Author Archive

• CWS Market Review – April 5, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 5th, 2019 at 7:08 am

  “Investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.” – Benjamin Graham

  T.S. Eliot famously wrote that “April is the cruelest month.” Actually, as far as stocks go, it’s been pretty good. The market has risen 12 times over the last 13 Aprils. Plus, April 2019 has gotten off to a solid start. This builds upon a very good start to the year. We just wrapped up the best first quarter for stocks in 21 years.

  That could be a good omen. Consider that of the last 19 times that each of the first three months of the year were higher, 18 times the rest of the year was green as well. The only exception came in 1987.

  

  During the day on Wednesday, the S&P 500 got as high as 2,885. That’s a six-month high. In fact, we’re not that far from an all-time high. The dividend-adjusted S&P 500 came within 0.5% of making a new all-time high. (Dividends are small, but they do add up!)

  The market has now rallied for six days in a row. Despite the rebound in share prices, I have to confess that there’s not a lot going on in the stock market right now. Each week, I strive to bring the latest and greatest on Wall Street, but it’s been quite dead lately.

  We’re in that odd lull before earnings season. In just a few days, we’ll have all the news we can bear. But for right now, it’s crickets out there. Don’t fret. In this week’s CWS Market Review, we’ll take a look at some recent economic data. I’ll also run through the new earnings report from RPM International. Plus, I’ll cover some news impacting our Buy List stocks. But first, let’s review some mildly weak economic news.

  The U.S. Economy May Be Stagnating

  In recent weeks, there’s been more talk about the possibility of an interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic advisor, said the Fed should cut rates immediately by 0.5%.

  Until now, I’ve been a doubter, and I still think it’s a long shot. But I’ve become somewhat less doubtful. What’s the reason? Well, some recent economic news has been noticeably tepid. The standout example is the February jobs report. According to the government number crunchers, the U.S. economy created just 20,000 net new jobs in February. That was way below expectations.

  I’m writing this to you on Friday morning, so the March jobs report may already be out by the time you’re reading this. That report includes a revision to the numbers from February, and it’s likely the revision is higher.

  But that’s not the only data. For example, the weekly jobless-claims report got weaker at the start of this year. The weakness seemed to coincide with the government shutdown, so it caused a major uproar. Sure enough, on Thursday, we learned that initial jobless claims fell to 202,000. That’s the lowest since the 1960s.

  On Wednesday, the ADP payroll report said that just 129,000 private sector jobs were created last month. That’s the lowest figure in 18 months. For the first time since December 2016, goods-producing jobs shrank. It’s possible that the labor market is beginning to stagnate as global growth is softening.

  That’s probably what’s driving the talk of a rate cut. What’s interesting is that the yield curve isn’t exactly flat. Rather, it has a notch. At the moment, yield on the six-month Treasury exceeds the yield on the three-year by 16 basis points. That’s very unusual, and it only makes sense if bond traders expect a short-lived rate cut in a larger tightening cycle.

  Here’s a chart of nonfarm payrolls (red) with the Russell 3000 adjusted for inflation (blue).

  

  Last week, the government lowered its estimate on Q4 GDP growth. The initial report said the U.S. economy grew by 2.6% in the last three months of 2018. The updated report lowered that figure to 2.2%. That basically puts Q4 right in line with the trend of the current expansion. The economic recovery is notable for its length and its meandering speed. Compared with previous recoveries, the current one hasn’t been particularly strong.

  On Monday, the ISM Manufacturing Index was reported to be 55.3 for March. That’s up from 54.2 in February, but that report was the lowest in six months. A recession usually aligns with an ISM reading somewhere in the mid-40s. On Wednesday, the Non-Manufacturing Index fell to 56.1 for March. That’s down from 59.7 for February. That was below expectations, and the lowest point since August 2017.

  As I mentioned before, there hasn’t been much happening on Wall Street this week, but that will soon change. Next Friday, earnings season will kick off when JPMorgan and Wells Fargo report earnings. As we stand at the beginning of earnings season, the wave of lower guidance seems to have passed. Since September, Wall Street analysts had chopped this year’s earnings estimate for the S&P 500 by 5% to $167.80. Apple and the Energy sector were key drivers in the lower estimates. Analysts now expect to see top-line growth of 4.4% and an earnings decline of 9.8%.

