Financial Review

Carving a Turkey

Sinclair Noe — November 8, 2017

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DOW + 6 = 23,563 (Record)
SPX + 3 = 2594 (Record)
NAS + 21 = 6789 (Record)
RUT + 2 = 1481
10 Y + .02 = 2.33%
OIL – .38 = 56.82
GOLD + 6.00 = 1281.80

Cryptocurrency

• Number of Currencies: 903
• Total Market Cap: $205,794,764,215
• 24H Volume: $9,066,047,752

Top Cryptocurrencies

	Name	Symbol	Price USD	Market Cap	Vol.	Total Vol. %	Price BTC	Chg. % 1D	Chg. % 7D
	Bitcoin	BTC	7,356.5	$122.81B	$4.59B	50.65%	1	-1.22%	+8.30%
	Ethereum	ETH	310.87	$29.81B	$994.05M	10.96%	0.0425565	+1.13%	+7.00%
	Bitcoin Cash	BCH	636.99	$10.66B	$889.93M	9.82%	0.0867183	+2.43%	+20.78%
	Ripple	XRP	0.21847	$8.40B	$161.55M	1.78%	0.00002976	+1.12%	+12.71%
	Litecoin	LTC	62.660	$3.36B	$321.17M	3.54%	0.00853435	+0.30%	+17.37%
	Dash	DASH	313.43	$2.40B	$102.65M	1.13%	0.0427506	-0.50%	+16.34%
	NEO	NEO	31.589	$2.04B	$126.94M	1.40%	0.00428639	+3.81%	+21.15%
	Monero	XMR	116.60	$1.78B	$87.91M	0.97%	0.0158386	+3.74%	+37.89%
	NEM	XEM	0.19280	$1.71B	$6.41M	0.07%	0.00002599	+0.33%	+12.06%
	Ethereum Classic	ETC	14.0500	$1.37B	$123.11M	1.36%	0.0019165	+2.09%	+36.30%

The Dow Industrial Average carved out yet another record high close – not a big gain at all but any gain adds to the record. The S&P 500 also closed at a record high. And a record high for the Nasdaq – All three at records. In hockey parlance that’s a hat trick; bowlers might call it a turkey.

On the one-year anniversary of Trump’s win in the presidential race, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is showing its biggest post-Election Day gain in more than 70 years. The Dow has advanced 28.50% since Nov. 8, 2016. That represents its best performance after a White House contest since 1945, when the blue-chip gauge was up 29.83% in a year following the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The S&P 500 is up 21% over the past 12 months. Trump has taken full credit for the equities rally, offering this assessment this week: “The reason our stock market is so successful is because of me.”

There may have been a few other factors involved: strong corporate earnings, historically low interest rates, solid job growth, a surging global economy, and an established bull market that saw the S&P nearly quadruple since its financial crisis low in March 2009. You can place credit wherever you wish, just remember the market can be a fickle mistress.

The gains in the past 12 months have been primarily concentrated within two sectors: technology stocks, up 42.2% over the past 12 months, and financials, up 37.5%. You can narrow it down even further, and look at the crazy good performance of the FAANG stocks.

Maybe the real credit should go to Tim Cook. Last week, Apple earnings crushed Wall Street estimates with Chief Executive Tim Cook saying he expected this to be “the best holiday season yet.” Apple share are up more than 52% year to date.

Today, Apple closed up 0.8% at a record $176.21 today, its fourth consecutive record close, passing the $175.29 mark needed to hit $900 billion in market capitalization based on 5,134,312,000 shares outstanding. At the close, Apple is now valued at just over $904 billion. For Apple to reach the $1 trillion mark, shares need to trade above $194.77

Democrats claimed big gains in Virginia’s statehouse and flipped Republican-held seats in other local races across the United States on Tuesday, in the party’s first big wave of victories since Republican Donald Trump’s surprise White House win a year ago.

A ticket filled with candidates making their first bids for elected office propelled the party to a 16-seat gain in the Virginia House of Delegates, the state party said, its largest pickup in at least a century. There are still 5 seats where the race is tight enough to trigger recounts.

In the governor’s race, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie. Voters also replaced a Republican governor in New Jersey with a Democrat and increased the party’s majorities in the state legislature. In Georgia, Democrats picked up three seats in special state legislative elections. Republicans still hold majorities in the legislature.

