Free Republic

President Trump will lead the GOP into the elections amid the best first-term economy in three decades. Real gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent in the last quarter, which ran from July through September, the government reported Friday. The last time a president had such a hot economy heading into the congressional elections in his first term was President Carter in 1978, who was sitting on a 4.1 percent growth rate. The country was in a recession in 1982, President Reagan’s first midterm, and was barely growing at less than 1 percent for President George...

You are so precious to Me I wait in The Garden for you excited at the first glimpse of our friendship about to be renewed afresh for you have captured My Heart and I am swooned and overtaken by your love for me each and every time we meet and you understand that I even come to you in the form of others dressed in My Righteousness ; True worshippers , God chasers, My True Beloved ones for all they desire is more of me however I decide to appear. So now as you receive me in this way I...

Taking all of these factors into account, I believe we are going through a necessary correction prior to the next upleg, which should occur after the mid-term election, regardless as to whether the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives or not. Earnings will continue to drive the market and the prospects for earnings growth in the U.S. for 2019 remain strong in spite of what is happening elsewhere in the world.

When the February market correction ended, I had the lingering feeling that not enough damage had been done to investor complacency to provide for a sustained move higher. In spite of that, the major indexes continued to plow ahead. After Labor Day, the market was selling at fair value and investors were optimistic that nothing could go wrong in a strong United States economy with real growth in excess of 3% and unemployment at a 40-year low. A perfect set of sentiment conditions for a market decline was in place. I had been expecting a post-midterm election rally, but for...

The U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-expected rate in the third quarter as inflation was kept in check and consumer spending surged, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Friday. Gross domestic product expanded by a 3.5 percent annual rate. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the economy to expand by a 3.4 percent annual rate. The department said the PCE price index, a key measure of inflation, increased by 1.6 percent last quarter, much less than the 2.2 percent increase expected by economists polled by StreetAccount.

Almost two years after the mortgage crisis and stock market crash, no one seems to wonder about the “September surprise” that shifted the 2008 presidential election to an unknown leftist politician who had been elected to the Senate only two years before. A pulp-fiction writer could hardly have created a more contrived and bizarre story. But this was not make-believe. No, it is now our own gritty reality show that we only wish we could turn off. The week of Sept. 15, 2008, was a debacle of huge proportions. On Monday, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while other lending institutions...

Stocks are closing sharply lower on Wall Street, led by a swoon in technology companies. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased their gains for the year. High-flying companies like Netflix and Amazon took some of the biggest losses Wednesday. Netflix gave back 9.4 percent and Amazon dropped 5.9 percent. Several companies sustained heavy drops after reporting disappointing results. Texas Instruments, a major chipmaker, slumped 8.2 percent and AT&T fell 8.1 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite is now 12.3 percent below its August peak. The S&P 500 index fell 84 points, or 3.1 percent, to 2,656.

A short interview with Jack Bogle (the father of the low cost index fund) who gives his thoughts on where markets may be going. Appx 6 minute.

U.S. stock index futures tanked ahead of Thursday's open, as the global market rout continued to thrash stocks. Around 7 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures sank 205 points, indicating a loss of about 300 points at the open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to sharp drops at the open. Tech shares were also headed for a steep decline after posting their worst day in seven years in the previous session. Facebook and Apple were both down more than 1 percent in the premarket, while Amazon and Netflix dropped at least 2 percent each. Twitter and...

Stocks fell in volatile trading Thursday, a day after the major indexes suffered steep losses sparked by higher rates and a sell-off in tech shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 650 points lower, bringing its two-day losses to more than 1,400 points. The S&P 500 dropped 2.1 percent and was on pace for a six-day losing streak. The broad index also broke below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back 1.5 percent and entered correction territory. The major indexes fell after some of the major tech names failed to recover from...

