07Mar2018 Market Close: Wall Street Pare Losses As U.S. Talks Tariff Exemptions, DOW Closes Down 83 Points, WTI Crude Remains Lower In The 61 Handle

Written by Gary

The S&P 500 pared losses late today (SPY -0.04%) after the White House said Canada and Mexico, may be exempted from planned U.S. import tariffs on steel and aluminum on the basis of national security.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Trump to push ahead with tariffs, piles pressure on China trade WASHINGTON/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – A defiant U.S. President Donald Trump looked set to authorize steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminium this week as he stepped up pressure on China to develop a plan to reduce its trade imbalance with the United States by $1 billion.
	Stocks pare losses as U.S. talks tariff exemptions (Reuters) – The S&P 500 pared losses late on Wednesday after the White House said Canada and Mexico, and possibly other countries, may be exempted from planned U.S. import tariffs on steel and aluminum on the basis of national security.
	Exclusive: Goldman puts some London staff on notice for German move by June – sources LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs has put more than a dozen UK-based banking, sales and trading staff on notice to move to Frankfurt within weeks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as it braces for divorce between Britain and the European Union.
	Broadcom to stick with U.S. 5G investment after Qualcomm deal (Reuters) – Broadcom Ltd sought again to soothe U.S. security concerns around its bid for chipmaker Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday, saying it would stick with investments aimed at maintaining the United States’ leadership in 5G technology.
	Trade skeptics gain upper hand in White House as Cohn quits WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Economic nationalists appeared to gain the upper hand in a White House battle over trade with the resignation of Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, on Tuesday in a move that could ramp up protectionist measures that risk igniting a global trade war.
	Snap to lay off about 100 engineers: CNBC (Reuters) – Snapchat parent Snap Inc is laying off nearly 10 percent of its engineering team, or about 100 people, CNBC reported on Wednesday.
	GM CEO wants Congress to expand tax credit for electric vehicles WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra called on the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to expand a consumer tax credit for electric vehicles as the automaker said it would boost production of its EV Chevrolet Bolt in response to strong demand.
	U.S. senators call new hearing on Takata auto air bag inflators WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senators will convene a previously undisclosed hearing to focus on the status of Takata air bag inflator recalls, the largest, most complex recall process in auto history that some lawmakers say is too slow.
	U.S. trade deficit races to more than nine-year high WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit increased to a more than nine-year high in January, with the shortfall with China widening sharply, suggesting that President Donald Trump’s “America First” trade policies aimed at eradicating the deficit will likely fail.
	‘Carve-Outs’ Rescue Stocks From Cohn Carnage Cohn’s out… but all is well… Overnight saw stocks plunge on Gary Cohn resignation headlines, stagger some more on weak macro data, bounce on “good” news that Navarro was not ‘on the list’, only to be rescued by Sarah Sanders telling reporters that ‘carve-outs’ were possible from Trump’s tariffs… But as soon as The Dow filled its gap and S&P inched green, sellers re-appeared… Dow managed to fill its gap before tumbling into the close… …
	After Record Debt-Fuelled Splurge, US Credit Card Usage Post Sharp Slowdown After a massive surge in consumer credit in the last three months of 2017, when October thru December saw a massive increase in revolving and non-revolving credit, amounting to a total $73 billion, the Fed reported that 2018 started off with a whimper, with a modest $701 million increase in credit card debt, coupled with a $13.2 billion increase in non-revolving, or auto and student loan, credit in the first month of the year. Revolving credit was the clear outlier, with the monthly increase of $0.7BN far below December’s $6.1BN and last January’s $934 million, and the smallest increase since February 2015 (excluding the December 2015 series revision). Still, the increase pushed the latest revolving credit total to $1.0298 trillion, a new all time high.
	Amazon Admits Alexa Is Creepily Laughing At People While there are plenty of stories of artificial intelligence gone wrong, it seems many recent new owners of Amazon’s Alexa devices have been rudely woken by “bone-chillingly creepy” laughing from their AI friend. As The Daily Mail reports, some users say their Alexa-enabled gadgets start laughing totally unprompted. So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp — CaptHandlebar (@CaptHandlebar) February 23, 2018 One user reportedly tried to turn the lights off in their home but Alexa repeatedly turned the lights back on, event …
	The Trade Deficit Trump Wants to Fix May Only Worsen Despite protectionist measures, the net result of the Trump administration’s economic policies will be higher trade deficits.
	FDA Puts Drug-Supply Chain on Notice Scrutiny of prescription drug prices isn’t going away, no matter how badly investors wish that it might.
	Does American Steel Need More Protection? The world—China in particular—makes too much steel. But U.S. steel prices are already among the highest of major economies. Are more tariffs the answer?
	January 2018 Headline Consumer Credit Growth Rate Declined Written by Steven Hansen The headlines say consumer credit rate of annual growth declined from last month. Our analysis sees negligible change in the rate of growth.
	March 2018 Beige Book: Reading Between The Lines – Rate Of Economic Expansion Again Little Changed Written by Steven Hansen The consolidated economic report from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts (Beige Book) stated “economic activity expanded at a modest to moderate pace across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts in January and February”. The previous report stated “economy continued to expand from late November through the end of the year, with 11 Districts reporting modest to moderate gains and Dallas recording a robust increase”.
	Tim Mullaney: Why God fired Gary Cohn, I think With the departure of Gary Cohn, the White House could get even more chaotic, if that’s possible.
	The Ratings Game: Ross Stores breaks with off-price rival TJX and raises wages, shares sink Ross Stores raised the minimum wage to $11, which had an impact on guidance and sent shares down on Wednesday.
	Market Extra: Here’s how the stock market reacted to Cohn’s resignation from the Trump White House U.S. stock benchmarks closes mixed on Wednesday, paring the worst of its early losses, after Gary Cohn, the head of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, resigned late Tuesday.