Retirement Lifestyle Advocates
Weekly Market Update by Retirement Lifestyle Advocates
A Perspective on Gold
At approximately $3000 per ounce, all the gold held collectively by the world’s central banks is worth about $3 trillion (Source: https://vongreyerz.gold/next-gold-move-will-surprise-the-world).
By contrast, the total market capitalization of Apple, is $3.21 trillion.
The total market capitalization of the Standard and Poor’s 500 is about $48 trillion, and the total market capitalization of the Wilshire 5000 total stock market index is about $53 trillion.
Think about that in terms of gold being real money for thousands of years, and you’ll get some perspective on how overvalued stocks are and perhaps how undervalued gold may be.
Russia Using Cryptocurrencies in Trade with India and China
Russian oil companies are using the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and USDt for trade with India and China (Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/russia-bitcoin-oil-trade-crypto-payments).
Due to international sanctions imposed on Russia, some Russian oil companies have been using Bitcoin and Tether’s USD in trade. This story was reported originally by Reuters citing four different sources.
Late last year, the Russian finance minister publicly stated that Russia was free to use alternative assets like Bitcoin in trade; however, this is the first time the actual use of cryptocurrencies in trade has been reported.
One of the sources cited by Reuters says that crypto will continue to be used in Russia’s foreign oil trading even if sanctions are lifted, and Russia can once again use the US Dollar. Reuter’s source said, “It is a convenient tool and helps run operations faster.”
This report coincides with another that suggested the Bank of Russia is moving to legalize cryptocurrency investments for high-net-worth Russian citizens.
A $50 Million Coffee Mistake
A Los Angeles jury awarded Michael Garcia a $50 million judgment as compensation for a hot coffee spilling on his lap as he was going through a Starbucks drive-through.
Garcia’s lawyers successfully argued that a Starbucks barista failed to adequately secure a scorching hot drink into a beverage tray containing several venti-sized drinks.
Garcia’s attorney stated his client suffered permanent and life-changing disfigurement and had to undergo skin grafts and other procedures.
Starbucks plans to appeal.
Stocks Down Year-to-Date
The Standard and Poor’s 500 opened 2025 at 5903.26 and today stands at 5,638.94. That’s a year-to-date decline of 4.48%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the year at 42,660.09 and is now 41,488.19 for a year-to-date decline of 2.75%.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ is not fairing as well. The index opened in 2025 at 19,403.90 and is now 17,754.09. That’s a decline of 8.5% at this point in 2025.
Often, when examining stock performance, it pays to pay attention to the 50-day moving average of price and the 200-day average of price and look at current price levels relative to those key levels that are often monitored by institutional investors.
The chart below is a chart of an exchange-traded fund that has the investment objective of tracking the price action of the S&P 500. Each bar on the chart represents one day of price action, with the green bars being days that prices moved higher and the red bars being days that prices moved lower.
The blue line on the chart is the 50-day moving average of price, and the purple line on the chart is the 200-day moving average of price. Notice that current price levels are below both of those key thresholds.
That means that we are now in a technical bear market until such time as we see a price move above those levels on high volume.
Kohl’s Stock Plunges
Since October of last year, Kohl’s department store stock (KSS) has fallen more than 60%!
That’s the lowest level in nearly 30 years.
Kohl’s reported that 4th quarter revenues fell by 9.4% in 20224 from the same period in 2023. Revenues for calendar year 2024 were 7.3% lower than in 2023. (Source: https://wolfstreet.com/2025/03/11/kohls-spirals-into-brick-and-mortar-meltdown-blames-constrained-consumers-but-its-just-losing-them-to-ecommerce-which-is-booming/)
Net income for the 4th quarter plummeted by 74% to $48 million. Net income for the entire year fell 66%.
Interestingly, while Kohl’s sales declined by 9.4% year-over-year, e-commerce sales jumped by 9.3% year-over-year.
While many consumers are strapped because of inflation, these statistics also suggest a change in shopping habits by consumers.
This week’s RLA radio program features an interview that I did with economist and best-selling author, Mr. Harry Dent. I get Harry’s forecast for stocks given the recent decline and also get his real estate forecast.
The interview is posted and available now by clicking on the "Podcast" tab at the top of this page.
“Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.”
-Don Marquis
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