23Jan2017 Market Close: Wall Street Down, But Pares Morning Losses By The Closing Bell, Crude Rises Back To Normalcy And The US Dollar Nears Slipping Below 100

Trump pulls U.S. out of Pacific trade deal, loosening Asia ties

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies as China’s influence in the region rises.

U.S. blocks health insurer Aetna’s $34 billion Humana acquisition

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge blocked on Monday health insurer Aetna Inc’s proposed $34 billion acquisition of smaller peer Humana Inc, raising the stakes for rival Anthem Inc as it battles to clear a $54 billion deal to buy Cigna Corp.

Wall Street dips as investors turn defensive

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks declined on Monday to put the S&P 500 on track for its worst session of the year as early signals from President Donald Trump highlighting a protectionist stance on trade put investors on the defensive.

McDonald’s U.S. restaurant sales fall after five quarters of gains

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp’s sales at established U.S. restaurants fell for the first time in six quarters as the novelty of all-day breakfast failed to overcome competition from supermarkets and other food sellers.

FTC settles pay-for-delay lawsuit, files two related complaints

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it had settled allegations that Endo Pharmaceuticals violated antitrust law when it agreed to pay rivals Watson Laboratories and Impax to delay introducing generic versions of two painkillers.

Trump to meet with U.S. auto CEOs amid jobs push

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will have breakfast on Tuesday with the chief executives of General Motors Co , Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV as he pressures automakers to boost American employment.

Citi units to pay $28.8 million for giving U.S. homeowners ‘runaround’: watchdog

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. consumer financial watchdog said on Monday it had fined subsidiaries of Citigroup Inc $28.8 million for giving “the runaround to borrowers” on mortgage servicing by keeping them in the dark about options to avoid foreclosure or making it difficult for them to apply for relief.

U.S. auto parts sellers skid after report on Amazon’s entry

(Reuters) – Shares of U.S. auto part retailers fell sharply on Monday following a report that Amazon.com Inc had set its sights on the $50 billion do-it-yourself after-market auto parts business.

Fed’s Lacker favors faster rate hike path to curb inflation

(Reuters) – Jeffrey Lacker, the hawkish president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said on Monday he is worried inflation could surge unless the U.S. central bank raises interest rates faster than his fellow policymakers anticipate.

Artist’s Impression Of President Trump’s First Day

Presented with no comment…

Source: Townhall.com

The Cost Of Regulatory Compliance: $20,000 For Every American Worker

As JPM writes in its intraday update, the “Trump/Ryan enthusiasm is starting to quietly fade as investors appreciate the enormous logistical and mathematical hurdles associated w/realization of their agenda. The nature of the Trump White House is such that investors should get used to avalanches of headlines, tweets, etc. on a daily basis but very little of this stream of consciousness barrage is likely to be incremental – platitudinous promises about slashing taxes “massively” or cutting regulations “by 75% or more” are increasingly being ignored as markets wait for specifics on the “Big 3″ (tax reform, deregulation, and infrastructure spending). Tax reform continues to account for the bulk of the Trump/Ryan enthusiasm but enormous uncertainty exists around this issue (timing, revenue offsets, forced vs. optional repatriation, 35% vs. 20 or 15% when the average cash/effective rate is already ~23-25%, etc.).”

Yet while investors are becoming somewhat disenchanted with the tax reform and infrastructure spending aspects of the Trump agenda, little has so far been said about the deregulation aspect of Trump’s proposals, and it is here that another potential source of upside, especially to small US businesses – the primary source of job creation – resides.

As JPM’s Michael Cembalest reminds us in his latest note “The Rules of the Game: on regulation and deregulation”, the updated WhiteHouse.gov website states the following: “the President has proposed a moratorium on new federal regulations and is ordering the heads of federal agencies and departments to identify job-killing regulations that should be repealed.”

According to Cemablest, this initiative would be welcomed by small businesses which have expressed rising concerns about regulation since 2009. Similarly, in a 2014 survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, 88% of respondents fel …

The Myth Of The “Passive Indexing” Revolution

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

There is little argument that Exchange Traded Funds, more commonly referred to as “ETF’s” have and will continue to change the landscape of investing. As my colleague Cullen Roche penned:

“The rise of low-cost indexing is one of the most transformational trends in modern investing…The rise of low-cost diversified index funds has changed the meaning of an important debate in finance – the active vs passive debate.”

Currently, the debate over “Active vs. Passive” is raging as article after article is penned discussing the money flows into ETF’s.

For example, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “The Dying Business of Picking Stocks” stating:

“Over the three years ended Aug. 31, investors added nearly $1.3 trillion to passive mutual funds and their brethren—passive exchange-traded funds—while draining more than a quarter trillion from active funds, according to Morningstar Inc.”

CNBC also jumped on the bandwagon with “Peak Passive? Money Is Gushing Out Of Actively Managed Funds.&rdq …

This Video Is For Up-and-Coming Traders (Video)

By EconMatters

We discuss two videos in one here, the first is some mentoring advice to struggling traders, and the last half is some specific market education that will help struggling traders develop some of the fundamentals needed to properly analyze daily price action in financial markets related to tracking the fund flows. Most people at Investment Banks are just faking it, because they will never make it on their own with a profitable Fund independent of Investment Bank Resource advantages.

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Big Telecoms Keep Investors on Hold

Telecom giants Verizon and AT&T have been losing ground to their smaller rivals.

Euro and Dollar Won’t Be Equals Just Yet

The euro, far from heading toward parity with the dollar, is at a six-week high. Risk aversion is a supporting factor for the single currency.

More Babies in China Worth Celebrating—but Mind the Data

Official data shows Chinese women had the most children since 2000 in 2016, but questions remain over whether the data is reliable.

Market Extra: President Donald Trump is set to unleash a cascade of stock-market anxiety

The day of reckoning for the Wall Street is here. Donald Trump has been sworn in as leader of the free world and the level of consternation in the market is palpable.

Market Extra: ‘Godfather’ of chart analysis says ‘Trump rally’ has another 5% pop left

Prominent market technician Ralph Acampora thinks the stock market has more room to run over the near term, despite a trend that has seen the Dow steadily walk back from the psychologically significant level of 20,000.

Market Extra: This is why those jitters over the Trump presidency might be overblown

Although Wall Street appears largely upbeat about President Donald Trump’s pro-growth rhetoric, the euphoria that burst forth in the wake of his election has waned as mounting uncertainty over how he will go about implementing these policies threw cold water on the Trump rally. But at least one analyst believes the recent jitters over the Trump presidency are being overdone.