….Economy added 228,000 new jobs in November. Unemployment rate 4.1%. U-6 at 8%. Green light for Fed rate hikes. No reason for tax cuts. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-08-2017   DOW + 117 = 24,329 SPX + 14 = 2651 NAS + 27 = 6840 RUT + 1 = 1521 10 Y + .01 = 2.38% OIL + .67 = 57.36 GOLD + .90 = 1248.70   The economy added 228,000 new jobs in November, beating expectations for about 200,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%, a 17-year low.   October job gains were revised lower, to 244,000 from 261,000. The increase in jobs in September was raised to 38,000 from 18,000. Hurricane damage skewed the past two employment reports, with the storms temporarily pushing hundreds of thousands of workers, particularly in the service sector, out of their jobs. They largely flocked back in October, accounting for much of the month’s larger-than-usual job growth. Payrolls for September and October were revised up by a combined 3 thousand. Accounting for these revisions, job gains have averaged 170,000 over the last three months. In the first 10 months of the Trump administration the economy has added 1.7 million jobs. In the last 10 months of the Obama administration, the economy added 1.85 million jobs. For the full year of 2016, the economy added 2.24 million jobs. The United States has now added jobs for 86 consecutive months — a downward blip in September was later revised to show a ...

….Stocks bounce. Jerusalem and rage. Franken out. GE pink slips for Christmas. Bitcoin crazy. Venezuela also crazy. Shutdown would be costly. Deficit hawks complain about deficits. LA burning. Net worth up. Google v. Amazon. Toys R greedy. Student loan gift idea. Ultra violet. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-07-2017   DOW + 70 = 24,211 SPX + 7 = 2636 NAS + 36 = 6812 RUT + 11 = 1520 10 Y + .05 = 2.38% OIL+ .66 = 56.62 GOLD – 16.00 = 1247.80   Stocks closed higher. The S&P 500 snapped a 4-day losing streak. Tech stocks made something of a comeback after taking a battering earlier this week. From Friday through Tuesday, the Nasdaq fell 1.6%, with analysts largely blaming the drop on profit-taking after a big rally and on concerns about how the U.S. tax overhaul will impact the tech sector. Whatever rotation away from tech happened in the past few days, it was minor.   Hamas urged Palestinians to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel in response to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Palestinian factions called for a “Day of Rage” on Friday, and today a wave of protest in the West Bank and Gaza brought clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops.   Sen. Al Franken said he will resign in the coming weeks, in a speech on the Senate floor that put him face to face with dozens of Democratic colleagues who called for him to ...

…Stocks slip. Tech bounce. Monetary and fiscal policy and the bond market. Buy the Hake hike rumor and sell the news? Some mistakes in the tax plan. Shutdown? LA burning. Silence breakers. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-06-2017   DOW – 39 = 24,140 SPX – 0.30 = 2629 NAS + 14 = 6776 RUT – 23 = 1508 10 Y – .03 = 2.33% OIL -2 .39 = 55.97 GOLD – 3.10 = 1263.80   Shares of Microsoft, Facebook and Google-parent Alphabet rose more than 1 percent as the technology sector recovered from a recent selloff. Microsoft was up more than 2 percent.   For the past 9 years, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has been the driving force in stock price appreciation. The Fed cut interest rates to near zero and then injected monetary credits into the economy through quantitative easing. Take a look at a chart of the Fed’s balance sheet and then overlap a chart of the S&P 500. The 2 charts match almost perfectly. Now the Fed has stopped investing into new asset purchases and stopped rolling over existing holding, a tapering process that will eliminate more than $1 trillion from its balance sheet, slowly and gradually. The removal of nearly $1 trillion in asset price support in 2018 is hardly insignificant. Further, whenever there was a dip in the markets, the Fed would step in with a little extra dose of accommodation. We became so accustomed to Fed intervention that we call it ...

Anthony Nieves, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Non-Manufacturing Survey Committee. November PMI at 57.4%, down from 60.1% in October.

….Stocks slip. Risks are high. Jay Powell confirmed. ISM slips. Trade deficit jumps. Deutsche Bank subpoenaed, maybe. Public hates the tax plan. Russia banned from Olympics. More fire in Cal. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-05-2017   DOW – 109 = 24,180 SPX – 9 = 2629 NAS – 13 = 6762 RUT – 20 = 1516 10 Y – .02 = 2.36% OIL – .88 = 57.48 GOLD – 9.70 = 1266.90   The Dow slipped after posting its 64th record high close yesterday. Not a surprise given the weak finish in the markets yesterday. Today was another example of stocks closing near the lows for the day. And for the broader market, the S&P and Nasdaq have now posted three consecutive losing sessions – we haven’t seen that since August. A Tuesday pause aside, it’s been a rough week or so for technology shares, which have been the victim of a violent rotation that’s seen investors flee what’s been by far the hottest sector of 2017 for companies expected to get a bigger boost from tax legislation working its way through Congress. Meanwhile, telecom shares, which have been the worst-performing sector of the year, were world beaters last week. And financials, which were also laggards, have also enjoyed a shot in the arm. In case you were wondering – yes, it is very rare for the tech sector to fall at least 2% while the S&P or Dow posts gains.   Risks “are high and rising” from ...