In Washington state, one race was enough to flip the state Senate blue, giving Democrats full control over state government. Further down the ballot, Democrats captured the mayor’s office in New Hampshire’s largest city, Manchester, while the Democratic mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, beat a former Republican mayor.

Democrats also notched a win in Maine, where voters approved a referendum to expand Medicaid coverage for the poor and disabled under the Affordable Care Act, rebuking Republican Governor Paul LePage, who had vetoed similar measures.

House Speaker Paul Ryan left the door open to a possible delay in implementing a huge corporate tax cut, following a media report that his fellow Republicans in the Senate are exploring the option. Republicans in Congress are working on separate tax plans.

The latest version of the House Republicans’ tax bill would add $1.7 trillion to the federal budget deficit over 10 years, more than the $1.5 trillion they initially announced, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The threshold for the process known as reconciliation is $1.5 trillion. The CBO’s assessment gives more impetus to the Senate’s bill.

The Senate could include a one-year delay in its version of the bill to make it easier to comply with the chamber’s rules that aim to limit any legislation’s impact on the deficit. Ryan said both chambers of Congress would work on their own tax cut package and iron out the differences in a conference committee. But for now – based on the CBO assessment – lawmakers will need to significantly scale back their tax plan.

Also today, analysis from the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center found that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would result in higher taxes for around 7% of Americans in 2018 and 25% of people in 2027.

The Tax Policy Center found that much of the TCJA’s benefits would go toward wealthier Americans; 76% of people would get a tax cut, 7% would see a tax increase, and 13% would see little change. A cut of $700 for the average American, increasing after-tax income by an average of 0.7%.

A $10 cut for people in the lowest quintile, increasing average incomes by less than 0.1%. A $320 cut for people in the middle quintile, increasing average incomes by 0.4%. An average $52,780 cut for people in the top 1%, increasing average incomes by 2.2%. Nearly 50% of the bill’s total benefits would go to the 1% in 2027.

The findings are similar to those from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan congressional committee, that found roughly 20% of people would pay more in 2027.

The Saudi purge continues. Saudi Arabian authorities have made further arrests and frozen more bank accounts in an expanding anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom’s political and business elite. Saudi Arabian authorities have made further arrests and frozen more bank accounts in an expanding anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom’s political and business elite.

Today, there were even more arrests. The number of people targeted by the crackdown was expected eventually to rise into the hundreds. The number of domestic bank accounts frozen because of  the purge is over 1,700 and rising, up from 1,200 reported on Tuesday.

Marriott International reported a 43% increase in third quarter revenue. Net income rose to from $392 million, or $1.04 per share, in the quarter, from $70 million, or 26 cents per share. Marriott became the world’s largest hotel company after it completed the acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in September last year.

Take-Two Interactive Software jumped 10.8 percent after the videogame maker offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the holiday quarter. That sparked a rally among its competitors, with Activision Blizzard surging 5.80 percent and Electronic Arts adding 1.9 percent.

Snapchat-owner Snap fell 16.6 percent a day after reporting much-slower-than expected advertising revenue and user growth. Snap said China’s Tencent bought a 12-percent stake in the company.

The fast food chain Wendy’s shares fell 1.6% after the fast-food chain reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that came in weaker than consensus.

Shares in peer-to-peer lending company LendingClub tumbled 19% after reporting a disappointing full-year earnings outlook late Tuesday.

Fossil Group shares tumbled 15% after the accessories seller gave a disappointing outlook.

Health insurer Humana said third-quarter revenue fell 3.0, missing estimates. Shares of health-care company were down 5%.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals rose 2.6% after the biotechnology company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that rose above expectations.

MGM Resorts added 5% even as the company reported third-quarter profit that was below Wall Street expectations.

iHeartMedia, the biggest operator of radio stations in the U.S., reiterated doubts about its ability to remain a “going concern” in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its shares were down 2.3%.

The Department of Justice is pushing AT&T to sell Turner Broadcasting, parent of CNN cable network, or its DirecTV satellite television unit to satisfy antitrust concerns over its purchase of Time Warner. AT&T is reportedly prepared to fight any divestitures required to win regulatory approval of the $85 billion deal.

The development was a surprise to investors. Shares of Time Warner fell 6.5 percent, while AT&T shares were down 0.2 percent.