Comment by phil

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phil
January 12th, 2018 at 11:54 am

Trump just made a huge deal out of proclaiming MLK day a holiday.  I don't understand how they let him do stuff like this – he seems like a total idiot, it's been a federal holiday since 1983 (Reagan).  And then, after saying random stuff for 5 mins he goes "and now, here's our black guy (Ben Carson) to talk about Dr King" – as if he's not qualified simply because he's white.  He should  have asked Bernie Sanders, who actually marched with Dr King.



And wow, do they time these things to push new market highs?

GDPNow Q4 estimate up to 3.3%

• The Atlanta Fed tracker sees Q4 GDP growth of 3.3%, up from 2.8% guessed at just two days ago.
• Moving the number was this morning's report on December retail sales, showing 0.4% growth.

Restaurant sales end 2017 with a little bounce

• Restaurant same-store sales increased 0.3% Y/Y in December, according to data from Black Box Intelligence.
• Comparable traffic was only down 1.8% during the month to mark the second best month in almost two years. Guest spending rose by 2.1% to slown down a bit from the pace over the prior two months.
• For all of 2017, restaurant same-store sales were down 1.1% to match the same decline as in 2016. Traffic fell off 3.2% in 2017

BOJ seen lifting growth outlook – Nikkei

• The BOJ previously forecast fiscal year (starting in April) growth of 1.4%, but is seen raising that by 10 to 20 basis points at its Jan. 22-23 meeting, according to the report.
• The news has helped send dollar/yen a bit lower (yen stronger), now flat on the session at ¥111.18.

Mnuchin sees $1 trillion revenue growth from U.S. tax overhaul

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the recent tax reform will lead to over $1T in growth dismissing the claim that the tax cuts will increase U.S. deficits by $1.1T to $1.5T over 10 years.
• However, the treasury was talking to congress for additional funding for implementation of the tax plan as funding is expiring on Jan. 19.
• Source: Investing.com