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Announcing 'trade deals' is going to become the 2025 version of 'Infrastructure Week' I think...
https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-stuns-time-magazine-with-outlandish-claim-when-they-confront-him-on-zero-trade-deals/
Future press conference:
Treasury Sec: No, we did NOT meet with the Chinese.
Orange Buffoon: We met with the Chinese this morning. [accordion hands]
Reporter: I see .. So then, which individuals have met with the Chinese and what was discussed?
…
Treasury Sec: We did NOT meet with the Chinese.
Buffoon: We met with the Chinese this morning.
Question: Hmm...So then, which individuals met with the Chinese?
Buffoon: (crickets)
You forgot his accordion hands..... lol
Changed my Roth IRA SEP holdings from the AF Growth+Income model portfolio to one that'll be around 90% in AF Washington Mutual* F-2, some in JHEQX, and a tiny slice of cash.
(I'd prefer to have it all in WaMu, but as it's a managed account and I n…
New position started in CMCSA @ 31.50 ... down 8.25% premarket on earnings, paying a now-decent and covered yield for an information infrastructure company.
From the B&S thread, it appears @rforno put some serious shorts on around noon today. Probably what hit the market.
LOL my short yesterday was definitely not market-moving .... just a few hundred more shares of the ETF!
Trump blinked again. See CNN below:
https://cnn.com/2025/04/22/business/trump-china-trade-war-reduction-hnk-intl/index.html
Depending who is the point person to negotiate with China, the outcome may vary considerably. Certain individuals such as V…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-insists-still-seal-184028885.html
White House insists it can still seal 75 trade deals in 90 days – but says it’s currently only in talks with 34 countries
And if you believe the 34 number, I got some choice …
This morning's POLITICO Playbook was amusing reading ..... seems the WH continues to cave on trade. Not only is FOTUS changing his public tune again on China and the Fed chair, but they’re now trying to ink ‘Memorandums of Understanding’ with coun…
While my login problems seem to be addressed at the moment with Schwab (fingers crossed) I still have a zero-balance virgin Fido account still sitting there if I ever truly get disgusted w/Schwab again and decide to bail .... even though in some way…
Yup. My ETF with 20% exposure in Airbus should do nicely from this.
I'm at the point where if I can profit from FOTUS' idiocy I will, because his policies by themselves won't be doing us any good no matter how much Power of Positive Thinking he t…
Lining up to be the next Arthur F. Burnes are they?
Cutting rates during an inflationary spike due to tariffs would just be all kinds of brilliant.
Which means Donnie will try and name himself Fed Dictator and do just that, because he's such a sta…
He can't fire him. It's the usual empty Orange Hot Air.
Yes ... but he's trying to backdoor fire him by asking SCOTUS for the ability to fire "independent agency heads" -- you know he'll bend whatever ruling they give him until it breaks, so I woul…
Well as the great philosopher Jagger said, 'you can't always get what you want.'
And in my case, they won't, because I don't trust government appointed investment committees and stashed it all in one American Fund.
FT: “Given our state of ignorance and all we don’t know, [investing now] is like betting on the outcome of the Super Bowl when you don’t know which teams are playing or who any of their players are,” Howard Marks, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital…
Check to Check Business News - SNL
And Weekend Update was spot on with its opening line: "This week, President Trump tried to rescue the economy from the disastrous policies of whoever was president last week..."
Lutnick is saying that this electronics tariff exemption is just temporary.
May be Bessent, Lutnick & Navarro should be required to issue joint statements only.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/commerce-secretary-lutnick-tariff-exemptions-electr…
Rick: How can you close investigate me? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling insider trading is going on in here!
[a croupier broker hands Renault a pile of money]
Broker: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Rena…
But, do you start to DCA back in now, or wait until things got worse, which they probably will, but you never know
If things are on fire-sale prices, I would DCA. That's my plan as I continue to nibble on things new and/or to add to existing posit…
Right now? My first-round screening question is do people/companies *need* what the ticker sells regardless of politics or economic conditions? Or is it seriously exposed to consumer whims, tariffs, or other fickleness?
If the first one is 'yes'…
WaPo: "Under President Joe Biden, MAGA influencers framed every stock slide as a national crisis. Under President Donald Trump, however, they’re masterful chess moves or moments for building character."
(free link)
https://archive.ph/mbhKQ
Guardian:
The overall US tariff rate on Chinese imports has risen to 145%, a White House official has confirmed to CNBC.
The increase follows a new executive order from Donald Trump raising tariffs to 125%, up from 84%.
An additional 20% tariff, …
I *almost* trimmed some of my SPX short at the open (the options part expire next week) but for some reason I thought to myself "this isn't over yet." Looks like I was right.
He's also reducing the crazy surcharge on shipping on Chinese-built vessels...
(Free link)
https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/trump-administration-revises-port-fee-plan-to-soften-blow-to-u-s-exports-603aa923?st=VJdTZC&reflink=desktopwebsh…
No tariff on Russia. That point has been made. I do believe Ireland is missing from the list, too. Curious. At any rate, the method for computing each nation's tariff charged by the USA is... um.... f***ed.
I believe it's called 'alternative math' …
Two questions:
In what fraction of a Scaramucci did FOTUS cave to the bond markets this week?
Did anyone else notice that both Liz Truss & the head of lettuce lasted longer than he did vs the bond markets? But then again, a sliced avocado wou…
April 9, 2025 at 10pm EST
2, 5, 10 and 30 year Treasury issues are indicating decently lower yields (price appreciation) and hopefully maintaining and improving going into Thursday trading.
It's all part of his super-jenius Plan, remember.
WaPo on the switcharoo...words just fail me here....
By late Wednesday afternoon, Trump was saying he had been thinking about switching course “over the last few days.”
The final decision, he said, “probably came together early this morning, fairl…
I doubt if Trump took in his proposed country by country tariff rates very seriously. He probably doesn't even understand it's squiggle filled formula. But, he is convinced he is the world's best negotiator. And, it appears he has now given himse…