Understanding and Navigating this Nasty Mix of War…Stagflation…and More
Greetings, Investors! Some of you remember that–late last year–Yours truly was warning that 2026 was not going to be nearly as “easy” for investors in everything from stocks to precious metals.
Among the reasons I gave was that–though NOBODY had this on their “Bingo card” for the New Year–it was quite possible we’d be having to ponder Federal Reserve rate HIKES in 2026.
Markets and others are catching on now, especially after this week’s Fed meeting and new rounds of reports showing inflation continuing to move higher (and folks, this was all going in the wrong direction before the Iran war.)
As we always do, I sat down with The Prospector Podcast’s Michael Fox after this week’s Fed meeting to discuss the worsening mess Chairman “Too Late” Powell and his merry band are having to navigate now.
You can listen RIGHT HERE or by clicking on the below graphic.
In short: Though I think Powell’s description of the health of the U.S. economy overstates things on the ground, it was quite clear that the central bank sees inflation still rising anew.
Indeed–as I pointed out in the above discussion–Powell was as dour on the central bank’s inability to get inflation back down to its ostensible 2% target as I’ve heard him.
Thus–while he tried to minimize this possibility as much as he could get away with–markets came away with the prospect of interest rate hikes. And Powell acknowledged the possibility.
Indeed, fed fund futures markets at week’s end show greater odds of a hike than a cut now.
I for one think that may be a stretch, given the war. And I discuss the growing forces pulling the Fed toward greater easing as well.
For the foreseeable future, then, we’ll at the least have a standoff of influences and–most likely as things stand now–no moves at all by the Fed on interest rates for a spell (though they will necessarily have to keep shoveling money into credit markets in the hopes of avoiding another 2008-style debacle, as I explain.)
What does this mean for the markets?
We’re going to get more of the same as we saw this past week, as interest rates broke to higher levels and the broad stock market closed at its lows for 2026.
And save for sectors like energy, most everything else will continue to be on the back foot, even precious metals.
(BUT — this is an opportune time none the less to be accumulating the BEST metals stories, especially with many off 30-50% from their highs of not many weeks ago. In fact, our Members will be getting new opportunities here this coming week!)
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Also this past week, I joined Hotair.com’s Ed Morrisey, pinch-hitting on The Drew Mariani Show, where we honed in with greater detail on the broad economy, sticky interest rates/inflation and what investors should be doing.
I especially explained why gold has done nothing but go down in these last few weeks (three basic reasons, in fact) and why that situation won’t materially change until (primarily) the Fed gets dragged into fresh rate cuts and Q.E. (or “U.Q.E.” as I quipped to Ed!)
And that will happen at some point; but probably not for a while and with stocks and metals alike weakening further between now and then.
The flip side, as I explain, is that energy stocks fundamentally are even more so now one of the best places investors can be looking to deploy some money.
You can listen to our discussion RIGHT HERE or by clicking on the below.
FREE ISSUE AVAILABLE!
Midweek, I sent a new issue out to our Members that was chiefly:
–> Commentary on the markets and the geopolitical mess in the world due to the war.
–> Updated guidance on our portfolio mix
–> Specifics on energy and metals especially
–> The macro outlook still pointing to a bear market (but one whose path remains uncertain due to the Iran War)
–> and MORE.
While this issue does not contain all my specific recommendations, you will see a couple meaty updates none the less…and in the end, you’ll see how we have wisely not only insulated ourselves from a lot of the recent weakness but are PROFITING increasingly from some moves we’ve made!
If you aren’t a current Member and you’d like a FREE copy, just reply to this email and ask for it.
All the best,
Chris Temple
Editor/Publisher
From the desk of Chris Temple
The First weekend of Spring! — 2026
(NOTE: I’ve already passed on several actionable investment moves to our Members, especially as the outlook from my newest podcast materializes.
To get ALL my ETF, allocation and Individual Compay Recommendations–MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER NOW AS YOULL SEE–make sure you
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No matter where the Iran War goes from here, the dice have been irreversibly cast on a few fronts, as you’ll also learn below!
To get ALL my ETF, allocation and Individual Compay Recommendations–MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER NOW AS YOU’LL SEE–make sure you
