Mike’s Morning Brief: A fast-break rundown of what’s going on.
Market opens lower, giving back some of the gains from yesterday, which was the strongest day for stocks in 4 months. The NAS avoided a 4-day slide, something that had not happened this year. Just 1 day after giving a speech on Afghanistan, which got pretty solid reviews, President Trump became unhinged again last night in Phoenix. He pretty much confused the conciliatory words that he said about Charlottesville again, trashed the media as usual, he even slammed John McCain (in his home state) and said that a government shutdown might actually happen and the wall will be built. People that love Trump liked it. Those that don’t, didn’t. It’s also being reported that Trump and Senate Majority Leader are in the midst of their own Cold War, which raises the questions of whether taxes will actually get treatment. This adds more confusion to the equation because McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have reportedly been busy working closely with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and the President’s chief economic advisor Gary Cohn on putting together a tax plan that could pass. It was hopes of tax-reform that triggered yesterday’s rally. Today it’s being reversed. The circus continues. Wal-Mart and Google are teaming up to compete with Amazon’s Alexa. Samsung is releasing its new Galaxy 8 phone in NYC, weeks ahead of the next iPhone. Competition is fierce in the phone business. Global Markets were mixed overnight, with gains in Asia and losses in Europe. Both the Dollar and Oil are giving up some of yesterday’s gains too while Gold is catching a bid. Interest rates are lower with the 10-Year Treasury yield back below 2.2%. Keep those belts buckled. It¹s going to be a bumpy ride.
Have a great morning,
Mike Frazier
