Headlines – March 6/18

  • Wall St opens higher on signs of North Korea talks. Read story
  • Kim Jong-un vows to write a ‘new history of national reunification’ with South Korea. Read story
  • Bank of Japan’s tough task: navigating the long road toward stimulus exit. Read story
  • UK’s Johnson warns Russia over collapse of spy. Read story
  • 42% of Americans are at risk of retiring broke. Read story
  • Target earnings miss, outlook weak despite online sales growth. Read story
  • Former Trump aide Nunberg waivers over defying Mueller’s ‘witch hunt’  inquiry. Read story
  • China’s runaway Tiangong-1 space station will crash to earth within weeks. Read story
  • France to set age of sexual consent at 15. Read story
  • One of the most sought after jobs for rural Chinese women is to become a mistress. Read story
  • Oscars drop to all-time low viewer rating. Read story
  • What’s going to happen inside your car once you don’t have to drive. Read story
  • On the lighter side. Check it out!

Stay tuned!

What is YOUR government going to do about crypto?

Many nations are now actively considering what to do about crypto currencies (CC’s), as they do not want to miss out on tax revenue, and to some degree they think they need to regulate this market space for the sake of consumer protection.  Knowing that there are scams and incidences of hacking and thievery, it is commendable that consumer protection is being thought of at these levels.  The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) came into being in the USA for just such a purpose and the SEC has already put some regulations in place for CC Exchanges and transactions.  Other nations have similar regulatory bodies and most of them are working away at devising appropriate regulations, and it is likely that the “rules” will be dynamic for a few years, as governments discover what works well and what does not.  Some of the benefits of CC’s are that they are NOT controlled by any government or Central Bank, so it could be an interesting tug-of-war for many years to see how much regulation and control will be imposed by governments.

The bigger concern for most governments is the potential for increasing revenue by taxing the profits being generated in the CC market space.  The central question being addressed is whether to treat CC’s as an investment or as a currency.  Most governments so far lean towards treating CC’s as an investment, like every other commodity where profits are taxed using a Capital Gains model.  Some governments view CC’s only as a currency that fluctuates in daily relative value, and they will use taxation rules similar to foreign exchange investments and transactions.  It is interesting that Germany has straddled the fence here, deciding that CC’s used directly for purchasing goods or services are not taxable.  It seems a bit chaotic and unworkable if all our investment profits could be non-taxable if we used them to directly buy something – say a new car – every so often.  Perhaps Germany will fine tune their policy or re-think it as they go along.

It is also more difficult for governments to enforce taxation rules given that there are no consistent global laws requiring CC Exchanges to report CC transactions to government.  The global and distributed nature of the CC marketplace makes it almost impossible for any one nation to know about all the transactions of their citizens.  Tax evasion already happens, as there are several countries that provide global banking services that are often used as tax havens, sheltering funds from taxation.  By there very nature CC’s were born into a realm of scant regulation and control by governments, and that has both upsides and downsides.  It will take time for governments to work through all this by trial and error – it is still all new and it is why we tout CC’s and Blockchain technology as “game changers”.

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Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Headlines – March 5/18

  • Italian election: Populist Five Star and League vie for power. Read story
  • Trump says Canada, Mexico could win tariff exemption if fair NAFTA deal signed. Read story
  • Left behind: Italy’s election is the latest  rebuke for Europe’s flailing centre-left. Read story
  • Oscars: Shape of Water and Frances McDormand rule. Read story
  • NRA posts controversial ‘Times Up’ ad targeting ‘every lying member of the media’ and every ‘Hollywood phony.’ Read story
  • IEA sees US oil output surge stealing OPEC share in five years. Read story
  • Israel corruption case: Close Netanyahu aide turns state witness. Read story
  • Amazon Bank: Amazon in talks with banks on creating chequing-account type product. Read story
  • Ripple price roars past $1.05 as Korean FOMO kicks into gear. Read story
  • China’s 36-page official report on its goals for 2018, in four charts. Read story
  • It could be crunch time for word’s third most indebted country. Read story
  • More millennials reported losing money to scam in 2017 than senior citizens. Read story
  • China’s growth target ‘around 6.5%’ in 2018. Read story
  • Trump spends night with ‘crazy media’ at white-tie Grid Iron Dinner. Read story
  • On the lighter side. Check it out!

Stay tuned!

Headlines – March 2/18

  • Trump: ‘Trade wars are good, and easy to win.’ Read story
  • Here’s what happened the last time the US applied steel tariffs. Read story
  • Canada, not China, will be hardest hit by US steel tariffs. Read story
  • Here’s why this is the most important weekend in Europe’s political calendar. Read story
  • Anti-Putin protests could get violent, opposition warns. Read story
  • Central area of Swiss capital closed off after bomb threat. Read story
  • Bank of England’s Carney says cryptocurrencies are failing. Read story
  • Italian election: EU under threat as FDI strike up alliance with Hungarian PM Orrban. Read story
  • Israeli police grill Netanyahu on new fraud case. Read story
  • May sets out ‘hard facts’ on Brexit. Read story
  • The American Dream is alive and well in Singapore, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Read story
  • McDonald’s price target slashed after slow start to $1 $2 $3 menu. Read story
  • The US Fed won’t be able to save us during the next recession. Read story
  • US nursing home chain HCR ManorCare set to file for bankruptcy. Read story
  • On the lighter side. Check it out!

Stay tuned!

