…..Stocks trade in very narrow range. CPI at 2.1%; the rent’s too high. The Fed talks rate increase. Beige Book optimism. BIS says QE doesn’t help Main Street – duh. HSBC, Paris. JPMorgan targeted minorities and women – 2 suits. American Airlines launches Sub-Cattle Class. Essilor buys Luxottica. Target misses. Navient bad news for student loans. Bookies on the inaugural speech. 2016 the hottest year ever, again. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-18-20017 DOW – 22 = 19,804 SPX + 4 = 2271 NAS + 16 = 5555 RUT + 6 = 1358 10 Y + .06 = 2.39% OIL – 1.09 = 51.39 GOLD – 12.70 = 1205.00   The Dow Industrials spent most of the day in slightly negative territory. The S&P 500 traded in a tight range between negative and positive. If it seems like the stock market’s crawl to nowhere over the past month has been particularly strange, that’s because it has been. It turns out the gap between the Dow’s high and low prices over the past month is a tiny 1.4 percent — the narrowest gap in data going back to 1957. On December 13, the Dow crossed 19,900 and pushed toward 20,000 – getting within a fraction of a point, then falling to a low of 19719, or a 1.4 percent range. So, something has to give – the question is whether we will see a break out or a break down. The long-term trend is still higher, but we really have ...

…..King Dollar gonna kill us all. Earnings season and weak forward guidance will be punished. Forget about soft Brexit. Xi to Davos. Deutsche Bank settles. BAT tobacco behemoth. Exxon buys Texas. Saudis ready to end cuts. GM announces jobs. Hyundai announces jobs. Walmart announces jobs. Lowe’s cuts. The last man on the moon. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-17-2017 DOW – 58 = 19,862 SPX – 6 = 2267 NAS – 35 = 5538 RUT – 19 = 1352 10 Y – .05 = 2.33% OIL + .13 = 52.50 GOLD + 12.80 = 1216.40   Major market indices dropped at the open this morning and couldn’t recover. In a Friday interview with The Wall Street Journal, President-elect Trump said the U.S. currency, which touched a more-than 14-year high about two weeks ago, has gotten “too strong,” especially considering the China’s yuan is “dropping like a rock.” Trump told the Wall Street Journal, “Our companies can’t compete with them now because our currency is too strong. And it’s killing us.” The stock market has been taking its cue from the dollar, and the dollar has been saying the US economy is strong and growing, and the prospects of the Fed raising rates only confirms the strength of the economy. This is not the first time we’ve talked about the strong dollar, and the long dollar trade is already crowded, followed by short Treasuries. And there is another problem – while stocks have enjoyed a strong dollar, with money flowing in, dollar strength is ...

Sinclair Noe interview Frank Ahrens, author of “Seoul Man: A Memoir of Cars, Culture, Crisis, and Unexpected Hilarity Inside a Korean Corporate Titan”

…..Retail sales for the holiday – big gains online. PPI surge. House votes to repeal Obamacare. Earnings season kicks off with strong bank earnings, except for Wells Fargo. Fiat Chrysler bounces. VW execs should stay home. Space X launch. EPA says CAFÉ standards moved up. CVS competes with Mylan EpiPen. Millennials lag. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-13-2017 DOW – 5 = 19,887 SPX + 4 = 2274 NAS + 26 = 5574 RUT + 10 = 1372 10Y + .02 = 2.38% OIL – .54 = 53.30 GOLD + 1.80 = 1197.80 For the week, the Dow and S&P posted slight declines, but the Nasdaq rose nearly 1 percent; posting its sixth record high close of 2017.   The Commerce Department says retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month. November’s retail sales were revised up to show a 0.2 percent rise instead of the previously reported 0.1 percent gain. Sales were up 4.1 percent from December 2015. They rose 3.3 percent for all of 2016, up from 2.3 percent in 2015. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rose 0.2 percent after being flat in November. For the 11th straight year, sales at department stores fell. They dropped 5.6% in 2016 to mark the second-largest decline since the government began keeping track in the early 1990s. They’ve dropped in 15 out of the last 17 years. At the same time, sales at so-called nonstore retailers soared 11.4% in 2016 — the largest gain in 10 ...

…..Stocks drop as bulls left empty handed. Import/export prices higher. First step to repeal Obamacare. A long line of kowtowers. Airlines did not collude. Unicredit on the edge. J&J to buy Actelion. Homebuyers get cold feet. AZ MLS reports Phoenix home sales up, inventory tight. Apple goes Hollywood. VW execs indicted. Fiat Chrysler emissions cheating. Takata settles. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-12-2017 DOW – 63 = 19,891 SPX – 4 = 2270 NAS – 16 = 5547 RUT – 12 = 1361 10 Y – .01 = 2.36% OIL + .80 = 53.05 GOLD + 5.20 = 1197.30   It had to happen – the Nasdaq Composite suffered its first loss of 2017, but it was a record setting run to start the New Year. The Dow Jones industrial average closed lower, with Goldman Sachs and Walt Disney contributing the most losses. At session lows, the blue-chips index had fallen more than 180 points. Donald Trump’s press conference on Wednesday was not what investors wanted to hear; there was talk of protectionism. Trump took shots at the pharmaceutical industry, which sent health care and biotechnology stocks reeling. He also failed to provide new details on three of his key policies: tax reform, deregulation of certain sectors and fiscal stimulus. The lack of details of the President-Elects administration’s plans for economic stimulus simply left bullish investors empty handed.   European markets and most Asian markets ended the day with modest losses. Despite the negative sentiment, many global stock markets are near record highs. The USDA issued ...

