1Q GDP Growth, or Lack there of

How does 1.3% 1Q sound to you? Yeah, that's how I feel, especially when I look at China, India, Brazil, Japan, and the EU. On CNBC, we hear so much about this global growth boom that's occurring, but where is the U.S. in this boom. I'll tell you where we are: We are a country who needs $3 billion dollars a day to stay a float, we are amidst a housing depression, 'official' inflation statistics are rearing their ugly heads, while our GDP growth is crawling ahead at 1.3%.

I'm not going to dig into this too much, because it is what it is. I would like to make an important note. Well maybe not important, but just an 'I told you so.' After 4Q GDP came out at a higher than expected 2.5%, I said it was because of inventory compiling. I also said that would show in the 1Q GDP growth. Among other reasons, I believe inventory stockpiling was the main catalyst for the weak number.

So let's take a look at the market. Uuummmm...maybe...ummmm...dollar heading south...ummmm...yeah. In fact, we have hit a new record against the euro. Gold is up slightly. The yellow metal is trying to correct back to the $660 /oz, but the dollar keeps going down. It has lost a lot of momentum, but as long as the dollar stays weak, look gold to take off.

The stock market doesn't care. The market seems to ignore all of the poor economic news that come out, and soars on any piece of weekly or monthly positive information. I still feel that this is a very dangerous time in the stock market. It is up some 16 of the last 18 days. So what. Well, the S&P was up some 18 out of 19 days in 2000 before it lost almost half of its value. So I repeat to anyone who reads this blog: The general stock market is in for a gut check here real soon and that's just the short run. I still the major indices will lose approximately 45% in the coming years. Buy gold!