12Mar2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Mixed, DOW Down, Nasdaq Jumps To New Record For Second Straight Day, Bitcoin Resumes Downtrend Into The 8 K Level

Dow, S&P turn lower as tariffs weigh on industrials

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell on Monday as worries about the metal tariffs signed into law last week by President Donald Trump weighed on industrial stocks.

Tesla’s electric motor shift to spur demand for rare earth neodymium

LONDON (Reuters) – Tesla’s shift to a magnetic motor using neodymium in its Model 3 Long Range car adds to pressure on already strained supplies of a rare earth metal that had for years been shunned because of an export ban by top producer China.

Dropbox’s $7 billion IPO is a third from peak valuation

(Reuters) – Dropbox Inc on Monday filed to go public, valuing the cloud storage company at up to $7.1 billion, nearly a third below a valuation three years ago, as concerns rose that it was not growing fast enough to justify a loftier price tag.

Goldman Sachs’ Schwartz retires, paves way for Solomon as next CEO

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc unexpectedly announced on Monday that Harvey Schwartz will retire from the bank, leaving David Solomon as sole president and chief operating officer and the most obvious successor to Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.

Data breach victims can sue Yahoo in the United States: judge

(Reuters) – Yahoo has been ordered by a federal judge to face much of a lawsuit in the United States claiming that the personal information of all 3 billion users was compromised in a series of data breaches.

Has Spotify answered its royalty problem?

(Reuters) – In its much-anticipated filing to go public last month, Spotify revealed revenue growth was outpacing costs, suggesting the music streaming service was striking deals with the music industry that defeat the central tension in its business model.

Commerce secretary to push EU to lower tariffs: Trump

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will urge the European Union to lower its trade barriers, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday, calling them unfair to U.S. farmers and industry, a view the EU firmly rejects.

U.S. says Broadcom review confirms security concerns

(Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department has told Singapore-based Broadcom Ltd that it has confirmed national security concerns about the chipmaker’s unsolicited bid to buy rival Qualcomm Inc and accused it of violating an order to give sufficient notice of plans to move to the United States.

Britain’s Melrose raises GKN bid to $11.2 billion in final offer

LONDON (Reuters) – Melrose Industries increased its hostile offer for GKN by around 10 percent to 8.1 billion pounds ($11.2 billion), trying to win over investors after the British engineering firm struck a rival deal of its own last week.

School Daze…

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Sunday night was Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s turn through the CBS 60-Minutes wringer of censure with a visibly frustrated inquisitor Lesley Stahl trying to hector her into self-incrimination.

Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos struggles to answer fairly basic questions on school performance on 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/lFVq3USwUW

— Axios (@axios) March 12, 2018

The sad truth about American schools is that they’re a mirror for the painful collapse of the society they supposedly serve – a process ongoing for decades before Ms. DeVos came on the scene.

The expectation that some uber-regent can or ought to fix public education is bound to disappoint a news media searching for saviors. The further we leave the 20th century behind, the more anomalous its organizing principles look, especially the idea of preparing masses of young people for mass, regimented work at the giant corporate scale.

“His Body Was Badly Swollen” – Chilling Account Of Death, “Coercion And Abuse” At The “Riyadh Ritz-Carlton”

Several months ago, we picked up on a story circulating in the Arabic-language press that one of the dozens of Saudi Arabian elites who had been rounded up during Mohammad bin Salman’s corruption crackdown had been beaten to death by mercenaries at the Riyadh Ritz Carlton.

Here’s an excerpt from that story, translated to English by Middle East Eye:

Major general Ali Alqahtani, who was detained in early November as part of an alleged anti-corruption drive, had been working in the royal guard forces.

He was the manager of the private office of Prince Turki Bin Abdullah, the son of former king Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, according to the newspaper.

Alqahtani died on 12 December after being tortured with electric shocks, and his family struggled to recognise him after receiving his body, according to sources, the newspaper reported.

About a month before reports of Al Qahtani’s death, the New York Times’ Tom Friedman was being mercilessly mocked for a bizarre puff piece portraying bin Salman as a brilliant and liberal modernizing reformer.

Well, it appears that – when it comes to coverage of Saudi Arabia, at least …

Is The Dot.Com Bubble Back?

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Let me start out by saying I hate market comparisons.

While history certainly does “rhyme,” they are never the same. This is especially the case when it comes to the financial markets. Chart patterns may align from time to time, but such is more a function of pattern-fitting than anything else.

However, when it comes to fundamentals, standard-deviations, extensions, etc., it is a different story. A recent article by Ryan Vlastelica brought this to mind.

“While the strategy of investing in internet-related companies will likely always be first associated with the dot-com era, the long-lived bull market has proved to be just as strong a period for a sector that has influenced nearly every aspect of the economy.

Friday marks the ninth anniversary of the financial crisis bottom, and since that period—by one measure, the start of the current bull market—internet stocks have been among the best performers on Wall Street.”

“‘The current tech rally is possibly the greatest investment story ever told,’ wrote Vincent Deluard, global macro strategist at INTL FCStone, who was speaking about the sector broadly, and not these ETFs in particular. He noted that the MSCI World Technology Index has added $5.7 trillio …

February Budget Deficit Surges As Interest On US Debt Hits All Time High

February is traditionally not a good month for the US government income statement: that’s when it usually runs a steep monthly deficit as tax returns drain the Treasury’s coffers. However, this February was worse than usual, because as spending rose and tax receipts slumped, the US deficit jumped to $215 billion, the biggest February deficit since 2012.

According to the CBO, receipts declined by 9.4% from last year as tax refunds rose and the new withholding tables went into effect. On a rolling 12 month basis, government receipts rose only 2.1%, a clear slowdown after rising 3.1% in December after contracting as recently as March 2017. At this rate of decline, the US will post a decline in Federal Receipts by mid-2018.

How To Succeed in the Chemical Business Without Really Trying

Running a major American corporation has become so lucrative that critics of long-serving executives like longtime Dow Chemical boss Andrew Liveris are entitled to be blunt. In a world of mediocre to bad corporate leaders, Mr. Liveris stands out.

Getting the Drop on Big Tech IPOs

Spotify, Dropbox and Zscaler are planning IPOs, but all must deal with high expectations right out of the gate.

Old Dogs Learn New Tricks in Payments Battle

Banks are catching up in mobile payments and have a stronger competitive edge than the likes of PayPal give them credit for.

The Tell: Buffett offers up to $2 million-a-year prize in Berkshire March Madness bracket contest

Employees at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway have another shot at a $1 million-a-year payday if they clean up on their NCAA March Madness brackets. And double that in the unlikely event that hometown team Creighton wins the whole enchilada.

CryptoWatch: After run at $10,000, bitcoin resumes downtrend

The price for bitcoin was moderately higher early Monday, and well off Friday’s low as the world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency looks to claw back some recent losses.

numberFire: Where the smart upset picks are lurking on your NCAA tournament bracket

Whether you’re just starting your bracket or restructuring it after some extensive research, it’s important to keep some more overarching concepts in mind. A lot are based on historical results and the probability of those events happening this time around.