Written by Gary
US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed a slump in tech stocks and data pointing to underlying strength in the US economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 23,940.68. The S&P 500 closed 0.04% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6824.32, down 1.27%.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
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The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Build fast, fix later: speed hurts quality at Tesla, some workers saySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – After Tesla’s Model S sedans and Model X SUVs roll off the company’s Fremont, California assembly line, the electric vehicles usually make another stop – for repairs, nine current and former employees have told Reuters. | |
Nasdaq falls with tech stocks; S&P ends flatNEW YORK (Reuters) – The Nasdaq posted its biggest one-day drop in more than three months on Wednesday as investors fled high-flying technology stocks and shifted to banks and other pockets of the market that could benefit from improving economic conditions, lower regulations and taxes, and higher interest rates. | |
U.S. third-quarter economic growth fastest in three yearsWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, notching its quickest pace in three years, buoyed by robust business spending on equipment and an accumulation of inventories. | |
AT&T CEO says blackout ban shows company willing to settle DOJ fight(Reuters) – AT&T Inc’s proposed seven-year ban on programming blackouts to distributors of some Time Warner Inc content shows that the company is willing to offer concessions to close its $85.4 billion bid for the programmer, AT&T’s chief executive officer said on Wednesday. | |
Uber lawyer says ex-CEO, board members told of letter kept from Waymo lawsuitSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc’s former chief executive and some board members knew of a letter a U.S. judge has said was withheld from a high-stakes lawsuit, an attorney for the company testified on Wednesday. | |
Bubble trouble? Bitcoin tops $11,000, but fades after sharp rallyLONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bitcoin zoomed past $11,000 to hit a record high for the sixth day in a row on Wednesday after gaining more than $1,000 in just 12 hours, stoking concerns that a rapidly swelling bubble could be set to burst in spectacular fashion. | |
Slump in Facebook, Apple raises prospects of tech rally brakeSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of Facebook , Apple and other technology heavyweights dropped on Wednesday, creating uncertainty over whether the top-performing sector’s record-breaking rally this year is ending or merely taking a break. | |
Apple to audit development processes after Mac bug discovered(Reuters) – Apple Inc said on Wednesday it would review its software development process a day after a researcher discovered a bug in a new version of its Mac operating system that could give hackers total control of vulnerable machines. | |
Meredith’s Time buy helps lift U.S. media lending to 11-year highNEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. media group Meredith Corp’s planned purchase of Time Inc is the latest in a run of mergers that have boosted media lending to the highest point in more than a decade as the sector regroups to fight online content providers. | |
Turmoil…GDP surged above expectations, Matt Lauer fired, Crude carnage, Semis slaughtered, Momo massacred, Nasdaq knackered, Precious metals pummeled, Bond bloodbath, and Bitcoin bounced and trounced… But everyone loves Trannies! Spot the odd one out… (biggest divergence between Transports and Nasdaq since Nov 2009) – Dow and Small Caps closed at record highs… Futures show the moves this week in a little more context… (NOTE – today was the biggest divergence between The Dow and Nasdaq in over 5 months) Today was Trannies biggest day since Nov 2011 to a new record high… A look at Nasdaq and Bitcoin suggest some relationship in the collapse – while Nasdaq broke first, at around 1012amET both suddenly plunged together… | |
WOW – Trump Tweets About “Unsolved Mystery” Of Joe Scarborough’s Dead Intern After Matt Lauer FiredContent originally published at iBankCoin.com | |
54 Things You Didn’t Know About Natural GasAuthored by Stuart Parnell via OilPrice.com, Every once in a while, I will realize that I have spent way too much time talking about oil, complaining about pipelines, Permania, free money and the impending “End of Big Oil because of Electric Vehicles”. And it’s on those days that my attention turns to oil and coal’s neglected stepsister who we know as natural gas. And in the spirit of American Thanksgiving, I would like to say that I, for one, am thankful for natural gas, the current turkey of the energy sector. Like oil, natural gas is a prolific fossil fuel with many uses, however I feel that it floats unnoticed under the radar, particularly because it is so much easier to carpet bomb oil and coal into submission (as opposed to cute and cuddly natural gas) in the great anti-fossil fuel war of attrition. So herewith – 50 (or is it 54?) things to know, love, think and be thankful for about natural gas, in no particular order of importance and apologies if I miss really obvious ones. 1. Natural gas is used to provide heat, hot water and cooktop fuel to almost 80 million homes in North America 2. Natural gas represents almost 25 percent of all primary energy use in North America and globally, rapidly closing the gap on coal 3. It is cleaner burning than all the other combustible fuel alternatives such as whale blubber, wood, peat, coal, rolled-up newspapers and oil. 4. It is so plentiful in North America that supplies are estimated at anywhere from 50 to 100 years at current … | |
Build Fast, Fix Later: Tesla Employees Say 90% Of Model S/X Cars Fail Quality Checks After AssemblyLast month we highlighted a report from Automotive News which suggested that Tesla’s Model 3 production misses might have been the result of a rather basic and embarrassing problem…the company hadn’t yet figured out how to weld. As automotive manufacturing consultant Michael Tracy of Agile Group pointed out, the clues of Tesla’s steel problems came from a video posted by Musk himself of the Model 3 assembly line. Referencing Musk’s video, Tracy said a well functioning auto assembly line would not produce the sparks seen in the video below which are symptomatic of welds spots overheating or poor alignment of components.
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Will Tesla Die for Lack of Cobalt?Cobalt, a critical part of batteries, has nearly tripled in price since last summer as concerns grow about whether there will be enough cobalt to meet demand. | |
Why Tax Cut Winners are LosingMany of the stocks that would benefit the most from a tax cut have fallen out of favor with growth-obsessed investors. | |
Shell’s Gift to Investors Could Prove PrematureShell is finally scrapping its much-hated scrip-dividend program, with its accompanying shareholder dilution. Great news—but a closer look at the company’s financials and strategy raises some questions. | |
December 2017 Economic Forecast: Marginal Decline Relative To Last Month’s ForecastWritten by Steven Hansen Econintersect’s Economic Index marginally declined and returned to territory associated with slower economic growth. Still the economic growth forecasts in 2017 have remained in a very narrow band. | |
November 2017 Beige Book: Reading Between The Lines – Rate Of Economic Expansion UnchangedWritten by Steven Hansen The consolidated economic report from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts (Beige Book) stated “activity continued to increase at a modest to moderate pace in October and mid-November”. The previous report stated “activity increased in September through early October, with the pace of growth split between modest and moderate”. | |
Capitol Report: Senate tax bill heads for procedural vote after pass throughs get bigger deductionThere are increasing signs the Senate’s tax bill will clear a procedural hurdle after a deal on so-called pass-through businesses on Wednesday. | |
Market Extra: Outage on bitcoin exchange hits pricesThe partial outage on digital currency exchanges such as Coinbase on Wednesday has caused bitcoin prices to whipsaw, highlighting the need for more robust infrastructure for the maturing digital currency | |
Micron’s stock tumbles to trigger the 3rd pullback in its 18-month bull marketShares of Micron Technology tumbled 8.5% on Wednesday, and 13% over the past three sessions, to kick off just the third pullback in a 1 1/2-year long bull market. |
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