US stocks are so hot right now it's difficult to keep up with all the records and new all-time highs. Suffice to say that the Fed continues to pump billions of dollars into the hands of primary dealers, hedge funds, used car dealers, slot machines, you name it.
This market, because of the continuous flow of funny money from the central bank, is as phony as an Iowa caucus, but, if you're long, it's infinitely more enjoyable.
With the Dow up more than 1000 points in three days, most analysts and reporters have run out of superlatives.
Apparently, the threat of a global pandemic from the novel coronavirus has been discounted. Almost all of the reported infections and deaths have been centered in China. Only two deaths outside of China have been reported as having been due to the virus.
On Wednesday, President Trump was acquitted on both impeachment charges. Next time (probably in a few months or so) the Democrats might want to try accusing him of something more concrete than Abuse of Power or Obstruction of Congress, neither of which are crimes, much less high crimes. The only things high were the Democrat deep operatives who dreamt up their poor attempt at a coup d'etat.
In what has to be one of the more amusing stories of the past few days is the unprecedented rise and fall of Elon Musk's Tesla (TSLA) stock, which ran up from a close of 650.57 per share on Friday, January 30, to 887.06 at the close on Tuesday, February 4, and finished the session at 734.70 on Wednesday, the 5th, a loss of 152.36 points (-17.18%), and continues to fall in pre-market trading. One of the most widely-held and most-shorted stocks listed, everybody's a winner with the exploding electric car company.
Just in case there isn't enough juice in the markets to keep the rally alive, China announced overnight that it will cut by half tariffs on 1,717 goods imported from the United States beginning February 14 as part of its agreement to Phase 1 of the US-China trade deal.
Oil continues to hold steady near $50 per barrel of WTI crude, having fallen into a bear market from $64 just a month ago. The US national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is $2.47 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com.
At the Close, Wednesday, February 5, 2020:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 29,290.85, +483.22 (+1.68%)
NASDAQ: 9,508.68, +40.71 (+0.43%)
S&P 500: 3,334.69, +37.10 (+1.13%)
NYSE: 14,024.86, +162.02 (+1.17%)
Showing posts with label imports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label imports. Show all posts
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Stocks Clobbered As US-China Trade War Heats Up
Today's tired showing by stocks, globally, demonstrated just how fragile the world's economic system is and how easily the best laid investment plans can go awry.
After President Trump announced plans for $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports and the Chinese countered with $50 billion of their own on US goods, Trump upped the ante by calling on his main trade representative to prepare another $200 billion in Chinese goods to be tariffed, should the Chinese actually go through with their retaliation.
As usual, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took the brunt of the day's carnage, shedding more than one percent, while the NASDAQ and S&P showed smaller percentage losses. The decline was the sixth straight for the mighty Dow, which has been under pressure since February of this year and is now even for the year (-19 points).
The other averages have fared better, but 2018 is not shaping up to be a year of excessive profit for equity investors.
Amid the chaos, bond yields continued to fall. The rush to safety is accelerating as the yield curve flattened even more through the day. The spread on the 2s-10s is now just 35 basis points, 5s-30s held steady at 25, 2s-30s are at 48, down one more basis point, the tightening spread making it more and more difficult for financial institutions to generate alpha, or profit, but the herd is heading in one direction and it's toward a recession.
As far as President Trump's intentions are concerned, "the Donald" is perfectly aware of what he's doing. By imposing steep tariffs on foreign goods he will bring most of the planet to its knees and likely cause a recession, though the timing couldn't be more perfect in political terms.
If a recession occurs within the next six to nine months, it would likely be over well before the next presidential race heats up in 2020. Figuring on a recession beginning in January or February of 2019 and running the average of 16 months, the economy would be on the upswing by July or August 2020, giving the president plenty of time to explain how some pain was necessary to restore vibrancy and a level playing field to the US economy.
It's not balderdash. It's the art of the deal.
And thus, with today's losses, more than two thirds of the gains made earlier in the month have been eviscerated.
It's only money.
Dow Jones Industrial Average June Scorecard:
At the Close, Tuesday, June 19, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,700.21, -287.26 (-1.15%)
NASDAQ: 7,725.58, -21.44 (-0.28%)
S&P 500: 2,762.57, -11.18 (-0.40%)
NYSE Composite: 12,637.23, -71.40 (-0.56%)
After President Trump announced plans for $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports and the Chinese countered with $50 billion of their own on US goods, Trump upped the ante by calling on his main trade representative to prepare another $200 billion in Chinese goods to be tariffed, should the Chinese actually go through with their retaliation.
