Investor's Edge with Gary Kaltbaum - Abolish the fed! [04.29.2026]

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

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Investor's Edge with Gary Coltbaum. Straight talk about you and your money. Now from the BizTalk Studios, here is Gary Cultbaum. And welcome once again to Investors Edge. I'm Gary Coltbaum, your host. A thanks for being with us today. Glad you here, ladies and gentlemen. Happy that you are listening.

It's the 29th of April. It's 2006. I believe it's Wednesday. Hope you're having a good day. As always, lots to cover. A heck of a lot. to cover. We'll do the markets. We'll do the economy. We'll do your job, your industry. We'll do Iran. We'll do oil prices. And our thoughts on that and anything else that comes to

mind. And if you do not get this radio show in your city, we will post it at garyk.com. And on our X feed. And if you don't follow us on X, just put our name in. And follow. We'll also post it on the YouTube channel of BizTV. And if you'd like to email us, just be nice. All you got to do is be nice. It's pretty simplistic, respectful, disagree with us 100%. We can disagree with you 100%. Just be respectful. Unless you like Hamas, then we got a problem. let me just start I was going to start with the Fed because J-Powell's last meeting as the head of the Fed

but I must tell you that oil prices were up $8 today 108 if I have this correct on light crude for June delivery, Brent crude for June 120. And if I wasn't watching the market today, and I have seen oil prices sore over the last seven or eight days, I would have simply told you the market

is getting squished. Now, the Dow was down 280 today. I gather because some of the market, oil will affect specific things. The NASDAQ was up nine. The NASDAQ 100 because of certain names, up 158. The semiconductor index, after getting hit yesterday, right back up 235 today off of a few things. to me that's a big wow but maybe a big warning as you know i am a technician first but i'm also a fundamental guy and what is fundamentals earning sales price of oil going up or going down interest

rates up or down how it affects the markets in the economy and we'll see i would have told you based on what I'm seeing in oil prices, I would have thought we would add a five or 600 point down day in the Dow, maybe even more, and the NASDAQ. But we got very simply a good day in the semis bouncing from some real yuck yesterday, off of some news on some names,

and we'll go over those names. Now also, we are awaiting, let's see, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, meta, and that's for starters amongst many other names out there and we'll see how they go. They will have a huge impact on things because of their mega capness

and we'll see how it goes. Already I'm seeing Microsoft and just so you know, a lot of sandbagging. And when I say sandbagging, I see what the estimates of companies are. And estimates were very low. So I can tell you,

Microsoft is right now up 3% in the aftermarket. I can tell you Google, whatever they call it, is up 4% in the aftermarket. I can tell you Amazon is down 1.5% in the aftermarket. And I can tell you meta is down 4.5%. So you got a few different things moving.

But there are other things reporting. So just keep in mind. Very much keep in mind. Oil prices are soaring. We hit a new high, hit a new high at the pump today. and I can promise you if nothing changes it's going to be higher

in a week or two and in case you don't know this will have an effect on the economy especially Uber drivers lift drivers any type of drivers

airlines cruise lines truckers you name it but the market did not care. Well, some things in the market cared today. Other things did not as the semiconductors after having a very rough day yesterday, good day today. Now, let's go back towards the central bank. I don't believe we should have one.

I say abolish the central bank. I have put it out to my audience for years. please email me and tell me why we need a central bank. What do they do besides damage? Nothing. They don't create a job. They don't produce anything. What they have only done throughout the years is created distortions.

Let me explain. Before Ben Bernanke, all we used to think about, and by the way, he was back in the early 2000s, is the central bank would raise rates a quarter point, lower rates a quarter point. But because he was too easy, we had a bubble in housing and mortgage-backed securities back in the mid-2000s, six and seven. And what happened was

all these mucky mucks on Wall Street were buying these mortgage-backed securities and leveraging up the wazoo. Big leveraging up the wazoo. And Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson, who was the Secretary of the Treasury were out every day telling us Don't worry.

