She's IN .. The Supreme Court is full with the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She was sworn in at the White House last night by Justice Clarence Thomas. The vote was along party lines and Democrats are now vowing to, "Pack the Court" if they are able to take back the Senate and win the White House. Expanding the Court was last seriously tried 80 years ago by FDR. His own party pushed back then.. but.. we are in very different times. They want 15 Justices so that the can appoint 6 and swing the court back to liberal... I don't think the SCOTUS should be politicized.. but the SWAMP is called the SWAMP for a reason... and..
Prayers going out to our fellow Americans in California. The wildfires continue to expand. Another 100,000 are being evacuated. The so-called Silverado Fire broke out early in the morning in the foothills of Irvine, about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and quickly spread unchecked, fueled by dry conditions and erratic winds that prevented firefighting aircraft from flying. Be safe out there boys and girls...
The DHS, HHS, and DOS released the annual report on asylum cases. Before I tell you.. how many people do you think are seeking Asylum in America?? .. ANSWER after the Swamp paragraph below ...
A Bomb went off at a religious school in Pakistan killing 7 children and injuring 80 or more. So far, no one has claimed responsibility. .. and..
Mayhem in Italy. Protests were reported in at least five cities on Monday night, with physical clashes erupting in Turin and Milan, two of Northern Italy’s largest urban centers, the latter of which has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Molotov cocktails, buildings smashed up.. all of this over the new round of "lock downs". People are tired of their elected officials ordering them to shut their businesses and stay inside..
Riot in Philadelphia: Clashes erupted in Philadelphia after police shot a man that was charging them with a knife. Police responded to a call about an armed man and when they arrived he ran at them. Body cams corroborate the story. But, the mobs don't care.
12 police were injured, including one that broke her leg when she was run down by a car... The man's mother claimed her son had mental health issues and was off his medicine. Then she asked, "why didn't they taser him... why didn't they shoot him in the leg or something" .. Despite Dopey Joe Biden's suggestion, police don't shoot people in the leg. A policeman can discharge his weapon is if he is being attacked with lethal force. They often to not have TIME to make a better assessment.. Shooting someone is the LAST thing they want.
The sad reality is that this man did not need to die last night. If the call came in "Mentally disturbed man that is off his medication and has a knife" maybe the situation could have been handled differently. If this woman knew her son was off his medication and running around with a knife SHE should have called for help. When police show up to an "armed and dangerous" situation they need to make decisions in SECONDS when they arrive. .. It's really too bad.. but rioting solves nothing. It gives the rioters a few seconds of "Revenge Victory" .. but thats all ...
In Da Swamp: 65 Million have voted early. That's more than HALF of all votes in 2016. This means a few things. 1) It's likely overall voter turnout will be up from the 129 Million in 2016... 2) We will not likely know whom is President for a week or more .. 3) You can expect legal challenges in A LOT of States ... and..
The Supreme Court ruled that a Wisconsin judge cannot change election laws. Their law states ballots must be received by Election Day. This is after an earlier ruling that allowed extra time to voters in Pennsylvania. The explanation by the court? They don't explain themselves. They simply noted, "these are two different situations with two different laws." ..and..
A new poll shows that a majority of Americans believe Joe Biden benefitted from Hunter Biden's business deals in Ukraine and China. Anyone think that matters? I don't... and it DEFINITELY won't matter to 65 million Americans.. because they already voted...
There are more than 1.1 million asylum cases waiting to be heard. That backlog does not include the 300,000 NEW cases that are expected this fiscal year. To all those radical left freaks that want to tell us how bad our Country is.. and how TERRIBLE our Founders were.. If we suck so bad, why do we have a million people trying to get in??? ..and going the "Other Way" there was a record number of US Citizens looking to renounce their citizenship. About 10,000. (Mostly for tax reasons.. The Celebridiots that SAY they are leaving.. Never do.. ). Do the math, 10,000 want OUT.. and 1.4 million want in.. If we took all the cases and admitted them.. it would be the 43rd most populous State in the Union..
Scientists have announced that they have proof that there is ice on the moon. They long suspected there was ice (and therefore had been water) deep in cracks around craters.. My reaction to news like this is usually, "WHO CARES???" .. and people say, "But Raj, this means that one day, we might be able to set up a space station on the moon" .. Really? Really? How about we spend those BILLIONS of dollars on the homeless people in LA (There are 50,000 of them) .. or spend those resources to stop the daily murders in Chicago.. and now Baltimore.. and soon NY ??? .. Ya Know .. PRIORITIES !!!
SPORTS:
NFL: The Rams beat the Bears 24-10 and there is not a lot to report. The Bears didn't look like a 5-1 team.. now.. a 5-2 team.. and..
MLB: Is tonight the night? Dodgers can win the Series with a victory and Tampa is looking to force game 7... I don't really care who wins.. but GAME 7's are great in just about any sport...
