Written by Gary
US Stocks slipped today as investors awaited the start of a two-day policy meeting at the Federal Reserve (SPY -0.7%). Dow drops 177 points on rising rate fears in biggest decline of 2018.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Coffee meets 7UP in Keurig, Dr Pepper Snapple deal(Reuters) – Keurig Green Mountain has struck a deal worth more than $21 billion to combine with soda maker Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc to form a North American drinks company with brands like Green Mountain Coffee, 7UP, Snapple and Sunkist. | |
Wall St. slides as Apple weighsNEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street pulled back from record highs on Monday with the S&P 500 marking its biggest one-day percentage decline in about five months, weighed down by a slide in Apple shares. | |
U.S. consumer spending rises; savings drop to 10-year lowWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer spending rose solidly in December as demand for goods and services increased, but the gain came at the expense of savings, which dropped to a 10-year low in a troubling sign for future consumption and economic growth. | |
Hung out to dry twice, Tennessee city stumped by Trump’s washer tariffsCLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – When President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on imported washing machines last week it was a “Not Again” moment for officials in this north Tennessee city that has lost jobs to an international trade dispute before. | |
Apple shares skid on report of iPhone X production cut(Reuters) – Apple Inc will halve its iPhone X production target for the first three months of the year to around 20 million units, Nikkei reported on Monday, sending its shares down 1.6 percent. | |
Trump security team sees building U.S. 5G network as optionWASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s national security team is looking at options to counter the threat of China spying on U.S. phone calls that include the government building a super-fast 5G wireless network, a senior administration official said on Sunday. | |
Exxon plans major U.S. investments due to tax reform: CEOHOUSTON (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp plans to invest billions of dollars in the United States due in part to recently approved corporate tax rate cuts, the company’s chief executive said on Monday. | |
U.S. rejects proposals to unblock NAFTA, but will stay in talksMONTREAL (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chief on Monday dismissed Canadian proposals for unblocking NAFTA modernization talks but pledged to stay at the table, easing concerns about a potentially imminent U.S. withdrawal from the trilateral pact. | |
Sanofi beats Novo to buy Ablynx for $4.8 billion in biotech M&A boomPARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to buy Belgian biotech company Ablynx for 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion), beating Novo Nordisk and marking its second big deal this month after buying Bioverativ. | |
Kunstler: “The ‘Resistance’ Is Dragging The Country Into Dangerous Madness”Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com, For those of us who are not admirers of President Trump, it’s even more painful to see the Democratic opposition descend into the stupendous dishonesty of the Russian Collusion story. When the intelligentsia of the nation looses its ability to think — when it becomes a dis-intelligentsia — then there are no stewards of reality left. Trump is crazy enough, but the “resistance” is dragging the country into dangerous madness. It’s hard not to be impressed by the evidence in the public record that the FBI misbehaved pretty badly around the various election year events of 2016. And who, besides Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, and Dean Baquet of The New York Times, can pretend to be impressed by the so far complete lack of evidence of Russian “meddling” to defeat Hillary Clinton? I must repeat: so far. This story has been playing for a year and a half now, and as the days go by, it seems more and more unlikely that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is sit … | |
Bond Bloodbath Sparks Biggest Stock Drop Since SeptemberWorst day for stocks and bonds in 6 weeks… Worst day for S&P in 5 months… Did bonds just spoil the stock market’s fun? Ugly overnight in Chinese stocks… After Friday’s manic melt-up in US equities, Monday was a disappointment with China weakness sending futs lower overnight, the standard cash-opening ramp failed and a weak … | |
These Are The 6 Traders Who Were Just Arrested For Manipulating The Gold MarketOn Monday morning we reported that a number of traders – currently or formerly employed by UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Bank (as usual, no JPMorgan US banks were touched) – would be perp-walked and charged in an unprecedented cross-agency crackdown between the CFTC, DOJ and FBI seeking to punish spoofers of futures. This was confirmed moments ago by a CFTC press release which announced criminal and civil enforcement actions against three banks and six individuals involved in commodities fraud and spoofing schemes. Here is what got far less publicity: it wasn’t just any futures that were spoofed – all the banks and traders busted were charged for spoofing the precious metals market, i.e. gold and silver. We bring this up because there are still the occasional idiots out there who say gold and silver were never manipulated. The banks in question, and their penalties: Deutsche Bank will pay a $30 million civil monetary penalty and undertake remedial relief. The Orders finds that “from at least February 2008 and continuing through at least September 2014, DB AG, by and through certain precious metals traders (Traders), engaged in a scheme to manipulate the price of precious metals futures contracts by utilizing a variety of manual spoofing techniques with respect to precious metals futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), and by trading in a manner to trigger customer stop-loss orders.” UBS will pay a $15 million civil monetary penalty and undertake remedial relief. The Order finds that from “January 2008 through at least December 2013, UBS, by and through the acts of certain precious metals traders on the spot desk (Traders), attempted to manipul … | |
Trump “Erupted In Anger” Over DOJ Refusal To Release FISA Memo: ReportOver the weekend, and ahead of what may be an imminent release of the notorious FISA memo, we reported that President Trump allegedly broke off with the Department of Justice last week by calling for the release of the four-page “FISA memo” purportedly summarizing widespread surveillance abuses by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration. As the WaPo detailed then, the President’s desire was relayed to AG Jeff Sessions by White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly last Wednesday – putting the Trump White House at odds with the DOJ – which said that releasing the classified memo written by congressional republicans “extraordinarily reckless” without allowing the Department of Justice to first review the memo detailing its own criminal malfeasance during and after the 2016 presidential election. And now, we have some additional information on how Trump’s furious disagreement with the DOJ evolved. According to a Bloomberg report, Trump “erupted in anger” while traveling to Davos on Air Force One when he learned that a top DOJ official – Associate Attorney General Stephen Boyd – sent a letter, warning that it would be “extraordinarily reckless” to release the classified 4-page FISA memo written by House Republican staffers, and that it would undercut the Russian collusion probe. For Trump, the letter was “yet another example of the Justice Department undermining him and stymieing Republican efforts to expose what the president sees as the politically motivated agenda behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.” Ultimately, Jeff Sessions’ job may be on the line depending on whether the FISA memo is kept secret: | |
Can Apple Find Enough Customers Willing to Pay Up?Investors anxiously await Apple’s second-quarter forecast, as the company needs iPhone sales to remain strong in order to hit Wall Street’s current prediction of overall revenue growing 19% this fiscal year. | |
Dollar’s Drop Fuels a Fire That’s Already RagingThe decline in the U.S. dollar in 2017 accompanied stronger global growth, in particular in Europe, and spurred risk appetite nearly everywhere. | |
China’s Big Car Makers Are Driving at Different SpeedsThe contrasting fortunes of Great Wall Motor and Geely show the once-booming market is no longer lifting all at once. | |
Key Words: Nixon on Watergate investigation during 1974 State of the Union: Enough, already“I believe,” Nixon said in a “personal word” at the conclusion of the January 1974 address, “the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of the matter to an end.” | |
The No. 1 job in America pays over $100,000 a yearAs companies try to analyze and cater to consumer behavior, these skills are in high demand. | |
If you want to freeze your Equifax credit report for free, act fastA deadline for using Equifax’s free service is approaching |
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