Ben Bernanke's famous line. Housing prices never go down. There's nothing to worry about. Well, we found out. And $800 billion of our tax dollars to Wall Street that committed massive fraud at the time. Rating services, rating things, triple A that should have been triple Z. emails between people there lying about it Goldman Sachs putting mortgage-backed securities together and then selling them and then shorting them should be in jail what also Ben Bernanke did he started printing money

thin air and he said it was going to be for just the short term don't worry it's just for the short term. Everything is cool. Everything is fine. Do not worry. It's only for the short term. Well, we found out what the short term meant. Because then comes Powell, who decided markets matter. That's what Jay Powell did. And would ease monetary policy when markets went down. But really, The big trouble with Powell is COVID. Remember, we shut down the economy. That's why they came out with that PPP, where the government wrote big checks to companies

based on how many employees you had, how much you made to last year for a while until we opened back up. That's what happened. But what did Jay Powell do? He printed up to $9 trillion. dollars. You may not, it's just a number. It's gargantuan. Up next. The problems that still exist now. This is the one only Investor's Edge. Hi, I'm Gary Kalbaum, hosted a nationally syndicated

radio show Investor's Edge. We're not just handsome radio people. We manage investors' money for a living, specializing in fee-based discretionary money management. No big commissions, just a fee on the assets that's managed. also provide a full range of personalized services, including retirement planning, fixed income, and educational needs, all to assist you in achieving your financial goals. Understanding not all individuals have the same needs, we'll carefully evaluate your personal goals to determine a proper investment strategy. If your current approach to investing is not getting you to where you would like to be, call us to make an appointment for a complementary

portfolio review. The number to call is 888, 422-5-5-9. That's 888, 4-2-5-9. That's 888-4-2-4-2-5-9. Investment Advisory Services offered through call-bomb capital management. It's time to switch on the integrator units and get the brain cells working. You're listening to. Hey, this promises to be fun. Investors Edge. The last best of quality programming with Gary Coltbaum it doesn't get better than this so remember I said Microsoft in the aftermarket closed at 424 it was 440 it's now 420 down in the aftermarket moved move down 20 bucks quickly the big loser is meta closed at 6669 it's 629 right now So that won't help tomorrow. But besides.

So J-Pow prints to $9 trillion. It takes that money and just takes over the United States bond market, the biggest market in the world. And everybody in the industry knew what he was doing, so they moved in unison. And 10-year yield went down to a half percent. A half percent. a half percent. The 10-year yield was at three. He knocked it down.

Actually, it got down to like three-tenths of a percent. The 10-year yield was attached to mortgages. Well, first off, let's do the first part. You ended up getting zero on your money markets, so the first thing Jay Powell did was screw every saver. Your money markets, that you were getting, whatever percentage, That's number one, number two.

Anybody with a higher mortgage refinanced. That's the good part. And anybody buying a new home got mortgages 3% and less. But when you distort, there's always the outcome of distortions. And what was that? Skyrocketing prices for housing. making them much more unaffordable. People that just got their 3% mortgages,

I'm not selling. That's a gift. Just remember, you get to write off mortgages, the interest. What was the other outcome of Powell? Massive inflation. You know, they keep blaming Biden, and the right blames Biden because it's fashionable to blame a politician.

but it was Powell. And we called it, we predicted it for you. And what happened with inflation? Powell missed the whole thing and had to finally play big time catch-up. How do you play catch-up? You have to start raising rates. Got to catch up, got to catch up, got to catch up.

And as he raised rates, markets suffer. Went through a bare market. And then the distortions. To this day, prices are elevated because once they get going up, very tough to bring them down. And then the housing market, you see what happens. Do you know what we're seeing now? All those people that would not sell, a lot of them are now selling. Inventory skyrocketing many places.

