…..UK triggers Article 50; 2 years and ticking to leave the EU; commence damage control. Trio of Fed heads; hints of rate hikes. Pending home sales boom. Lawsuits for the environment; big oil supports climate accord. Obamacare repeal – take 62. Your browsing history will be sold. If money talks, what do credit cards do? Blackrock goes algo. Your next computer might be a Samsung phone. Amazon record high; Bezos #2. Canada goes to pot. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-29-2017   DOW – 42 = 20,659 SPX + 2 = 2361 NAS + 22 = 5897 RUT + 4 = 1371 10 Y – .02 = 2.39% OIL + 1.23 = 49.60 GOLD + 2.10 = 1254.40   Brexit is Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain’s divorce from the European Union today, declaring there was no turning back. With the simple handoff of a letter in Brussels, the British government became the first to trigger Article 50 — the mechanism for nations to exit the European Union. The UK now has two years to negotiate the terms of the exit before it comes into effect in late March 2019. Over the next 2 years, the Brits will negotiate with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and other complex issues. As the BBC points out: “Unpicking 43 years of treaties and agreements covering thousands of different subjects was never going to be a straightforward task. It is further complicated by the fact that it has never ...

…..Dow breaks losing streak. Consumer confidence bumps on labor strength. Goods deficit falls. Case Shiller home sales rise. ACA death by a thousand cuts. Repealing Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces. Coal? Brilliant. Elon Musk’s neural lace. Brexit tomorrow. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-28-2017 DOW + 150 = 20,701 SPX + 16 = 2358 NAS + 34 = 5875 RUT + 9 = 1367 10Y + .04 = 2.41% OIL + .71 = 48.44 GOLD – 2.50 = 1252.30 Yesterday, we noted that the Dow Industrial Average had been down for 8 straight sessions – the longest losing streak since 2011. We also noted that the market seemed to be taking a break or a pause; the losses during that time were not big enough to reverse the uptrend. Sure enough, the uptrend resumed today. Even though stocks wobbled out of the opening gate, they gained their footing with the help of some good economic reports.   Consumer confidence surged to a more than 16-year high in March. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped 9.5 points to 125.6 this month, the highest reading since December 2000. Consumers’ assessment of both current business and labor market conditions improved sharply in March. They also anticipated an increase in their incomes. The survey’s so-called labor market differential, derived from data about respondents who think jobs are hard to get and those who think jobs are plentiful, was the strongest since 2001. When consumers feel good about their jobs or ...

…..8 days down. Move on to taxes. Kushner swats at reinventing government, after he testifies. Crack down on sanctuary. States’ tax revenue falls. A week of Fedspeak. OPEC considering extending production cuts. Retail sector ugliness. D-Fanged. Bill Gross settles. UPS must pay for cigs. Uber self-driving car crash. Las Vegas Raiders. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-27-2017 DOW – 45 = 20,550 SPX – 2 = 2341 NAS + 11 = 5840 RUT + 2 = 1357 10 Y – .03 = 2.37% OIL – .12 = 47.85 GOLD + 10.90 = 1254.80   Stocks pared losses, and recovered from session lows; enough to push the Nasdaq into positive territory; enough to turn a 184-point loss on the Dow into just a 45-point loss at the close. The Dow Jones industrial average is now down for 8 straight sessions – the longest losing streak since August 2011; you may recall that the instigation for that loss was concern about the credit worthiness of some of the largest economies in Europe. Additionally, the only other times since 1990 that we have seen 8 down days for the Dow were in October 2008 and September 2001. Prior to 1990, it happened three times in the 1980s and much more frequently in the 1960s and 1970s. Still, the current losing streak only saw the Dow drop 400 points or 1.9%. The overall trend is still up and the recent weakness doesn’t look like anything more than the markets taking a pause after ...

…..After 7 years, move on. Obamacare repeal is dead. Capital goods dip. Durable goods up. Oil down. All drill, no frack. Keystone XL approved; full employment for lawyers. Euro banks need to work on living wills. KfW $5.4 billion oops. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-24-2017 DOW – 59 = 20,596 SPX – 1 = 2343 NAS + 11 = 5828 RUT + 1 = 1354 10 Y – .02 = 2.40% OIL + .31 = 48.01 GOLD – 1.70 = 1243.90 House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled his Obamacare repeal bill from the floor this afternoon, a day after President Donald Trump had threatened to walk away from health care reform if he didn’t get a vote. Ryan reportedly met with Trump, presented the expected vote totals and recommended the President pull the bill. The decision was ultimately Trump’s. Trump had gambled big by presenting holdout House conservatives with a take-it-or-leave it ultimatum on Thursday night and put his own credibility on the line. It also puts Ryan in a much-weakened political position, after being defied by his own conference. And somewhere John Boehner is puffing on a cigarette and enjoying a Friday afternoon Scotch.   So, what now? The GOP effort to repeal Obamacare is dead. The House meltdown on Obamacare repeal has serious implications for the American health care system, with Republicans apparently unable to repeal the law but also unwilling to fix the deficiencies that the White House says will collapse the law. Ryan told fellow Republicans ...

