6 weeks ago, markets would have sold off significantly had President Trump attacked the Chinese regarding violating their trade agreement with the U.S. This morning, stocks are down marginally in the pre-market. Folks can argue that the economic news with cooler inflation and a “miraculously” shrinking trade deficit are more important. And that’s been my point exactly all year. I have hammered that with each successive social media post and press conference regarding tariffs, the markets are becoming more and […]
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I am rushing to hop on the train to NYC to join my friend, Charles Payne, on Fox Business between 2pm and 3pm so this may be shorter (or not). In the on again, off again tariff saga, the President reversed course on his 50% European tariff threat over the long weekend. And as you can imagine the pre-market trading is strongly higher by roughly 1.50%, wiping out Friday’s losses and then some. My readers know I have long argued […]
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Here we go again? Kinda? Sorta? Donald Trump was at it again this morning with threats of 50% tariffs on the European Union along with specifically targeting Apple. I remember telling folks after the supposed China “deal” that it wasn’t the end. It was the end of the beginning. And my opinion remains that the worst has been seen on the tariff front. Additionally, I still believe that one day this year we will wake up to bad news on […]
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The big news of the day is actually what came on Friday right after 4pm. Credit rater Moody’s downgraded the U.S. from AAA to Aa1 in a mostly symbolic move. It is also more than 13 years after S&P began the downgrade process in August 2011. In short, while the move was long overdue and correct, it is stale and pretty much meaningless. Everyone and their dog knows our fiscal path is not sustainable. Politicians are 100% to blame, on […]
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The bulls have completely run over the bears much quicker than I thought and to a larger degree than I thought. That’s okay. No problem here. The NASDAQ 100 below has its sights on the old highs. I didn’t think that was in the cards until later this year. But here we are. People are getting more bullish which is expected. That’s okay until it’s not, meaning that bullishness is fine as long as it doesn’t get greedy, giddy and […]
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I don’t have to say that it’s good to be home yet again because my trip to Florida never happened. I had scheduled client get togethers for Orlando, Melbourne and Boca on Monday with a few more on Tuesday. My flight kept getting delayed 10-15 at a time with mechanical issues. At the 90 minute mark I knew I would miss Orlando and jeopardize Melbourne. Then news came of severe weather in Florida. The choice became easy. I received a […]
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Greetings from being back in CT! My flight to Florida has been delayed for mechanical reasons and the airline isn’t sure when or even if it’s going to fly. Last Friday I wrote about the stock market being tired. It had rallied very far and very fast, similar to how it plunged in April although the downs are almost always sharper than the ups. I thought maybe some sideways action or a few percent lower. The news of the weekend […]
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My flight back from CA to JFK was delayed because of weather and a not functioning lavatory. And then we had to fly around the storms which made it longer. Upon landing, wait for it, the gate was not ready. And my parking lot took 30 minutes to pick me up. So folks, here is a short update on a few hours of sleep. Like me, stocks are a bit tired. Tariff news has been good this week, but stocks […]
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After four crummy weather days, Mother Nature is apparently going to offer some sun and warmth in Southern CA, not that I have been outside since Sunday. The conference ends today and it’s been a tiring week so far, chairing the conference committee and keeping everything running smoothly and on time. I am looking forward to a half day free tomorrow morning before flying home. It’s FOMC day for the Fed. The stock market model is plus or minus 0.50% […]
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Following the election of Donald Trump to a second term, I broke with the vast majority of pundits and media when I had high conviction that 2025 would not be a repeat of 2017 where we saw animal spirits unleashed and markets soar. 2017 was all about the largest tax cut in history along with massive deregulation. Combined, that likely added hundreds of billions if not trillions into corporate coffers and individual balance sheets to stimulate an economy that didn’t […]
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