Donald Trump hit out at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, accusing them of “going loco” over interest rate hikes this year, hours after the worst US stock market sell-off since February. Mr Trump said in an interview on Fox News that the market plunge was not because of his trade conflict with China, instead blaming the US central bank. “That wasn’t it. The problem I have is with the Fed,” he said. “The Fed is going wild. They’re raising interest rates and it’s ridiculous. The Fed is going loco.” He added: “They’re so tight. I think the Fed has gone...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 300 points on Wednesday as tech names like Intel, Microsoft and Netflix were in the red, helping to also bring the Nasdaq Composite down over 100 points. The S&P 500 was also down just over 30 points as of 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flirting with history on Wednesday—its first breach of a psychological milestone at 27,000. The Dow DJIA, +0.56% was up about 146 points, or 0.5%, at 26,921, at last check, putting the blue-chip index on pace for its 15th record close of 2018 and positioning the index for a chance to log a 1,000-point milestone for the first time since mid January. Presently, the Dow stands just about 0.3% shy of 27,000. The round-number marker for the Dow isn’t necessarily significant in itself but it does represent a resurgence for the stock market since the...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed Friday, extending its record-setting run to a second consecutive session. The Dow rose 86.52 points, or 0.32 percent, to 26,743.50. The S&P 500 ticked 1.08 points lower to 2,929.67. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 41.28 points, or 0.51 percent, to 7,986.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 set intraday records in early trade Friday. On Thursday, the two major stock market indexes also set records, with the Dow rallying over 251 points to close at a record high for the first time since January. The S&P 500 also climbed to an all-time...

U.S. stocks rose in early trading on Friday, with Wall Street extending its recent uptrend and pushing further into record territory. Where are the major benchmarks trading? The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.18% rose 81 points, or 0.3%, to 26,738, hitting an all-time intraday high in early trading. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.24% gained 8 points to 2,939, a rise of 0.3% that took it to new records of its own. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.12% which remains about 1% below record levels, rose 21 points, or 0.3%, to 8,049.25. The S&P 500 is on track for its...

Barack Obama is trying to take credit for the booming economy under President Trump. “When you hear how great the economy is doing right now,” Obama said on the campaign trail for Democratic candidates a few days ago, “let’s just remember when this recovery started.” By this logic, the Kingston Trio laid the groundwork for the Beatles. But the contrast in economic performance between the two presidents is undeniable. Obama’s multitrillion-dollar spend-and-borrow policies produced 2 percent growth. In his final year, Obama handed off to Trump an economy that was limping at 1.6 percent. After only 18 months in office,...

Ten years ago this week, I was in Madrid on a Monday afternoon, watching as some of the 26,000 employees of Lehman Brothers spilled onto a Manhattan sidewalk, their mighty investment bank suddenly non-existent. As I could plainly see, this was no mere American crisis: the streets around me were already filling with Spanish and Central American workers forced to walk away from construction projects where work had halted, permanently, their U.S. and European bank financing having suddenly vanished. Over the next couple of days, the world economy ground to a halt, some of the mightiest financial institutions of the...

he numbers: The bustling U.S. economy was even stronger in the spring than initially reported thanks to higher government spending and business investment. And companies cashed in big time. Gross domestic product expanded at a 4.2% annual pace in the second quarter, up from a preliminary estimate of 4.1%, the government said. GDP is the official measuring stick for the U.S. economy. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast GDP to be left unchanged at 4.1%. The strong growth, along with the biggest tax cuts in 31 years, helped fill corporate coffers. Adjusted corporate profits before taxes climb 3.3% in second...

Thank you, President Trump! The stock market is soaring, thanks to Trump’s announcement that the U.S. and Mexico have reached a trade deal! CNBC Stocks jumped on Monday as the United States and Mexico closed a new trade deal. Investors also digested reassuring comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank's policy-tightening path. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260 points as Caterpillar outperformed. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1 percent to an all-time high, breaking above 8,000 for the first time, as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet rose. The S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent to hit a...

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks posted strong gains on Monday, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting all-time highs, as news that the United States and Mexico were closing in on a trade deal added to optimism about the economy. A Mexican source familiar with the talks told Reuters “it’s almost certain” that there will be an announcement about the North American Free Trade Agreement later in the day and U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, “a big deal looking good with Mexico!” Also helping sentiment was Washington pressing the European Union to speed up trade negotiations. Nine of the...