  The week after next, the first of our Buy List stocks will report. Between mid-April and early May, 20 of our 25 Buy List stocks will report earnings. I don’t have the complete list yet, but Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) will report on April 17; then Danaher (DHR) and Check Point (CHKP) will report on the 18th. There will probably be others. Overall, I expect more good results from our stocks. On Thursday, we got the latest off-cycle earnings report from a Buy List stock, and it was quite good.

  RPM International Is a Buy up to $65 per Share

  In last week’s issue, I confessed that RPM International (RPM) has been a disappointment this year. The January earnings report was a dud, and the company had some (to my ears) tired excuses. Still, I’m not ready to pull the plug. The company owns a broad selection of well-known brands like Rust-Oleum.

  The good news is that Thursday’s earnings report alleviated some of my concerns. For the third quarter of RPM’s fiscal year, the company earned 14 cents per share. That exceeds the company’s own range of 10 to 12 cents per share. I’ll note that Q3 is typically RPM’s slowest of the year. Quarterly sales rose 3.4% to $1.14 billion. For the year, sales are up 5.3%.

  Frank Sullivan, RPM’s president and CEO, said, “Organic growth was 4.3% and acquisitions contributed 2.1%, while foreign exchange was a significant headwind that reduced sales by 3.0%. Price increases helped to offset higher raw-material costs, which have risen for seven straight quarters, as well as higher costs for freight, labor and energy. International markets remained challenged and resulted in reduced operating earnings from most geographies around the world.” The currency issue is a big problem for RPM.

  The good news is that RPM provided a pretty optimistic forecast. The company sees Q4 earnings ranging between $1.12 and $1.16 per share. At one point on Thursday, shares of RPM gapped up nearly 8%. RPM eventually finished the day at $60.63 per share for a gain of 2%.

  This is an encouraging report. The major concern is still the currency issue, but RPM doesn’t have much control over that. Remember that this is a solid outfit. RPM has increased its dividend every year for the last 45 years. This week, I’m raising my Buy Below on RPM International to $65 per share.

  Buy List Updates

  Earlier this week, shares of Raytheon (RTN) were downgraded by UBS. I usually ignore these news items, and I’m not going to bother refuting them. Still, the downgrade was enough to ping the shares for a 4% loss on Wednesday. The analyst lowered Raytheon from buy to neutral. (I’m not neutral on any stock!) He also lowered his price target from $220 to $200 per share, which is still a pretty juicy target. Anyway, I’m not concerned by the downgrade and am expecting good earnings later this month. Raytheon is a buy up to $190 per share.

  This Thursday, April 11, is a big one for Disney (DIS). At 5 p.m. ET, Disney will have its Investor Day webcast. With the big Fox deal done, this is the day when Bob Iger is expected to map out Disney’s plans to take on Netflix. Goldman Sachs recently said, “it is the dawn of a new era at Disney.” That’s true.

  Going into the meeting, there seems to be a lot of negative sentiment. Some folks think it will be bad news, and that may be what’s weighing on the share price. Personally, I have a more faith in Disney. Plus, with expectations so low, it may be easy to impress investors. Disney remains a buy up to $118 per share.

  I’ve neglected discussing Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR), and that should change. In February, the shares got smacked down after a lousy earnings report. BR made 56 cents per share, 15 cents below expectations. Despite the big drop, Broadridge has gradually recovered, and the stock just hit a new YTD high.

  

  The rally shouldn’t be too surprising. Broadridge has maintained a favorable outlook. The company said it sees earnings growth of 9% to 13% for this fiscal year, which is already half over. Since they made $4.19 per share last year, the guidance works out to $4.57 to $4.73 per share this year. For the current quarter, Broadridge sees revenue between $1.195 billion and $1.245 billion and earnings of $1.40 to $1.56 per share. Look for some improved results in May. This week, I’m raising my Buy Below on Broadridge Financial Solutions to $113 per share.

  That’s all for now. There are a few key economic reports next week. On Monday, the factory-orders report comes out. On Wednesday, we’ll get the CPI report for March. Also on Wednesday, the Fed will release the minutes from its last meeting. The jobless-claims report comes out on Thursday. On Friday, the Q1 earnings season begins as JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are due to report earnings. Be sure to keep checking the blog for daily updates. I’ll have more market analysis for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review!

  – Eddy

  P.S. I’ll be on Bloomberg TV’s market-wrap segment this Monday, April 8 at 3:50 pm ET.

