John Blank

Health jobs vs all others

“If you exclude Healthcare jobs, the U.S. Labor Market has declined for 24 months. Everything is not fine.”

Goldman valuations on equities

Risk? Equity valuations across regions are now at historical highs GS

The U.S. economy added +130K jobs in January, beating expectations of +65K.

Yet, those stronger U.S. job market gains largely came from Health Care and Social Assistance.

Absent their gains (+82K and +42K which equals +124K)?

Then, the rest of the U.S. economy added a paltry +6K JAN jobs.

U.S. company formation rates

Hmmmm

"AI" Splits into Winners & Losers: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

“AWS has an open cash spigot for AI infrastructure, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy telling investors the company has been monetizing compute capacity as fast as it brings it online and it plans to double capacity by the end of 2027.”

The US tech oligopoly fears AI can destroy their rent-seeking moats.

Btc and qqq

No comment needed.

Friday's U.S. Jobs Report in Focus: Global Week Ahead Investors will look for evidence of a strengthening U.S. jobs market in the monthly employment report on February 6th as they assess the prospects for further rate cuts.

Friday's U.S. Jobs Report in Focus: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

Bitcoin could plunge to $40K: Zacks' John Blank John Blank, chief equity strategist at Zacks, says bitcoin's most recent sell-off still has room to run, with technical analysis pointing to more downside ahead. He adds that the risks of a crypto rou...

Are you ready? Bitcoin could plunge to $40K: Zacks' John Blank $IBIT @johnblank100.bsky.social cnb.cx/3MkAcjl

Oh! Go figure. What a surprise.

Kevin Warsh took a job, scant weeks after ‘the boss’ announced he was seeking criminal charges, against his predecessor.

Now that is integrity for you!

I will write this.

Warsh is better than Hassett.

That’s not saying much.

How much better remains to be seen.

Hoover is a big grift. You are not invited to join, unless you take the payoffs, and can be ‘trusted’.

“Kevin Warsh serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Econ at the Hoover Institution and lecturer at Stanford GSB.”

Yes he does work for a family office. I don’t mean that politely.

Warsh also stays silent when asked. He de facto blessed Munger Jr’s. anti-gerrymander play.

Crypto prices

New low in crypto land

“He’s not really a markets guy. Not an economist, a PM, or a strategist. He was briefly an ibanker in the TMT space but Kevin Warsh’s main relevance in these conversations?”

“His father in law (Ron Lauder of Estee Lauder fame) has been a persistent megadonor to Trump.”

Case chiller hip

This is not alarming data. But I have a hard time squaring a tepid -1% annual home price decline with 5%+ U.S. real GDP growth.

U.S. household unemployment driver

Heading past 5% on the US household unemployment rate.

When do markets price this?

No idea.

There it is. John Roberts is the responsible party. End of story.

Gavin Newsom was informed at the 11th hour that his talk with Fortune at USA House in Davos was canceled.

Newsom had been invited to speak at an event sponsored by USA House. But an organizer told his office they opted to not include any U.S. officials in the talk focused on CEOs and biz leaders.

Major Earnings Reports Streaming In: Global Week Ahead The fourth-quarter U.S. earnings season heats up, with reports due from high-profile companies including Netflix (NFLX), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Intel (INTC).

Major Earnings Reports Streaming In: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

The 1998 paper that introduced Google and PageRank to the world ends with:

"Supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement IRI-9411306. Funding also provided by DARPA and NASA."

Sergey Brin was on an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Larry Page was a PhD student on the grant.

🧐

Final U.S. Q3 Real GDP Growth at +4.3%. GDPNow for Q4? +5.1% Want another "nothing is really moving off the 2024 real GDP trend" mark? Global GDP is projected by Goldman Sachs Research to increase +2.8% in 2026.

Final U.S. Q3 Real GDP Growth at +4.3%. GDPNow for Q4? +5.1% www.zacks.com/commentary/2...

❗️American congressmen have introduced a bill registered in the U.S. House of Representatives that prohibits the Trump administration from spending federal funds on a U.S. invasion of the territory of NATO member states.

Banks and TSM Kickoff Q4 Earnings: Global Week Ahead Markets and the news are certainly up and running again after a brief lull for the holidays, and the pace is now set to pick up even more.

Banks and TSM Kickoff Q4 Earnings: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

GOLDMAN: “.. Consensus estimates show hyperscaler YoY capex growth slowing from 75% in 3Q to 54% in 4Q and to 24% by the end of 2026. We expect AI spending will exceed consensus estimates again this quarter, but agree that a deceleration in the pace of AI capex growth is likely in 2026.”

“.. The US is experiencing a jobless boom. Growth is strong, but there is a ‘hiring recession’ ..

“.. 2025 was the worst year for hiring outside of a recession since 2003. There was almost no hiring since April.”

@byheatherlong.bsky.social

A Final 2025 Payroll Report Sets the Tone: Global Week Ahead U.S. payrolls, Canadian jobs, a huge round of global inflation reports, and one solitary central bank decision out of Peru are this week's major economic events.

A Final 2025 Payroll Report Sets the Tone: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

A Look Ahead to 2026: Global Week Ahead Hoping for a less active year in 2026? Good luck. Wishing for as much action as this past one? You might be in luck.

A Look Ahead to 2026: Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...

Where Is the Santa Claus Rally? Global Week Ahead Every year, Wall Street traders hope for a "Santa Rally," but lately Santa has packed less of a punch.

Where Is the Santa Claus Rally? Global Week Ahead www.zacks.com/stock/news/2...