Tuesday is the Hardest day to Rant. Monday there is the weekend news and sports. Then you hit Tuesday and its hard not to "re-hash". Especially, because we follow "Trump Free Tuesday" and the evil orange man regularly hogs the news cycle. It makes Tuesday's tough... So, if you don't like it.. then.. ask for a refund or something.. .. oh.. wait.. its free.. if you don't like it .. then.. go get another Starbucks and wait til tomorrow...
The Supreme Court is back in session and the BIG story is the absence if Justice Clarence Thomas. The 71 year old is absent for an "undisclosed illness". All the "TALK" has been about Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaving the Court and the evil orange man appointing a Conservative to REALLY tip the Court. If he replaces Thomas with another Conservative would that be LESS controversial? I doubt it ... Anyways.. Thomas WILL review and vote on cases, he is just missing from the testimony hearings. ... The "bigger" cases before the court this session: DACA (whether the Obama Executive Order can be reversed), Gay Rights (Do decades old laws against sexual discrimination cover Gay and Lesbians), Abortion Rights (Can a State mandate the a doctor performing an abortion must have admitting rights at a hospital within 30 miles for safety reasons. Thus, severely limiting the number of legal abortion centers) and Can a State eliminate the defense, "Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity"? ..So.. some BIG issues in America...
There was Freakout and Fallout from friends and foes over the decision to "Pull Troops out of Syria and let Turkey invade". Just about EVERYONE in Washington called it a bad idea. Some of the Foreign Press people are questioning the validity of the story. They are saying that it's "hardly a pullout. They are really only removing a few troops. The US still has forces there and still controls the airspace" They are saying its a small movement from a small area. I don't know.. I've never been to Northern Syria. I have an ex-girlfriend that lives there so I am afraid to get near it ... and... Did I miss something?? When did XR become such a "Big Thing". XR are the "Extinction Rebellion" people who are Climate Change Activists. They are the group that bought the Fire Truck and sprayed the streets near the Finance Ministry with red food dye. Well, XR had a "Day of Civil Disobedience" and holy cow is was a big deal. From London to Sydney, Australia these people protested, blocked traffic, and got arrested. I never heard of them before last week. Are they the new Big Deal in the Climate Change world? I guess they kicked that Greta Girl to the curb. Ill ask again, "Who is funding these people"?? They seem to have a TON of loot!! .... and..
In da Swamp: This Ilan Omar Congresswoman announced she is filing for divorce. My first reaction was, "From Which Husband??" Your Brother-Husband that you married to get him into the country?? or the Guy you married twice?? (Spoiler Alert: It's the guy she married Twice..and had kids with). Omar got busted having an affair with her (married) political strategist and the guy's wife went postal and spread the story all over the press. So, her campaign was paying this guy $200k a year for "Strategy" and Ilan was gettin a little sumptin' sumptin' on the side. $200k Sounds kinda expensive for an "Escort with an Opinion" You can get that for $200... (umm.. err.. So, I'm TOLD!!!) . ... and.. ALMOST a TRILLION! The Congressional Budget Office is estimating the 2019 Budget Deficit will be $984 Billion, the highest since 2012. C'mon you Weasels in Washington, You can hit a TRILLION. I KNOW you CAN!!!! ..
... I Told you the story of Sam Little a while back. He was arrested from a homeless shelter on drug charges and started confessing to murders. At first they didn't believe much of what he was saying. But, DNA test confirmed some of the murders. The FBI has now confirmed 50 and think he may have killed 93 women since 1993. He was a drifter that killed mostly prostitutes and homeless women so there weren't many people "looking for them". Makes you shake your head, right? Almost 100 people... and if he wasn't busted for drugs he would still be out there...
