Morning Briefing
With Mexico tariff controversy still alive, President Trump threatens China on tariffs again
President Donald Trump continues to claim that there are unannounced side agreements to the deal between the United States and Mexico that ended, for the moment, the threat of escalating U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports. In one of those side agreements, according to...
May jobs disappoint, but stocks climb on interest rate cut hopes
The U.S. economy added just 75,000 jobs in May. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the addition of 175,000 jobs. Statisticians at the Labor Department also revised April job gains down to 224,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%, a 49-year low....
U.S. markets counting on visit from Goldilocks tomorrow
Tomorrow, Friday, June 7, brings the May jobs report. Right now economists surveyed by Bloomberg are looking for the economy to add a robust 175,000 jobs with unemployment holding steady at 3.6% (as 49-year low) and average hourly wages growing at a very positive 3.2%...
Special Report:Â The Crisis in Global Capitalism and 5 Ways to Position Your Portfolio–Part 1 The Crisis in Global Demand
Finally, Part 1 The Crisis in Global Demand, from my Special Report: The Crisis in Global Capitalism and 5 Ways to Position Your Portfolio. On May 29, U.S. stocks took another step lower with the Standard & Poor's 500 closing down 0.69% at 2783. Â News reports on...
Stocks gallup higher as Fed chair affirms Powell Put
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said today that the Fed will do whatever it takes to keep the U.S.economy chugging higher--including a near-term cut in interest rates if needed to offset the negative effects of President Donald Trump's trade and tariff wars. I see...
Manufacturing sector contracts more than expected in May in ISM survey–but, surprising pundits, market doesn’t fold
Going into Monday, June 3, the consensus on Wall Street was that if the Institute for Supply Management's Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing fell more than expected, U.S. stocks would follow in a rout. A lower than expected reading on the index would amplify...
The importance of the 5% tariff that President Trump just slapped on Mexico is way bigger than the number suggests
It's only 5%, Wall Street is saying today in what clearly sounds like an effort to convince itself when investors really know better. That unconvincing "happy talk" is why the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down only 1.24% at the close today, May 31. (I say...
Today it’s all trade war news all the time
Sometimes it's better to just weigh the news rather than try to analyze it. And that certainly seems to fit today's market action. Even though the major U.S. indexes managed slight gains as of the close today--the Standard & Poor's 500, for example, was ahead...
Bond traders test the Powell Put today
U.S. stocks dropped again today with the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed down another 0.69% to 2783.03. U.S. Treasury bonds rallied with the price of the 10-yer bond up enough to push the yield down to 2.21% for a drop in yield of 26 basis points in the last...
No news is good news so far this weekend
U.S. financial markets are closed today for Memorial Day. (Can't help but think of my Dad who climbed telephone poles to string wire during World War II. "While they shot at me," he would say with a mixture of surprise and outrage. I'm sure you have someone(s) to...
Stocks routed on shift in trade war sentiment
You're entitled to feel whiplashed today. Just a few days ago, on May 16, stocks rallied on speculation that trade talks would resume relatively quickly and that the United States and China, rhetoric and tariff increases aside, would find a way within weeks to end...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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