MSTR vs Bitcoin (IBIT) | VIX Seasonality | No Tarif Inflation Yet | Stock Buyback Seasonality | Confusing PPI Report

Derek Moore reviews the relative valuation between MSTR MicroStrategy and the Bitcoin ETF IBIT, plus deconstructing the recent PPI report which may not be the inflation problem many people initially thought. The VIX Index has seasonal patterns, and we are going into the season for increased historical VIX levels, but will history repeat itself?  What about corporate buybacks seasonality and what it means for the stock market over the next two months. Derek also reviews how railroad stocks were once a way bigger percentage of the US stock market than the top stocks in the index are today. It might surprise you just how much higher! Shipping container rates, mentions of stagflation, and some critiques of the Fed's data dependence.    US Corporate Buybacks at Records Buyback seasonality Seasonality of VIX Index prices Mentions of Stagflation PPI vs CPI numbers Comparing CPI month over month (MoM%) when the Fed last cut vs now Tariffs are not showing up yet in the inflation data Import Prices down -0.2% month over month US Export prices 2.2% month over month Spot shipping container rates WCI Shanghai to Los Angeles Container Freight Benchmark Index     Mentioned in this Episode   Trade PPI explanation from Richmond Fed https://www.richmondfed.org/research/national_economy/macro_minute/2023/mm_09_05_23   Derek Moore's book Broken Pie Chart https://amzn.to/3S8ADNT   Jay Pestrichelli's book Buy and Hedge https://amzn.to/3jQYgMt   Derek's book on public speaking Effortless Public Speaking https://amzn.to/3hL1Mag   Contact Derek derek.moore@zegainvestments.com