• Morning News: April 5, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 5th, 2019 at 7:02 am

  India’s Central Bank Cuts Key Lending Rate to 6.0%

  ‘Epic’ China Trade Deal Near Completion, Trump Says, but Haggling Continues

  China Hails ‘New Consensus’ on Trade as Trump Talks Up Unfinished Deal

  Manufacturing Surge, a Boon for Trump, May Be Fading

  U.S. Job Growth Seen Accelerating From 17-Month Trough

  What Will Cause the Next Debt Crisis?

  Trump Plans to Nominate Herman Cain to Fed Board, Aiming to Add Supporter to Independent Central Bank

  An Investor’s Guide to Gen Z

  Why Soft Power Is in Style in Qatar

  Gun Control Group’s Report Card on U.S. Banks’ Firearms Ties Has Several Fs

  Jeff Bezos Keeps Amazon Voting Power in Divorce Settlement

  Ghosn’s Fate May Hang on Complex Financial Web in Middle East

  Jeff Carter: Dual Sides of Student Debt

  Ben Carlson: 7 Benefits of Writing

  Joshua Brown: Josh and Michael on Taxes, a16z, Netflix for Financial Planning, New S&P 500 Highs

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

• Morning News: April 4, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 4th, 2019 at 7:05 am

  From Molecules to Electrons; Can Big Oil Become Big Power?

  Trump to Meet China’s Liu in a Sign Trade Talks Are Reaching Final Stages

  A.I. and Privacy Concerns Get White House to Embrace Global Cooperation

  America’s Biggest Economic Challenge May Be Demographic Decline

  Stung by Big Fines, Big Banks Beef Up Money-Laundering Controls

  Elite U.S. School MIT Cuts Ties With Chinese Tech Firms Huawei, ZTE

  PG&E Reveals New C.E.O. & Revamped Board of Directors

  Constellation to Sell Several Wine Brands to Gallo in $1.7 Billion Deal

  Tesla’s Elon Musk to Square Off With SEC in Court at Contempt Hearing

  This Startup Wanted to Change the Way Drugs Are Sold. Then Things Got Messy

  Lyft Is Luring Investors, Just Not the Kind It Wants

  Ex-Nissan Chief Ghosn Calls Latest Arrest ‘Outrageous’, Asks French Government to Help

  Jeff Miller: You Risk How Much Per Trade?

  Joshua Brown: A Man and His Signals

  Howard Lindzon: Doing The Impossible

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

• Morning News: April 3, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 3rd, 2019 at 7:09 am

  World Stocks Rally to Six-Month Highs on U.S.-China Trade Optimism

  Japan Stumbles as China’s Growth Engine Slows

  The Decade of Deleveraging Didn’t Quite Turn Out That Way

  Amid Bitcoin Uncertainty, ‘the Smart Money Knows That Crypto Is Not Ready’

  Fed Risks Stoking Financial Bubble in Drive to Lift Inflation

  Drug Sites Upend Doctor-Patient Relations: ‘It’s Restaurant-Menu Medicine’

  Japan Display to Supply OLED Screens for Apple Watch

  Roche Says $4.3 Billion Spark Offer Still On Track for June Completion

  Wells Fargo CEO Stumble Puts Bank in Familiar State of Disarray

  Deutsche Bank’s U.S. Unit Kept Danske’s Shady Billions Flowing

  Novartis’s Alcon spinoff ousts Baer from Swiss benchmark SMI

  Walgreens CEO Loses $1.2 Billion in One Day

  Nick Maggiulli: Just One More

  Ben Carlson: So I Tried Cutting the Cord…

  Michael Batnick: Animal Spirits: Netflix for Financial Planning

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

• Morning News: April 2, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 2nd, 2019 at 7:11 am

  All the Reasons to Fret About the Global Economy, in Charts

  Trade Slowed in Fourth-Quarter, WTO Says; Auto Tariffs, Brexit Are 2019 Risks

  Bitcoin’s Sudden Surge Propels It Above $5,000

  Amid Bitcoin Uncertainty, ‘the Smart Money Knows That Crypto Is Not Ready’

  For Many British Businesses, Brexit Has Already Happened

  A Key to the Arctic’s Oil Riches Lies Hidden in Ohio

  Exxon Weighs Sale of Nigerian Oil and Gas Fields for Up to $3 Billion

  Shell to Quit U.S. Refining Lobby Over Climate Disagreement

  YouTube Executives Ignored Warnings, Letting Toxic Videos Run Rampant

  U.S. Moves to Limit Wage Claims Against Chains Like McDonald’s

  Lyft Crashes Back to Reality

  General Electric Earnings Still Won’t Matter, but Cash Flow Will

  Cullen Roche: Odd Lots Podcast – Talking MMT

  Joshua Brown: What if You Only Invested in Your 20 Best Ideas?