Sinclair Noe interviews David Enrich, author of “The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History”

…..Vote on Obamacare repeal bill postponed. Waiting. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-23-2017 DOW – 4 = 20,656 SPX – 2 = 2345 NAS – 3 = 5817 RUT + 7 = 1353 10 Y + 2 – 2.41% OIL – .37 = 47.67 GOLD – 3.60 = 1245.60   Wall Street was closely watching developments on the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The White House said it was confident the bill will pass and warned there was no “Plan B”. Those backing the plan continue to work toward securing the votes needed to pass the health care bill led by House Speaker Paul Ryan. President Donald Trump met this morning with the House Freedom Caucus as GOP leaders offered a late tweak to their health-care bill to try to get the conservative group on board, including repealing the so-called essential benefits requirements in Obamacare for the individual market only, not for employer-based plans. The essential health benefits mandate included in ObamaCare was intended to require insurance companies to provide coverage in 10 areas, including mental health, pediatric services, ambulance services, substance abuse treatment, and vision care, maternity care, and prescription drugs.   The idea behind the move was to prevent insurers from offering skimpy plans that would leave people on the hook for thousands of dollars in costs if their plan doesn’t cover certain services. Republicans argue the requirements drive up premium costs by preventing insurers from offering less-generous plans. They say consumers should be allowed to pick cheaper plans ...

…..London attacked. Markets quiet but volatility ahead. Budget cuts to environmental programs not so easy. Existing home sales dip. Mortgage apps dip. Millionaire households grow fast. Nike, Fed Ex earnings. Fiat Chrysler investigation. ING investigation. ECB on protectionism. T+3 is history. Google ads popping up in the darnedest places. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-22-2017 DOW – 6 = 20,661 SPX + 4 = 2348 NAS + 27 = 5821 RUT – 0.95 = 1345 10 Y – .04 = 2.39% OIL – .09 = 48.15 GOLD + 4.00 = 1249.20   London was shaken today by the first major terrorist attack since the 2005 subway bombings. Witnesses told of hearing multiple gunshots after a policeman was attacked outside Parliament. On Westminster Bridge, a car mowed down pedestrians. Two pedestrians and a police officer were killed, and at least 20 people injured, some very seriously. A vehicle ran over pedestrians before crashing into a fence outside Parliament. A man wielding a knife then ran into the grounds and stabbed a police officer before being shot. Police believe the man, who died from his injuries, was the only attacker and are treating the attack as terrorism.   Global stocks were in retreat mode, but losses were relatively minor. Investors were taking some money out of equities and they’re putting their cash into government bonds.  European markets declined with many indexes down by about 1%. Asian markets ended the day with losses. Japan’s Nikkei notched the biggest drop of 2.1%. The moves follow a ...

…..Yield curve flattens. AHCA widely hated. Trying to close the deal. Markets overvalued. Banks take a hit. Current account deficit falls. Google can’t sell ads on hate sites. Walmart goes Silicon Valley. Apple sells cheap iPad, but don’t take it on a plane. Brit inflation leaps. Goldman Sachs plans to leave the City. Brit banks money laundering for Russia. Marriott adds rooms. Target remodels. Sears fades away. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-21-2017 DOW – 237 = 20,668 SPX – 29 = 2344 NAS – 107 = 5793 RUT – 37 = 1346 10 Y – .04 = 2.44% OIL – .72 = 47.50 GOLD + 10.30 = 1245.20   The Treasury yield curve reached its narrowest level since the end of February, a possible indicator that investors are losing faith in the “reflation trade.” Yields started falling last week after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the second time in three months. Typically, such a move would help push rates higher across the curve to better align with the higher baseline rates. However, the Fed’s reluctance to commit to a faster pace of interest-rate hikes, resulting in a short squeeze, which then lured bond bulls back into the debt market. Long-term rates continued lower over the past two days as congressional Republicans have struggled to secure the support necessary for President Trump’s proposed health-care overhaul bill to make it out of the House of Representatives. A vote on the bill has been set for Thursday. Trump has ...

…..FBI investigating Trump-Russia ties. No wiretapping. Gorsuch hearing. Tryancare vote Thursday, maybe. Brexit Article 50. G20 protectionism, yea sure. Gates-Trump. Greece misses again. Deutsche Bank finds greater fools. Vodaphone has an Idea. Albertsons Sprouts. Unilever dumps butter. Twitter full o’ bots. Uber exit. BAML’s big list of everything YTD. Italy is healthiest; Norway is happiest; US is fat and grumpy. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 03-20-2017 DOW – 8 = 20,905 SPX – 4 = 2373 NAS + 0.53 = 5901 RUT – 7 = 1384 10 Y – .03 = 2.47% OIL – .55 = 48,23 GOLD + 5.10 = 1234.90   The directors of the FBI and NSA appeared before a rare open congressional intelligence committee hearing today. FBI Director James Comey confirmed the FBI is investigating Russia’s interference in the US election and also investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Comey said the FBI has “no information” to support President Trump’s allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped him. NSA chief, Admiral Mike Rogers, weighed in as well, saying that he had no knowledge of anyone asking the British or any other ally to wiretap Trump. That seemed to refute another claim made by the White House.   Confirmation hearings for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee kicked off today. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, 49, to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016.   Meanwhile, Wall Street also braced for a contentious House vote on the GOP health care bill slated for Thursday. ...

Sinclair Noe interviews Marian Salzman, author of “Agile PR: Expert Messaging in a Hyper-Connected, Always-On World”.