Here’s what happened the last time the US applied steel tariffs

While Donal Trump says ‘Trade wars are good, and easy to win,” history suggests otherwise. In March 2002, George Bush gave into lobbyists and slapped on steel tariffs of between 8% and 30% on imported steel. At that time, Bush exempted Canada, and Mexico because of NAFTA, plus a few developing countries.

Immediately after those tariffs were applied, the S&P 500 dropped over 33% over the next seven months.

Steel_tariffs2002

Trump is demonstrating that he is no more astute than Bush was, assuming that a trade war is a ‘good thing’. Every time a country applies protectionist policies, other countries do the same, and the losers are the consumers who end up paying more for the finished products.

Governments always react, never fully understanding the end result. Trying to protect an inefficient industry in your country by applying tariffs against a more productive country does not make the domestic industry more efficient, it just makes the finished products more expensive for your consumers. Tariffs are designed to raise the cost of imported goods. They are nothing more than a tax, and in this case, a tax to be paid by US consumers.

So sure, Trump may succumb to steel lobbyist in the US and apply these tariffs to save 143,000 jobs in the steel industry, but these tariffs will hurt over 6 million other workers in industries like the auto industry that use steel to manufacture their products. The end result is the finished products that use steel or aluminum are going to cost more for consumers.  So how is this a ‘good thing?’

For US companies that use steel and aluminum, not only will their costs go up, they will be less competitive, and their exports will suffer. And then of course we will have the problem of reciprocal tariffs that have already been threatened by countries being hit by Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The European Union and Canada have already stated that they will retaliate.

Currencies play a huge role in the cost of imported products. Canada is the biggest exporter of steel to the US. The $CAN is currently trading at 77.50 against the $US, meaning all other things being equal, steel priced in $CAN will be 22.5% cheaper than steel priced in the $US.

While these tariffs may help the bottom line for American steel companies, the real losers will be the US consumers. If this turns into a full-on trade war, there will be many more casualties globally, including investors. Contrary to Trump’s comment, nobody wins a trade war!

Stay turned!

Market update – March 1/18

S&P 500

The S&P 500 opened fairly strong, pushing up to 2731, near our immediate resistance level in the 2740-2760 range.  But then trade war fears took over as Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel, and 10% on aluminum, which pushed the S&P down 72 pts,  finally closing at 2677 , down 1.32% for the day.

Immediate Resistance = 2760
Near-term Resistance = 2780
Key Resistance = 2873
Immediate Support =2581
Near-term Support = 2535
Key Support = 2470

Tomorrow will be important, as a weekly close below 2760 suggests that we could test the the immediate support level of 2581, with potential to test 2535, and then 2470 before we see new highs. A close tomorrow above 2740, opens the door to re-test resistance at 2760, 2780, and the January high of 2873.

Be cautious here, as we expect the bearish scenario to play out.

Note that on Monday our Trend Technical Trader (TTT) service warned its subscribers to apply hedge positions to protect themselves. That timing looks bang on.

spx0301

Bonds

For months in The Trend Letter subscribers have been warned that as bond yields approached 3% we would likely see a short-term capital flow into bonds, pushing yields lower. Long-term yields will move much higher, but short-term, holders of these bonds will have an opportunity to unload these bonds. Remember, that when rates do rise again, anyone holding existing bonds will see the value of existing bonds lose value.  If you need that money and are forced to sell before maturity (10 years), you will get whatever the market offers, which will almost certainly be lower than what you paid.

As we keep highlighting in The Trend Letter, governments everywhere are issuing massive amounts of new debt, on top of all their maturing debt, at the same time as the US Fed has stopped buying debt,  and other central banks are tightening their stimulative bond buying programs. The Fed is also starting to unwind their enormous balance sheet, meaning they will let bonds mature (meaning won’t be re-purchasing), and more importantly, they are looking to sell portions of their huge $4.4 trillion balance sheet.

It is simply supply and demand. Every government is racking up huge deficits and must issue new bonds to play for all those promises. They must also issue new bonds to cover maturing debt. The fact is the US Fed, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, ECB, and most other central banks are the largest buyers of government debt. Now that these central banks are all scaling back, and even selling off their own bonds, the market is going to see a lot of new debt coming on the market, at the same time as the biggest buyers are no longer buying. In order to entice new buyers, yields will have to rise.

Gold

Gold was down 12.70 today to close at 1305, and is now touching its Near-term Support level of 1280-1307. Again, gold was not able to catch any bid  from capital seeking a ‘safe-haven.’ Gold will have its day to shine, but that time is not now.

gold0301

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Headlines – March 1/18

  • US inflation picks up; weekly jobless rate at 48-year low. Read story
  • Trump says ‘take the guns first, go through due process later’. Read story
  • Putin: Russia has ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons that can ‘reach anywhere on earth.’ Read story
  • World’s biggest ad agency suffers worst stock drop since 1999. Read story
  • Trump defends US steel industry, expected to announce steep tariffs. Read story
  • Bill Gates says cryptocurrencies cause deaths. Read story
  • Trump says US to use all tools to pressure China on trade. Read story
  • Big pharma, big data: why drug-makers want your health records. Read story
  • Real disposable income in the US rises most since 2015. Read story
  • Cryptocurrency firms targeted in SEC probe. Read story
  • Oprah: God will tell me if I’m supposed to run for president. Read story
  • South Africa parliament votes to confiscate white-owned land without compensation. Read story
  • Equifax says its found 2 million more victims of 2017 breach. Read story
  • Silicon Valley doesn’t like to talk about its investment in marijuana companies. Read story
  • How one state saved $240 million in health care spending. Read story
  • On the lighter side. Check it out!

Stay tuned!