….Dow record but off intraday highs. Broader market slides. Tax plan moves to reconciliation. Shutdown pushed back. CVS Aetna deal biggest of the year. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-04-2017   DOW + 58 = 24,290 SPX – 2 = 2639 NAS – 72 = 6775 RUT – 11 = 1532 10 Y + .02 = 2.38% OIL – .91 = 57.45 GOLD – 4.00 = 1276.70   This morning, the markets surged – largely, a happy-time vibe from the tax cut plan – but as the day wore on, the euphoria faded. The Nasdaq turned south after about one hour of trading. The entire tech sector came under serious pressure. Microsoft dropped 4%, its biggest single-day decline since June 2016.  Facebook lost 3.6%. Amazon down almost 2.5%. Alphabet down 1%. Apple slipped about 0.7%. The S&P 500 managed to hang on until the final minutes of trading before the numbers turned red. The Dow Industrials managed to hold on to a positive session and a record high close, but that close was 245 points down from the intraday high. Treasuries continued to slip. Even though yields rose today, they remain relatively subdued, with 10-year Treasury yields struggling to push much above 2.40 percent. If the economic outlook is so strong, then how does one explain long-term bond yields? Bond traders are naturally more cautious, and appear to be taking their cue from forecasts that fiscal stimulus, including Republican-backed tax cuts, will deliver only a modest boost to the economy ...

Interview with Timothy Fiore, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. November manufacturing index down 0.5 percentage point to 58.2%.

….Mike Flynn pleads guilty, will roll over. Tax bill vote cometh right soon. Otherwise, a slow news day.   Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 12-01-2017 DOW – .40 = 24,231 SPX – 5 = 2642 NAS – 26 = 6847 RUT – 7 = 1537 10 Y – .06 = 2.36 OIL + .90 = 58.30 GOLD + 5.00 = 1280.60   Markets started the session wobbling between positive and negative; waiting for word on tax legislation. Then a political bombshell dropped. The major averages hit their session lows on the report, with the Dow Jones industrial average briefly dropping 350 points.   Mike Flynn, former National Security Adviser pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia’s ambassador. Prosecutors said he consulted with a senior official in Donald Trump’s presidential transition team before speaking to the envoy. Flynn became the first member of Trump’s administration to plead guilty to a crime uncovered by the special counsel investigation into Russia’s alleged attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The guilty plea is part of a plea deal. The White House said Flynn’s guilty plea on Friday implicated him alone. Ty Cobb, a White House attorney, said in a statement: “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.” If we parse that statement, it is at best, misleading. Flynn’s testimony will reach into the administration, we just don’t know exactly who will be crushed, and how severe the damage will ...

….Dow, S&P, Russell hit record highs. Exuberance over tax cuts. Tax plan would rip a hole in the budget, but looks poised to pass. Consumer spending slowed in October. Tillerson is here today, but tomorrow? CVS-Aetna. Look at the moon. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 11-30-2017 DOW + 331 = 24,272 SPX + 21 = 2647 NAS + 49 = 6873 RUT + 1 = 1544 10 Y + .04 = 2.42% OIL + .08 = 57.38 GOLD – 8.80 = 1275.60 Record highs for the Dow, the S&P, and the Russell. The Nasdaq recovered nicely from a nearly 1.5% decline yesterday, but not enough for a record.   Well, it’s pretty easy to see that the promise of a tax cut has been a big boost to Wall Street. Some estimates claim a corporate tax cut could boost S&P 500 earnings by 6%. The Senate convened at 10:30 a.m. this morning to continue discussing the bill after it passed a procedural vote on Wednesday. Republicans are using special procedures that shield the measure from a Democratic filibuster. Debate on the legislation is limited to 20 hours. When the debate ends, it will be time for a vote-a-rama, a marathon of amendment votes. Eventually, the Senate would vote to pass the tax bill. But before then, the contents of that bill are expected to change. Republicans have been discussing significant revisions to their bill as party leaders try to secure the votes they need for passage.   The congressional ...

….Dow hits a record, again. 3Q GDP at 3.3%. Yellen takes a curtain call. John Williams in Phoenix. Pending home sales jump. Cryto-currency crazy. SCOTUS and cellphone privacy. Wells Fargo, repeat offender. American Air, whoops. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 11-29-2017   DOW + 103 = 23,940 SPX – 0.97 = 2626 NAS – 88 = 6824 RUT + 29 = 1542 10 Y + .04 = 2.38% OIL – .72 = 57.39 GOLD – 10.00 = 1284.40   The Dow Industrials hit another record high, even as the Nasdaq suffered a sharp drop.   The U.S. economy’s growth rate last quarter was revised upward to the fastest in three years on stronger investment from businesses and government agencies than previously estimated. Third quarter GDP grew at a 3.3% annualized rate (est. 3.2%), revised from 3%. The performance, achieved despite two devastating hurricanes, marked the fastest expansion in gross domestic product since a 5.2 percent annual spurt in the third quarter of 2014. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, continues to be the main driver of growth, though revisions showed it was slightly weaker than previously estimated on purchases of both durable and nondurable goods. The biggest improvement came in business investment, which made a 1.2 percentage-point contribution to growth. In addition to greater spending on transportation equipment, the data also reflected more software spending. Nonresidential structures were revised to a bigger decline. While the first look at third-quarter gross domestic income showed a ...