Former NFL player, Eric Decker has embarked on a new "sports related" career. HERE. .. I hope he does a better job motorboating than playing receiver for the Jets .. although.. not many people have been a success playing for the Jets...
CELEBRIDIOTS:
Tuesday RIP's .. RIP to Spencer Davis, 81. You may remember him from, "The Spencer Davis Group" that included Steve Winwood and wrote, "Gimme Some Lovin'" .. So Glad You Made it, Spencer ... and... RIP to Singer Tony Lewis, 62 of "The Outfield". You know his song, "Your Love" (Josie's on a vacation far away.. come around and talk it over...) and RIP to William Binn, 83 director of many films including, "Purple Rain" .. and RIP to DeOndra Dixon, 36 the sister of uber-talented actor Jamie Foxx ...
The Nation of Kazakhstan has stopped feuding with BORAT. When Sasha Baron Cohen first became the character, "Borat", officials in the country were, NONE TOO PLEASED. Well, they have made an about turn.. and are not embracing him.. In new advertising the state tourism board will be using, "Kazakhstan, VERY NICE!!" ...
The Judge ordered prior testimony by "Jeffery Epstien accomplice" Ghislaine Maxwell to be "unsealed". The testimony is sordid and discusses her sex life. YUCK!!!!! Who wants to read THAT?? and don't call me sexist.. remember I wanted charges against Bob Kraft dropped. Not because he was innocent.. because I didn't want the video released of an 80 year old man having sex with a 60 year old masseuse.. Again.. YUKKKKK !!!! ...
Former Princess of the Rant, Emily Ratajkowski, has gone and gotten herself pregnant .. NO, it's not mine.. and NO, I won't be posting pictures of her pregnant body.. .. and .. you're correct.. No, she HASN'T been in the Rant in a while .. Mostly because she posts pictures of herself in her own line of bikinis ...that she designed.. and they are AWFUL .. So, Ill leave you with this, HERE .. which is.. well.. NOT Awful ...
From SeekingAlpha.com
Concerns about COVID-19 infection rates appear to have come back to the fore for markets as average daily cases hit a record high in the U.S., just days away from the presidential election. Wall Street sold off on Monday, led by a decline in energy, industrial stocks and other cyclicals, prompting the Dow to slide 650 points to record its worst week since September. Echoing the weakness, compounded with little hope of a stimulus package from Washington, U.S. stock index futures hugged the flatline in the overnight session. "To me, this is Phase 2 of the pandemic," said Frank Rybinski, chief macro strategist at Aegon Asset Management. "Until we get some eradication of the virus, it's going to be like a gray cloud."
More than one third of the S&P 500 index components, or 186 companies, are set to report Q3 results this week, including some of the top names in the index. Today's lineup includes manufacturing behemoth's 3M (NYSE:MMM) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), healthcare giants Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and Merck (NYSE:MRK), as well as tech titans Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD). Sideshow? While net earnings are surprising to the upside, with the exception of a few misses, the market seems laser focused on the election, COVID-19 and any news related to stimulus talks.
A coronavirus aid package before the election is looking less likely by the day as the Senate adjourned after confirming Amy Coney Barrett's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. Members will now be allowed to leave the capital and join their House counterparts on the campaign trail, where the representatives have been since early October. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still remains "optimistic" about a pre-election deal following Monday's phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, but is still waiting on the White House to accept "language around Covid-19 testing."
Intensifying its battle with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in the data center chip market, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to buy Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) in a $35B all-stock deal. The tie-up would create a combined firm with 13,000 engineers, with a nimble manufacturing strategy that relies heavily on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM). Since taking over AMD in 2014, Lisa Su has focused on data centers that power internet-based applications and services, which have fueled the rise of artificial intelligence and 5G telecom networks. AMD -4.5%; XLNX +10.2% premarket.
HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) soared nearly 7% after the bank beat estimates and signaled it may resume limited dividend payments, as well as accelerating a restructuring plan. On the energy front, BP (NYSE:BP) swung back to profit, with the stock climbing 2% in premarket trade amid a "continuing oil demand recovery." Novartis (NYSE:NVS) shares meanwhile went south, falling 2% overnight, after revenues missed expectations, though the drugmaker did lift its full-year forecast.
Ant Group is reportedly planning to stop taking investor orders for the Hong Kong leg of its IPO on Wednesday, a day earlier than scheduled, as the record stock sale has already been heavily subscribed. The potential move would bring the closing in line with the Shanghai leg of its dual offering, which is slated to begin trading on Nov. 5. Putting it in perspective: Ant, which is a third owned by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), will have a market value of at least $315B, about the same valuation as JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and four times larger than Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).
