The Trump stock market looks a lot like Reagan's, and that may not be a good thing

Reagan's stock market gives clues for the Dow's next move: Acampora    2:27 PM ET Fri, 20 April 2018 | 01:53 Donald Trump, like Ronald Reagan before him, is an outside-the-beltway president. That recently prompted longtime market watcher Ralph Acampora to investigate whether the two had anything else in common. What he found could be a warning to the stock market. "Ronald Reagan had a six-month honeymoon," Acampora, director of technical research at Altaira Capital Partners, told CNBC's "Futures Now" last week. "The percentage gain was roughly about 10 percent." When Reagan was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 1981, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at around 950. The index, which at

How the new tax law creates a ‘perfect storm’ for Roth IRA conversions

For years I’ve lectured about the wonderfulness of Roth IRAs. While the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes one negative change for Roth IRAs, they are still pretty wonderful. Here’s what you need to know about Roth IRAs and especially Roth IRA conversions in the post-TCJA world. Roth IRAs have two big tax advantages The two most-important Roth IRA tax advantages are: Tax-Free withdrawals Unlike traditional IRA withdrawals, qualified Roth IRA withdrawals are federal-income-tax-free and usually state-income-tax-free too. What is a qualified withdrawal? It’s one that is taken after you, as the Roth account owner, have met both of the following requirements: 1. You’ve had at least one Roth

Mobius says there’s a 30% correction coming for U.S. stocks

Mark Mobius, the 81-year-old investment guru, believes the U.S. stock market is set for a 30% correction that would essentially wipe out the gains of the last two years. The renowned fund manager, who left Franklin Templeton, the American investment house, after more than 30 years in January, said “all the indicators” point to a large fall in the S&P 500 SPX, -0.85%  and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.82%  . “I can see a 30% drop,” said Mobius, who launched one of the world’s first emerging market funds. “When consumer confidence is at an all time high, as it is in the U.S., that is not a good sign. “The market looks to me to be waiting for a trigger that will cause it to tumble. You

Here’s what Wells Fargo did to trigger a $1 billion fine

Unlike many of the scandals that have triggered billion-dollar penalties for banks, the problems that led to a 10-figure federal government settlement for Wells Fargo & Co. don’t appear to have colorful emails or trader messages describing bad behavior. Wells Fargo’s WFC, +1.98%  risk management already resulted in an unprecedented Federal Reserve sanction of having its growth limited. Wells Fargo, keep in mind, was fined by the CFPB and other regulators after opening millions of customer accounts without permission. To hear the OCC tell it, Wells Fargo did not establish “effective first and second lines of defense,” execute on a comprehensive plan to address compliance risk management deficiencies, fill mission-critical staffing positions, implement a reliable risk assessment and testing program and report compliance concerns adequately to the board.

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  Wells Fargo's Big Fine Puts Fresh Focus on Power of Trump Tweets

  Bloomberg
• Wells Fargo to pay $1B fine

  Leader-Telegram

Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Bullish Over $2.806, Bearish Under $2.762

Natural gas futures finished nearly flat last week, highlighted by a sharp break on Thursday and an even greater rally on Friday. Fundamental traders are having a difficult time trying to forecast near-term demand because of the erratic weather pattern in the United States. June Natural Gas futures settled the week at $2.767, up $0.003 or +-.11%.

• Gas prices continue to rise in New Jersey, nation

  The Charlotte Observer
• Average price of US gas jumps 9 cents, to $2.83 a gallon

  Associated Press

Prestige Economics' Schenker Sees Trade as Big Risk to Growth

Prestige Economics President Jason Schenker discusses U.S. and China trade relations, and talks about the price and production of oil. THERE ARE OTHER RISKS THAT WE ARE SEEING ON THE TABLE IN FEBRUARY, THAT WE SAW A CORRELATED DECLINE IN ASSET VALUE, EQUITIES ON PRICES BOND RISES, OIL PRICES BY CONCERN OF HIGHER INTEREST RATES AND THEN OF COURSE WITH THE ENTRANCE OF MARCH CAME THESE TRADE CONCERNS THAT HAVE ADDED FURTHER DOWNWARD PRESSURES. OPTIMISM THAT WE COULD MOVE TO SOME SORT OF THE TAUNT WOULD BE QUITE POSITIVE DETENTA E WHERE ANY FURTHER SPIN OUT OF CONTROL WITH TRADE WOULD BRING DOWNSIDE RISK TO GROWTH AND EQUITIES, DOWNSIDE TO COMMODITY PRICES.

