05Jan2017 Market Close: US Markets Close Fractionally Lower, US Dollar Remains Weak As Crude Prices Climb

Trump: Toyota faces big tax if it builds Corolla cars for U.S. in Mexico

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday targeted Toyota Motor Corp , threatening to impose a hefty fee on the Japanese automaker it if builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a plant in Mexico.

Amazon leads Nasdaq to record; S&P off on banks, retail

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 closed slightly lower on Thursday weighed by financial shares and as investors dumped traditional retailers, but the Nasdaq Composite set a record closing high led by the strength of online retailer Amazon .

Verizon executive says company unsure about Yahoo deal

(Reuters) – A senior Verizon Communications Inc executive said on Thursday that the company was unsure about its planned acquisition of Yahoo Inc’s internet business.

Bitcoin plunges as much as 20 percent as Chinese yuan soars

LONDON (Reuters) – A dramatic rally in digital currency bitcoin came to a spectacular end on Thursday with a plunge of up to 20 percent as China’s yuan rose sharply – further evidence of an intriguing inverse relationship between the pair.

Dismal holiday sales at Macy’s and Kohl’s cast gloom over sector

(Reuters) – Disappointing holiday-season sales at Macy’s Inc and Kohl’s Corp underscored the uphill task facing department stores to win back shoppers, who are increasingly turning to online retailers and spending less on apparel.

Exclusive: Nissan halts joint development of luxury cars with Daimler – sources

PARIS (Reuters) – Nissan is halting joint development of luxury cars with Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, sources close to the companies told Reuters, suspending a key project in their seven-year partnership and potentially hitting profitability at a new shared factory in Mexico.

Surge in orders boosts services sector; jobless claims tumble

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. services sector activity held at a one-year high in December as new orders surged, while the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 43-year-low last week, suggesting the economy ended 2016 with strong momentum.

Meredith approaches Time Inc over potential merger: Bloomberg

(Reuters) – Media company Meredith Corp has contacted Time Inc to express intent in a potential merger, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Possible Fed limits on Wall Street energy bets will be ‘harmful’: U.S. Chamber

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday blasted the Federal Reserve’s regulatory work and called on the central bank to scrap a proposal to limit Wall Street’s energy bets and commodities investments.

Bonds & Bullion Bounce But Banks Bruised And Bitcoin Bloodbath’d

It appears China chaos is finally starting to spread. Liquidity freezes and currency spikes…

Offshore has exploded higher – erasing all the losses post-Trump…

We get the feeling this is appropriate…

The USD Index is getting hammered…biggest 2-day drop since June 2016

China comments sparked a bloodbath in bitcoin…

And Treasury bond yields have plunged… (how do you say “policy error” in Chinese?)

Is Your Sears Or KMart Store About To Close?

One day after Macy’s announced it would fire more thousands of workers after another holiday spending debacle, and will shut down dozens of stores as the overhyped consumer recovery fails to materialize for the 7th consecutive year, today struggling Sears Holdings, owner of K-Mart announced that the near-insolvent, anachronistic retail chain has obtained some more last-second liquidity after selling its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black and Decker for $900 million. That was not enough however, as Sears needed another billion dollar which it got courtesy of its controlling shareholder Eddie Lampert who gave the company a $1 billion loan.

The company, which has been near death for years and years, issued the latest dire warning about its holiday business on Thursday, when it announced same-store sales fell as much as 13% in November and December, compared with a 2.1% drop at Macy’s Inc.

As a result, “vendors had gotten really spooked,” said Gary Herwitz, a managing director of CoMetrics Partners, which advises companies that supply goods to Sears. “But now it seems that Sears bought themselves another year.”

Meanwhile, it now appears that instead of a long-overdue “big bang” bankruptcy, Sears will continue instead melting away with periodic closures of its thousands of badly run, inefficient stores. And indeed, this morning Sears said it would continue to shrink by closing 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores, including the original Kmart location that opened in Garden City, Mich., in 1962. Over the past decade, the company has closed or sold more than 2,000 stores, or two thirds of its locations.

So is your neighborhood Sears or KMart store one of the 150 that are about to shut down as the heat around the melting Sears ice cobe is raised by one more degree? Find out on the chart below.

Risk Reward Analysis for Financial Markets

By EconMatters

We focus this video regarding the potential upside for stocks versus the considerable downside risk for investors. All Technical Analysis is flawed and backward looking, it is a Critical Thinking flaw to extrapolate the future from the most recent past. I want to know the next market move, and not still be stuck on the most recent market move. And the most important fact of all is valuations, stocks are in a bubble right now due to Central Banks extreme monetary policies.

I have news for you we already had the “Inflation Trade” from 2008 to 2016, now we are setting up for the Market Crash Trade from 2017 until Stocks find a bottom based upon fundamental valuations that are sustainable long term. Central Banks have all shot their wad, they are loaded to the gills with assets, which once the decline comes, and people (including central banks) start experiencing losses on their portfolio holdings, selling begets selling, and the Stock Markets around the Globe start crashing like the Tulip Market did, and every bubble market since the beginning of time.

This always plays out the same way every single time. Silicon Valley has already started crashing, the Brick and Mortar Retailers are going through their own systemic recession, the financie …

Supposed Russian Hack Further Illustrates the Divide Between CIA and Trump

Via TheDailyBell

No Russian attempt to hack Vermont power grid found … Burlington Electric Department now says code associated with Russian hackers wasn’t on its employee’s laptop. Someone browses the internet on his work laptop. The laptop connects to a potentially malicious IP address. Nothing happens. -CNet

On Friday evening, there was a report that a Russian hacker had penetrated the US electrical grid, but on Monday the allegation had been retracted. This is significant because such allegations often do not receive the same coverage the initial allegation.

The idea that the Russians are regular and significant hackers of such things as the American elections has been made but not proven. However, various entites in the US including the CIA have made these allegations nonetheless.

Mobileye’s Road Gets More Crowded

Chip companies are driving hard at future of self-driving cars, raising competitive stakes for Mobileye.

Retailers Will Keep Singing the Blues

Problems at Macy’s and Kohl’s are emblematic of an industry in transition toward a less-profitable business model.

China’s Electric-Vehicle Strategy Riddled With Potholes

China will be the world’s largest user of electric cars. It won’t necessarily dominate producing them.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman says recalled Karma drone can be fixed with tape

GoPro, Inc. Chief Executive Nick Woodman spoke about the Karma drone on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Uncertainty about Trump administration is what’s keeping CFOs up at night

Deloitte survey finds finance heads optimistic about their own business but full of uncertainty about what’s to come.

The Ratings Game: Macy’s and Kohl’s still struggling to come to grips with e-commerce and the Amazon effect

Macy’s and Kohl’s weak holiday sales indicate that even with favorable conditions, retailers must take greater steps to take their business across channels.