As usual, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took the brunt of the day's carnage, shedding more than one percent, while the NASDAQ and S&P showed smaller percentage losses. The decline was the sixth straight for the mighty Dow, which has been under pressure since February of this year and is now even for the year (-19 points).
The other averages have fared better, but 2018 is not shaping up to be a year of excessive profit for equity investors.
Amid the chaos, bond yields continued to fall. The rush to safety is accelerating as the yield curve flattened even more through the day. The spread on the 2s-10s is now just 35 basis points, 5s-30s held steady at 25, 2s-30s are at 48, down one more basis point, the tightening spread making it more and more difficult for financial institutions to generate alpha, or profit, but the herd is heading in one direction and it's toward a recession.
As far as President Trump's intentions are concerned, "the Donald" is perfectly aware of what he's doing. By imposing steep tariffs on foreign goods he will bring most of the planet to its knees and likely cause a recession, though the timing couldn't be more perfect in political terms.
If a recession occurs within the next six to nine months, it would likely be over well before the next presidential race heats up in 2020. Figuring on a recession beginning in January or February of 2019 and running the average of 16 months, the economy would be on the upswing by July or August 2020, giving the president plenty of time to explain how some pain was necessary to restore vibrancy and a level playing field to the US economy.
It's not balderdash. It's the art of the deal.
And thus, with today's losses, more than two thirds of the gains made earlier in the month have been eviscerated.
It's only money.
Dow Jones Industrial Average June Scorecard:
| Date | Close | Gain/Loss | Cum. G/L |
| 6/1/18 | 24,635.21 | +219.37 | +219.37 |
| 6/4/18 | 24,813.69 | +178.48 | +397.85 |
| 6/5/18 | 24,799.98 | -13.71 | +384.14 |
| 6/6/18 | 25,146.39 | +346.41 | +730.55 |
| 6/7/18 | 25,241.41 | +95.02 | +825.57 |
| 6/8/18 | 25,316.53 | +75.12 | +900.69 |
| 6/11/18 | 25,322.31 | +5.78 | +906.47 |
| 6/12/18 | 25,320.73 | -1.58 | +904.89 |
| 6/13/18 | 25,201.20 | -119.53 | +785.36 |
| 6/14/18 | 25,175.31 | -25.89 | +759.47 |
| 6/15/18 | 25,090.48 | -84.83 | +674.64 |
| 6/18/18 | 24,987.47 | -103.01 | +571.63 |
| 6/19/18 | 24,700.21 | -287.26 | +284.37 |
At the Close, Tuesday, June 19, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,700.21, -287.26 (-1.15%)
NASDAQ: 7,725.58, -21.44 (-0.28%)
S&P 500: 2,762.57, -11.18 (-0.40%)
NYSE Composite: 12,637.23, -71.40 (-0.56%)
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
China Steel Exports To USA Subject To 256% Tariff
Remember, folks, the US Department of Commerce has your backs.
The department is recommending that the United States impose a tariff on steel imports from China of 256%, because they feel China has been dumping steel on the market and causing a severe disruption in the price, negatively affecting US steel producers.
Gee, really? What's next, tariffs on electronics, cars, just about anything you buy at Wal-Mart or nearly anywhere in America?
Where's the great Ben Bernanke when you need him? You know, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve who is an EXPERT on the Great Depression.
Why do we need the Big Bernank now? Because, his expertise would prevail on our glorious government goofballs that protectionism is exactly what made the Great Depression so (not) great.
You take depressed markets overfull of inventory, tack on tariffs and you get exactly what the Fed wants in order to hide its horrible policies: velocity of money at zero, falling wages, layoffs and now, the kicker, goods too expensive for anybody to buy. Pure genius, these guys looking out for all of us little people.
This is just the beginning. Expect to see more trade protectionism going forward and more countries falling into recession. Add it all up and you have Great Depression 2.0.
It's not going to happen all of a sudden, because the Fed is still fighting deflation. But, when the going gets rough, really rough, like when Wall Street (hell) freezes over and commits suicide in a crash of stocks of companies that have been repurchasing their own shares for the past six years and they lay off millions of workers, that's when the government will move in full force with trade restrictions and tariffs so that Americans can't purchase anything from the evil Chinamen.
