23Jan2018 Market Update: Wall Street Moves To New Highs After Netflix’s Upbeat Earnings, WTI Crude Continues Trend Upwards

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The S&P 500 is higher by 0.10%, while the Bovespa is leading the IPC lower. They are down 0.99% and 0.09% respectively.

S&P, Nasdaq lifted by strong earnings from Netflix

(Reuters) – The S&P and the Nasdaq rose on Tuesday as upbeat earnings from Netflix spurred gains for the highly-valued technology sector, while the Dow came under pressure from declines in Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

Trump slaps steep U.S. tariffs on imported washers, solar panels

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels on Monday, giving a boost to Whirlpool Corp and dealing a setback to the renewable energy industry in the first of several potential trade restrictions.

J&J takes $13.6 billion charge related to new U.S. tax law

(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest drugmakers, on Tuesday said that it would take a $13.6-billion charge related to the new U.S. tax law and plans to bring back billions of dollars from overseas immediately.

NYSE sees no need to “bend over backwards” to woo Aramco IPO

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange took a swipe on Tuesday at its London rival in their battle to attract the foreign listing of shares in oil giant Saudi Aramco, saying it didn’t need to “bend over backwards” to lure what could be the world’s biggest IPO.

FDIC nominee says will address “hold-up” in non-bank licenses

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s pick to lead one of the country’s key banking regulators said on Tuesday she would move to address the “hold-up” in the issuance of a special license that would potentially allow non-banks such as fintech firms to enter the sector.

Crunch time for NAFTA as negotiators open Montreal round of talks

MONTREAL (Reuters) – U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators opened a key week-long round of talks to modernize NAFTA on Tuesday amid persistent concerns the Trump administration is preparing to walk away from the trade deal, a move that could roil financial markets.

U.S. appeals court decertifies class action in Hyundai fuel economy settlement

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s decision to grant class certification to car owners who settled with Hyundai Motors and its Kia affiliate over the fuel efficiency of its vehicles.

JPMorgan rolls out $20 billion investment plan after tax gains

(Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co unveiled a $20 billion investment plan on Tuesday to hike wages, hire more, open new branches and expand its business as it takes advantage of sweeping changes to the U.S. tax law and a more favorable regulatory environment.

P&G second quarter beats, but margins worry investors

(Reuters) – The world’s largest consumer goods maker Procter & Gamble Co reported better-than-expected sales and profit for its second quarter on Tuesday, but investors focused on a drop in gross margins, sending its shares down 2 percent.

“Jaw-dropping” Text Message By FBI Agent Suggests No Trump Collusion With Russia

And the hits just keep on coming.

Just hours after we reported that according to the latest batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI investigators, a “secret society of folks” within the DOJ and the FBI may have come together in the “immediate aftermath” of the 2016 election to undermine President Trump, another blockbuster text message appears to have emerged.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a radio interview that the FBI’s top agent on the Trump-Russia investigation, Peter Strzok, sent what Johnson called a “jaw-dropping” text message last year that suggests he saw no evidence of Trump campaign collusion.

As first reported by the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross, in an interview with WISN-Milwaukee radio host Jay Weber, Johnson read aloud a May 19, 2017 text that Strzok sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and his mistress.

As Weber summarized, “Sen Ron Johnson tells me he’s discovered a text from Peter Strzok 2 days after the Mueller investigation in which he questions whether he wants to be part of it because he believes ‘there’s nothing there’. No collusion.”

The Strozk text verbatim on joining the Mueller investigation: May 19th, 2017- ‘You and I both know the odds are nothing. If …

“Stupidest Damn Thing I’ve Ever Seen”: ‘Sellout Schumer’ Under Fire For Shutdown Deal

Desperate proponent of the #TrumpShutdown hashtag, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is coming under fire from his own party in the aftermath of a fight that shut down the government for three days and left Democrats with nothing to show for it.

As The Hill reports, liberal groups were enraged by that decision, arguing Schumer didn’t get enough to back down.

“It’s official: Chuck Schumer is the worst negotiator in Washington – even worse than Trump,” said Murshed Zaheed, political director at Credo, a progressive advocacy group.

“We went in with a very weak set of cards, with [25] people up for re-election,” said one Democratic senator, one of several lawmakers who requested anonymity to assess Schumer’s performance frankly.

Another Democratic senator said almost every local news channel he spoke to over the weekend began its interview with the same question, “Why did Democrats shut down the government?”

Frank Sharry, executive director of the liberal immigration advocacy organization, America’s Voice, added in a scathing statement:

“Last week, I was moved to tears of joy when Democ …

FBI Agents Discussed “Secret Society” Within DOJ And FBI Working To Undermine Trump

Congressional investigators learned from a new batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI investigators that a “secret society of folks” within the Department of Justice and the FBI may have come together in the “immediate aftermath” of the 2016 election to undermine President Trump, according to Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) who has reviewed the texts.

The thousands of texts @TGowdySC and I reviewed today revealed manifest bias among top FBI officials against @realDonaldTrump. The texts between Strzok and Page referenced a “secret society.”

John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) January 23, 2018

The new texts were included in a 384-page DOJ document release to Congressional investigators last Friday – during which Congress was notified in the cover letter that that five months of text messages from December 14, 2016 to May 17, 2017 have gone missing (If only the NSA had copies).

Ratcliffe was joined by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) to discuss the latest development …

Cryptos Slide: “Is There Any New Information That Didn’t Exist Two Weeks Ago?”

Since CME unleashed its Bitcoin Futures, cryptocurrencies have been on an almost one-way path lower…

2018 has been an ugly year so far for cryptos… With only Ethereum holding gains among the bigger cap coins (Bitcoin down another 5% today after dropping 10% yesterday, amid chatter about South Korean taxation and more crackdowns and regulatory headlines)

But note this is not that unusual a tendency…

Disney Won’t Have Same Problem With Regulators as Fox Did

The U.K.’s provisional move to block 21st Century Fox’s $15.5 billion bid for Sky is hardly a death sentence.

Netflix Says Catch Me if You Can

Netflix has set a new subscriber record, with growing viewers in global markets.

How Central Banks Doing Nothing Can Still Move Markets

The Bank of Japan stuck to its policy guns Tuesday. The European Central Bank is likely to do the same on Thursday. But even a lack of immediate action can’t stop market perceptions of shifting.

How Oscar nominee ‘The Shape of Water’ was made for just $20 million

Producer J. Miles Dale sat with MarketWatch to discuss the film’s tight budget, platform release, and an unexpected car crash that didn’t make it into the final cut.

Market Snapshot: Stock market hits another round of records; Netflix’s shares rally after results

U.S. stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, with major indexes inching up to record levels a day after a partial shutdown of the government was ended.

Outside the Box: Trump was right: The real U.S. solar industry needs those anti-China tariffs

Donald Trump was right to impose tariffs on subsidized solar-panel imports, writes Alan Tonelson.