  Howard Lindzon: Momentum Monday – America is Hungry

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

• Econ Update
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 1st, 2019 at 1:44 pm

  We got a few economic reports this morning. The ISM report rose to 55.3 from 54.2 in February. That’s a pretty good number.

  The retail sales report showed a drop of 0.2% in February. The number for January was revised higher to 0.7% from 0.2%. Wall Street had been expecting an increase of 0.3%.

  The best news was that construction spending rose 1% in February. This data series is now at a nine-month high.

• What If the Bull Market Ended 14 Months Ago?
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 1st, 2019 at 10:03 am

  Conventionally, we measure bull markets from their lows to their highs, and that’s probably as it should be. But what if we broke the rules by a little?

  If you allow me a little latitude, I propose that we can say that the bull market ended on January 26, 2018 when the S&P 500 closed at 2,872.87.

  

  Well, yes, technically that is correct. By August, the S&P 500 broke that peak, but here’s my point—it didn’t break it by much. On a closing basis, the S&P 500 topped out at 2,930.75 on September 20, 2018. That’s a gain of 2.01% in the eight months from the January top.

  Two percent in eight months ain’t that great. Let’s bear in mind that from the March 2009 low to the January 2018 peak, the stock market averaged a gain of more than 17.6% per year.

  Many sectors and individual stocks never made new highs, and they’re still well below their January 2018 peak. For example, the S&P 500 Value Index never made a new high. It’s currently 6% below its peak from 14 months ago. The S&P 500 High Beta Index also never made a new high. The Consumer Staples sector is way down from its peak. The S&P 500 Industrials also never made a new high. Fourteen months later, the overall S&P 500 is still below that early 2018 top.

  This chart shows the S&P 500 in black along with the S&P 500 Value Index in blue and the S&P 500 Financials in red.

  

  So what did make a new high? Tech, and lots of it. The Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 have done very well.

  Except for a nasty spill in December, the market hasn’t experienced gigantic losses over the last 14 months. Perhaps this is a stealth bear market. Instead of tumbling for a big loss, it’s simply not doing much of anything for an extended time.

• Morning News: April 1, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, April 1st, 2019 at 7:03 am

  German Factory Slump Leaves Euro Area as Global Economic Laggard

  U.S.-China Trade War Timeline: What’s Happened in 2019 So Far

  China Purchases Could Undercut Trump’s Larger Trade Goal

  Denmark’s DSV to Buy Logistics Company Panalpina in $4.6 Billion Deal

  Mark Zuckerberg’s Call to Regulate Facebook, Explained

  Peter Thiel and Li Ka-shing Have a Banking App for America’s Generation Z

  Burger King Tests Plant-Based Meat With an Impossible Whopper

  Aramco Eclipses Top Earner Apple Ahead of Debut $10 Billion-Plus Bond Sale

  Lyft’s IPO Pop Is Evidence Of Failure, Not Success

  Could Elon Musk’s Rap Song Actually Be Good News About Tesla’s Quarterly Deliveries?

  South Korea’s Burned Out Millennials Choose YouTube Over Samsung

  How Sovereign Citizens Helped Swindle $1 Billion From the Government They Disavow

  Howard Lindzon: What’s In a Name

  Ben Carlson: Real Estate vs. The Stock Market

  Michael Batnick: These Are the Goods

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

• CWS Market Review – March 29, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, March 29th, 2019 at 7:08 am

  “The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.”
  – John Kenneth Galbraith

  After ten years, the yield curve has finally gone flat. Ironically, this was caused by good economic news. A flat curve is a natural response to a growing economy, but the flat curve has some important implications for the economy, the stock market and our portfolios.

  

  In this week’s CWS Market Review, we’ll take a deep dive into all things yield curve. I’ll also discuss the good earnings report from FactSet. The stock gapped up to a new 52-week high. I’ll also preview next week’s earnings report from RPM International, and I have a bunch of new Buy Below prices. But first, let’s look at what the yield curve has to say.

