Domain Mondo's weekly review of macro economic and investing news:
MacroView Feature • Much to the chagrin of certain establishment elites, their
biased liberal media, Democratic Party cohorts and comrades who believe in
denying free speech, particularly on
college campuses,
U.S. markets and
investors are moving ahead
despite
MSM's attempts to generate a toxic atmosphere using "journalists" who have
no interest in accurately or ethically reporting the "news," just their "noise." See
Errors From The Press Are Piling Up In Trump's First Days | DailyCaller.com and Fake news rises on left | Axios.com: "Fake news is rising on the
"disempowered" left ... The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer
discovered that progressives now face their
"own kinds of hoaxes and fables"..."
and The 1st Annual Fake News Award Winners | LifeZette.com:
"The mainstream media had some big ones — here are seven of the 'best'."
The
Trump Rally has regained its footing on Wall Street:
CNN learns a hard lesson from Donald Trump | WashingtonTimes.com:
Donald Trump, a new kind of politician, shows no fear of the press "... He’s not afraid of the press ... This stuns some of the journalists, who are
not accustomed to being called for their own mistakes."
See also Bret Easton Ellis: Trump is President, get over it | IrishExaminer.com: "Speaking as he launched his art exhibition in central London alongside multimedia artist Alex Israel, Bret said:
“I didn’t vote Trump, I’m just saying the hysteria is bothering me a lot more than the reality of what he’s doing."
NEC's Gary Cohn on U.S. Jobs Report, Regulations:
President Trump's National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn discusses the Trump administration's focus on growing U.S. jobs and wages and their approach to banking regulations and trade. He speaks with Bloomberg's David Westin on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas" on Friday, February 3, 2017.
• The
Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday, February 3, 2017, shows
54% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of
President Trump’s job performance.
•
Australian Media Has a Very Different Understanding of What Just Happened with President Trump | ijr.com:
“Malcolm Turnbull thought he could outsmart Donald Trump and trap him into taking 1,250 of our boat people,” Andrew Bolt wrote in the Herald Sun of Melbourne.
“Huge mistake, and now he's been humiliated.” Bolt's fellow columnist at the Herald Sun, Rita Panahi, wrote that
“you have to admire Donald Trump's powers of perception. It took months for most of the media and much of the public to figure out the P.M. is a dud — Trump did it in just 25 minutes.”
•
Trump Effect: Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of
Japan, plans to propose a widespread economic U.S.--Japan cooperation package to create
hundreds of thousands of
jobs in the U.S., when he meets with Trump next week--
"A $150 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure, funded by Japan's government and other private sources, over 10 years. The focus points, per Japanese media, would be high-speed trains, liquefied natural gas facilities in Asia to help expand exports of U.S. natural gas, and expanding nuclear energy-related sales. If implemented, the plan is expected to generate $450 billion in new business."--
Axios.com
•
Mad Dog an "instant hit" in Asia | Axios.com: "That's how the Associated Press describes the welcome given to
Trump's Secretary of Defense [
retired U.S. Marine Corps General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis] in
Japan and
South Korea ... " Why it matters:
China has been making illegitimate territorial claims and actively working to dominate and initmidate its Asian neighbors.
•
U.S. crude oil exports will surpass production in four OPEC nations in 2017, due to a resurgence in shale oil and gas, which Trump is counting on to create jobs and rebuild roads, schools and bridges, and may grow even more according to
Bloomberg.com.
•
Extreme obstruction tactics by Senate Democrats are
backfiring. A boycott of the Senate Finance Committee by Democrats in an attempt to thwart Trump's Cabinet nominees was
cheered by liberal activists but "infuriated" Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who called the tactic "pathetic" and Democrats "idiots." Committee rules require at least one member from each party to be present for a meeting, but when Democrats boycotted the Committee, the Committee's Republicans simply changed the rules Wednesday to allow confirmation votes to proceed:
“We took some unprecedented actions today due to the unprecedented obstruction on the part of our colleagues," Hatch said. The longer the unprecedented Democratic obstruction and
grandstanding goes on, the more skilled Republicans in Washington will become at changing rules and procedures, which will leave Democrats with even less power than they otherwise have now. (Not a smart strategy if you're a Dem.)