Fantasy land prices coming down. I have a set thing I get every night on new inventory and prices coming down from certain cities here in central Florida, certain areas. Every day, more and more. Jay Powell did not know what the hell he was doing and caused all these problems. Thus, my thought, what does the Fed ever do? Now, to the credit of, he hasn't done anything. anything wrong in the last 15 months in spite of the president ripping him every day. Because the president just wants zero percent interest rates, and let's hope the next guy doesn't listen to him.

Jay Powell, by just lowering rates, taking his time, and then sitting had done the right thing. Because all the central bank really has to do is listen to the markets and act accordingly. But they don't because they think they're God. So the next guy coming in, I hear what he has to say. And I must tell you, I like everything he's saying. He's going to be independent. He's going to get rid of the printed money over time. But do I believe him?

You do know why. He was picked by the president. The president daily, lower rates, lower rates, lower rates. He's a moron. He's an idiot. He's a doofus. Or whatever words he uses on Jay Powell. So what does the Fed do? They move short-term rates and they get in the way.

They're overrated. You know who is underrated? Us. Us. I'm always on TV and asked about the Fed and I always say they're overrated. What matters most is us. We are the economy. not one man

moving interest rates up a quarter or down a quarter or more us I don't know what is it 150 million of us that go to work every day to do better for ourselves

and families we drive the bus but unfortunately government puts people in certain places and all they do is interfere and distort And just so you know, for me, it just nauseates the hell out of me. It pisses me off.

There's too much of them. They've proven it throughout the years. 39 trillion of debt. A Social Security business, that's... Have you read those numbers? And I can go on and on and on about too much of them. and less of us. My biggest complaint of this president is just too much of him. We want less. I've always said to you if I was president, lower taxes, less regulations, strong on crime,

shut the border, get the hell out of the way. Oh, by the way, strong on crime, even-handedly. We'll see how it goes with the next guy. We will watch. if he does the job right we will applaud him but let me repeat there's too much of them not enough of us oh and by the way they're running a $2.5 trillion deficit this year even though we are sending them records

amounts of money $2.5 trillion that they're not supposed to spend you may not know this but they used to fight over deficits the two words debt ceiling used to be fought over. Now they tell us if they don't raise the debt ceiling, all hell's going to break loose.

Up next, a lot of aftermarket movement. We'll have that. And whatever else, this is the one only Investor's Edge. We're listening to. America is talking. Investors Edge. He's got to be pleased with that. The crowd is just on his feet here.

He's a Cinderella boy. with Gary Coltbaum. It comes highly recommended. You're going to feel better if you talk to him. Well, when we say a lot of jello moving on the plate, we got it for you. You ready? This is today's aftermarket, and we'll go back to today's movement because we had some movers today. In the aftermarket, Microsoft closed it to 424.

I have it now 4.13.5. 4.14. was 440 initially. That's not going to help. Meta, I've got that 669 to 628. Amazon initially up. It is now down about $9 in the aftermarket, 263 to 254. Google or Amazon,

that one is up about $8 in the aftermarket. It was up about 14. So three out of the big four, not great. I also have to mention important KLA Corp, which used to be KLA 10 Corp, major semiconductor equipment guy. Ew, closed at 1816. I got it at 1680 in the aftermarket. Those are some icky numbers for some big names.

I got some movers to the upside, which is good to see. How about form factor? That's a semi-conduct you probably don't know. Closed at 135. I got it at 157. That's pretty darn good. How about Ford? Up 40 cents to 1264. How about Carvana closed at 396?

I got it at 432. How about Chapoelais flat? How about Cheesecake Factory is up? a buck, we'll throw a party. How about, I did matter, right? Yeah, I did. Qualcomm. I got it down a buck. That'll do it for now.

Any big changes? Google's ticking up a little bit better, and now also Amazon is ticking up. Amazon's only down five bucks now. It was just down ten. But big moves today.

