Written by Gary
US stock markets rose this afternoon after Fed Chair Yellen said interest rates hikes would be gradual. The DOW and Nasdaq set new records . . .
Todays S&P 500 Chart
. . . with the DOW up123 points and the Nasdaq up 1.1%.
Yellen says the US economy is healthy enough for the Fed to raise rates and begin winding down its massive bond portfolio.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall Street rises as Fed signals gradual approach to rate hikes(Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday afternoon after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said interest rates hikes would be gradual and rates will not have to rise much further to reach a neutral level. |
| Fed’s Yellen says rate and portfolio plans on track, cautions on inflationWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is healthy enough for the Fed to raise rates and begin winding down its massive bond portfolio, though low inflation and a low neutral rate may leave the central bank with diminished leeway, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Wednesday. |
| Former Retrophin chairman says Martin Shkreli lied ‘to my face’(Reuters) – Martin Shkreli was ousted as chief executive of drug company Retrophin Inc after disobeying directions from the board of directors and lying about it, the board’s former chairman testified at Shkreli’s securities fraud trial on Wednesday. |
| Tech firms protest proposed changes to U.S. net neutrality rulesNEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facebook Inc , Twitter Inc , Alphabet Inc and dozens of other major technology companies protested online on Wednesday against proposed changes to U.S. net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to certain internet services over others. |
| Elliott tells court it was barred from seeking Oncor financingWILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – An attorney for Elliott Management on Wednesday complained to a bankruptcy court judge that the owner of Texas’s largest power distribution business did not provide the investment fund with information needed to line up financing for its offer of more than $18 billion to buy the company. |
| Pioneering cancer gene therapy by Novartis backed by U.S. panel(Reuters) – Novartis AG’s pioneering cancer drug won the backing of a federal advisory panel on Wednesday, paving the way for the first gene therapy to be approved in the United States. |
| RBS to pay $5.5 billion to resolve major U.S. mortgage probeLONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $5.5 billion to settle one of the two major U.S. investigations into allegations it mis-sold mortgage-backed bonds that it needs to resolve before the British government can sell its shares. |
| American Airlines’ upbeat forecast lifts airline stocks(Reuters) – U.S. airline stocks rose on Wednesday after American Airlines Group Inc became the latest carrier to raise its estimate for per seat revenue over the past week. |
| Blumenthal asks antitrust pick to discuss White House role in AT&T dealWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday that he asked President Donald Trump’s top antitrust pick to meet to discuss any contact he has had with the White House regarding AT&T’s plan to merge with Time Warner . |
| “Buy All The Things” – Yellen’s Dovish Flip Sparks Bid In Stocks, Bonds, Bullion, & BitcoinDid The Fed just step in to replace the Trump premium as Junior’s email dashes hopes of tax breaks further? Timing is certainly interesting… Equities and Treasuries rose and the dollar sank after markets interpreted Chair Yellen’s testimony before Congress as dovish even as it echoed the most recent FOMC statement. The rally was aided as the Fed chair made no mention of asset prices just a week after her comment that some looked “somewhat rich.” Yesterday’s Trump-Junior-Dump was indeed a ‘storm in a teacup’ as a flip-flopping Yellen showed the way this morning by hinting once again at just how clueless The Fed is and that rates may not raise much from here…
Cash markets show the big gap open then only Nasdaq drifted higher (up 4 days in a row – longest streak since May)…Trannies were best
VIX was clubbed like a baby seal once again Yellen’s dovish statement sent Bonds, Stocks, and Gold higher… |
| “Canada Is In Serious Trouble” Again, And This Time It’s For RealSome time ago, Deutsche Bank’s chief international economist, Torsten Slok, presented several charts which showed that “Canada is in serious trouble” mostly as a result of its overreliance on its frothy, bubbly housing sector, but also due to the fact that unlike the US, the average household had failed to reduce its debt load in time.
Additionally, he demonstrated that it was not just the mortgage-linked dangers from the housing market (and this was before Vancouver and Toronto got slammed with billions in “hot” Chinese capital inflows) as credit card loans and personal lines of credit had both surged, even as multifamily construction was at already record highs and surging, while the labor market had become particularly reliant on the assumption that the housing sector would keep growing indefinitely, suggesting that if and when the housing market took a turn for the worse, or even slowed down as expected, a major source of employment in recent years would shrink.
Fast forward to today, when the trends shown by Slok two years ago have only grown more acute, with Canada’s household debt continuing to rise, i … |
| Was Trump Jr Meeting Deep-State Setup For FISA Wiretaps? Russian Atty Hates President & Linked To ‘Pissgate’ Firm
Content originally published at iBankCoin.com
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| Meet The Next Trump-Russia Narrative: The “Jared Kushner-Run Digital Operation”After the Trump Jr. “bombshell” thoroughly runs it’s course, which, based on what we know right now, seems inevitable given that the entire premise of the meeting looks increasingly like “inane nonsense” (see: How Hermitage Capital, Ziff Brothers And The Clinton Global Initiative Prompted The Trump Jr. Meeting), the mainstream media will need a new Trump-Russia narrative to fill their airtime. Barring any new revelations from anonymous sources, as McClatchy points out, that new narrative could very well be focused on Trump’s “Jared Kushner-run digital operation.” According to the ever-impartial Representative Adam Schiff of California, the inquiry into Trump’s digital operation is centered around whether his campaign ever coordinated with Russian entities to help plant fake news stories on U.S. social media sites. Per McClatchy:
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| Yellen’s Wish May Not Come TrueThe Federal Reserve expects to raise rates gradually. If the unemployment rate keeps falling, that plan might not hold up. |
| Drug Prices Under Fire, in the StatesInvestors in drug companies should give some attention to state capitals, where a wave of bills designed to limit drug price increases are under consideration. |
| How an Old Flop Could Boost Big TobaccoSo-called heat-not-burn cigarettes have finally come of age. But it may pay to bet on the challenger, not the leader. |
| July 2017 Beige Book: Reading Between The Lines – Rate Of Economic Expansion Slowed?
The consolidated economic report from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts (Beige Book) stated “the pace of growth ranging from slight to moderate”. The previous report stated “economies continued to expand at a modest or moderate pace from early April through late May”. |
| Key Words: Dan Rather weighs in on the ‘grotesque new shapes’ of American democracyThe former CBS Evening News anchor is not a fan of the Trump administration. That’s clear from his social-media rants. |
| NRG to sell assets, slash costs, bowing to activist pressureNRG buckles to pressure from activist investors, and says it would sell up to $4 billion in assets, slash costs, and lower its debt as part of a ‘transformation plan.’ |
| Market Extra: Dividend payouts hit a record in the second quarter—but growth sputteringWith major U.S. stock market indexes near records, companies seem less inclined to attract investors by returning more money to shareholders. |
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