•
Trump Cabinet status report on three of the most important positions for investors:
- Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, confirmed and sworn-in February 1, 2017;
- Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross, approved by committee January 24th, awaiting Senate confirmation
- Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin, approved by committee February 1, 2017, awaiting Senate confirmation
Rex Tillerson is one of Trump's best picks, it has been a long, long time since the U.S. has had a Secretary of State of his caliber:
Video above: Newly-confirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to State Department employees for the first time on Thursday, February 2, 2017.
Just think, we
don't have to worry anymore about having a
politician Secretary of State maintaining a
homebrew email server with classified material,
blaming Benghazi and Mideast violence on a YouTube video, exclaiming
"what difference does it make" when American lives are lost,
disclaiming responsibility for incidents like Benghazi,
making a mess of Syria and Libya, or 'leveraging' her position as Secretary of State in
various "pay to play" schemes.
•
Get Over It! "The worst-kept secret inside Democratic circles is how bitter Hillary Clinton's team is at President Obama over her election loss. We have heard from numerous, anguished people in Clinton-land blaming Obama -- more than Putin, FBI Director James Comey or, um, Hillary herself -- for the defeat."--Axios.com
•
President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court,
Judge Neil Gorsuch,
will be confirmed:
- He is eminently qualified and has wide support, e.g., Special report on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch | rcfp.org: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press finds Judge Gorsuch's decisions in libel and invasion of privacy cases reflect solid First Amendment principles.
- Chuck Todd said on NBC's live coverage of Trump's announcement that Gorsuch is so impressive that his confirmation "should be a layup -- he meets all of the criteria ... made an incredible first impression." Chuck said that in this environment, confirmation will still be "noisy" because of the pressure on Dems from their base. Nevertheless, "I think it's going to be much harder for them to unify and be against and force a filibuster after he spends one-on-one time with them."--Axios AM | axios.com
- Ultimately, the Democrats cannot stop confirmation--115th Congress (2017-2019): Senate Majority Party: Republican (52 seats); Minority Party: Democrat (46 seats) + 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats. Total Seats in the U.S. Senate: 100, and Vice President Mike Pence can vote to break any ties. Currently a successful filibuster threat requires a supermajority of 60 needed in favor of cloture, in order to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. Republicans have the option to invoke the nuclear option which would change the rules to allow Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by simple majority without threat of filibuster. President Trump has already indicated that if necessary, Senate Republicans should invoke the nuclear option in order to confirm Gorsuch. Rejections of Supreme Court nominees are relatively uncommon, the Senate has explicitly rejected only twelve Supreme Court nominees in its history. The most recent rejection of a nominee by vote of the full Senate occurred thirty years ago when the Senate refused to confirm Robert Bork in 1987.
• Brexit is on!
UK Lawmakers Approve Brexit Measure In Key Vote:
Video above published Feb 1, 2017: CNBC.com's Wilfred Frost reports that the first measure put to the U.K. Parliament on Brexit has passed 498 votes in favor to only 114 opposing.
• Italy Increasingly Likely to Abandon the Euro | MishTalk.com:
"The only missing ingredient is an early election. And early elections are now the odds-on favorite."
• Trump Looms Over EU Summit:
"U.S. President Donald Trump loomed over a Mediterranean gathering of European leaders ... annoyed by the new U.S. President’s biting remarks about the viability of the EU project ..."--
Bloomberg.com. See also
How France has become the number one target for extremists in Europe and has been repeatedly brutalised in terrifying new war against terror | thesun.co.uk and French soldier shoots, wounds machete-wielding attacker at Paris Louvre | Reuters.com: Paris, Fri Feb 3, 2017: The man shouted
Allahu Akbar and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot.
•
Is Germany a Currency Manipulator? China? Arguably Yes, Under Bill Obama Signed: Full Blown Currency War on Deck | MishTalk.com:
"Germany and China each meet at least 3 of the 4 criteria. China may meet all four. Trump may decide 3 out of 4 is enough; and US manufacturers and steel producers will be egging him on to do just that. A bill that Obama likely never meant to use, is now a huge sword in Trump’s hand."
One More Thing: The Central Banks Pull Back: Now It's Up to Fiscal Policy to "Save the World" | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com:
Remember when the financial media was in a tizzy of excitement, speculating on what new central bank expansion would send the global markets higher in paroxysms of risk-on joy? Those days are gone ...
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
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