Americans paid record prices for steak this year. They kept buying it anyway. Financial analysts called this "inelastic demand." Normal people called it "I want a f*cking ribeye."
Beef prices hit all-time highs. Consumers responded by deciding steak counts as an affordable luxury. That's the same logic a guy uses when he buys a jet ski on a credit card at 22% APR. It's special. It's worth it. He'll figure out the payments later while the repo man circles his driveway.
The article says people are prioritizing beef for special occasions. Special occasions like Tuesday. Or successfully parallel parking. Or making it through another Zoom call without telling Karen from compliance to go f*ck herself.
Here's what technical analysis tells us about this headline: absolutely nothing. Beef prices went up. People bought beef. Demand stayed flat. You could chart this on a napkin or you could light that napkin on fire. Either way you'd learn the same amount about where to put your money.
Retail traders saw this story and immediately started Googling cattle futures. They're convinced there's an edge here. There isn't. Cattle futures have been around since 1964. Every possible angle has been arbitraged into dust by computers that think faster than you blink. But sure, go ahead. Buy the dip on pork bellies because Americans like bacon. See how that works out.
The real story is simpler. People like steak. Steak costs more. They bought it anyway because the alternative is eating chicken breast for the fourth time this week while pretending they're not dead inside.
This has nothing to do with your portfolio unless you own a cattle ranch, and if you own a cattle ranch you're not reading financial news written by a guy named Phil.
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