05Dec2016 Market Close: US Markets Close Higher, WTI Crude Settles At $51.09, US Dollar Drops Below 100 Temporally

Wall Street gains, helped by oil, economic data

(Reuters) – Wall Street rose on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials setting a fresh intraday record high, as further gains in oil prices fueled the energy sector and data showed strength in the domestic economy.

Oil hits 16-month high in buying rush after OPEC agreement

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Crude rose above $55 a barrel to hit a 16-month high on Monday as rising prospects of a tightening market after last week’s OPEC landmark deal to cut production has given speculators impetus to increase bets on higher prices.

U.S. services sector activity scales one-year high

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. services sector activity hit a one-year high in November, with a surge in production boosting hiring, further evidence of strength in the economy that clears the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next week.

U.S. retailers value enthusiasm over experience for holiday hires

(Reuters) – This U.S. holiday shopping season, wearing the brand is more likely to help get you a job in a store than experience, as retailers look for enthusiasm that will persuade customers to spend and help numb the impact of online rivals like Amazon.com Inc.

Chesapeake to sell Haynesville asset for $450 million to Indigo Minerals LLC

(Reuters) – Chesapeake Energy Corp , the second largest U.S. producer of natural gas, said on Monday that it would sell a part of its acreage in the Haynesville Shale area for $450 million to a private company, which Reuters sources revealed as Indigo Minerals LLC, a competing natural gas producer.

Trump policies may work if they improve productivity: Fed’s Bullard

PHOENIX (Reuters) – The policies outlined by President-elect Donald Trump could boost the U.S. economy if they improve productivity, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Monday.

Barclays’ exit from energy trading stirs concerns over liquidity

NEW YORK (Reuters) – British bank Barclays Plc has joined the list of top banks to exit energy trading, an exodus that analysts say raises concern among oil producers that falling liquidity means they cannot use derivatives for their basic function: to hedge risk by locking in future prices.

GE Power sees little sales impact if U.S. quits climate deals

NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Electric’s sales of power plant upgrades would not suffer much if the United States bailed out of climate change treaties under a Trump administration as utilities still want the economic benefits that come with modernizations, GE’s power services chief said on Monday.

Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves.

A Look At This Week’s “Other” Big Event: What To Expect From Mario Draghi On Thursday

With the Italian referendum now in the rearview mirror, the market’s attention focuses on this Thursday’s second most important event, the ECB meeting on Thursday. Here the biggest question is whether, alongside the now widely expected extension of the ECB’s QE which is set to mature in March 2017, and which most analysts believe will be prolonged until at least September 2017, Mario Draghi will also announce some form of tightening or tapering of QE purchases or an eventual formal ending of its asset purchases, as Reuters hinted in a trial balloon report last week.

As readers will recall, on December 1 Reuters reported that in advance of its March 2017 meeting, the ECB was considering sending a “formal signal after its policy meeting next Thursday that the program will eventually end.” It added that skeptics of more stimulus on the bank’s Governing Council “have accepted that an extension beyond the current expiry date of March is inevitable given weak underlying inflation and heightened political risk.”

The question remains how to structure that extension. According to report, much of the preparatory staff work had focused on a six-month extension at a steady pace of 80 billion euros per month, an option favored by many as growth is sluggish, inflation lacks momentum and political risk from key elections keeps the chances of market volatility high, three sources said. But some have indicated they would favor an extension at lower volumes, for example nine months at 60 billion euros a month, fearing that a straight extension could make the program appear open-ended, two of the sources said.

A compromise under discussion would be to signal the program’s eventual end, possibly in the bank’s forward guidance, indicating that the purchases cannot be extended indefinitely. Another option is not to specify monthly purchas …

Can Trumponomics Fix What’s Broken?

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

In this past weekend’s missive, I stated:

“Following the election, the market has surged around the theme of ‘Trumponomics’ as a ‘New Hope’ as tax cuts and infrastructure spending (read massive deficit increase) will fuel earnings growth for companies, stronger economic growth, and higher asset prices. It is a tall order given the already lengthy economic recovery at hand, but like I said, it is ‘hope’ fueling the markets currently.

As you can imagine, I received quite a few comments from readers suggesting that each percentage of tax cuts will lead to surging corporate earnings and economic growth. This was a point made by Bob Pisani recently on CNBC:

“The current 2017 estimate for the entire S&P 500 is roughly $131 per share. Thompson estimates that every 1 percentage point reduction in the corporate tax rate could ‘hypothetically’ add $1.31 to 2017 earnings.

So do the math: If there is a full 20 percentage point reduction in the tax rate (from 35 percent to 15 percent …

As Dakota Celebrates, Trump Advisors Propose Privatizing Oil-Rich Indian Reservations

With celebrations continuing at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest (following the “Monumental victory” following the Obama administration’s decision not to grant the construction permit), it appears the Trump administration has very different ideas.

Having confirmed Trump’s support for the pipeline (not to do with his investments), Reuters reports a Trump advisory group proposes the politically explosive idea of putting oil-rich Indian reservation lands into provate ownership.

As we noted last night, after months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota, among others, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today effectively shut down the project by refusing to approve the last remaining permit required to complete a segment running under Lake Oahe. Per

American Greed – The Fix (Video)

By EconMatters

We discuss the markets in general today in this video before moving onto the topic of American Greed, and an analysis and cure for the typical way investors lose all their money to these Ponzi Schemes. Ask for 3 year audited returns from an accredited 3rd Party auditing firm.

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Italy Vote Puts Bonds to the Test

Italy’s rejection of constitutional reform and the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi are far from being a Brexit-style shock. Markets got this one right. But even more political uncertainty is the result. Italian bonds remain in the crosshairs.

Italian Dilemma: To Bend the Rules or Break the Banks

If Monte dei Paschi fails to raise capital, the eurozone faces two equally unappealing options.

Volkswagen Takes on Uber—Again

Six months after investing in one Uber competitor, the German automotive giant has launched another.

Marsh on Monday: Italian vote against the elites could shatter Europe

Rejection of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s constitutional reform proposals may trigger a period of destabilizing change that could tear the euzozone apart, writes David Marsh.

The Wall Street Journal: Natural gas prices rise to nearly 2-year high

Natural-gas prices pushed a three-week rally to a new high Monday as cooler forecasts continue raising expectations for demand.

5 things to know about hotel search platform Trivago ahead of its IPO

The company, known for the tousled-haired guy from its TV ads, has an unusual business model.