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Every day these notes are sent from Southern California where Atlas is headquartered, the land of seismic shocks.  Without notice (although there is this earthquake early warning system), the ground begins shaking as plates move against each other along the San Andreas Fault System.  Most

Perhaps you’ve already started being good for the 2023 holiday season.  I know I have because my niece Cora keeps tabs on the entire family all year.  No matter what month it is, she can let you know whether you’re trending on the good or bad side of things.  I just bought her a bottle of sparkling maple syrup hoping to curry some favor the next time we visit in case

Superlatives are easy to use but difficult to defend, so Atlas won’t use one here.  We are willing, however, to use a technical phrase when describing 2022: it sucked.  Right out of the gate, the market peaked on the first trading day of the year and then trended lower for the remainder.  A similar pattern developed in the bond market.  Providing the other bookend for

Energy is foundational to the global economy.  Wars have been waged over it.  Debates about changes to sources have soured many family dinners over the recent years.  When production gets expensive, that acts like a brake on overall output since there are few viable substitutes; a larger share of consumers’ wallets is diverted to keep lights on and cars running.  In sh

We haven’t quite reached the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, but we are getting close. It’s been nearly six months since the longest day of 2022 passed us. We don’t fret when the days begin shortening, nor trot out world-ending conspiracies once the nights become longer than the days immediately following the autumnal equinox. But why not?

Growing up I had many friends with musical talents. As an adult I partnered up with a musician to start Atlas. Those who were not around when Atlas was on Carnelian missed guitar jam sessions with J R.

Black Friday’s moniker is explained as the day when retailers go from being in the red for the year into positive earnings. Atlas won’t argue, but we cannot say for sure that this is still what happens. After your heart calms down from all the savings on Friday, you can hit Main Street America for Small Business Saturday. What a weekend. And then when you get bac

Trends never move in straight lines. This is certainly observable in markets. Styles experience the same phenomenon. Perhaps the kernel of a trend is revealed at a fashion show, but it takes the greater population a little time to embrace the new look. A similar pattern is emerging for the globe as it tries trending back to something more normal from the depths of the pandem

Every six weeks the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meets to discuss monetary policies and to make any changes to it which they deem necessary.  Their latest two-day meeting ended last Wednesday with the 12-person committee unanimously voting to raise the overnight lending rate banks charge each other by 0.75 percentage points; the range for this type of loan now stands at 3.75 - 4.0

Savings are going away.  A few days ago, regular readers were sent a note on income and outlays from the Bureau of Economic Analysis which includes data on the savings rate.  In the note, Atlas highlighted the dismal rate of savings (currently 3.1 percent).  It is understandable that households are less able to stash cash when inflation is rising while markets crash.  But ou