  What Does the Flat Yield Curve Mean?

  Wall Street has been in a tizzy over the yield curve. As we know, Wall Street loves to stress about something. Or anything. Wall Street’s favorite mode is being “concerned.” If need be, this can be upgraded to “distressed.” Most of the time, I tell you that this week’s “concern of the year” is over-rated and not to worry about it.

  This is different. An inverted yield curve truly is a big deal. The hitch is that it’s not immediate. Let me take a step back. By yield curve, I mean the difference between short-term and long-term interest rates. Normally, the yield curve is upward sloping, meaning you get paid more the longer you lend your money. That makes sense, but every so often, the yield curve goes flat, or even gets inverted. That’s when short-term rates rise above long-term rates.

  An inverted yield curve is one of the few good predictors of a bad economy. For a field with lots of stats, we still have little idea of how well the economy is doing at the moment. Economists have a terrible track record of predicting recessions, but the yield curve could have won a few Nobel Prizes based on its track record. The spread between the 2- and 10-year Treasuries has been an omen of bad times consistently for the last 35 years.

  Check out this tidbit from MarketWatch:

  Researchers at the San Francisco Fed say the 3-month/10-year curve is the most reliable indicator, while Cleveland Fed researchers note that inversions of that measure have preceded the past seven recessions with only two false positives — an inversion in late 1966 and a very flat curve in late 1998.

  That’s way better than most economists.

  To show you how much things have changed, in 2011, the 2/10 Spread reached 291 basis points. It’s now down to 16. The spread between the 10-year and three-month yield is currently negative by four basis points.

  

  While the yield curve is important, I’ll caution you that it’s not an instant tripwire. Let’s look at some recent history. The 2/10 Spread inverted in May 1998. It then went back before becoming very inverted in 2000, but the recession didn’t officially begin until 2001. Even in the last recession, the 2/10 Spread inverted in late 2005. The recession didn’t start for two more years.

  It’s a mistake to dismiss the yield curve as a technical indicator like the 200-day moving average. The yield curve has real world ramifications. A few years ago, I ran the numbers and found that the stock market does much better when the spread between the 90-day and 10-year Treasury yield is 121 basis points or more. If you’re a bank, an inverted curve means it’s not profitable to borrow short and lend long. (And yet, starting a bank in 2010 was probably one of the most profitable things you could do.)

  In the 12 months following a negative 2/10 Spread, the economy has been in recession about 50% of the time. There is, however, the chance that the yield curve may have lost its predictive powers with the advent of the Fed’s new policies. These things can change. When we had a gold standard, inverted curves were the norm.

  I don’t have any plans to alter our investing strategy. Our stocks are stronger than what a yield curve can do. With a flat curve, I would expect to see better valuations among defensive stocks. As I’ll explain later, stocks like Hershey (HSY) and Church & Dwight (CHD) have recently hit new highs. Think of it this way: an inverted yield curve is like rougher seas. If your ship is sturdy, then it doesn’t matter.

  FactSet Is a Buy up to $258 per Share

  On Tuesday, FactSet (FDS) reported earnings for its fiscal second quarter and the results were pretty good. This is for the quarter that covered December, January and February.

  For Q2, FactSet earned $2.42 per share compared with $2.12 per share last year. Wall Street had been expecting $2.33 per share. Quarterly revenue rose 5.9% to $354.9 million, and organic revenue rose 5.7%. Annual Subscription Value, or ASV, rose to $1.44 billion. I was pleased to see that FactSet increased its adjusted operating margin to 33.2% from 31.4% a year ago.

  “As we close the first half of the year, we are pleased to have built upon our long track record of continuous and steady growth. Our team capitalized on growing demand for our core solutions with focused execution as we continued to serve as a trusted partner to our clients,” said Phil Snow, FactSet CEO. “Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we will continue to execute against our proven strategy of providing smarter, connected data and technology solutions that make for an open and flexible user experience.”

  As of the end of the quarter, FactSet has a client count of 5,405. That’s an increase of 108. The user count increased by 6,854 to 122,063. Annual client retention was greater than 95% of ASV.

  

  FactSet also updated its financial guidance. The company expects revenue to range between $1.41 billion and $1.45 billion. They see adjusted operating margin between 31.5% and 33.5%. Lastly, they see full-year earnings between $9.50 and $9.65 per share. That’s an increase of five cents to the low end. This was a solid report for FDS.

