According to recent data, investment frauds, including cryptocurrency scams, have seen a significant surge in the United States. The FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2023 reveals that overall investment frauds grew by 38% to $4.57 billion from $3.31 billion, with cryptocurrency scams accounting for a substantial portion of these frauds. Total investment fraud losses have ballooned over the last five years by nearly 10-fold. And these scams do not just target elderly Americans. Most of the scams are directed at adults aged 30-49.

Before I get into this week’s topic, a nod to the Fed Open Market Committee must be made. The September FOMC meeting starts today, with the much-anticipated announcement of a 25-basis point interest rate cut occurring tomorrow.

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the August read of the Consumer Price Index. On an annual basis, the CPI fell to 2.5%, marking a decrease from July’s report of 2.9%. This level now matches the headline Personal Consumption Expenditure index of 2.5% as announced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on August 30.

As we reported August 27, it appears the Fed now turns its attention to employment numbers, the second part of its dual mandate.

In researching employment information, I ran across a topic about job listings – fake ones. I have to say I was floored that companies are actually advertising fake jobs. Some of the reasons might be legitimate, while others are clearly not.

Read their reasons for using this tactic and let me know what you think.

When you think of stock or commodity market trading you probably picture large crowds of traders shouting and gesturing at each other. That was known as the open outcry system. It is still what I picture and was the norm when I got into this business 30 years ago. Open outcry has been on the decline for 15 years and is now dead as disco. The evolution of electronic trading roughly follows the course below.