Jerome Powell looked troubled during the Federal Reserve meeting earlier this month... Why wouldn't he be?

Don't Expect the Next Few Months to Be Easy By Vic Lederman, editorial director, Chaikin Analytics Jerome Powell looked troubled during the Federal Reserve meeting earlier this month... Why wouldn't he be? On the one hand, the Fed chair is facing huge pressure from President Donald Trump to lower interest rates. Trump believes the Fed is behind the curve on lowering rates. He says that lower energy and food prices mean there's virtually no inflation. But at the same time, consumers are feeling the opposite. Their expectations for inflation over the next 12 months reached a 44-year high of 7.3% in May. That's according to data released earlier this month by the University of Michigan. And of course, the tariff situation keeps evolving. Investors and analysts are still trying to determine the real impact of tariffs. So Powell did what he thought was best. He held interest rates steady for now. However, the market is telling us it has already made up its mind. And that could make for a choppy environment ahead... Recommended Links: Porter Stansberry Returns to Share the Most Controversial Prediction of His Career... Stansberry Research founder Porter Stansberry may be most famous for his prediction that government-backed mortgage brokers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were going to go to zero in May 2008. But he may well end up being most remembered for the prediction he's sharing on June 5. On that day, he'll explain how he's tracking the potential collapse of one of America's most important institutions... and how millions of Americans are unprepared for what's going to happen next. We recommend all readers attend. Click here to join Porter. Prepare Now for May 31 (Tomorrow) He's one of the most controversial men on the planet. But Elon Musk's latest project could be his boldest yet, potentially making Tesla worth $25 trillion. It's part of what the Financial Times calls "an imminent revolution" – an event coming as soon as May 31 (tomorrow). Get the story here before it's too late. Inflation Hedges Are Outperforming Stocks Inflation is down to 2.3%. That's the lowest since February 2021. However, the price of gold is up more than 26% since the start of the year. Gold is an inflation hedge. But the price of gold is going higher... as inflation has come down. Demand is coming from a surge in investment-related gold purchases through exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"). Investment demand grew 170% year over year to 552 tonnes in the first quarter of 2025. At more than $3,300 an ounce, gold is only about 5% away from reaching a new all-time high. Meanwhile, bitcoin is up about 15% this year. It recently hit record highs above $110,000. Bitcoin is often referred to as "digital gold." And it's proving to be an alternative store of value. Bitcoin has also far outpaced stocks this year, as the S&P 500 Index is roughly flat in 2025. This means two of the world's inflation hedges – gold and bitcoin – are outperforming stocks in a big way this year. That may seem like pure coincidence. But something else is happening ... By now, you've surely heard that credit-ratings agency Moody's recently downgraded America's credit rating by one notch. It went from the highest rating of Aaa down to Aa1. That might not sound like much. But that one notch took away America's last perfect credit grade. Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's credit rating in 2011. Fitch did the same in 2023. And recently, bond yields have soared... Just consider the important 10-year U.S. Treasury. It's the benchmark for trillions of dollars in mortgages and other corporate bonds. Since the downgrade from Moody's, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose as much as roughly 16 basis points ("bps"). It has been even worse for longer-term Treasurys. The 20-year yield jumped as much as about 20 bps. And the 30-year yield popped as high as roughly 19 bps. Yields have pulled back a bit since those near-term highs. But they're still way up since Trump's initial announcement of reciprocal tariffs on April 2. For example, take a look at the 30-year yield since early April... This is sending a worrying signal to investors. U.S. government bonds have long been considered safe assets. They're guaranteed by the federal government to be repaid. But rising bond yields reflect growing uncertainty. It means bond investors want a higher return for the risk they're taking. Now, as I said earlier this month, I expect that we're back on the path to new market highs. But rising gold and bitcoin – along with soaring yields – tell us there's still a lot of uncertainty out there. So as I also said earlier this month, continue to stay alert for volatility. Good investing, Vic Lederman Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 +0.25% 5 20 5 S&P 500 +0.39% 77 283 139 Nasdaq +0.2% 20 59 21 Small Caps +0.3% 408 1044 434 Bonds +0.93% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks are somewhat Bearish. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Real Estate +2.61% Health Care +1.39% Utilities +1.24% Financial +1.23% Consumer Discretionary +1.13% Industrials +1.02% Information Technology +1.0% Consumer Staples +1.0% Energy +0.65% Materials +0.54% Communication +0.33% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Capital Markets Services 11 38 14 Over the past 6 months, the Capital Markets subsector (KCE) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -6.40%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Weak, with more Bearish than Bullish stocks. It is currently ranked #12 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 2 slots over the past week. Indicative Stocks ARES Ares Management Corp BLK BlackRock, Inc. BX Blackstone Inc. *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers NDSN +6.76% BIIB +4.09% FICO +4.02% EL +3.62% AES +3.61% Losers HPQ -8.27% BBY -7.27% ANET -6.92% UBER -4.49% CRM -3.3% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close Earnings Surprises ULTA Ulta Beauty, Inc. Q1 $6.70 Beat by $0.87 ZS Zscaler, Inc. Q3 $0.84 Beat by $0.08 DELL Dell Technologies Inc. Q1 $1.55 Missed by $-0.14 COO The Cooper Companies, Inc. Q2 $0.96 Beat by $0.03 HRL Hormel Foods Corporation Q2 $0.35 Beat by $0.01 *  *  *  * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, click here. You're receiving this e-mail at indra21poetra@gmail.com. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call +1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. 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