U.S. regulator permits China's ZTE to submit more evidence

The U.S. Commerce Department has granted ZTE Corp's request to submit more evidence after the agency banned American companies from selling to the Chinese technology firm, a senior Commerce official said on Saturday. The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS, this week banned American companies from selling to ZTE for seven years, saying the Chinese company had broken a settlement agreement with repeated false statements. The action was sparked by ZTE's violation of an agreement that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran.

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  China's ZTE seeks resolution of U.S. export ban

  Reuters
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  China's ZTE says it's seeking a solution to US tech ban

  Baltimore Sun

Ford tells WPP it will take bids from other ad agencies

Ford Motor Company said on Saturday it will take bids on some of its advertising managed by WPP , adding to uncertainty around the British ad giant after last week's exit of founder Martin Sorrell. While Ford's decision does not affect all of its accounts with WPP - and the agency will be able to bid for the rest of the business along with everyone else - it comes at a difficult juncture for the world's biggest advertising firm. Saturday's announcement is part of a review of Ford's strategy that has lasted since November, when it told long-time partner WPP that it was considering its future ad model.

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  Is Sorrell's Grand Design For Madison Avenue Crumbling

  Forbes
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  Why Ford Is Ready To Roll WPP After Making Ads For 75 Years

  Forbes

Jefferies' Darby Sees 'Remarkably' Benign Spillover From Equities

Apr.22 -- Jefferies & Co Chief Global Equity Strategist Sean Darby discusses the markets and talks about his investment strategies. He speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."

Female pilots are a rarity at commercial airlines in the U.S.

Female pilots are rare, especially in the U.S. When a Southwest Airlines LUV, -0.05%   plane’s engine exploded mid-flight this week, pilot Tammie Jo Shults, 56, made an emergency landing. She is a former Navy pilot and one of the first women to fly an F/A-18 fighter jet. Shults is an anomaly among airline pilots — and not just because she was able to stay calm in such extreme circumstances As a female pilot, Shults is part of a small group. Just 6.3% of commercial pilots and 6% of non-commercial pilots in the United States are women, according to the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide, a nonprofit based in Vancouver. That’s 6,081 commercial female pilots and 10,247 non-commercial female

Dow Jones 30 and NASDAQ 100 traders sell during Friday session

The Dow Jones 30 went sideways initially during the day on Friday, but then fell over as the Americans took over with the underlying index opening. The 25,000 level above is massive resistance, but if we can break above there I think that the market is free to go much higher. The NASDAQ 100 went sideways initially during the day, but then broke down through the 6700 level.

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  FTSE 100 grinds higher during the Friday session

  FX Empire
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  The DAX does almost nothing on Friday

  FX Empire

U.S. banks push mortgage apps as home lending slows

Big U.S. banks are racing to launch websites and mobile apps to make getting a mortgage faster and easier, investments that may have modest near-term payoffs as home lending activity slows. Bank of America Corp has spent $1 billion on its digital banking services in the last six years and launched its lineup of techy mortgage products last week. Bank of America's app automatically fills in a customer's address, employment history and other information that the bank already has, cutting out hundreds of boxes customers would otherwise have to fill.

THE INSURTECH REPORT 2.0: The technologies disrupting the insurance industry and what incumbents can do to stay ahead

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, will briefly review major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year. It will then examine how startups and legacy players across the insurance value chain are using technology to develop new business models that cut costs or boost revenue, and, in some cases, both. The fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management — are starting to experience true disruption, while innovation in reinsurance has also continued at pace.

Pivotal CEO talks IPO and balancing life in Dell family of companies

On one hand its part of the EMC federation companies that Dell acquired in 2016 for a cool $67 billion, but it's also an independently operated entity within that broader Dell family of companies -- and that has to be a fine line to walk. Whatever the challenges, the company went public yesterday and joined VMware as a  separately traded company within Dell. CEO Rob Mee says the company took the step of IPOing because it wanted additional capital.

