18Sep2017 Market Update: Wall Street Record New Highs Powered By Financials, Technology And Industrials Stocks, Gold Is Down Over 1 Percent, US Dollar Index Up 0.3 Percent

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are higher today with shares in Mexico leading the region. The IPC is up 0.64% while Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.24% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.19%.

Financials, industrials power S&P, Dow to record highs

(Reuters) – Wall Street hit new life highs on Monday powered by financials, technology and industrials stocks even as investors await cues from the Federal Reserve on its future path of monetary policy.

Northrop Grumman to buy missile maker Orbital for $7.8 billion

(Reuters) – U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp said on Monday it would buy Orbital ATK Inc for about $7.8 billion, getting access to lucrative government contracts and expanding its arsenal of missile defense systems and space rockets.

Cisco’s Executive Chairman Chambers not to seek re-election

(Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc said on Monday that Executive Chairman John Chambers would not seek re-election after his term expires in December.

Nvidia hits another record high as AI takes centerstage

(Reuters) – Shares of Nvidia Corp touched a record high for the second straight day on Monday following yet another steep increase in the chipmaker’s price target by a Wall Street analyst.

Intel collaborates with Waymo on self-driving compute design

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Intel Corp on Monday announced a collaboration with Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving unit, saying it had worked with the company during the design of its compute platform to allow autonomous cars to process information in real time.

Coffee rivals square off in Italy ahead of Starbucks invasion

MILAN (Reuters) – Two of Italy’s biggest coffee houses are reinforcing their brands with flagship cafes in Milan near the spot where U.S. rival Starbucks is set to begin an invasion next year.

Dollar Tree promotes Gary Philbin to CEO

(Reuters) – Dollar Tree Inc said on Monday Bob Sasser, the architect of the U.S. discount retailer’s $9.1 billion acquisition of Family Dollar, will be replaced as chief executive by Gary Philbin, the company’s enterprise president.

Credit reporting companies should register with New York: governor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to require all credit reporting agencies to register with the state and comply with its cyber security rules, he said in a statement on Monday.

Slack valued at $5.1 billion after new funding led by SoftBank

(Reuters) – Software startup Slack Technologies Inc said it raised $250 million from SoftBank Group Corp and other investors in its latest funding round, boosting the company’s valuation to $5.1 billion.

15 Risk Management Rules For Every Investor

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Last week, I was discussing the rather “Pavlovian” response to Central Bank interventions which has led investors into a false sense of security with respect to the risk being undertaken within portfolios.

This got me to thinking about “risk” and reminded me of something Howard Marks once wrote:

“If I ask you what’s the risk in investing, you would answer the risk of losing money. But there actually are two risks in investing: One is to lose money, and the other is to miss an opportunity. You can eliminate either one, but you can’t eliminate both at the same time. So the question is how you’re going to position yourself versus these two risks: straight down the middle, more aggressive or more defensive.

I think of it like a comedy movie where a guy is considering some activity. On his right shoulder is sitting an angel in a white robe. He says: ‘No, don’t do it! It’s not prudent, it’s not a good idea, it’s not proper and you’ll get in trouble’.

On the other shoulder is the devil in a red robe with his pitchfork. He whispers: ‘Do it, you’ll get rich’. In the end, the devil usually wins.

Caution, maturity and doing the right thing are old-fashioned ideas. And when they do battle against the desire to get rich, other than in panic times the desire to get rich usually wins. That’s w …

Will The US Bomb? First Images Of Syrian Army Crossing The Euphrates River In Deir Ezzor

A correspondent with Al-Masdar News based in Damascus has confirmed that the Syrian Amy has crossed the Euphrates which runs through Deir Ezzor on Monday. The river forms a natural demarcation line separating Syrian government forces and their allies from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF):

DAMACUS, SYRIA (4:00 P.M.) – The Syrian Army was capable today of crossing the Euphrates River after fully recapturing Sakr Island located to the north of Deir Ezzor Airbase.

Heavy Russian and Syrian airstrikes have pushed ISIS militants away from the eastern bank, paving the way for the government troops to set foot in the eastern bank for the first time in years.

