…Stocks flat. Earnings still strong. Facebook again. Trump threatens max tariffs on China. China responds. Trump hits Fed again – bad idea. Playmate payoff tape. Google works on Fuschia. Financial Review by Sinclair Noe for 07-20-2018 DOW – 6 = 25,058 SPX – 2 = 2801 NAS – 5 = 7820 RUT – 4 = 1696 10 Y + .05 = 2.90% OIL + .85 = 70.31 GOLD + 9.20 = 1232.50 For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed slightly lower while the Dow rose 0.1 percent to post its first three-week winning streak since January. As the second-quarter reporting period gains momentum, analysts forecast for profit at S&P 500 companies have risen to 22 percent, compared with the 20.7 percent gain seen on July 1, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Of the 87 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 83.9 percent have topped profit expectations, compared with a 75 percent beat rate over the past four quarters.   After the closing bell Thursday, Microsoft posted better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on the surging strength of its cloud computing business. Today, Microsoft gained 1.8%   General Electric reported an adjusted profit and revenue that fell from a year ago but beat analyst expectations, with even its biggest but most troublesome power business topping revenue forecasts. GE shares gained a little over 2.5%. And then CEO John Flannery said the company was working “intensely” to fix the issues in the power business, with “a total sense of urgency.” ...