Here's some big moves. You ready? Symbol B.E. Bloom Energy. Up 61 bucks to 287 on their numbers. How about S-I-M-O, Silicon Motion, up 68 bucks today, the 217. It's a big move, by the way, both into new high ground. How about, well, wing stop. Did that come back today? Yeah, Winkstop was only down a couple of bucks.

Was down 25 at one time. Yeah, we'll leave it at that. Brinker International was up 19. That's Chili's. Etsy. Ooh, here you go. Etsy up six bucks to 70. Generac, the bad, what are they?

The charger company up 35 to 252. General Dynamics, up 25 to 338. The defense stocks have been very, very weak. How about NXP Semiconductor, NXPI, up 57 bucks to 288. But I must tell you, Seagate, you're ready for this? Finished up, 64 bucks. I think that's darned, I take it back. With the aftermarket, it's up $57 on the day.

That's great, right? It opened up at 100, up 120. So they sold into that. Sold into it. So there's some good, not so good in between in the aftermarket. Tomorrow's Apple, by the way, just updating Qualcomma. is now up seven bucks in the aftermarket

and Google Amazon all over the map by the way I got that up about 12 bucks to 362 Amazon only now down about four and a half bucks meta's getting squashed

and Microsoft not having a good one so kind of a tweener and KLAC again that one's getting squashed also so a lot of jello moving on the plate and by the way there's a bunch I haven't even mentioned that are

I don't know if they're less important oh how's while I'm at it might as well do eBay down a little for me though watch oil prices if I slept the day away

and you had told me the USO which is the it is the ETF for oil if you had told me it was up 11 bucks today if you would have told me oil was up 8 and change and I looked a chart of oil

I would have said look out now they did hit airlines bunch of the transports cruise lines have just been weak retail very weak why would retail be very weak. Consumer. Remember, market moves on perception as well as reality. So good for the market and frankly, call me a little bit on the amazed side. Amazed. As far as these names I've been

mentioning, we'll see how they open tomorrow. We're always interested on great reactions to earnings because of good things. I will tell you, Alphabet. bet Google, I would have been owning already a few days ago, but I don't buy right before earnings. Oh, well, that's only up about 4% in the aftermarket. So Microsoft Meta bad, Amazon down a little, Google good, Qualcomm, really good. And Qualcomm's like in our top 20 as far as bigness, and it's been a very, very weak stock. So a little bit all over the map here, and we'll just see what's going on. Keep in mind again, and we're not trying to throw cold water, I don't like where these oil prices are.

And I'm not saying something has to give, but I don't like where these oil prices are. And in case you don't know, really nothing going on out of Iran at this, it's like a standstill. We're blockading their blockade. By the way, that's not a put-down. As I told you, I complimented our blockade. There's the ceasefire, but I worry about that a little bit also. What happens with the ceasefire if this continues? So a lot of moving parts going on.

I didn't even mention yet the banks starting to act a little bit iffy. Why would they act a little bit iffy? fee, it's pretty simple. You don't want rates keep going up. You don't want to see anything that looks like that. And rates would be going up to accommodate for the higher oil. So call me a little bit worried on that end. Again, does not have to be a big deal, but I've remembered in the past, I've remembered in the past what oil prices can do. we're going to keep that big time in mind kids oil stocks of course are up i have yet to scan the retail home depot is at a new yearly low lows is right there oh by the way housing stocks got hit hard

also today oh by the way advanced declines were 14 up 32 down on the nasdaq with the nasdaq up Oh, by the way, advanced declines on the New York, 12 up 31 down. Oh, by the way, there were more New Yearly lows on the NASDAQ than New Yearly highs. So just letting you know, a little bit of that. Oh, and lastly, I had a mention. Intel, now acting like one of the strongest stocks in the semiconductor complex now. Yes, Intel. Not making that up.

Up next. This is that and the other thing. I'm Gary. This is the one and only Investor's Edge. You're listening to. What are we waiting for? Well, what are you waiting for? One, two, ready, go.

