…..Stocks hit records. Irma not quite catastrophic. OJ, cotton tumble. Yes, talk about climate change. Reporters in floodwaters. Dollar bounces. $1,000 phones. Equifax – no excuse. China goes EV. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-11-2017   DOW + 259 = 22,057 SPX + 26 = 2488 NAS + 72 = 6432 RUT + 15 = 1414 10 Y + .06 = 2.13% OIL + .02 = 48.09 GOLD – 19.00 = 1328.00   The S&P 500 climbed to a record high close. North Korea did not test nuclear weapons over the weekend. Hurricane Irma did not destroy Florida. So, there is that.   Irma caused severe flooding in many Florida cities and left more than 6 million homes and businesses without power, but damage appeared to be less than expected. Shares of U.S. and European insurers jumped. Shares of Florida insurers Heritage Insurance Holdings, HCI Group and Universal Insurance Holdings all rose about 15 percent, while property and casualty insurer United Insurance Holdings gained 10 percent. Shares of larger insurers Travelers and Chubb rose about 3 percent. Shares of reinsurers Swiss Re and Scor rose more than 3 percent. Aspen Insurance Holdings shares rose 9.8 percent while Everest Re and XL Group were up more than 5 percent.  Preliminary industry losses were estimated at $15 billion to $50 billion in the United States, and $5 billion to $15 billion in the Caribbean. Irma was bad but not as bad as first feared.   Irma roiled the markets for orange ...

….Irma targets Florida. Senate passes emergency aid package. Natural disasters ripple through the economy. ECB to wind down QE. Amazon plans HQ2. Equifax hacked. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-07-2017   DOW – 22 = 21,784 SPX – 0.44 = 2465 NAS + 4 = 6397 RUT – 3 = 1398 10 Y – .05 = 2.06% OIL – .07 = 49.09 GOLD + 15.10 = 1349.60 Hurricane Irma has been ripping up the Caribbean. With Category 5 winds of around 175 mph, the storm lashed several small islands in the northeast Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British Virgin Islands, tearing down trees, flattening homes and causing widespread damage. The eye of the hurricane did not directly hit Puerto Rico, passing north early this morning, but doing serious damage and knocking out power for about two-thirds of the island. Because of budget problems, the power may be out for months in some areas. Trump approved emergency declarations for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mobilizing federal disaster relief efforts. Irma’s eye was forecast to pass over the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory, and the Bahamas before moving towards Cuba’s keys. One of the big concerns, in addition to the wind, is a storm surge that could be 20 feet high. The exact path is uncertain but Miami is a likely target. There is a massive evacuation effort underway in Florida. Irma will likely hit Florida as a very powerful Category 4 storm on Sunday ...

Sinclair Noe interview Brian Buffini, author of “The Emigrant Edge: How to Make It Big in America”

…..Stocks bounce back. A 3 month deal on debt ceiling. Highest taxes? Nope. Fischer resigns from Fed. Beige Book moderation. Trade deficit up. Service sector solid. Irma on the way. Closing the Gap. RH bounce. Intel win. New Leaf. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-06-2017   DOW + 54 = 21,807 SPX + 7 = 2465 NAS + 17 = 6393 RUT + 2 = 1402 10 Y + .04 = 2.11 OIL + .55 = 49.17 GOLD – 5.90 = 1334.50   The major stock indices did what they have been doing all year – shrugged off worries and continued on the trend. In the background, the economy continues to slog along with good, not great growth. Companies continue to report good earnings. Expectations for tax reform and infrastructure spending are diminishing but on the bright side we are not engaged in a nuclear war with North Korea, so it all kind of balances out. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for one, thinks investors should be more confident on equities. The firm said in a research note that it recommends being bullish given that the first synchronized upswing in the global economy since 2007 is a strong tailwind for earnings. By its reckoning, the firm figures that global corporate profits are running 13.5 percent higher than last year. That’s in line with the gain in the benchmark MSCI All-World Country Index, suggesting stock prices have not gotten ahead of themselves. To be sure, there are plenty of other issues ...

Sinclair Noe interviews Terry Beck, author of “Train of Thought: Forty Years Workin’ on the Railroad (A Gathering of Words)”

