Who says politics don't matter?
The whole World is freaking out this morning about the guy Matt Taibbi calls "The Insane Clown President" as he and his posse take a hard turn to the right at the Conservative CPAC gathering in Maryland. I'm not going to get into all the hateful and offensive things going on over there other than to say the rest of the world is rather horrified and today, Trump himself will address the crowd and it's going to be a lot like waving red flags at a bull – so we have that to look forward to.
Unfortunately, I'm going to be live at the Nasdaq this morning so I won't be able to attend the 9:25 MAIN STAGE presentation entitled "If Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall and Extreme Vetting, Why Can't America?" Oh yes, I wish I were joking but it's REAL! The session is moderated by Colorado Rep Bob Beauprez along with CO's Ken Buck, Arizona's Andy Biggs along with Mike Gonzales from The Heritage Foundation and Helen Krieble from the Kreible Foundation.
After that, things get more serious with "Rustbelt, Religion and Realignment". I know, I can't believe I'm missing the fun! Pence, Bannon and the rest of the B Team were there yesterday and the Big Kahuna flies in today and it's interesting because last year he was so vilified at this Conference that he cancelled his appearance.
So, aside from the Conservative feeding frenzy, we had Mike Pence saying yesterday that "America's ObamaCare nightmare is about to end" and Steve Bannon saying "The Globalists aren't going to give us our country back without a fight" and warning the base that "It’s not only not going to get better, it’s going to get worse every day in the media" while Trump is calling China a currency manipulator and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin rolls out a "Weak Dollar Policy."
That's sent Gold and Silver (our Trade of the Year) flying higher while the weaker Dollar covers the flight out of equities by holding up the index (stock prices up as Dollar weakens) long enough to cover the tracks of the smart money crowd. It wasn't enough to help oil though and you are very welcome for yesterday's short call, which made a quick $500 per contract for you in less than 3 hours yesterday:
As I said when we were setting up the trade in our Morning Report (which you'd never miss if you subscribed): "Remember, at PSW, we can only tell you what is going to happen and how to make money trading it – the rest is up to you!" I also predicted it would be the 10th consecutive high for the Dow and it was but we flipped bearish and picked up Dow Future shorts (/YM) at 20,750, trading in our Nasdaq (/NQ) Futures shorts after they gave us a fantastic gain (from last week's Live Trading Webinar).
As noted above, things got worse overnight and we couldn't be more thrilled because politics DO matter in trading and pretending they don't is IDIOTIC but, sadly, those of you reading this Report on a site with overzealous editors probably won't read this either – so you will continue to live in ignorance of how much vital, TRADEABLE information you miss by not paying attention to politics. Here's some light reading to catch up:
- Trump calls Chinese ‘grand champions’ of currency manipulation
- Trump called China the ‘grand champion’ of currency manipulation — and China struck back
- Trump is spending his political capital and costing the US friends
- Premarket: Global stocks ease as ‘Trumpflation trade’ loses momentum
- ValueAct’s Ubben: ‘Everything about Trump I think is inflationary’
- Global stocks fall amid Trump trade policy fears, strong yen
- A Russian newspaper editor explains how Putin made Trump his puppet
- Asian share off 1-1/2-year high, Trump’s yuan comment in focus
- China, France overtake US as top German trade partners
- Will Trump and Bannon drag us into another big ground war? It could happen sooner than we think
- Bannon Reveals His Intention To “Deconstruct The Administrative State,” i.e., Destroy The Country.
- Donald Trump’s Handlers Planted Friendly News Stories to Try and Prevent His Twitter Meltdowns
- In A Battle Between Trump And The Federal Reserve, Who Really Wins?
- “Donald Trump makes Mexicans not important”: Sen. Tom Cotton faces angry constituents at town hall meeting
- GOP representative cites congresswoman who was shot five years ago to justify not holding a town…
- Gabby Giffords slammed a Republican lawmaker for evoking her as his excuse to skip town halls
- Kansas GOP revolts, nearly overturns Gov. Sam Brownback’s billion-dollar failed experiment
- Coincidence: The same day Spicer says there will be “greater enforcement” on recreational marijuana, AG Sessions got of rid of a ban on private prisons.
- The Latest: WH adviser asked FBI to refute Russia story
- Indian techies don’t need the US—their talent is welcome elsewhere
- Gold Gets a Shot in the Arm from Inflation and China – U.S. Global Investors
- Mnuchin’s Ultra-Long Bond Chatter Sends Treasuries Curve Steeper – Bloomberg
- Mnuchin’s Zeal for Fannie-Freddie Overhaul Tested by Ruling – Bloomberg
- The ABA wants to groom bankers to run for office
- McConnell: ‘Winners make policy, losers go home’
- Pope Francis: better to be an atheist than a hypocritical Catholic
I'm not "picking on Trump" – this is the actual news and it moves the markets and it's why we knew to push our hedges and short the indexes BEFORE the market began to tank. If you feel you are caught by surprise by these market moves – maybe it's because you are not getting the big picture and that's why it's TRAGIC when editors decide that the readers can't handle political discussions.
The above headlines are only since the market closed yesterday, I try to summarize what I read and yes, maybe my summary is "Trump sucks" but you can't just ignore political news and pretend it doesn't exist or, even worse, that it doesn't affect the markets.
And, last but not least, here's a great chart to illustrate why all this "America First" nonsense really pisses off the rest of the World, who have endured 100 years of America First already and may not be willing to put up with another 100:
I'll be at the NYC Trader's Expo at the Marriott Marquis on Monday, giving 2 seminars – stop by and say hi!
Have a great weekend.
– Phil