Maybe somebody should have thought about this before we sent all of our manufacturing base over to the Red Dragons. Then again, maybe they did.
Meanwhile, the Santa Claus rally continues on Wall Street. The S&P gained enough today to show a small profit for the year and the Dow Jones Industrials are closing in on being black for 2015.
The department is recommending that the United States impose a tariff on steel imports from China of 256%, because they feel China has been dumping steel on the market and causing a severe disruption in the price, negatively affecting US steel producers.
Gee, really? What's next, tariffs on electronics, cars, just about anything you buy at Wal-Mart or nearly anywhere in America?
Where's the great Ben Bernanke when you need him? You know, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve who is an EXPERT on the Great Depression.
Why do we need the Big Bernank now? Because, his expertise would prevail on our glorious government goofballs that protectionism is exactly what made the Great Depression so (not) great.
You take depressed markets overfull of inventory, tack on tariffs and you get exactly what the Fed wants in order to hide its horrible policies: velocity of money at zero, falling wages, layoffs and now, the kicker, goods too expensive for anybody to buy. Pure genius, these guys looking out for all of us little people.
This is just the beginning. Expect to see more trade protectionism going forward and more countries falling into recession. Add it all up and you have Great Depression 2.0.
It's not going to happen all of a sudden, because the Fed is still fighting deflation. But, when the going gets rough, really rough, like when Wall Street (hell) freezes over and commits suicide in a crash of stocks of companies that have been repurchasing their own shares for the past six years and they lay off millions of workers, that's when the government will move in full force with trade restrictions and tariffs so that Americans can't purchase anything from the evil Chinamen.
Maybe somebody should have thought about this before we sent all of our manufacturing base over to the Red Dragons. Then again, maybe they did.
Meanwhile, the Santa Claus rally continues on Wall Street. The S&P gained enough today to show a small profit for the year and the Dow Jones Industrials are closing in on being black for 2015.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
More POMO Equals More Momo; Less for Your Dollar
For the uninitiated, POMO stands for Permanent Open Market Operations, which, well, really doesn't explain anything, but let's just say this is how the Federal Reserve has been handing money over to primary dealers for the past 6 1/2 months, through various coupon pass-throughs and bond-repurchases.
So why POMO causes MOMO (slang for "momentum") is that these primary dealers have to do something with their newly-minted free Fed paper money, so they thrust it into the stock market and goose up shares of Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), Chipolte Mexican Grill (CMG) and other darlings of the "Fast Money" crowd.
The Fed is furiously throwing money around these days, attempting to keep the Ponzi market afloat before John Boehner decides to cram it all back to the Fed by insisting on budget cuts. Mr. Boehner best watch what he says or soon enough there will be calls for him to step down as Majority Leader in the House. Treasury Timmy and Bingo Bernanke don't like cuts in spending as it really diminishes the impact of their unilateral pumping of all things financial.
Of course, Mr. Boehner's calls for $2 trillion in budget cuts is laughable and will never happen. Even he knows that, but he must maintain the posture of a "conservative" even though he and his Republican members (except a brave few - very few - Tea Partiers) are as quick to spend a buck as their Democratic counterparts. There will be a few trifling spending cuts announced as part of some kind of compromise, but it won't matter. The government is about as desperate and broken as the stock markets, and that takes some doing.
So, today, on the back of a ramp job yesterday, we have more momentum playing, goosing stocks back towards the highs they scored a few weeks back. There are about 30 more POMO days before the Fed cuts the cord in late June, so expect the equity indices to be heading for higher highs before then. As long as the mainstream media can keep the public convinced inflation is marginal, transitory or immaterial, and that $4 or $5 gas is now acceptable, there will be no turning back the tidal wave of Federal Reserve Notes banging prices higher around the world.
Quoting Diane Keaton in her role as Annie Hall, from the Woody Allen movie by the same name, "la dee da." Welcome to the centrally planned economy.
Dow 12,760.36, +75.68 (0.60%)
NASDAQ 2,871.89, +28.64 (1.01%)
S&P 500 1,357.16, +10.87 (0.81%)
NYSE Composite 8,550.49, +72.30 (0.85%)
Advancing issues far outpaced decliners, 5077-1471, so one could call today's ramp-up, POMO-induced rally, broad-based, if one so chooses. Most of it are just calling it "nowhere to hide the devalued dollars." On the NASDAQ, there were 142 new highs and 34 new lows. Over on the NYSE big board, new highs were well ahead of new lows, 240-16. This is, in fact, easy to accomplish with free money, no restraint and near-record low volume - again.
