Written by Gary
The US three major Wall Street indexes closed moderately lower today (SPY -0.4%) as concerns rose among investors that the US-Chinese trade dispute will intensify.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Merrill Lynch does about face on fiduciary-era policyBank of America Corp’s wealth management arm Merrill Lynch said on Thursday it is reintroducing commissions for its retirement accounts, reversing a policy put in place to comply with Obama-era regulation. | |
Apple expected to unveil new iPhone models on September 12Apple Inc said on Thursday it will host an event on Sept. 12 at the Steve Jobs Theater in the company’s Cupertino, California, campus, where it is widely expected to unveil new iPhone models. | |
As clock ticks, Canada and U.S seek ways to salvage NAFTATalks between Canada and the United States intensified on Thursday as the two countries pushed to hammer out a deal on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement by a Friday deadline, with both sides upbeat about the progress made so far. | |
U.S. stocks drop on China trade worries; Argentine peso roiledThe rally in U.S. stocks came to a halt on Thursday on new concerns that the U.S.-Chinese trade dispute will intensify, while economic turmoil in Argentina and Turkey sent those countries’ currencies tumbling. | |
Now you see it, now you don’t: oil surplus vanishes ahead of Iran deadlineAn overhang of homeless crude in the Atlantic Basin has halved in recent weeks, suggesting oil traders are bracing for a further supply loss from Iran due to U.S. sanctions and a new rally in prices. | |
Trump ready to ratchet up China trade war with more tariffs: reportU.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to quickly ramp up a trade war with China and has told aides he is ready to impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends next week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. | |
WPP set to name internal favorite Mark Read as new CEO: sourceWPP will name its unassuming former digital boss Mark Read as its new chief executive, tasked with turning around the world’s largest advertising group in the wake of Martin Sorrell’s departure, a city source told Reuters. | |
Wall Street rally ends as investors sell riskU.S. stocks ended their four-day winning streak on Thursday as investors sold risk ahead of the long holiday weekend. | |
Walmart adds toys and shelf space for holidays, expands online offeringsWalmart Stores Inc has significantly increased the selection of toys in its stores and online for the holiday season, a company executive said on Thursday, and is expanding its toy aisles in certain markets, all to lure shoppers after rival seller Toys R Us went out of business earlier this summer. | |
Stocks Stall On Trump Tariff Turmoil, Emerging Market MassacreSeemed appropriate as the liquidity linkages all start to drag each other down… China stocks have almost erased The National Team’s work from Monday… After overnight weakness, US Stocks drifted higher as always to start the day, then faded around the time Warren Buffett was interviewed on CNBC (offering little to stoke the bull’s argument), then rebounded after Europe closed, then tumbled on China tariffs headlines (which were 100% known to everyone already)… | |
California Liberals Boycott In-N-Out After Burger Chain Donates To Republican PartyCalifornia liberals have flipped their patties over a government filing showing that fast food chain In-N-Out Burger donated $25,000 to the California Republican Party. Journalist Gabe Schneider tweeted that the burger chain had added “a new item to their secret menu,” referring to their “secret” off-menu items.
After that, California Democratic Party chairman Eric Bauman called for a boycott. Apparently anyone with divergent opinions should be financially punished.
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In Rare Meeting, Russia Delivers Intel To US Officials Showing “Planned Chemical Provocation” In SyriaRussia says that its diplomats in Washington formally reached out to US officials and have briefed them on an impending plan by al-Qaeda insurgents in Idlib to stage a false flag chemical attack in order to provoke a Western military strike on Damascus. This week Moscow has claimed to be in possession of firm intelligence that it says shows armed groups in Idlib are transporting chemicals to area sites, in preparation for the coming major Syrian Army and Russian offensive on the contested province in northwest Syria. According to RT News, it appears that the State Department previously confirmed that the rare meeting did take place:
Th … | |
Why Is Productivity Dead In The Water?Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, The only possible output of this system is extortion as a way of life. As the accompanying chart shows, productivity in the U.S. has been declining since the early 2000s. This trend mystifies economists, as the tremendous investments in software, robotics, networks and mobile computing would be expected to boost productivity, as these tools enable every individual who knows how to use them to produce more value. One theory holds that the workforce has not yet learned how to use these tools, an idea that arose in the 1980s to explain the decline in productivity even as personal computers, desktop publishing, etc. entered the mainstream. A related explanation holds that institutions and corporations are not deploying the new technologies very effectively for a variety of reasons: the cost of integrating legacy systems, insufficient training of their workforce, and hasty, ill-planned investments in mobile platforms that don’t actually yield higher productivity. Productivity matters because producing more value with every unit of energy, every tool and every hour of labor is the … | |
September 2018 Economic Forecast Index Value Marginally RetreatsWritten by Steven Hansen Econintersect’s Economic Index (EEI) improvement cycle continues and remains well into territory associated with normal expansions. Our index retreated somewhat from last month’s three and a half year high. | |
In One Chart: If this chart is ‘worth a thousand words,’ then look for another leg up for the S&POne look at this chart and Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James, is feeling decidedly bullish about what’s to come for the stock market as we head into the back half of the year. | |
‘He is a big and dangerous child’: What political scientists think of Trump’s tweets‘He is a big and dangerous child’ How political scientists view President Trump’s tweets | |
The Moneyist: I started as an office cleaner and eventually bought a home, but I fear my husband will take it if we divorce‘I also make a lot more money than he makes. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a dime saved.’ |
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