02Mar2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Higher, DOW Down, Nasdaq Closes Up 1.1 Percent, ‘Trade Wars Are Good,’ Trump Says

‘Trade wars are good,’ Trump says, defying global concern over tariffs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump struck a defiant tone on Friday, saying trade wars were good and easy to win, after his plan to put tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum triggered threats of retaliation from trading partners and a slide in stock markets.

Wall Street falls, on track for weekly losses on trade war fears

(Reuters) – The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Friday and were on track for weekly losses as investor anxiety built over a possible global trade war following President Donald Trump’s threat to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Exclusive: EU may target $3.5 billion of U.S. imports for trade retaliation – sources

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is considering applying 25 percent tariffs on around $3.5 billion of imports from the United States if President Donald Trump carries out his plan to apply global duties to steel and aluminum, EU sources say.

NAFTA talks soured, hamstrung by Trump steel trade war threats

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to unleash a trade war over steel crushed any hopes of substantial progress in talks to rework NAFTA, pitching negotiators into a political maelstrom and heightening fears for the trade deal’s future.

BlackRock poses tough questions to gunmakers and sellers

BOSTON (Reuters) – Asset manager BlackRock Inc said on Friday it is pressing gunmakers and weapons retailers in its portfolios to explain how they monitor firearm sales and use, and it is studying the creation of new index-based portfolios that would exclude gunmakers and retailers.

Electrolux puts $250 million U.S. investment on hold over Trump tariff hike

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s Electrolux , Europe’s largest home appliance maker, said on Friday it would delay a planned $250 million investment in Tennessee, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.

Deason sues Xerox to allow new board nominations

(Reuters) – Hedge fund manager Darwin Deason filed a new lawsuit against Xerox Corp on Friday after it refused to allow him to make nominations to its board after a deadline, the latest blows in a row over its proposed merger with Fujifilm Holdings Corp .

Diesel vehicle refits costly and could affect performance, Volkswagen says

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen is not against upgrading the exhaust systems of older diesel cars to make them cleaner, but could not afford to pay for such a huge undertaking itself and is concerned it might impair vehicle performance, its CEO said.

U.S. charges 10 in alleged global stock fraud involving a Picasso

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday unveiled criminal charges against 10 defendants, including London-based brokerage Beaufort Securities Ltd, over their alleged roles in a more than $50 million stock fraud and a laundering scheme involving a late work by Pablo Picasso.

Tariff Tantrum Ends With Massive Short Squeeze

Begun The Trade War Has… and that means the end of the world, apparently?

Or not…While President Trump is being blamed for this week’s ugliness in stock markets, some more open-minded observers could see a few other factors involved…

If The Dow closed down 1% today it would be four 1%-down-days in a row – the first time since August 2015 (the China deval and flash crash).

BUT… it turns out that Trade Wars are good!

On the day, Small Caps outperformed, but it seems investors are not in the least bit worried that the world is ending due to Trump tariffs… (/sarc)

Hope Hicks Kept “Detailed Diary” At White House, Gets $10MM Book Offer

Soon-to-be-former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks hasn’t even left the West Wing yet, but unsurprisingly, she’s already received a flood of offers from powerful publishers and producers promising eight-figure paydays if she’s wiling to provide juicy insider details like those.

A friend of Hicks’ who spoke with the Daily Mail said the communications director – who once handled as many as 250 media requests per day – was “overwhelmed” by the response. As the Mail points out, the desirability of Hicks’ story has increased because of her informal position as the “most glamorous person in the West Wing.”

One anonymous source from inside the publishing industry even went so far as to compare Hicks with Jackie Kennedy.

One insider told the Mail that Hicks kept a diary of her time in the White House, which could be an incredible resource should she decide to write a memoir.

What would it take to do your story as a mini-series or on the big screen? I can get the financing, like tomorrow, and make you rich and even more famous. You have an incredible story. Let’s talk!’

And sinc …

The Market’s Junk Problem

Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,

The market has a big junk problem and it’s very evident when taking a close look at the chart of $JNK, the high yield bond ETF. It’s been a brilliant technical indicator as of late and was one of the signals employed in fading the rally earlier in the week.

Note that $JNK has been on a steady uptrend for the better part of a year when suddenly it made a lower high in January while $SPX kept ignoring it and went on to make new highs. Not listening to $JNK was a mistake on the side of market participants. $JNK signaled troubles was brewing and once markets finally caught on it was all over.

In process of the correction $JNK broke a key supporting trend line and this proved to be a key signal this week:

Another “Inconvenient Truth”: Market Tops Are Violent Inflection Points After All

Over the course of the last few days, bulls’ enthusiasm has hit the proverbial brick wall, as stocks have reeled lower in an apparent rerun of the near record plunge observed at the beginning of February. But fear not: following up on Goldman’s prediction from last week that stock buybacks are set to soar over 20% this year, rising to a record $650BN 2018, this morning JPMorgan decided to double down, and forecast an even more ridiculous amount of 2018 buybacks: a whopping $842BN, or just over $70BN per month.

It goes without saying that such massive amoounts a price indiscriminate, debt-funded purchases of stocks would do miracles for prices, which then brings us to the good news.

As Nomura’s Charlie McElligott writes, we are currently back in the “low buyback seasonality” period, as the ammo spent coming out of the earnings blackout (when the market was tanking and corporates were gobbling shares) typically again slows ahead of more buying coming back online in the month-ish period prior to Q1 earnings. So in that case, expect buybacks to again pick-up in another week or two into the blackout kick-off mid-April.

America’s Glaring Weak Spot in a Trade War? The Lowly Soybean

President Trump looks poised to ratchet up the trade spat with Beijing using new restrictions on steel and aluminum imports. The blowback could hit U.S. soybeans, a key export a feedstock for the China’s pig population.

Volatility Is Back but Volatility Funds Are Duller

Volatility is back in the stock market, but the investments that imploded spectacularly in February are gone except for one survivor. That fund is now a much tamer version of its former self.

Are Best Buy and Kohl’s Good or Just Lucky?

For a certain group of retailers—the winners, as they might like to think of themselves—there is an awful lot of optimism in the air. How much of that success is due to their efforts and how much comes from the strong economy is the big question for investors.

Outside the Box: These 3 trends could give fintech a bigger say in your money matters

The uses and usefulness of financial technology are growing, writes Eyal Lifshitz.

Trump’s tariffs will hurt the 6.5 million U.S. workers at steel-consuming manufacturers

President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports is a near-term credit positive for steel producers, but it will hurt workers at steel-consuming manufacturers who greatly outnumber steelworkers, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Why Trump’s trade war will hurt more American jobs than it helps

Tariffs threaten U.S. workers making cars, homes, and other products using steel, writes Tim Mullaney.