28Jan2019 Midday Update: Wall Street Dragged Lower By Caterpillar’s Weak Earnings, DOW Down Over 300 Points, WTI Trading At 51.70

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are broadly lower today with shares in Brazil off the most. The Bovespa is down 2.25% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is off 1.18% and Mexico’s IPC is lower by 0.13%.

U.S tariffs will slow GDP growth: Congressional Budget Office

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will limit growth of U.S. real gross domestic product by an average of 0.1 percent each year for the next 10 years if they remain in place at current levels, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on Monday.

Facebook tightens paid ads rules ahead of EU elections

Facebook said on Monday it will strengthen its rules and safeguards around political adverts to prevent foreign interference in elections, including those in Europe this year.

$1.5 trillion U.S. tax cut has no major impact on business capex plans: survey

The Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion cut tax package appeared to have no major impact on businesses’ capital investment or hiring plans, according to a survey released a year after the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years.

Saudi Arabia’s PIF slashes exposure to Tesla: FT

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its exposure to Tesla Inc, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, sending the electric car maker’s shares down 2 percent.

Volvo’s self-driving car venture gets nod to test on Swedish roads

A Volvo Cars joint venture has won approval to begin hands-free testing of its software for self-driving cars on Swedish highways, partner Veoneer said on Monday.

Madrid taxis block major road in biggest anti-Uber protest yet

Hundreds of taxis blocked a central traffic artery in Madrid during Monday’s morning rush hour, in their biggest show of strength yet as a protest seeking tighter regulation of Uber and other ride-hailing services entered its second week.

Exclusive: JSW Steel, Duferco in talks on landmark steel pre-payment deal

Indian conglomerate JSW Steel and global trading firm Duferco are in advanced talks on a five-year cash-for-steel prepayment deal, four sources familiar with the matter said, in a rare move for the industry.

Shares of PG&E jump on report of investor group offer

Shares of power producer PG&E Corp jumped on Monday after a Bloomberg News report said an investor group had offered the company a $4 billion alternative plan that would avoid bankruptcy, according to a CNBC report on Monday.

Shutdown costs pegged at $3 billion as U.S. government reopens

The U.S. economy was expected to lose $3 billion from the partial federal government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding, congressional researchers said on Monday as 800,000 federal employees returned to work after a 35-day unpaid furlough.

AOC Slams Facebook, Google, Microsoft CEOs “Complicit In Denying Climate Change”

The poor, the homeless, the immigrants, the minorities, and now climate change – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has now checked another box in her first month as a member of Congress.

AOC’s climate warpath began a week ago, quoting the Bible after the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, suggested the US government should leave environmental protection up to God.

“I don’t think we’re going to listen to [AOC] on much of anything, particularly not on matters that we’re going to leave in to the hands of a much, much higher authority,” Sanders said on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Tuesday night.

She argued that the country should leave the fate of the planet in “the hands of something and someone much more powerful than any of us,” presumably referring to God.

Ocasio-Cortez quickly replied via tweet:

“‘Genesis 1: God looked on the world & called it good not once, not twice, but seven times. Genesis 2: God commands all people to “serve and protect” creation. Leviticus: God mandates that no …

CBO Unveils Apocalyptic Long-Term Debt Picture With US Set To Borrow Over $1 Trillion For Second Year

On Monday morning, the CBO announced in its latest forecast that, as widely expected, U.S. budget deficits are set to widen further in coming years and economic gains will be muted” – a growth outlook that’s weaker than the Trump administration’s target of at least 3 percent growth. However, the surprise was that contrary to the CBO’s last forecast, the budget deficit is now expected to hit $1 trillion two years later than previously projected.

Specifically, the U.S. budget deficit is forecast to widen to “only” $897 billion over the 12 months through September, from $779 billion last year. This means that contrary to the CBO’s last forecast in April, the U.S. budget deficit will top $1 trillion in fiscal 2022. The CBO estimated in April that the budget deficit for the entire fiscal year would increase to $804 billion, before widening to $981 billion in fiscal 2019 and topping $1 trillion in 2020.

“That reduction in projected deficits results primarily from legislative changes — most notably a decrease in emergency spending,” the CBO said, somewhat optimistically especially since the economy is forecast to slow over the next three years with the growth rate easing to 2.3% in 2019, 1.7% next year, and 1.6% in 2021, the CBO forecasted; growth was an estimated 3.1% last year.

“The slowdown begins in 2019 as the positive effects of recent tax legislation on business investment are expected to wane and federal purchases under current law are projected to drop sharply starting in the fourth quarter of this year,” according to the report.

There is one problem with this forecast: Wall Street disagrees vehemently, and according to analyst forecasts, the Treasury Department will see further acceleration in sales of long-term debt to finance the government’s widening budget deficit, with new issuance projected to t …

Pink Elephants, Black Swans, & Roger Stone

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Stone Cold Counter Story

Maybe twenty-nine FBI agents in tactical combat gear and a fleet of SUVs with K-Force LED lights flashing wasn’t enough to flush out the arch-villain Roger Stone from his South Florida hide-out. Ever consider that? He might have charged out of the place like John Wayne in Rio Bravo, brandishing a spatula or a shoe-horn, since he didn’t happen to have a Colt-45 on hand. Maybe they should have sent in a SEAL team and the Boston Patriots offensive line for back-up. Anyway, they got their man! And CNN was there to record it, thanks to their 2018 hire of FBI former special agent Josh Campbell, who had been FBI Director James Comey’s majordomo in a previous career incarnation. Isn’t it a small world? Somehow Josh got wind of the pre-dawn raid.

Roger Stone is not everybody’s cup of antifreeze. I don’t want to go too tweet-mean on the guy, but let’s face it, physically he does look a little like Zippy-the-Pinhead – if, say, Zippy had made it to community college and learned how to manage a fo …

PG&E Shares Soar As Investors Offer Plan To Avert Bankruptcy

Mere days after founder Ken Griffin set a new record in the US for most expensive home ever purchased by closing on a Manhattan penthouse apartment, Citadel is reportedly leading an investor group to try and stave off a possible bankruptcy filing for embattled California utility PG&E.

The utility, which was last week cleared of responsibility for the Tubbs fire, one of the deadliest fires in the state’s history, could still face some $20 billion in liabilities if it’s equipment is conclusively found to have caused other wildfires during 2017 and 2018 which led to dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in property damage.

According to CNBC, Citadel has reportedly furnished a second investor proposal to the utility, which has been threatening to file for bankruptcy (what would be its second in the last 20 years), to the consternation of California lawmakers.

Shares climbed as much as 15% on the news before trimming their gains.

Market Extra: An earnings tsunami — with 113 S&P 500 components — marks ‘pivot point’ for stock market

Stock-market investors are bracing for the busiest week of the earnings season, in what could be a crucial stage in what has been a potent recovery from last year’s lows.

Hopes IPO market will reopen fast dampened by fears of another shutdown

Hopes that the U.S. IPO market will come straight back to life now that the government shutdown has ended and regulators are back at work have been dampened by worries about a possible second shutdown.

Everything coming to Netflix in February — and what’s leaving

Netflix is bringing the laughs this February with six original comedy specials.