Dow lost 3, advancers over decliners 3-2 & NAZ rose 52. The MLP index gained a fraction to the 303s. Junk bond funds crawled higher & Treasuries also climbed in price. Oil jumped up to the high 64s (more below) & gold added 8 to 1339 (closing in on multi year highs).
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](http://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif?0.07933781189774491)
Pres Trump's threat to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement could take on a sharper edge now that he's pulled the trigger on new import tariffs. Trump took his first big step toward erecting trade barriers yesterday by slapping new “safeguard” duties on solar-panel & washing machine imports to protect US industry. The decision could fray nerves at this week's round of negotiations with Canada & Mexico to revamp Nafta. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the pact, & now he’s shown that he's ready to put harsh words on trade into action. Trump took action as Canada, Mexico & other Pacific Rim nations agreed to move forward on another intl trade pact, without the US. Trump withdrew from an earlier version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership during his first week in office. While Trump signaled some optimism about Nafta talks today, he repeated his threat that the US could scrap the deal altogether. “Nafta’s moving along pretty well,” Trump said. “I happen to be of the opinion that if it doesn’t work out, we’ll terminate it.” Tariffs as high as 30% on solar panels will affect both Canada & Mexico, though the biggest impact will be on Chinese manufacturers. Duties on washing machines of as much as 50% will deal the biggest blow to South Korea's companies. Mexico is the only Nafta partner impacted by the washing machine measure. Even if the actions were mainly directed at South Korea & China, “it’s not the right message for Mexico and for Canada,” Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said from the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. “We have to review on which grounds we have to go about this imposition of tariffs.”
Trump Swings Into Action on Trade, Adds Edge to Nafta Talks
Kimberly-Clark (KMB), a Dividend Aristocrat, reported Q4 EPS of $1.75 & EPS, adjusted for pretax gains, was $1.57, topping expectations of $1.54. But the maker of consumer products such as Huggies diapers & Kleenex tissue posted revenue of $4.58B in the period, which missed forecasts of $4.6B. For the year, the company reported EPS or $6.40 on revenue of $18.26B. The company expects full-year EPS in 2018 of $6.90-7.20. The stock rose 93¢.
If you would like to learn more about KMB, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/KMB?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Verizon (VZ), a Dow stock, reported a jump in quarterly profit, helped by tax reform & the addition of phone subscribers. The #1 US wireless carrier said last week a tax-overhaul bill signed into law by late last year will result in a one-time reduction in net deferred income tax liabilities of about $16.8B. The company estimated that the impact of the law to EPS for last year was about $4.10. EPS attributable to VZ stockholders was $4.56 in Q4, up considerably from $1.10 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as the impact of the tax law, EPS was 86¢. Total revenue rose to $34B from $32.3B a year earlier. Analysts had expected adjusted EPS of 88¢ on revenue of $33.26B. VZ added 431K phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill on a net basis. The company expects for 2018 it report full-year revenue to grow at a low single-digit percentage rate & service revenue growth to turn positive around the end of 2018 or early 2019. It also expects low single-digit percentage growth in adjusted EPS, excluding the impact of tax reform & a new accounting standard it has adopted. The stock fell 23¢.
If you would like to learn more about VZ, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/VZ?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Travelers (TRV), another Dow stock, reported a 42% fall in Q4 profit, hurt by catastrophe losses stemming from the California wildfires & a one-time charge due to the new federal tax law. Pretax catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance, more than tripled to $499M from $137M a year earlier. EPS fell to $1.98, for Q4, from $3.28 a year earlier. The net income also included a charge of $129M. On an adjusted basis, the EPS was $2.28 per share. Revenue rose 3.6% to $7.45B. The stock jumped up 6.91(5%).
If you would like to learn more about TRV, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/TRV?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Oil rose more than 1% with benchmark Brent crude above $70 a barrel for the first time in a week, boosted by healthy world economic growth prospects & expectations for continued production curbs by OPEC, Russia & their allies. Brent crude futures were up $1.06 at $70.09 a barrel, not far off the 3-year high of $70.37 reached on Jan 15. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1 to $64.59 a barrel. The IMF yesterday revised upward its forecast for world economic growth to 3.9% for 2018 & 2019, a 0.2 percentage point increase from its last update in Oct. The demand growth comes at a time of supply curbs by OPEC, Russia & other producers, which began in Jan 2017 & are due to run until the end of 2018. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that while he is "still anxious" about the fragility of the oil market, "we think we're on our way." OPEC's main objective for the cuts is to eliminate a global surplus in oil stocks & rebalance the market. There is some expectation that OPEC will let the agreement expire at the end of 2018, but major producers have not yet suggested that this is in the offing. In addition, the sharp plunge in Venezuelan production is offsetting increases from the US, which is on the cusp of breaking its all-time production record of 10.04M barrels per day. Venezuela's output fell to a meager 2M bpd in 2017, far short of expectations for 2.5M bpd & the International Energy Agency said it could keep declining in 2018.
Oil jumps on IMF growth outlook as Brent tops $70 again
Stock averages reached new records again today. Disney (DIS), VZ & JPMorgan (JPM), all Dow stocks, announced they are giving employees stock or increased pay related to the new tax program. That's the kind of news traders like. Earnings season is beginning with encouraging reports & outlooks for the new year. And the Dow is up almost 8K since the election. Now the guys in DC have to get back to work so the averages can extend their rally. Ughh!!