…September promises a wild ride: spending, debt ceiling, immigration reform, disaster relief and more. DACA rescinded. Irma on the way. Nafta anyone? United Tech buys Rockwell. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-05-2017   DOW – 234 = 21,753 SPX – 18 = 2457 NAS – 59 = 6375 RUT – 13 = 1399 10 Y – .09 = 2.07% OIL + 1.33 = 48.62 GOLD + 5.60 = 1340.40   Well, this is a rough start to a new month. It will be a wild September on Capitol Hill as Congress faces a massive number of legislative deadlines and initiative launches.   There’s must-pass legislation — like raising the debt ceiling and a bill to fund the government — and some long-gestating projects like the Republican plan to overhaul the tax code and a bipartisan effort to stabilize the individual health-insurance exchanges. Throw in unexpected issues like funding for the Hurricane Harvey recovery effort, plus re-writing immigration policy with DACA rescinded, plus trying to avoid nuclear winter with North Korea and you might want to keep your seat belt buckled for the remainder of September.   A week after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, devastating Texas with torrential flooding, meteorologists are now intently focused on Hurricane Irma’s dangerous growth and projected path. The storm formed off the coast of western Africa last week and almost immediately started barreling toward the Caribbean Sea. It has now metastasized into a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 185 mph and possible storm surge of 11 ...

Sinclair Noe interviews Tim Fiero, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

….Non-farm payrolls up 156,000. Unemployment rate up to 4.4%. Wages up 0.1%. Some statistical noise, some weakness. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 09-01-2017   DOW + 39 = 21,987 SPX + 4 = 2476 NAS + 6 = 6435 RUT + 8 = 1413 10 Y + .04 = 2.16 OIL + .12 = 47.35 GOLD + 3.60 = 1325.40   The economy added 156,000 jobs in August, missing expectations for around 180,000. The unemployment rate rose a tick to 4.4% from 4.3%; last month’s rate was a 16-year low.   The government cut its estimate of new jobs created in July to 189,000 from 209,000. June’s gain was trimmed to 210,000 from 231,000. A net loss of 41,000 jobs in the revisions. The US have averaged 185,000 new jobs a month since June — more than twice as many as needed to put all the new people entering the labor force each month to work. August marked the 83rd straight month of U.S. job growth, the longest such streak on record.   The data mark the seventh straight August that the government’s initial payrolls print has missed the median estimate of economists; the figure has been revised upward in five of the past six years. The trend may be explained in part by a seasonal adjustment process for the new school year. For one thing, August is the second most popular month for vacations. As a result, businesses are slower to respond to the government’s survey on how ...

…..Harvey moves on leaving a mess in its wake. Tax reform and deficit spending in Washington. Inflation, soft-flation, stagflation. Net neutrality, anybody? Anybody? Wells Fargo, again. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 08-31-2017   DOW + 55 = 21,948 SPX + 14 = 2471 NAS + 60 = 6428 RUT + 13 = 1405 10 Y – .02 = 2.12% OIL – .18 = 47.05 GOLD + 12.70 = 1320.80   For the month, the S&P edged up 0.05 percent while the Dow gained 0.28 percent and Nasdaq rose 1.27 percent. Even after a late-July Federal Reserve meeting made it clear that policy makers would begin reducing the bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet in short order, 10-year Treasury yields have dropped 16 basis points in August, the steepest monthly decline since June 2016.   Here’s the latest on Harvey: In Beaumont, about 70 miles east-northeast of Houston, flooding shut down the system that supplies running water to the entire city, prompting a hospital to evacuate. Most roads in and out of Beaumont are under water. In Houston, officials ordered mandatory evacuation of areas around the Barker Reservoir, as flooding from that overwhelmed basin, and the nearby Addicks Reservoir, continued to pour into neighborhoods on the city’s western edge. In other parts of the city, floodwaters receded. A series of small explosions shook the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, northeast of Houston and more blasts were expected, after floodwaters shut down the cooling systems that kept the chemicals stable. An area of ...

…..Harvey heads north. Oil down, gas up, jet fuel flies. GDP pops to 3%. Buffett: “Harder to find bargains.” Talk to the fridge. FDA approves immunotherapy for fighting cancer. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 08-30-2017   DOW + 27 = 21,892 SPX + 11 = 2457 NAS + 66 = 6368 RUT + 7 = 1391 10 Y un = 2.14% OIL – .47 = 45.97 GOLD – .50 = 1309.10   Let’s start with the latest news on Harvey. The Associated Press reports the number of confirmed deaths from Harvey had reached 21; some authorities in Texas say the number is closer to 38. The number will rise in coming days. Tropical storm Harvey is heading northeast, dumping even more rain as it moves into Louisiana. Beaumont and Port Arthur Texas are underwater, basically the entire cities, underwater. As the rains spread to Louisiana, it appears New Orleans will be spared severe flooding on the 12th anniversary of Katrina.  Areas around Houston recorded more than 51 inches of rain over the past few days. That may be the most in recorded history for a tropical cyclone in the contiguous US, breaking a mark also set in Texas back in 1978. More than 32,000 people were in shelters in Texas, and 30,000 shelter beds were available. Houston still faces the threat of dam and levee failures but today there was some sunshine, and some drying and drainage, some streets reopened, and there were cars on the interstate highways again. There are ...