These are the leading credit card processing companies (JPM, BAC, C, WFC, VNTV, TSS, BCS, FDC, WPG)

Credit card processors are mostly responsible for data transmission and security when you use your card at a store or online to make a purchase. Below, we've outlined the major players in credit card processing and described their major strengths. Bank of America Merchant Services: Bank of America Merchant Services has the advantage of functioning within the second-largest bank in the U.S. The service promises acceptance of all kinds of payments (credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks, and gift cards), access to funds on the next business day, and mobile support.

Can Facebook, Apple and Google keep powering tech’s growth?

Technology stocks have driven gains on Wall Street the past few years, but volatility in the first quarter could be a sign of serious doubts forming about the future of some of tech’s biggest names. As those companies report first-quarter earnings in a flood of results during the next two weeks, it will be a major test of whether these companies will continue to post huge growth, and fuel further overall gains, or settle into a more mild adulthood. The tech sector in general has been attractive because it offers some high-growth stocks that come with risk, as well as legacy blue chippers that provide stability but little upside. Investors have already seen examples of the typical earnings response to these types of companies early in this earnings season: Netflix Inc. NFLX, -1.48%  , the first big tech company to report, delivered a stunning quarter, revenue jumping 40.4%, and streaming only revenue jumping even more, up 43%, with a huge jump in subscriber growth, including its international customers.

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  Stocks This Week: Amazon, Nike and Disney

  Forbes
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  3 Charts to Know: Top Tech Earnings This Week

  Bloomberg

GM shares won’t lag for long, Morgan Stanley says

General Motors Co. is only “halfway done” making moves, and could surprise investors by taking more action to lift its lagging shares, analysts at Morgan Stanley said. GM “has a proven track record of acting urgently and strategically when share price has been depressed,” the analysts, led by Adam Jonas, said in a note Friday. GM GM, -0.42%  has already shaken up things quite a bit in the last few months, focusing on trucks, selling its Europe business, and developing more expertise around electric and self-driving vehicles, they said. Morgan Stanley earlier this month upgraded its rating on GM stock to buy; the investment bank has buy ratings on Ford Motor Co. F, -1.28%  and Fiat Chrysler NV FCAU, -0.92%  stocks as well.

Oppenheimer sees stocks showing ‘remarkable resilience,' boosted by blockbuster earnings

Oppenheimer’s Stoltzfus on the 'remarkable resilience of stocks'    22 Hours Ago | 01:56 One of the market's biggest bulls is urging investors to concentrate on fundamentals instead of the noise associated with geopolitical risks. Oppenheimer's John Stoltzfus notes stocks are showing "remarkable resilience" in an environment that bodes well for gains. "Stocks have gotten through this period in relatively good shape considering we've had two separate 10 percent pullbacks with a short recovery pace in between," the firm's chief investment strategist said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." Stoltzfus was one of the first Wall Street strategists to enter the year with a S&P 500 Index year-end price

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  Asian markets get off to a slow start

  MarketWatch
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  Asia stocks struggle with rising yields; oil stays high

  Reuters

The U.S.- China Face-off: Is It About Trade? Or National Security?

In theory, the U.S. Commerce Department’s move earlier this week to slap a seven-year ban on the sale of American products to ZTE Corp., China’s second-largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, was all about national security and had nothing to do with trade. In announcing the ban, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said his agency was punishing ZTE for violating terms of an agreement struck last year to settle allegations that the Chinese company had flouted U.S. restrictions on selling technology to Iran and North Korea. The ban immediately provoked nationalist outrage in Chinese media and on online forums, with many commentators urging Beijing increase state subsidies for China’s domestic chip industry.

• China's ZTE seeks resolution of U.S. export ban

  Reuters
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  U.S. regulator permits China's ZTE to submit more evidence

  Reuters India

DOJ looks into how AT&T, Verizon handle defecting customers

The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into whether AT&T, Verizon and a standards-setting group worked together to stop consumers from easily switching wireless carriers. The U.S. government is looking into whether AT&T, Verizon and telecommunications standards organization GSMA worked together to suppress a technology that lets people remotely switch wireless companies without having to insert a new SIM card into their phones.

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  New cellphone technology on hold by standards group pending U.S. probe

  UPI
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  Universal SIM card rollout faces another hurdle

  CNN Money