NASDAQ Volume 1,996,086,625.00
NYSE Volume 3,778,728,750
Crude oil, despite an announced 25% margin hike which takes effect tomorrow, gained $1.33, to close at $103.88. And now, since oil has been sufficiently beaten down, we hear that numerous refineries are partially shut down, just in time for the nicer weather. Welcome to $4.00 and $4.50 gas coming to a fueling station near you.
Gold continued to strike back against the empire of debt, gaining $3.20, to $1516.30 up to the minute. Silver added 76 cents, at $38.47. The precious metals now have added momentum to meet and exceed previous all-time and multi-year highs before the end of June.
The government reported today that import prices (almost everything that US consumers purchase) rose 2.2% in April, on the heels of a 2.6% rise in March. Year-over-year, the increase was 11.1%
Keep printing, Mr. Bernanke. We will continue to buy silver and gold, POMO and MOMO notwithstanding.
So why POMO causes MOMO (slang for "momentum") is that these primary dealers have to do something with their newly-minted free Fed paper money, so they thrust it into the stock market and goose up shares of Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), Chipolte Mexican Grill (CMG) and other darlings of the "Fast Money" crowd.
The Fed is furiously throwing money around these days, attempting to keep the Ponzi market afloat before John Boehner decides to cram it all back to the Fed by insisting on budget cuts. Mr. Boehner best watch what he says or soon enough there will be calls for him to step down as Majority Leader in the House. Treasury Timmy and Bingo Bernanke don't like cuts in spending as it really diminishes the impact of their unilateral pumping of all things financial.
Of course, Mr. Boehner's calls for $2 trillion in budget cuts is laughable and will never happen. Even he knows that, but he must maintain the posture of a "conservative" even though he and his Republican members (except a brave few - very few - Tea Partiers) are as quick to spend a buck as their Democratic counterparts. There will be a few trifling spending cuts announced as part of some kind of compromise, but it won't matter. The government is about as desperate and broken as the stock markets, and that takes some doing.
So, today, on the back of a ramp job yesterday, we have more momentum playing, goosing stocks back towards the highs they scored a few weeks back. There are about 30 more POMO days before the Fed cuts the cord in late June, so expect the equity indices to be heading for higher highs before then. As long as the mainstream media can keep the public convinced inflation is marginal, transitory or immaterial, and that $4 or $5 gas is now acceptable, there will be no turning back the tidal wave of Federal Reserve Notes banging prices higher around the world.
Quoting Diane Keaton in her role as Annie Hall, from the Woody Allen movie by the same name, "la dee da." Welcome to the centrally planned economy.
Dow 12,760.36, +75.68 (0.60%)
NASDAQ 2,871.89, +28.64 (1.01%)
S&P 500 1,357.16, +10.87 (0.81%)
NYSE Composite 8,550.49, +72.30 (0.85%)
Advancing issues far outpaced decliners, 5077-1471, so one could call today's ramp-up, POMO-induced rally, broad-based, if one so chooses. Most of it are just calling it "nowhere to hide the devalued dollars." On the NASDAQ, there were 142 new highs and 34 new lows. Over on the NYSE big board, new highs were well ahead of new lows, 240-16. This is, in fact, easy to accomplish with free money, no restraint and near-record low volume - again.
NASDAQ Volume 1,996,086,625.00
NYSE Volume 3,778,728,750
Crude oil, despite an announced 25% margin hike which takes effect tomorrow, gained $1.33, to close at $103.88. And now, since oil has been sufficiently beaten down, we hear that numerous refineries are partially shut down, just in time for the nicer weather. Welcome to $4.00 and $4.50 gas coming to a fueling station near you.
Gold continued to strike back against the empire of debt, gaining $3.20, to $1516.30 up to the minute. Silver added 76 cents, at $38.47. The precious metals now have added momentum to meet and exceed previous all-time and multi-year highs before the end of June.
The government reported today that import prices (almost everything that US consumers purchase) rose 2.2% in April, on the heels of a 2.6% rise in March. Year-over-year, the increase was 11.1%
The 12-month advance in April was the largest year-over-year increase since an 11.2 percent gain between April 2009 and April 2010.So, no, there's no inflation, just record import prices two years running.
Keep printing, Mr. Bernanke. We will continue to buy silver and gold, POMO and MOMO notwithstanding.
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