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Pres Trump's threat to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement could take on a sharper edge now that he's pulled the trigger on new import tariffs. Trump took his first big step toward erecting trade barriers yesterday by slapping new “safeguard” duties on solar-panel & washing machine imports to protect US industry. The decision could fray nerves at this week's round of negotiations with Canada & Mexico to revamp Nafta. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the pact, & now he’s shown that he's ready to put harsh words on trade into action. Trump took action as Canada, Mexico & other Pacific Rim nations agreed to move forward on another intl trade pact, without the US. Trump withdrew from an earlier version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership during his first week in office. While Trump signaled some optimism about Nafta talks today, he repeated his threat that the US could scrap the deal altogether. “Nafta’s moving along pretty well,” Trump said. “I happen to be of the opinion that if it doesn’t work out, we’ll terminate it.” Tariffs as high as 30% on solar panels will affect both Canada & Mexico, though the biggest impact will be on Chinese manufacturers. Duties on washing machines of as much as 50% will deal the biggest blow to South Korea's companies. Mexico is the only Nafta partner impacted by the washing machine measure. Even if the actions were mainly directed at South Korea & China, “it’s not the right message for Mexico and for Canada,” Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said from the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. “We have to review on which grounds we have to go about this imposition of tariffs.”
Trump Swings Into Action on Trade, Adds Edge to Nafta Talks
Kimberly-Clark (KMB), a Dividend Aristocrat, reported Q4 EPS of $1.75 & EPS, adjusted for pretax gains, was $1.57, topping expectations of $1.54. But the maker of consumer products such as Huggies diapers & Kleenex tissue posted revenue of $4.58B in the period, which missed forecasts of $4.6B. For the year, the company reported EPS or $6.40 on revenue of $18.26B. The company expects full-year EPS in 2018 of $6.90-7.20. The stock rose 93¢.
If you would like to learn more about KMB, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/KMB?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Kimberly-Clark beats 4Q profit forecasts
Verizon (VZ), a Dow stock, reported a jump in quarterly profit, helped by tax reform & the addition of phone subscribers. The #1 US wireless carrier said last week a tax-overhaul bill signed into law by late last year will result in a one-time reduction in net deferred income tax liabilities of about $16.8B. The company estimated that the impact of the law to EPS for last year was about $4.10. EPS attributable to VZ stockholders was $4.56 in Q4, up considerably from $1.10 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as the impact of the tax law, EPS was 86¢. Total revenue rose to $34B from $32.3B a year earlier. Analysts had expected adjusted EPS of 88¢ on revenue of $33.26B. VZ added 431K phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill on a net basis. The company expects for 2018 it report full-year revenue to grow at a low single-digit percentage rate & service revenue growth to turn positive around the end of 2018 or early 2019. It also expects low single-digit percentage growth in adjusted EPS, excluding the impact of tax reform & a new accounting standard it has adopted. The stock fell 23¢.
If you would like to learn more about VZ, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/VZ?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Verizon quarterly profit jumps, helped by tax reform
Travelers (TRV), another Dow stock, reported a 42% fall in Q4 profit, hurt by catastrophe losses stemming from the California wildfires & a one-time charge due to the new federal tax law. Pretax catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance, more than tripled to $499M from $137M a year earlier. EPS fell to $1.98, for Q4, from $3.28 a year earlier. The net income also included a charge of $129M. On an adjusted basis, the EPS was $2.28 per share. Revenue rose 3.6% to $7.45B. The stock jumped up 6.91(5%).
If you would like to learn more about TRV, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/TRV?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Travelers posts 42% fall in quarterly profit
Oil rose more than 1% with benchmark Brent crude above $70 a barrel for the first time in a week, boosted by healthy world economic growth prospects & expectations for continued production curbs by OPEC, Russia & their allies. Brent crude futures were up $1.06 at $70.09 a barrel, not far off the 3-year high of $70.37 reached on Jan 15. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1 to $64.59 a barrel. The IMF yesterday revised upward its forecast for world economic growth to 3.9% for 2018 & 2019, a 0.2 percentage point increase from its last update in Oct. The demand growth comes at a time of supply curbs by OPEC, Russia & other producers, which began in Jan 2017 & are due to run until the end of 2018. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that while he is "still anxious" about the fragility of the oil market, "we think we're on our way." OPEC's main objective for the cuts is to eliminate a global surplus in oil stocks & rebalance the market. There is some expectation that OPEC will let the agreement expire at the end of 2018, but major producers have not yet suggested that this is in the offing. In addition, the sharp plunge in Venezuelan production is offsetting increases from the US, which is on the cusp of breaking its all-time production record of 10.04M barrels per day. Venezuela's output fell to a meager 2M bpd in 2017, far short of expectations for 2.5M bpd & the International Energy Agency said it could keep declining in 2018.
Oil jumps on IMF growth outlook as Brent tops $70 again
Stock averages reached new records again today. Disney (DIS), VZ & JPMorgan (JPM), all Dow stocks, announced they are giving employees stock or increased pay related to the new tax program. That's the kind of news traders like. Earnings season is beginning with encouraging reports & outlooks for the new year. And the Dow is up almost 8K since the election. Now the guys in DC have to get back to work so the averages can extend their rally. Ughh!!
Dow Jones Industrials
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