  After the report, shares of FDS opened higher, then lost it all, then rallied back very impressively. This week, FDS hit a new 52-week high. I’m lifting my Buy Below on FactSet to $258 per share.

  Preview of RPM International’s Earnings

  We have one earnings report next week. RPM International (RPM) is due to report its fiscal Q3 earnings on Thursday morning, April 4. This will be our final off-cycle report until Q1 earnings season begins in mid-April.

  I’ll be honest – RPM has been a disappointment this year. The last earnings report was pretty ugly. For its fiscal Q2, RPM reported earnings of 52 cents per share. Sales rose 3.6% to $1.36 billion. Wall Street had been expecting 68 cents per share.

  The CEO had some excuses: “Like many manufacturers, our bottom line was impacted by a continued rise in costs for raw materials, freight, labor and energy, as well as adverse foreign-exchange translation.” We already knew the company was facing these issues, but I didn’t realize the problem was so acute. For Q3, RPM expects earnings between 10 and 12 cents per share.

  I’m not done yet with RPM. There’s still a lot of time to turn things around, but I want to see some evidence soon. All companies hit rough patches, but not all manage through them the same.

  Buy List Updates

  Continental Building Products (CBPX) rallied after its last earnings report. Since then, it’s given back the entire gain, and then some. I still like Continental and this is a good price. This week, I’m dropping my Buy Below down to $26 per share.

  Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) is another good stock that’s been weak lately. In five trading days, EGBN fell 13%. I’m not worried about Eagle. The stock is going for about ten times this year’s earnings. I’m lowering my Buy Below to $55 per share.

  Remember when Church & Dwight (CHD) fell sharply after missing earnings by one penny? The stock lost more than 7% in one day. As it turns out, a stock that’s raised its dividend for 23 years in a row is worth sticking with. Since then, CHD made back everything it lost and just hit a 52-week high on Thursday. I’m raising my Buy Below on CHD to $75 per share.

  

  There are a few other Buy Below changes I want to make. Fiserv (FISV) continues to look very good. I’m expecting another good earnings report. This week, I’m lifting our Buy Below on Fiserv to $92 per share. Hershey (HSY) is another stock that just hit a 52-week high. I’m raising our Buy Below on Hershey to $120 per share. JM Smucker (SJM) is doing very well this year. The jam stock is up 24% for us so far in 2019. I’m increasing the Buy Below on SJM to $122.

  That’s all for now. The first quarter ends with the close of trading today. This looks to be one of the best quarters for the stock market in years. The second quarter starts up next week. On Monday, we’ll get the ISM and retail sales reports. Tuesday is durable goods. Then on Wednesday, we’ll see the ADP payroll report. That leads up to the March jobs report on Friday. The last report was quite low. I’ll be curious to see if it gets revised higher. Be sure to keep checking the blog for daily updates. I’ll have more market analysis for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review!

  – Eddy

• Morning News: March 29, 2019
  Eddy Elfenbein, March 29th, 2019 at 7:02 am

  Lira Wobbles as U.S. Ties With Turkey Fray

  China, U.S. Pore Over Details of Agreement Text to End Trade War

  A Tax On A Tax: U.S. Customs Demands Bigger Bonds as Trade Tariffs Rise

  The ETF Tax Dodge Is Wall Street’s “Dirty Little Secret”

  Un-Spinning the Trump, Obama GDP Numbers

  Lyft’s Trading Debut to Be Watched by IPO-Hungry Tech Companies

  Who’ll Get Rich When Lyft, Uber and Other ‘Unicorns’ Go Public

  Goldman’s China-Backed Fund Bucks Trade Tensions to Buy U.S. Firm

  Huawei Shrugs Off U.S. Clampdown With a $100 Billion Year

  Wells Fargo C.E.O. Timothy Sloan Abruptly Steps Down

  JPMorgan’s Role in Nigerian Oil Deal Has Come Back to Haunt It

  Joshua Brown: An Economist Walks Into a Brothel & Non-Partisan

  Cullen Roche: Three Things I Think I Think – Yield Curves and Stuff

  Ben Carlson: Personal Finance For Normal People

  Michael Batnick: The Perfect Track Record & Eye Roll

  Be sure to follow me on Twitter.