Written by Gary
U.S. stocks edged lower (SPY -0.2%) for a second consecutive session today as underwhelming corporate earnings and gross domestic product data dampened recent enthusiasm. Short-term indicators, while not so accurate lately, are fractionally bearish.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | U.S. economy slows on wider trade gap; business spending risesWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter as a plunge in shipments of soybeans weighed on exports, but steady consumer spending and rising business investment pointed to sustained strength in domestic demand. |
| Wall Street dips after tepid GDP, earningsNEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks edged lower for a second consecutive session on Friday as underwhelming corporate earnings and gross domestic product data dampened recent enthusiasm over policy actions by President Donald Trump. |
| Tycoon Slim says united Mexico ready for Trump talksMEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said on Friday a united Mexico was ready to help the government negotiate with Donald Trump, and tried to calm fears in his country about what the U.S. president’s policies would mean for its economy. |
| U.S. supermarket shares dip after Trump threatens Mexico tradeSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of U.S. supermarket operators fell on Friday as President Donald Trump kept up his criticism of Mexico, which is a major supplier of produce and other foods for U.S. consumers. |
| German prosecutors open fraud inquiry into former Volkswagen CEOBERLIN (Reuters) – German prosecutors are investigating former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn on suspicion of fraud, looking into when he first knew that the carmaker was rigging diesel emissions tests. |
| Ford braced for $600 million Brexit currency hitPARIS (Reuters) – Ford’s 2017 earnings will be hit by a delayed currency impact of at least $600 million from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the U.S. carmaker told Reuters, putting last year’s record European profit levels beyond reach. |
| Mexico’s Slim not selling New York Times stock: spokesmanMEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has not be selling stock in the New York Times Co , Slim’s son-in-law and main spokesman, Arturo Elias Ayub, said on Friday after the newspaper’s stock slid on comments made by Slim during a media conference. |
| J&J loses venue fight for talc lawsuits in Missouri(Reuters) – The Missouri Supreme Court has denied Johnson & Johnson’s bid to move out of a St. Louis state court thousands of lawsuits alleging the company’s talc-based products can increase the risk of ovarian cancer. |
| Border tax ideas roil oil markets, favor Gulf Coast refinersHOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – As with many industries now fretting over the uncertain future of U.S. trade policy, the oil business is sizing up the potential impact of the various protectionist measures being bandied about Washington – which have sent crude markets into a tizzy. |
| Stocks Soar To Record Highs As Peso Jumps Most In A YearJust seemed appropriate… Ugly GDP helped take US Macro to its worst weekly drop in over 3 months…
Stocks had their best week in 2 months…(Trannies best, S&P worst)
Banks had a great week…(post-Inauguration)
But we wanted to bring this to stock traders’ attention…
Note however that the short-squeeze highs were hit on Wednesday’s open… |
| Obama Issued A Massive Ammunition Ban Just One Day Before He Left OfficeSubmitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,
In early December SHTFplan contributor Jeremiah Johnson warned the inauguration was still a long way off and that we should never underestimate a Marxist with an army of oligarchs to lean on. It turns out that Johnson’s warnings were right on target, as we have learned over the last couple of weeks that President Obama and officials in his administration moved feverishly to implement new rules and regulations with last minute initiatives. One such regulation, which seemingly disappeared within the hustle and bustle of inauguration day, was a new order issued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe just 12 hours before our new President was sworn into office.
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| Is It Smart For Trump To Embrace “Big League” Dow Gains? History Says NoPresident Trump is anything but traditional. He frequently says things that his predecessors would never have dared to utter publicly. But, for the most part, his supporters applaud the candor and straight talk. That said, one Presidential tradition that Trump may not want to break is celebrating stock market gains because what goes up, at least on Wall Street, usually comes crashing down in spectacular fashion at some point soon thereafter. Alas, that didn’t stop Trump from celebrating #Dow20K over twitter:
Trump assistant, Anthony Scaramucci, also celebrated, saying “Dow 20,000 = big league. Thank you @POTUS.”
Of course, the only problem with taking credit for the gains on Wall Street is that you set yourself up to also get blamed for the losses. Thats why, according to The Hill, past presidents have shied away from linking their presidency to stock market gains. |
| Make Stocks Volatile AgainThe general sentiment on the Convergex trading desks continues to be bearish, so today Nichaolas Colas reviews seasonal patterns for the CBOE VIX Index going back to its starting point in 1990 to see what that math says about current market risk.
Over the last 27 years, the VIX has tended to bottom in three specific months: January (15% of the time), July (22%), and December (30%). When the VIX does bottom in January, its average low reading is 12.2; today’s close was 11.9. That doesn’t guarantee that we’re at the lows on the VIX for the year, but given January’s propensity to represent an annual low it does merit your attention. And since changes in the CBOE VIX index are strongly (and negatively) correlated to equity market returns, this is a warning sign about the near term direction of US stocks. Potential hiding places are few and far between, but we’d look at yield sensitive groups like Utilities, Consumer Staples and REITs, plus precious metals. Nothing much typically happens in January, right? It is cold out, daylight is in short supply, and everyone is economizing after spending too much around the Holidays. More recently, the “Dry January” movement seems to have emptied out the bars and nightspots in N … |
| Here’s What Can Drive the Economy HigherThe economy put in yet another tepid performance last year, but President Donald Trump says things are about to get a lot better. How might that come true? |
| Apple’s Hunt for Marginal GainsIt is too early to know what exactly Apple has in mind for the next iPhone. It isn’t too early to think about what it might cost — for both the company and its customers. |
| Why Merck’s Pricing Candor is Good for Big PharmaMerck publishing its list of average price increases shows how big pharma is starting to strike the right note in the battle over high drug prices. |
| Known Unknowns: Why a Trump trade war is a danger to the S&P 500A trade war with Mexico will punish U.S. multinationals who have taken advantage of NAFTA to lower production costs, analyst argues. That means the S&P 500 could be vulnerable. |
| Personal Finance Daily: The home prices taking a beating and questions you should ask about a jobFriday’s top personal finance stories |
| Deep Dive: Fund that almost tripled the S&P 500’s gain last year is now big on health-care stocksThe Highland Small Cap Equity Fund made a killing on energy stocks in 2016, generating a 32% return for investors. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
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