foxex: No Yule for Markets

Monday, December 24, 2018

No Yule for Markets

Insight after the bell

By Caleb Silver, Editor in Chief

It got worse

U.S. markets continued their decline Monday in a holiday shortened session despite Treasury Secretary Mnuchin's attempt to calm investors by announcing that he held conference calls with the heads of global banks to confirm their liquidity positions, while he was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas. The selloff, which intensified last week, continued throughout the morning, pushing all 11 of the major market indexes into the red for the year.

The U.S. Government is two days into a partial shutdown as Congress could not agree on a deal that also included $5 billion in funding for a border wall with Mexico that President Trump insisted on. The shutdown could last into the new year when Congress returns. In the meantime, more than 400,000 federal employees are without pay.

The Treasury Department issued a statement on Mnuchin's call with bank leaders today with this statement from the Secretary: "We continue to see strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and business," The Treasury also said Mnuchin will hold a call tomorrow with the heads of regulatory agencies, including the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller and Currency, the FDIC, and the SEC to assure normal market operations amid the shutdown.

President Trump continued his rebuke of the Federal Reserve and FOMC Chair Jay Powell for raising interest rates.

In a tweet earlier today, the President wrote, "The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don't have a feel for the Market, they don't understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can't score because he has no touch - he can't putt!

U.S. Markets have suffered their worst December since 1931. The Nasdaq is in a Bear Market, and the S&P 500 and the DJIA are both close. Facebook (FB), Netflix (NFLX) and Apple (AAPL), which led the markets to record highs in 2017 and the first half of 2018 are all in steep declines, falling 43%, 42% and 35% respectively.

Global markets are closed Tuesday for the Christmas holiday.

We'll be taking a couple days off as well, so no there will be no newsletter tomorrow.

We wish you a happy and healthy holiday.

Caleb

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