Facebook Gaming (NASDAQ:FB) is launching cloud-streamed games for the Facebook app and web browser, a move that will expand its content library to include more-complex and multiplayer titles. Its free-to-play model is in contrast to the paid, subscription cloud-gaming services of rivals like Google Stadia (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon's Luna (NASDAQ:AMZN). Facebook's service will launch on the desktop web and Android, but not iOS due to terms and conditions of the App Store. "Apple treats games differently and continues to exert control over a very precious resource," reads a blog post. Go Deeper: More than 380M people play games each month on Facebook.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) is exploring the sale of its casinos in Las Vegas, according to Bloomberg, in a deal that would leave Sheldon Adelson focused on Asia. The world’s largest casino company is working with an adviser to solicit interest for the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, the Palazzo and the Sands Expo Convention Center, which are all connected along the city's famous strip and together may fetch $6B or more. Investor attention has focused on its Macau operations of late, but a sale in Nevada may point to trouble for Las Vegas casinos. LVS +1.2% premarket.
Not paying any attention to China's recent sanctions, the U.S. State Department has signaled its approval for a potential $2.4B sale of anti-ship missiles to Taiwan. As many as 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems built by Boeing (NYSE:BA) could be shipped. On Monday, Beijing said it would impose sanctions on Boeing's defense unit, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTX) over another $1.8B arms sales to Taiwan, an island with which it has not ruled out the use of force to achieve reunification.
What else is happening...
Eli Lilly (LLY) ends COVID-19 antibody trial after lack of improvement. Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) begins cutting 1,000 jobs from TD Ameritrade acquisition. U.S. appeals court rejects immediate WeChat (OTCPK:TCEHY) ban. Big shakeup at AIG... New CEO and life insurance separation. Facebook (FB) achieves goal of helping 4M people register to vote. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) to sell Crisco unit to B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) for $550M.
Monday's Key Earnings
NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) +3.1% AH driven by auto and mobile recoveries. Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) -1.5% AH forecasting wider-than-expected Q4 loss.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan flat. Hong Kong -0.5%. China +0.1%. India +1%. In Europe, at midday, London flat. Paris -1%. Frankfurt -0.4%. Futures at 6:20, Dow flat. S&P flat. Nasdaq +0.2%. Crude +1.1% to $38.98. Gold -0.2% at $1902.70. Bitcoin -0.9% to $13199. Ten-year Treasury Yield unchanged at 0.80%
Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Durable Goods 8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales 9:00 S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index 9:00 FHFA House Price Index 10:00 Consumer Confidence 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg. 1:00 PM Results of $54B, 2-Year Note Auction
Regards,
Roger “Raj” Searing rajsearing@gmail.com "Raj Searing™”, "Read this First™", "@rajsearing™", "TheRantRoom™" and “TheRantroom.com™” are Trademarks of RRRAJ, LLC. All Rights Reserved-2003.
DISCLAIMER:
This RANT is intended SOLELY as Commentary, Satire and/or Social Criticism and is for ENTERTAINMENT. Content in this RANT is based on PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION and is purely the OPINION of the writer. It is NOT intended to be relied on as fact. Some of this information is garnered from well respected news sources and some is not. (In fact, sometimes I get drunk and make stuff up. It's usually about me dating hot women.) Raj warns all readers: If you cannot tell that most of this Rant is just my opinion then you are too stupid to be reading it!!!!
Stop before you hurt yourself! The Rant is inspired by how I feel that day, what I ate for dinner the night before, who is pissing me off, what I find entertaining, and information I sometimes get from: Bloomberg,1010WINS, Foxnews.com, CNN.com, ABCNews.com, CNBC.com and another dozen random news ".coms", The NY Post, The Asbury Park Press, The Drudge Report, The Daily Mirror, The Independent, The Standard, The Australian, O Globo, Charlie Hebdo, MSN, AOL, The Daily Beast, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, Barstool Sports, Bleacher Report, CNBC, Various Analysts at brokerage firms, SeekingAlpha, Twitter, Instagram, PopSugar, Harpers, Washington Times, al Jazeera, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Reuters, Maxim, RT News, Eonline,Vanity Fair, Politico, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, Pravda, Forbes, Money, GQ, Men’s Health, YahooNews.com TMZ, ESPN.go.com, Golf Digest, and the Victoria Secret Catalogue. This email is for entertainment only. We disclaim any and all responsibility for damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any of this information that we already told you is worthless. If it gets forwarded out we have no control over where it ends up and are not responsible for the content of any site it may end up on. We try to remain free of viruses and all other diseases that can hurt computers but we do not warranty that…especially if someone forwards it to you. Action figures are sold separately and batteries are not included. If you choose to share this information with people that have no sense of humor you are advised to stand back at least 6 feet. If you receive this Rant stapled to other papers do not put in the microwave. Please drink responsibly.