27Feb2019 Midday Update: Wall Street Recovering From Session Lows, DOW Down Fractionally, Trending Towards Unchanged Line, WTI Higher At 57.28, US Goods Trade Deficit Deteriorates, Factory Orders Edge Up

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. Shares in Mexico are lower with the IPC off by 0.87%. The IPC and Bovespa are uchanged.

Airbus plans German-free warplane after Saudi arms ban: sources

Airbus, frustrated by a German freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia, has decided to redesign the C295 military transport aircraft it builds in Spain to remove its German content, company sources told Reuters.

U.S., China trade talks still need heavy work to reach deal: Lighthizer

The United States and China still have hard work ahead to reach a trade deal to end a dispute that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told a Congressional hearing on Wednesday was the “most severe” Washington trade policy makers had faced.

U.S. wants regular meetings to ensure trade deal enforcement: Lighthizer

The United States wants meetings as regularly as once a month to ensure enforcement of any potential trade pact with China, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday.

Best Buy shares surge 16 percent on upbeat profit view, robust holiday quarter

Best Buy Co Inc shares surged 16 percent on Wednesday after it gave an upbeat profit forecast for the year and reported better-than-expected holiday-quarter sales.

Oil jumps after U.S. crude stocks drop, OPEC stays firm on cuts

Oil futures rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday after a surprising plunge in U.S. crude inventories and as OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia appeared unfazed by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to prevent oil prices from rising.

Qatar, China, Japan sought ‘extras’ after Barclays 2008 fundraising: court

Qatari, Chinese and Japanese investors all sought “extras” from Barclays as the British bank raised billions of pounds at the height of the credit crisis in 2008, a landmark London criminal trial heard on Wednesday.

Exclusive: Exxon adds veteran oil traders in Houston as it bulks up trading: sources

Exxon Mobil Corp has hired veteran crude traders Mitch Rubinstein and Michael Paradise in Houston, as the oil major further boosts its trading capabilities, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Qatar Airways suspended some destinations planned for Africa after Gulf boycott

Qatar Airways said on Wednesday that it had decided not to go ahead with routes to some planned destinations following a Gulf boycott, particularly in West and Central Africa, the company said in a Twitter post.

Wall St. falls after Lighthizer’s comments on trade talks

Wall Street’s main indexes extended losses on Wednesday after U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer said the country’s issues with China were “too serious” to be resolved by promises of more purchases of U.S. goods by Beijing.

How One Chinese Investor Made 19,267% On Monday (And Lost It All By Tuesday’s Close)

By most standards, Monday’s explosive rally in Chinese equities was a shock.

Whether it was The National Team or not, the margin-driven buying panic was almost unprecedented…with the Shanghai-listed China 50 ETF soaring over 11%… to top 2.8 Yuan (this is important to note for later)

Since then, it has given back a little of those gains but to most that is a great week.

However, as Bloomberg notes, that is a drop in the ocean compared to the stunning returns made this week in China’s options market. Trading in options on the Shanghai-listed China 50 exchange-traded fund soared to an all-time high on Monday as the nation’s stock market posted its biggest single-day gain since August 2015.

Congratulations Women, Judge Rules The US Military Should Draft You Too

Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Over the last few years, there has been action in the United States Congress regarding whether or not to expand Selective Service registration requirements and any potential military draft to include women as well as men. Much of the support for this move has been explained as an effort to advance “equality.”

It looks like the US courts may beat the US legislative branch to expanding this realm of submission to government dictates to include women. Gregory Korte reported Sunday at USA Today that US District Judge Gray H. Miller declared Friday in a court case decision “that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional, rul …

‘Father Of Reaganonomics’ Warns “Get Out Of The Market… And Put Your Money In Cash”

“We need to wake up and smell the roses here…”

That’s the ominous-sounding warning from David Stockman, the so-called “Father of Reaganomics,” as he told Fox Business’s Neil Cavuto this week that investors ought to get out of the market and retreat to the presumed safety of Treasury bills and cold, hard cash.

“We’re in year 10 of the longest business expansion in history. We’re increasing the deficit at the very wrong time. They say it’s $900 billion this year it’ll be $1.2 trillion of borrowing at the same time that the Fed is beginning to shrink its balance sheet, which means they’ll be dumping bonds into the market,” he said.

As MarketWatch’s Mark Decambre notes, here’s an exchange between Cavuto and Stockman during the nearly 8-minute segment, in which the businessman cautioned that the end of easy-money policies by the Federal Reserve would ultimately augur ill for a country hopped up on debt …

Carter: Michael Cohen’s Testimony Is Filled With Speculation, Reads Like A Jilted Lover

Authored by Sara Carter,

Michael Cohen’s testimony isn’t exactly the bombshell Democrats professed it to be.

It is filled with speculation. The testimony he is providing the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday reads like a jilted lover whose been damaged by a past relationship and one in which the other party, that being President Donald Trump, never fully respected or considered as important.

For Cohen, who was hired by Trump in 2007, this appears to be too much to take. His working relationship with Trump dragged him into the bowels of Washington D.C.’s most brutal investigations into a President and his campaign that Americans have ever witnessed.

Senior officials within the Obama Administration launched an investigation that targeted Trump and everyone around him nearly three years ago. And for the past …

January 2019 Pending Home Sales Jump?

Written by Steven Hansen

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seasonally adjusted pending home sales index remains in contraction but with less year-over-year contraction. Our analysis also shows improvement in the year-over-year contraction. The quote of the day from this NAR release:

… Homebuyers are now returning and taking advantage of lower interest rates, while a boost in inventory is also providing more choices for consumers. …

Economic Report: U.S. economy may have slipped below 2% growth at end of 2018, GDP likely to show

The economy slipped into a slow jog from a sprint at the end of 2018 — remember the stock market meltdown and all the recession talk — but it didn’t come to a complete halt. Here’s what fourth-quarter GDP will tell us.

Earnings Results: Adyen posts strong international growth but stock falls after earnings

Payment processor Adyen NV beat expectations with its latest earnings as it continued its global expansion, but shares fell after the company’s report.

10 of the most effective, easiest ways to save for retirement

They’ll take little effort but you’ll thank yourself later.