by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
With only 56 trading days and fewer than 80 calendar days to the election, the Deep State camps seeking to torpedo Trump’s re-election have reached the do-or-die point.
Back in June I speculated that the only way the Deep State could deep-six Trump’s re-election was to sink the stock market rally, which the president has long touted as evidence of his economic leadership.
Deep State to Powell: Stop Goosing Stocks Higher Or You’ll Re-Elect Trump (June 9, 2020)
Since then, stocks have lofted ever higher, with the Nasdaq index hitting new all-time highs and the S&P 500 reaching its pre-pandemic heights of euphoria.
So far, there’s nothing to support my thesis other than the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, which has declined modestly over the past 11 weeks, from $7.165 trillion on 6/3/20 to $6.957 trillion on 8/12/20, more or less idling in neutral. This same neutral stance set up the late-February crash.