A conversation with Mark Hamrick, Senior Financial Analyst with BankRate.com.

A conversation with John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco Systems and author of “Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World”.

…Stocks finished mixed – up for the week – down for the month and year. A look at 2018 market movers. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-28-2018 DOW – 76 = 23,062 SPX – 3 = 2485 NAS + 5 = 6584 RUT + 6 = 1337 10 Y – .01 = 2.73% OIL + .47 = 45.08 GOLD + 5.10 = 1281.20   Up, down, up, down, up down – slightly negative at the end of trade. Today could have gone in any direction. There was a serious lack of commitment in trading today and stocks limped across the finish line.   Since the Christmas Eve nightmare, we have seen a nice bounce back for the major indices but a series of sharp sell-offs have left stocks on track for their worst December since the Great Depression. That would be the case if the S&P 500 closes below 2,594 on Monday. It finished at 2,485 today – so it looks like the worst December in 87 years.   The S&P 500 Index posted the biggest upward reversal in eight years during Thursday’s session, rallying back from a 2.8 percent deficit. One theory is that the about-face could reflect end-of-quarter adjustments by pension funds that have $60 billion of shares to buy this month. Institutional investors with large holdings in stocks and bonds use the end-of-quarter period to balance out holdings, adding to losers and cutting on winners. This time, they went big on U.S. large and small caps, ...

…Stocks stage a last hour rally. Why have stocks been dropping in a strong economy? What was behind today’s rally into the close. Consumer confidence slips. Techs mixed. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-27-2018 DOW + 260 = 23,138 SPX + 21 = 2488 NAS + 25 = 6579 RUT + 2 = 1331 10 Y – .05 = 2.74% OIL – .93 = 45.29 GOLD + 8.90 = 1276.20   I have been out of studio for the past couple of weeks on holiday. And while I was gone, it looks like you kids just made a mess of the markets. I look around and everything has been trashed. I know you tried to clean up yesterday, but it was too little, too late.   Last Friday, the Dow closed at 22,445. This holiday shortened week saw stocks plunge on Monday in a Christmas Eve nightmare, followed by a 1,000 point Boxing Day bounce, and then down again today, the Dow industrial were down about 600 points  – at least until the final hour or so of trade. Stocks had fallen for four consecutive days through Monday, and the drop had pushed the S&P 500 to within just a few points of a bear market — defined as a 20 percent retreat from its high. Still, the S&P 500 is on pace for its worst annual performance since the financial crisis a decade ago and is only back to where it stood on Dec. 20, but still negative ...

…Economy adds 155,000 jobs in November. Unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7%. U6 jumps to 7.6%. slightly weak report but not enough to change Fed. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-07-2018 DOW – 558 = 24,388 SPX – 62 = 2633 NAS -219 = 6969 RUT – 29 = 1448 10 Y – .03 = 2.85% OIL + .86 = 52.35 GOLD + 10.80 = 1249.00   The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the economy added 155,000 jobs in November, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7 percent. With a modest downward revision to the job growth reported for the prior two months (down 12,000 combined), the average over the last three months was 170,000, a clear slowing from the 204,000-average rate over the last year. Payroll growth in 2018 is still on track to beat the previous year’s average monthly gains of 182,000 positions and could surpass 2016’s average monthly increase of 195,000. What’s more, the economy is on track to produce the most new jobs since 2015. November was the 98th month of job creation in a row, a record.   And while 155,000 new jobs missed estimates and was a bit disappointing, it isn’t really a problem. Even if the U.S. were just adding 150,000 jobs a month, it’s a lot more than the country needs to supply everyone entering the labor force with a job: high school and college grads, immigrants, moms returning after an extended absence, retirees looking for side work.   Average hourly earnings, ...

Anthony Nieves, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Non-manufacturing Business Survey Committee. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its non-manufacturing activity index rose 0.4 point to a reading of 60.7 last month. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector

…Dow drops 784 points, but trims losses. Oil slides as OPEC meets. US an oil exporter. Huawei exec arrested in Canada – trade tensions spike. Trade deficit jumps. ADP private payroll 179k in November. ISM services sector increases. Stopgap government funding for 2 weeks. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-06-2018 DOW – 79 = 24,947 SPX – 4 = 2695 NAS + 29 = 7188 RUT – 3 = 1477 10 Y – .05 = 2.87% OIL – 1.13 = 51.76 GOLD + .50 = 1238.20   Stocks pared losses in the final hour or so of trading. The Dow industrials had been down 784 points earlier in the session. Globally, stocks did not bounce. The FTSE 100 index suffered its biggest percentage fall since the day after the EU referendum in June 2016 – closing almost 218 points lower at 6,704. Theresa May’s uphill struggle to get the House of Commons to agree her Brexit deal provided an additional cause of market anxiety in London. The 3.15% fall in the FTSE left the market at its lowest level in two years. Only three of the 100 companies quoted in the FTSE 100 closed up on a day of heavy and coordinated selling on every major global stock market. Reports of a Huawei executive’s arrest  – and China’s demand for her release – led to falls of 2% in the Shanghai and Tokyo markets overnight and the sell-off spread to Europe, where all the main bourses saw losses in ...

…US stock markets closed to honor George H.W. Bush. They needed a break. Beige Book shows solid economy with a few headwinds. Friday Jobs report. OPEC meets tomorrow. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-05-2018 DOW = 25,027 SPX = 2700 NAS = 7158 RUT = 1480 10 Y = 2.92% OIL – .22 = 53.03 GOLD – .80 = 1238.20   The US stock exchanges were closed in observance of a national day of mourning for George H.W. Bush. This is the first time the market closed for the death of a president since 2007 for former President Gerald Ford. Stock index futures will reopen Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. Eastern, as usual. Wall Street could use the break.  Yesterday, each of the three major indices closed lower by more than 3%. It was the worst session for the Dow and the S&P 500 since October 10, and the worst for the Nasdaq since October 24. The rout that sent US stocks reeling also engulfed markets overseas.   The numerical decline in stocks on Tuesday is a bit scary, with the Dow lower by 799 points. However, the lost points tell only part of the story, as they have translated into smaller percentage declines over the years as the indices have gradually risen. The first move of more than 500 points for the Dow took place on Oct. 19, 1987, with a 508 point drop representing a 22.6% decline for the index. However, 500 points on Tuesday translated to ...

…Stocks crash. FAANGs lose a fortune. Banks slammed. China-US trade deal not a real deal, yet. Inversion is here. Quitar (sounds like something Tariff Man would say). Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-04-2018 DOW – 799 = 25,027 SPX – 90 = 2700 NAS – 283 = 7158 RUT – 68 = 1480 10 Y – .07 = 2.92% OIL – .34 = 52.61 GOLD + 7.70 = 1239.00 The Dow’s loss of 3.1% sent the industrials back below the 50-day moving average, just one day after the index climbed back above that key line. The Nasdaq composite was punished by a 3.8% plunge, while the S&P 500 tumbled 3.2%. Both fell back below their 200-day moving averages, and the Nasdaq now appears to have hit resistance at its 50-day line. For its part, the S&P 500 also turned back below its 50-day average, after all of one day above it. The Dow managed to hold support at 25,000, and the S&P found a floor at 2700. Tech stocks are back in correction territory after a painful day for public exchanges. In total, the FAANG stocks — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet-owned Google — shed more than $140 billion in market value by the end of the trading Tuesday.   Here’s how it shook out: Facebook fell 2.2 percent, losing $7.6 billion in implied market value; Amazon fell 5.9 percent, losing $50.8 billion in implied market value; Apple fell 4.4 percent, losing $38.5 billion in implied market value; ...

Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.