…..Nasdaq record. Trump meets the press, markets genuflect, hilarity ensues, sort of. World Bank cuts global forecast. World Economic Forum puts climate change as top risk for 2017. Wells Fargo “Age of Discontent”. Bill Gross v. Jeff Gundlach; 2.6% v 3.0%; and the end of an era. Cars, airplanes and yieldcos. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-11-2017 DOW + 98 = 19,954 SPX + 6 = 2275 NAS + 11 = 5563 RUT + 2 = 1373 10 Y – .01 = 2.37% OIL + 1.57 = 52.39 GOLD + 4.20 = 1192.50   The Nasdaq pushed to fresh record highs again. The S&P and Dow are very close to records. The S&P 500 index was unchanged yesterday – not a small move – unchanged. So, we did a little digging. The last time the index ended a trading day flat was Jan. 3, 2008. Before 2008, the benchmark index had gone nearly 11 years without posting an unchanged day. Since 1980, the S&P has recorded just 10 unchanged sessions.   There were no top-tier U.S. economic reports, nor any Fed speeches.   President-elect Trump held his first press conference since the election, and yes, it moved the markets. The healthcare sector dropped after Trump said the country needs more competitive drug bidding. He said pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder” by charging high drug prices. Health care dropped more than 1.5 percent as the worst performer in the S&P 500, with the pharmaceuticals sub-sector down more than 1.5 percent ...

Sinclair Noe interviews William Black from Univ. of Missouri – Kansas City, author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One”.

…..Homebuyer sentiment down. Small biz optimism. Consumer credit up. More job openings. Repeal and replace with something maybe. Farewell address. AZ State of the State – we needs schoolin. Apple to Mesa. Yahoo now Altaba or something maybe. Blockchain goes mainstream. BofA fined again. VW settles for guilty. Goodbye The Limited. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-10-2017 DOW – 31 = 19,885 SPX unchanged = 2268 NAS + 20 = 5551 RUT + 13 = 1370 10 Y + .01 = 2.38% OIL – 1.16 = 50.80 GOLD + 6.50 = 1188.30   World stock markets nudged back toward recent multi-month highs, aided by a rally in commodity prices. The US dollar index slumped to a low of 101.51 in overnight action, breaking slightly below the lows of mid-December. The post-Brexit British pound moved lower; it’s the gift that keeps on giving, as the FTSE 100 closed in record territory for the 9th straight session. The Dow Industrials flirted with 20,000 again but it was nothing more than coy flirtation – moving within 42 points then slipping away. The S&P 500 was flat; not a fraction – no change at all. The Nasdaq posted its third straight record high close.   The home purchase sentiment index compiled by mortgage finance provider Fannie Mae fell in December, its fifth straight monthly decline. Tight inventories, rising mortgage rates and higher home prices are taking a toll on Americans’ attitudes toward home ownership. The overall index dropped 0.5% to 80.7 in December; down ...

…..Risk off day but Nasdaq record. Fed jawbones hawkish. Hard Brexit. Hard confirmation hearing. Revenge for one-China. McDonald’s and Taco Bell in China. Fiat Chrysler in the Midwest. Waymo in cars. M&A: Takeda/Ariad, United Health/Surgical Affiliates, Mars/VCA. Microsoft’s Nokia. IBM patent winner, again. The anniversary of the iPhone. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-09-2017 DOW – 76 = 19,887 SPX – 8 = 2268 NAS + 10 = 5531 (record close) RUT – 9 = 1357 10 Y – .04 = 2.38% OIL – 2.16 = 52.71 GOLD + 9.20 = 1182.40 Oil prices were sharply lower this morning, as Iran upped exports and U.S. drillers increased activity again, moves undermining efforts by international producers to curb global oversupply. Treasuries rose with gold today as the risk-on trade wobbled. Treasury yields sit lower than where they were before the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last month, while the dollar remained near a 14-year high. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all hit intraday highs on Friday – the Dow came within a fraction of a point of 20,000. Earnings for the S&P 500 are expected to increase by 6.1 percent in Q4, with the S&P financial sector see having the biggest gains, up 15.7 percent, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters. Fourth quarter earnings season ramps up Friday, when JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo report. Financial stocks have gained more than 30 percent since Election Day.   This is a busy week for Federal Reserve policymakers. Today, Atlanta ...

…..Nonfarm payrolls gain 156k in December. Unemployment rate up to 4.7%. The Obama administration’s job creation legacy. Wages increased. Why? Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 01-06-2017 DOW + 64 = 19,963 (intraday record 19,999.63) SPX + 7 = 2276 NAS + 33 = 5521 (another record close) RUT – 4 = 1367 10 Y + .05 = 2.42% OIL – .11 = 53.66 GOLD – 8.40 = 1172.80 Today is a Jobs Report Friday. The US economy added 156,000 jobs in December; this was below estimates of around 170,000. The unemployment rate edged up to 4.7% from 4.6% as more people entered the labor force in search of work. Employers hired 19,000 more workers than previously reported in October and November. The U.S. has created more than 2 million jobs in each year since 2011, though hiring has slowed over the last two years. Employment growth in 2016 averaged 180,000 jobs per month, down from an average gain of 229,000 per month in 2015. The slowdown in job growth is consistent with a labor market that is near full employment. The latest payrolls tally brought the advance for 2016 to 2.16 million, after a gain of about 2.7 million in 2015.   The steady gains in employment have finally started to push worker pay higher. Average hourly wages jumped 0.4% to $26 in December. Hourly pay increased 2.9% from December 2015 to December 2016, marking the fastest 12-month increase since a recovery that began in mid-2009. Hours worked were unchanged ...