SPORTS: The sports story of the week involves a Tweet and it wasn't from he scary orange man. The Houston Rockets tweeted (then cancelled) support for the Hong Kong protesters. China was NONE TOO PLEASED. The Rockets, and the NBA, are HUGE in China ever since Yao Ming played in the NBA. The NBA is doing backflips trying to "Spin" their way out of this because China is a huge growth area for the NBA. China just cancelled an event with the Brooklyn Nets and the execs in NBA Headquarters are scrambling ... and .. MLB: The Yanks win 5-1 and Sweep the Twins. Now, they rest up for the ALCS... NFL: Monday Night Football was a beatdown. 49ers 31-3 over the Browns. The 49ers are now 4-0. QB Garappolo was 20/29 with 2 TD's and no picks. Hmmm... They are 4-0..and the Pats (who refused to sign Garappolo) are 5-0. Superbowl Match-up?? .... and ...The Redskins fired coach Jay Gruden after their 0-5 start. Gruden blamed injuries and disagreements with management. Well, OK.. but you don't win .. and you're 0-5 this year.. and they kinda HAVE to can you.. what was REALLY hardcore was that they did it at 5 am. OUCH!!!! Come to work early to get a jump on next week and BAMM... "Come into my office Jay .. because.. YOU'RE FIRED!!!!"
CELEBRIDIOTS: Tyler Perry opened his new film studio in Atlanta, Ga. Perry said in an interview that he is widely ignored in Hollywood and that he is OK with it.. Tyler, if you're reading, you SHOULD be OK with it. You have MORE TALENT in your pinky finger than most of those elitist, egomaniac, myopic freaks in LA. Keep writing, acting and being AWESOME and EFF THEM!!! Good luck with the new Studio... and.. All sorts of stars showed up for the opening like Oprah, Kelly Rowland, Beyonce ..and .. OF COURSE I have to mention that Halle Berry ('s boobs) made an appearance HERE ... and.. I would like to apologize to all of you that I missed "James Bond Day" yesterday. I didn't know they even HAD that.. but they do .. they posted out a picture of Daniel Craig from "No Time to Die" which comes out in April 2020. (Why does that take so long? They have it all filmed. What? Do the editors only work one day a week or something?) .. and... someone has to tell Emily Ratajkowski she stinks at designing clothes. I keep telling her and she keeps ignoring me. Actually, she slaps me and tells me, "Shut up!! People like them!!" YES people "like" them on Social Media but that is because YOU are wearing them. Seriously, would ANYONE other than her look good in this HERE ?? .... (by the way.. I have your belt if you want to come back tonight. You don't want your pants falling down.. )
From Seekingalpha.com
The economic war against China is moving in a new direction, though the Trump administration said it's unconnected to trade negotiations set to resume in Washington in the coming days. 28 Chinese entities have been added to an export blacklist due to Beijing's repression of Muslim minorities, a move that will bar them from buying American components without government approval. U.S. stock index futures fell 0.6% following the decision, as China signaled it would hit back over the measures and "urged the U.S. side to immediately correct its mistake."
Chinese state television CCTV is suspending current broadcast arrangements for the NBA's pre-season games after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey's tweet in support of the Hong Kong protests. "We believe that any speech that challenges national sovereignty and social stability is not within the scope of freedom of speech," CCTV said in a statement. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) appear to have also removed items related to the Houston Rockets, while Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) said it would stop showing Rockets matches and news related to the team. Go deeper: 'Alibaba: Don't Fear The Delisting Chatter' writes Stefan Redlich.
Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) expects Q3 operating profit to tumble 56% to 7.7T won ($6.44B) - as a slump in its memory chip business continued to weigh on earnings - though the figure was still better than that forecast by analysts. The news saw the stock rise 2.4% in Korea overnight, also boosted by enthusiasm that the tech giant could be nearing a rebound. Strong sales of the new Galaxy Note 10 have been recorded at home and in Europe, while there are early signs Samsung's global memory chip business will stabilize next year. Go deeper: A lookback on Samsung demand by Hyundai Motor Securities.
Conceding it hadn't won over management, Hong Kong's bourse (OTCPK:HKXCY) has dropped an unsolicited £32B offer for the London Stock Exchange (OTCPK:LDNXF), but said it still believed a combination would be "strategically compelling." Political turmoil engulfing Hong Kong and the perceptions of Beijing's growing influence over the city was another key obstacle to any deal. In walking away from the transaction, HKEX clears the way for LSE to conclude its own $14.5B plan to acquire data and analytics company Refinitiv (TRI, BX).
