense competition in the fight for market share.” Walmart, buoyed by its market-leading grocery business and big investments to improve e-commerce, has largely avoided the turmoil that’s afflicted many mainstream merchants over the past two years."

"Walmart continues to position itself near the very top of global retail by any measure, and will continue to get stronger as time goes on, increasing the pressure on the rest of global retail," Charlie O’Shea, an analyst at Moody’s, said in a note.

Walmart shares surged as much as 3.9% in pre-market trading, putting the shares on course to open above the all-time highest closing price recorded on Wednesday. Rival Target Corp. also gained in pre-market trading.

Mike was a professional athlete and experienced who traveled the world widely, often using other country’s currencies. That got him thinking about the US Dollar and about money. As Mike said people just take money for granted, especially the millennial generation. Mike originally targeted his show and site towards these millennials, but lately has realized that Boomers are at risk and need the information he conveys, now more than ever. The reboot of the monetary system is currently underway and has been an ongoing trend since the dot com bust of the early 2000’s. 

The digital economy went bust in 2001. Companies started seeking better more cost-effective ways of doing business. Now you can outsource everything, services and manufacturing, etc. It’s more efficient and improves the bottom line. When the next recession hits, it will be the next transformation of the global economy. Naresh is seeing it with his own business, his services have displaced employees and has increased client capabilities. The need to attend trade shows is diminshing. Their cost is making companies seek other web-based solutions. Online events and summits are becoming dominant. You’re no longer limited by space and geography. 

Will Thomson runs Massif Capital, a value fund. Massif's investments are limited to just 3 sectors: mining, energy and infrastructure. While value investing is now out of favor, Will isn't worried. These sectors are vital to the economy and they're greatly under-invested. Things have a way of turning around and when they do, it's the contrarians that make the big returns. With a 3-5 year time horizon, Will can afford to wait for that moment. Right now, he's bullish on gold mining, largely due to the out of control government sector and the inability of countries to rationalize their spending priorities. It may take some time, but eventually Will will be proven correct. 

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, consistent with strong labor market conditions and continued job growth. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended Nov. 2, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would fall to 215,000 in the latest week. 

The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, increased 250 to 215,250 last week.The level of claims suggests solid labor market conditions. Employment grew faster than expected in October, with firms adding 128,000 jobs, even though a strike by workers at General Motors idled 46,000 employees at the automaker’s plants in Michigan and Kentucky.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week for the third time this year to support continued economic growth. Officials also signaled a pause in the easing cycle, which started in July when the central bank reduced borrowing costs for the first time since 2008. Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged some moderation in the pace of job growth this year, but said: “the job market remains strong.”

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of benefits dipped 3,000 to 1.69 million for the week ended Oct. 26. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims was unchanged at 1.69 million.

Some of the upcoming testimony in the impeachment proceedings will come from career intelligence and military officers. At least one of whom says he was on the phone call to the Ukranian president. So how does this all work? And who is really on a call the president makes?

"That is a very good question," says Intelligence, Counter Terrorism Specialist, former Green Beret and long time government insider Brian Boyd (see short bio below)."I have my doubts when I hear people recounting what transpired on a phone call who have heard what happened - sometimes from others." 

Boyd, who spent more than 30-years in government positions including work for the Departments of Defense Justice & Treasury, is uniquely qualified to give an inside look into what may or may not have happened - as well as adding perspective to the impeachment testimony we will hear this week. 

As long as there’s light volume in the market, it can continue to go higher and make new highs. However, when we get a huge volume day, 85 million shares or higher volume on the SPDR and the market heads south, then it’s look out below. Intra-day sell-offs on light volume are bullish. Pull up a daily chart of the SPDR and you’ll see every major turning point. They all happened with high volume on the sell side. Nick believes that the Fed knows something that isn’t being told to the public. Who will loan to central banks at negative rates. Just a trading vehicle, no reasonable investor is going to risk it. Gold futures peaked in early September. When you look at a monthly chart, it’s the most bullish chart we’ve seen in years. This thing is going to scream on the upside. Thrust, pause, thrust. The pattern goes back thousands of years. Nick is always super-bullish on the US Dollar. Should it decline to .96 it’s a screaming buy. 

Scott Bossman is a physical therapist, husband, and father of four who got his start in the world of land investing about 4 years ago. When he realized his physical therapy career just didn’t allow him the financial freedom he really wanted, he started doing some research to find a passive income option that would help him design a life on his terms. He became a student of Mark “The Land Geek” Podolsky in 2015, and has kept his nose to the grindstone with Mark’s tried-and-true system for generating passive income through raw land flipping. Today, Scott is a member of the Land Geek team and is passionate about sharing his journey into the world of raw land flipping, in hopes of inspiring others to step into their side hustle and achieve financial freedom.

Click the link below for more info

 https://www.thelandgeek.com/fsn/

Everywhere you look civil unrest is breaking out. Iran, Mexico, Hong Kong, France, Chile and a host of other country. John attributes it all to excessive debt which is leading to a decline in the standard of living and shrinkage of the middle class. Also, the erosion of the rule of law is helping to cause a dissolution of Western Civilization. The unrest isn’t the problem, it’s merely a sympton. Government then makes concessions and the demonstrations continue. Witness Hong Kong. They’re shooting arrows at the police who are firing tear gas and live ammo in return. Can it happen here in the good old USofA? Maybe it’s happening already. After the next election, whoever loses is going to feel cheated and this could lead to the inevitable unwinding.