With crossing the river, the government forces are inching closer to re-take the remaining territories under ISIS control. However, this will also put the Syrian forces face to face with the US-backed Kurdish forces; which launched its own offensive against the Islamic State in Deir Ezzor.

Other Middle East monitoring groups as well as regional correspondents have also confirmed the breaking news which could lead to a fresh outbreak of direct hostilities between the US-SDF alliance and Syria-Russia alliance:

SOHR says Syria army in Deir Ezzor has crossed Euphrates. Waterway serves as informal demarcation line b …

US Fires Latest Shot In China Trade War: Warns Beijing Is “Threat To World’s Trading System”

It’s been at least a few weeks since the topic of trade war with China dominated the news flow, so moments ago U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer decided to poke that particular wound, in during a speech in Washington said that “China’s coordinated effort to create national champions and distort markets is a threat to the world’s trading system.”

Some headlines from his speech, via Reuters:

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS THERE IS A GROWING FEELING AMONG VOTERS THAT GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM NOT FAIR TO U.S. WORKERS

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS “WE WILL HAVE CHANGE IN TRADE POLICY”

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS U.S. CAN COMPETE IF CONDITIONS ARE FAIR

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS HE AND TRUMP BELIEVE U.S. SHOULD BE MORE PROACTIVE IN TRADE POLICY, DEMAND RECIPROCITY

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS HE AND TRUMP BELIEVE THAT TRADE DEFICITS MATTER

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS SCALE OF CHINA’S EFFORT TO SUBSIDIZE INDUSTRIES IS A THREAT TO WORLD TRADING SYSTEM

USTR LIGHTHIZER SAYS 301 PROBE INTO CHINA’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PRACTICES COULD LEAD TO WTO CASES

Bloomberg provides some further details, quoting the US trade rep as saying that “WTO isn’t equipped to deal with the problem, and the U.S. must find other ways to defend our workers, companies and economic system.” As a result, Lighthizer says “we will have change on trade policy”, a statement that certainly did not come from the Goldman circle of close Trump advisors.

He also said that “the real policy difference is not over whether we want efficient markets, but how do we get them” adding that the US “must be proactive, as years of talking about the problems haven’t worked” and that “we must demand reciprocity.”

Finally, the US trade rep said that he agrees with President Trump that trade deficits matter and that he agrees macroeconomic factors have an impact on trade deficits, but terms of trade also matt …

Gold Tumbles Most Since July (As Bitcoin Bounces)

Gold is down over 1% this morning, extending recent weakness to 3-week lows on the basis that the world didn’t end (and the debt ceiling was extended) we presume. Notably, both USDJPY and Bitcoin are mirroring the precious metal’s move…

It seems gold’s stop-run over the election night highs prompted the reversal…

Kuroda has been busy the last week or so saving the world with Yen-carry trades…

But it seems the sudden realization that China’s crackdown in crypto is not such a big deal has prompted some rotation…

The dollar index is on the rise also.

Dear Apple: Thanks for the Memory

Little noticed amid the hype around the newest iPhones is the boon that the new wave of fancy phones means for the makers of memory chips inside.

A $15 Billion Merger at Risk From Shareholders Who Don’t Vote

The merger of chemical giants Huntsman and Clariant could trip up on weak turnout in a Swiss shareholder vote.

Why P&G Investors Should Want Nelson Peltz on the Board

After some serious missteps, the once irreproachable consumer-goods giant has lost the right to say: Just trust me.

Market Snapshot: Stock market climbs to fresh all-time high to kick off week

U.S. stocks carve out fresh all-time highs on Monday as investors buy financials, telecommunications and materials shares.

The Margin: Bitcoin just might be forming a top when… your 68-year-old dad paints a picture of it

Some fervent supporters add to their positions. Others just keep “hodling” or maybe take some profits. Then there’s Ludvig Manukyan, who celebrates bitcoin’s incredible rally with his paintbrush.

Deep Dive: These four fund managers’ secret to success: Don’t go with your gut on stocks

What investors need is ‘second-level thinking’ to avoid making mistakes, writes Phil van Doorn.