Fed raises interest rates, locks in December increase, signals 3 moves in 2019
No surprise on a September interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve today–but some very aggressive signals on policy into 2019. The 25 basis point increase today raised the Fed Funds rate to a target of 2% to 2.25%. The economy remains solid; Â job growth...
Oil is a story today, but Treasury market is “the” story
Oil prices are up again this morning with the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate ahead 0.21% to $72.23 a barrel as of noon New York time. International benchmark Brent has gained 1.02% to $82.03 a barrel. But “the” story today, I’d argue, is the...
Oil surges on no action at OPEC meeting
Today oil prices breached levels that have oil traders talking about $100 a barrel oil again on OPEC’s decision at its weekend meeting not to boost oil production. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbed 2.15% as of noon today, September 24, to move...
Non-tariff barriers start to hit U.S. companies in China
A survey by investment companies AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai found that 52.1% of U.S. companies operating in China have seen an increase in non-tariff barriers to their business operations. The biggest problems reported were increased inspections (27.1%), slower...
Now who’s worried about a trade war? Certainly not buyers of U.S. stocks today
Today the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both hit record highs. The NASDAQ Composite was up 0.99% as of 2 p.m. New York time. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) advanced 0.95%. West Texas Intermediate crude...
Battle over bond yields, interest rates shifts to 2019
Remember back at the beginning of 2018 when bond investors and traders couldn’t agree on whether the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates two times, or three times or four times in the year? (It wound up being four.) Well, we’re looking at a replay...
Diamondback Energy doubles down on Permian Basin
Although other oil producers in the Permian Basin look to be slowing the development of their assets in the face of transportation bottlenecks that are making it tough to get oil out of the basin, Diamondback Energy has teamed up with the Carlyle Group to form a joint...
China says it won’t intentionally devalue yuan in response to U.S. tariffs
Just hours after the Trump administration announced 10% tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese exports, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the nation wouldn’t devalue its currency in order to make its exports more competitive. Which, of course, doesn’t...
Stocks rise on “It could have been worse” reaction to new U.S. tariffs on China
A day after the Trump administration announced 10% tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese exports to the United States, stocks are up on a “It could have been worse” reaction. At 12:30 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock...
Pioneer Natural Resources signs deal to cut fracking sand costs by 50%
It’s always important to see who has the leverage–customers or suppliers–when costs start to rise. On the recent agreement between Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), perhaps the dominant oil shale producer in the Permian Basin, and fracking sand...
President Trump announces 10% tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods
Global financial markets spent most of the day waiting for the shoe to drop. And shortly after 6 p.m. Washington time it did. President Donald Trump announced a 10% tariff on an additional $200 billion in Chinese exports to the United States. Those tariffs will go...
It was a He said; Xi said market today
For much of today U.S. stocks were locked in a slightly negative range as investors and traders vacillated from fears that the Trump administration would impose a new set of tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and the hope that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would...
Is the next big tech stock thing, Chinese tech stocks?
There’s some evidence that the money that has left big U.S. tech stocks such as Facebook (FB), Netflix (NFLX), Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) on some recent days has been headed into big Chinese tech stocks such as Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), Alibaba (BABA),...
A slip in the dollar and a bounce in the euro
The dollar is down today against the euro and some emerging market currencies, such as the Turkish lira, are rallying. The news ostensibly behind the move is some data indicating that U.S. inflation slipped in August. The logic goes that with inflation sliding the...
Do you have the patience for the Permian? Should you?
It hasn’t exactly been a great few months oil shale producers in the Permian Basin. Shares of Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), the biggest pure play on Permian oil, closed at $169.97 a share today, August 29, down from $212.31 a share on May 18. That’s a...
Stocks rally on Wall Street Journal report that U.S. has proposed another round of trade talks with China
Pay close attention. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the United States “is said” to propose another round of trade talks with China. Thats not “There will be trade talk” or “China has accepted a U.S. proposal” or even...
My “best-estimate” scenario for the U.S. stock market for the next 60 days
Let’s start with a perhaps less obvious question: Why 60 days? Because that will take us through the historically volatile months of September and October (when fear can beget fear) to the middle of November, which historically tends to mark a turn in the...
What if China actually welcomes the Trump administration’s tariffs?
China trade hardliners in the Trump administration, such as advisor Peter Navarro, have predicated their tariff campaign against China on the theory that hiking tariffs on more than $500 billion in Chinese exports to the United States (as proposed at the moment) will...
White House talk of tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese goods ends “breather day”
Markets started off today as if they were determined to take a breather from a week of worry that the emerging markets crisis was about to spread to developed markets. In morning trading the Standard & Poor’s 500, the NASDAQ Composite, and the iShares MSCI...
Good August jobs number cements Federal Reserve interest rate increase in September (and probably December)
The U.S. economy added a net 201,000 jobs in August. That was above the projection of 187,000 from economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Government statisticians revised the July job gains to 170,000 from 153,000. The official unemployment rate remained at 3.9%. So why...
Ominous weakening today, September 6, below the surface in U.S. stocks
I know it looks like nothing much happened in the U.S. stock market today, Thursday, September 6. After all the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was off just 0.37% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was actually head by 0.08%. But below the surface,...
Will today’s profit-taking turn into something worse?
I think today’s market downturn is nothing more or less than profit taking. It’s not surprising that investors and traders would sell Amazon (AMZN), for example, today (down 2.19%) since the shares were up 11.6% for the past 30 days as of September 4. The...
U.S. trade deficit climbs in July, deficit with China hits a record
Today, Wednesday September 5, the Department of Commerce reported that the U.S. trade deficit climbed to $50.1 million in July. (Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had projected a deficit of $50.2 billion.) That was up from $45.7 billion in June and the largest increase...
Dividend Portfolio member Independent Bank beats on earnings and revenue
While on vacation, I used the down time to get caught up on earnings reports I missed during the very busy second quarter earnings season. This post was written on August 16. On July 25 after the market close Independent Bank (IBCP) reported earnings of 44 cents a...
Is Spain most exposed developed market to emerging market woes?
In the Greek debt crisis it was relatively easy to track the exposure of national financial markets and banks to the crisis. The big issue was what non-Greek banks had bought the biggest share of Greek government bonds. In the current emerging market crisis,...
Emerging market crisis pulls in India, Indonesia
The bad news is that the emerging market crisis that has sent financial markets plummeting in Argentina, Turkey, and Brazil has added India and Indonesia to its list of victims. The good news is that the inclusion of India and Indonesia is exactly what analysts and...
White House lines up another $200 billion in China tariffs for next week
Just in case you were worried that the days after the Labor Day market holiday might be boring, well, worry no more. Sources in the White House are saying that President Donald Trump plans to move on tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports quickly...
It’s back–the emerging market crisis that shook global markets just two weeks ago
Remember that emerging market crisis that whacked 10% out of the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) between July 31 and August 15–and even produced some anxiety in U.S. markets as the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2.1% from August 7 through August...
Nektar beats on earnings–more importantly FDA accepts company’s new opioid for review
I wrote this post while on vacation in an effort to use this down time to catch up on earnings results that I missed during the very busy second quarter earning season. This post was written on August 18. After the market close on Wednesday, August 8,...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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