Investors Edge. With Gary Culper. And welcome once again to Investor's Edge. Hey, in the news, get this. Elon Musk is going to receive 200 million super voting shares. in Space X. Only if the company establishes a permanent Mars colony with at least one million people. In other words, Elon Musk will only receive his pay package if one million people live on Mars.

In other words, Elon Musk's biggest goal is now establishing a colony on Mars with a similar population as Dallas, Texas. Elon Musk. Huh? Elon Musk. The Fed. We do want to let you know that the Fed changed their language a little bit. The Fed has been characterizing inflation as somewhat elevated.

They now change that to plain old elevated. Whatever. Duh. We had no idea that inflation is elevated. D. Of course it is. You can define inflation any way you want. I got news for you.

Go look at the pump. I was wrong. Starbucks. When the CEO came in, he came up with his own ideas of what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. And I said, nah, don't like it. That is what I said. said, I don't like it. He had come out and said something to the effect of higher prices. We're not going to lower prices and I said I didn't like it. Starbucks up 8.5% today. Earnings up 22

revenues up 9. Both a good acceleration. Well done. I had told you in New York City where I have a little apartment, the Starbucks there was fixed up very nicely. And after they did that, more and more people came in. So I guess maybe he was right. I was wrong. And just so you know, Starbucks broke out of a one-year range today. I'm actually considering it. Now, I will tell you, the stock has done nothing since, you know, I got to. You know, I got to. You know, I got to these new charts and I'm not fond of it. Stock has done nothing since 2019. We'll see if it can break out. I was wrong. Of course, I was also wrong when the iPod came out and I said it was the Walkman. And you know what my biggest wrong ever was? Ever. When the airlines started charging for

luggage, remember what I said? There is no way flyers are going to. go for it. And this is not going to last. And not only they start charging for luggage, they charge for seats. And I said, no way anybody's going to go for that. Unbelievable. Was I wrong? What they realized, what they all simply realized, these airlines, we got monopolies.

People got to fly. We got them by the you know whats. And they were right. Do you know how much they collect on seats and luggage now? Bizzillions. Absolute bazillions. How much does airlines collect in luggage fees? I have

2003 just in the U.S. $33 billion in 2023. They're actively raising the fees now and they're blaming it on oil prices. No really.

Wait, that's global. Global top 20 airlines reach 33 billion in baggage fees. In 23 American Airlines led with $1.2 billion. Boy, did I blow that, huh? And they just raised them again, by the way. When I tell you, when they gotcha, they got you.

A few other things happen today, besides Starbucks. I mentioned Intel. Very strong. I was considering buying Intel today. I haven't owned that stock since 99. I owned it in 1999. That was a beautiful, powerful, in that stock a few days ago and it just rammed through the highs today while the market was weakening.

So whatever's going on there, market liked. And whatever happened yesterday, the market's already given a certain finger. Yesterday there was news about this, that, and the other thing and who's doing what and open AI and they don't have enough and all this, market didn't care today. market didn't care today. And even with Seagate opening up 120 and only finishing up 60, still strong. And as we go into tomorrow, Microsoft is going to be weak. Meta's going to be weaker than that. Amazon's going to be down a little.

But Google Amazon will be up nicely. And Qualcomm looks like it'll be up nicely. So those are the big names into tomorrow. tomorrow after the close will be Apple. I got to think that'll be a good one. And we'll see what else we can find. In the aftermarket, the queues are up. Actually, the cues are down a little bit, but it was worse.

And that's a little bit of your story. Do not forget what I said. I don't, if oil prices keep going up from here, when you have a chance go online and put up chart of, oil prices. It looks like SpaceX. You'll have a great evening drive carefully. When you get home, do like we do it simple.

Make sure you hug your family, hug your children. They will feel better. You will feel better. I promise they will be well. Take care, everybody. Good night. This has been Investor's Edge with Gary Cultbaum on BizTalk. To listen to past episodes or to get in contact with Gary, go to GaryK.com.

That's GaryK.com. You know,