The U.S. is looking at ways to funnel money to Huawei's European rivals, as officials warn that the Chinese company is becoming dangerously dominant in the global race for 5G, FT reports. Officials have suggested issuing credit to companies such as Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) to enable them to match the generous financing terms that Huawei offers to its customers. Others have asked U.S. companies Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) whether they would consider entering the radio transmission market, though the companies have warned it would be too expensive and time-consuming to do so. Go deeper: Nokia is a Buy despite recent hiccups, says William Daniel.
Boris Johnson told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a call this morning that a Brexit deal is "essentially impossible" if the EU demands Northern Ireland should stay in the bloc's customs union. Brexiteers fear the backstop would limit the capacity for new independent trade deals, as well as a commitment to EU rules with no influence over them. Merkel responded that a deal would never be possible unless Northern Ireland stayed in a customs union, a juncture the two called a "clarifying moment." Sterling -0.6% to $1.2220.
The federal budget deficit for 2019 is estimated at $984B, a hefty 4.7% of gross domestic product and the highest since 2012, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Unsustainable path? The deficit, which has grown every year since 2015, is $205B higher than it was in 2018, a jump of 26%. Higher levels of debt increase borrowing costs, making it hard for the government to battle economic downturns and increase the share of future spending allocated to paying off interest costs.
E-cigarette vapor causes lung cancer and potentially bladder cancer in mice, according to researchers at New York University. Out of 40 mice exposed to e-cigarette vapor with nicotine over 54 weeks, 22.5% developed lung cancer and 57.5% developed precancerous lesions on the bladder, while none of the 20 mice exposed to e-cigarette smoke without nicotine developed disease. The finding backs up a separate vaping study by the University of Southern California on the molecular change in the oral tissue that causes cancer. Go deeper: Related stocks include MO, PM, BTI, VGR and OTCQX:IMBBY.
About 40 state attorneys general will participate in an antitrust investigation of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to The Washington Post. In September, James had announced a probe with seven other states and the District of Columbia into whether the social media giant has "endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers' choices, or increased the price of advertising." Facebook, which owns one-time rivals Instagram and WhatsApp and has 2.4B monthly users, agreed in July to pay a $5B FTC settlement for various privacy violations.
The botched IPO of WeWork (WE) and a sharp decline in shares of Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Slack (NYSE:WORK) has analysts beginning to calculate the damage for Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group (OTCPK:SFTBY). Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities cut its profit estimate for SoftBank’s Vision Fund, its main investment vehicle, by ¥580B ($5.4B) to an operating loss of ¥367.6B. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. estimates that the Vision Fund's writedown alone could be as much as $5.93B, with another $1.24B drop for the portion of WeWork owned by SoftBank.
What else is happening...
Unexpected rise in German industrial output.
Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) ahead of Boeing (NYSE:BA) in aircraft sales race.
Cutting debt... GE (NYSE:GE) pulls plug on pension plans.
NBCUniversal (NASDAQ:CMCSA) appoints new boss for streaming service.
Oracle (ORCL) gets aggressive in cloud push.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +1%. Hong Kong +0.3%. China +0.3%. India closed. In Europe, at midday, London -0.2%. Paris -0.9%. Frankfurt -1.1%. Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.6%. S&P -0.5%. Nasdaq -0.6%. Crude -0.5% to $52.48. Gold +0.3% to $1508.30. Ten-year Treasury Yield -2 bps to 1.53%
Today's Economic Calendar
6:00 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index 8:30 Producer Price Index 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales 1:00 PM Results of $38B, 3-Year Note Auction 1:35 PM Fed's Evans Speech 1:50 PM Jerome Powell: "A View from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors" 5:00 PM Fed's Kashkari Speech
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Roger “Raj” Searing rajsearing@gmail.com
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