28Mar2017 Market Update: Wall Street Ends 8 Day Losing Streak, DOW Up Triple Digits After Strong Consumer Confidence Number, US Dollar Climbs Higher, Energy Up 1%

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are higher today with shares in U.S. leading the region. The S&P 500 is up 0.57% while Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.32% and Mexico’s IPC is up 0.23%.

Dow on track to snap eight-day losing streak as banks gain

(Reuters) – The Dow was on track to snap an eight-day losing streak on Tuesday as financial stocks rose on the back of strong consumer data, offsetting losses in the healthcare sector.

Consumer confidence hits 16-year high; house prices rise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer confidence surged to a more than 16-year high in March amid growing labor market optimism while the goods trade deficit narrowed sharply in February, suggesting the economy was regaining momentum after faltering at the start of the year.

Trump to offer federal coal to industry awash in reserves

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has billed his move to re-open federal lands to new coal leases as a win for miners seeking to expand production. But a review of company filings shows that coal miners with the most to gain already have enough leases in hand to last well over a decade.

Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital urges GM to create two share classes

(Reuters) – David Einhorn’s hedge fund Greenlight Capital Inc urged General Motors Co to split its common stock into two classes, a proposal that was swiftly rejected by the carmaker.

Toshiba’s Westinghouse to file for U.S. bankruptcy Tuesday: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. nuclear developer Westinghouse Electric Co plans to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors on Tuesday as it struggles with losses that have thrown its Japanese parent Toshiba Corp into crisis, people familiar with Toshiba’s thinking said.

Tesla deal boosts Chinese presence in U.S. auto tech

DETROIT (Reuters) – China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd has bought a 5 percent stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla Inc for $1.78 billion, the latest investment by a Chinese internet company in the potentially lucrative market for self-driving vehicles and related services.

Rule volatility as Brexit countdown unsettles sterling

LONDON (Reuters) – While banks warn Britain’s European Union divorce could drive the pound below $1.20, their option traders have cut the cost of insuring against further falls in the two years it has left inside the bloc.

VW board recommends discharging top management, supervisory panel

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s supervisory board has recommended shareholders to discharge the carmaker’s top management and the supervisory panel from liability for actions taken last year.

Amazon clinches deal to buy Middle East online retailer Souq.com

DUBAI (Reuters) – Souq.com will expand its workforce and operations after Amazon clinched a deal to buy 100 percent of the Middle East online retailer, executives from both firms said.

$20 Trillion Debt – It’s Time To Start Believing In The Impossible

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

I’ll start today with a confession: I’m an unabashed optimist.

I believe that this is one of the most exciting times in all of human history to be alive. And with good reason.

Think about it- compared to thousands of years of violent warfare that ravaged most of the world’s major cities, we live in an era of relative peace.

Pockets of conflict will always exist. But right now there’s no major world war… no persistent threat of nuclear annihilation.

We also live in a time when more than 1 billion people in developing countries are rapidly rising into the Middle Class.

Their standards of living are improving like never before seen, and this creates an abundance of compelling opportunity.

Also, we humans now have the capacity to live longer, healthier lives… and to stay productive for longer than ever before.

Just a few weeks ago, a Texas physicist named John Goodenough invented revolutionary new battery technology.

He’s 94, and he insists that he has plenty of great ideas left to invent.

Most of all we live in a time of astonishing technological transformation.

Entrepreneurs can start businesses in minutes and reach customers on the other side of the planet.

Consumers can find products from around the world and seek funding online through Peer-to-Peer websites instead of traditional banks.

It’s amazing what we’re able to do and achieve now thanks to modern technology, jus compared to even 10 or 20 years ago.

I count myself among the countless individuals who have been able to benefit from these exciting trends.

< …

Silver bear market could end here!

Below looks at the performance of Silver, Gold and the S&P 500 year to date. Metals and miners are off to a good start in 2017. Even though the stock market has received a good deal of attention this year, metals have done even better. Is the performance in 2017 the start of something even bigger for Silver & Gold?

CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE

Cable Tumbles As Scottish Parliament Votes For 2nd Independence Referendum

A day ahead of UK PM Theresa May’s timeline for submitting Article 50 and beginning formal Brexiut procedures, Scottish parliament just voted 69 to 59 in facor of a second Scottish independence referendum. While somewhat expected, cable is lagging on the news…

As AP reports, Scottish lawmakers have voted to seek a new referendum on independence, to be held within the next two years.

The Scottish parliament voted 69-59 to back First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s call to ask the British government for an independence vote.

Sturgeon says Scots must be given the chance to vote on their future before Britain leaves the European Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to launch the U.K’s two-year process to exit the EU on Wednesday by triggering Article 50 of the bloc’s key treaty.

“Scotland’s future should be in Scotland’s hands,” Sturgeon told lawmakers in the Edinburgh-based parliament.

Scottish voters rejected independence in a 2014 referendum that Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party called a once-in-a-generation vote. But Sturgeon says Brexit has changed the situation dramatically.

She says there should be a new vote on independence between fall 2018 and spring 2019, when details of Britain’s divorce terms with the bloc are clear.

Notably, May, whose government must approve the referendum for it to be legally binding, says the time is not right. She says all parts of the …

These Are The Best And Worst U.S. Cities To Own A House

In its latest, January, update of US home prices, Case-Shiller reported that the unadjusted 20 city composite index, rose at a 5.9% annual rate, up from 5.7% last month and setting a 31-month high. Perhaps even more notable is that in 17 of 20 metro areas, the pace of home appreciation over the past year was 5% or higher, or more than double the pace of core inflation. And with rents continuing to soar across the country, in many cases at a double digit clip, not to mention exploding healthcare costs, one wonders just what the BLS “measures” with its monthly CPI update.

In any case, for those lucky Americans who can afford to own a house instead of being stuck renting the New Normal American dream where they are prohibited from peddling fiction as their annual rent increases by 10% or more each year, here is the breakdown of the best and worst cities for home price appreciation in the U.S.

At the top, with annual price increases of 10% or more, we find the usual west coast (and thus closest to China) suspects: Seattle and Portland, followed close behind by Denver and Dallas, which appears to be enjoying the recent revival in shale. What is more surprising is that on the other end we find Cleveland, Washington and – of all places – New York, which was dead last with only 3.2% annual price appreciation.

Here are some more obse …

Time to Redo the Math on Tax Reform Prospects

Any investors who think the failure of health-care reform was somehow a positive because it cleared the way for tax reform may be about to be rapidly disabused of that notion.

If Stocks Wobble, Will Bonds Be There To Absorb the Blow?

Bonds normally provide a countervailing cushion when stocks fall. But a big bond rally faces challenges of its own.

Chinese Bidder for AC Milan Gets Capital Controls Assist

Getting in early on a surge in foreign-currency financed Chinese acquisitions such as soccer club AC Milan might be a smart move for hedge fund Elliott Management.

The Margin: Daily Mail gets slammed for sexist front page, tells readers to ‘get a life’

The real topic clearly wasn’t sexy enough, so the paper keenly focused on the important stuff and asked, “who won Legs-it?”

Tax Guy: When you can deduct legal expenses on your taxes

Don’t give up hope for these tax-saving write-offs.

The No. 1 worry for college applicants is no longer just not getting into their top school

Students’ priorities and concerns have changed over the last decade.