Written by Gary
US major indexes close higher as trade tensions dampen upbeat earnings (SPY +0.2%). The longest government shutdown in US history isn’t helping.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Lawyers suing Fiat Chrysler in U.S. diesel case seek over $100 millionLawyers representing owners of Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles told a U.S. judge they are seeking up to $106.5 million in legal fees and out-of-pocket costs in connection with a settlement over excess vehicle emissions, but they are in talks to finalize the amount, officials said Wednesday. |
| Verizon cuts 7 percent of jobs in media unitVerizon Communications Inc is cutting about 7 percent, or about 800 jobs, at its media unit, it said on Wednesday. |
| Stocks seesaw, dollar off; global, U.S. worries weighStocks oscillated between positive and negative territory on Wednesday as worries over U.S. politics, global economic growth and trade tensions offset a boost from quarterly earnings reports. |
| Facebook takes steps to prevent removed pages from duplicating contentFacebook Inc will make changes to better prevent users who have had their organization’s pages removed for violating its rules from using duplicate pages to continue the same activity, it said on Wednesday. |
| Blank-check company IPOs moving ahead despite U.S. government shutdownA corner of the market for initial public offerings is evading the freeze on stock market flotations inflicted by the U.S. government shutdown, putting the spotlight on listings that usually stay under most investors’ radar. |
| Amazon spends company record on U.S. lobbying in 2018: filingAmazon.com Inc spent $14.19 million on lobbying the U.S. government in 2018, according to a regulatory filing, beating its year-ago record, as large U.S. technology companies pushed back on issues such as privacy, immigration and new tariffs. |
| CEOs sour on Trump policies, warn they hurt business, investmentFrom centre-stage in Davos last year, President Donald Trump told the world’s corporate bosses that America is a great place to invest. It hasn’t quite turned out that way. |
| Wall Street mixed as shutdown, trade tensions dampen upbeat earningsWall Street struggled for direction on Wednesday, as early gains driven by a spate of upbeat earnings were offset by concerns about a potential economic downturn, trade tensions and longest government shutdown in U.S. history. |
| Procter & Gamble bets on demand for high-end fabric, skin-care productsProcter & Gamble Co raised its sales forecast for the year on Wednesday after quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations, boosted by price hikes and strong demand for premium fabric and skin care products. |
| Stocks, Dollar Slide As Global Growth Gloom GrowsNo one wins today… Chinese stocks trod water overnight…
European markets pumped and dumped…Spain is leading on the week and UK’s FTSE the laggard…
US Markets were a mixed bag as earnings beats mixed with multiple macro headlines leaving the indice … |
| People Love “Medicare For All” – Until They Find Out It Will Raise TaxesWhile “Medicare-for-all” is set to become a 2020 Democratic talking point, support for the universal healthcare scheme crumbles when people are asked if they’d be willing to pay higher taxes or put up with delays in treatment to get it, according to the Associated Press. According to a survey released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, initial support for the “Medicare-for-all” comes in at 56% – increasing to as much as 71% when people are told it would guarantee health insurance as a right, eliminate premiums and reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
When told that it would increase taxes or lead to delays in service, however, support for the program dropped to 37% and 26% respectively. “The issue that will really be fundamental would be the tax issue,” says Harvard professor Robert Blendon of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health in response to the poll. Blendon noted that single-payer programs in Vermont and Colorado failed due to concerns over tax increases required to fund them.
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| Kass: Market Continues To Underprice RiskVia RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
The recent market rally, which I had expected, has not surprisingly overshot many observers’ upside expectations.
A possible explanation for the market’s extreme moves in the last two months or so is likely market structure in which the dominant force in the market (passive investors) worship at the altar of price momentum and are increasingly agnostic to balance sheets, income statements and “intrinsic values.” Indeed, in a market dominated by ETFs and quant trading (structured to “buy higher and sell lower”) and in which there is nothing like price to improve sentiment — investors seem to be ignoring the market’s shaky fundamental foundation. The three core reasons to be bullish (and my responses) seem to be: 1. A more dovish Federal Reserve – I continue to believe the Fed, facing a disappointing domestic economy, … |
| Syria Ceasefire On Brink Of Collapse As Russia Blames Turkey For Terrorist GrowthFour months after Syria and Russia agreed to call off its joint attack on HTS/al-Qaeda held Idlib province, opting amidst US threats to cut a ceasefire deal mediated with Turkey, Moscow now says Ankara has failed to live up to its end of the bargain, which included agreeing to clear Idlib of terrorists and extremist groups. This means a joint Syrian Army-Russia assault on Idlib could again be on the horizon, which was a major source of tension and threats with the United States previously in September. The collapse of the prior ‘deescalation’ agreement comes at a time when the White House has vowed to stick to the planned US pullout, however, this could be yet a another major development to complicate or delay any possible withdrawal timeline. FT described current Turkish-Russian talks in Moscow as follows:
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| The Moneyist: My family took $60,000 from my late father’s bank account — and gave him morphine before he diedThis woman says she was cheated out of her share of her father’s inheritance. |
| Love & Money: After Disneyland hikes prices again, here are the best ways to save your family moneyThe cost to visit Disneyland has soared ahead of the opening of a new section of the famous theme park dedicated to the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. |
| Some college students have pizza delivered by a robot, while others go hungryGeorge Mason University wants to cater to students whose ‘mom and dad have taken them to three-, four-star restaurants.’ |
HTS in Idlib, via Al JazeeraSummary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
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