As optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal firmed and Apple along with other large caps posted strong gains, major U.S. stock indexes registered record closing highs on Thursday.
Caroline Valetkevitch for Reuters:
Also helping the market were easing concerns over tensions between the United States and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump refrained from ordering more military action, and Iran’s foreign minister said the missile strikes on Iraqi bases that house U.S. forces had “concluded” Tehran’s response.
Apple Inc gained 2.1% on twin support from data showing iPhone sales jumped more than 18% in China in December, as well as a price target hike by Jefferies on expectations of a strong finish to 2019.
On trade, China’s commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next week. Trump said his administration will start negotiating the Phase 2 trade agreement soon but that he might wait to complete any agreement until after November’s presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.81 points, or 0.74%, to 28,956.9, the S&P 500 gained 21.65 points, or 0.67%, to 3,274.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 74.18 points, or 0.81%, to 9,203.43.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s good to finally see something being inked in regard to U.S.-China trade and certainly good to see tensions ratcheted down between the U.S. and Iran. Both outcomes are good news for Apple and the macroeconomy.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the anti-trump libturds to chime in. Let the festivities begin!!!!
Yes, nothing like creating a crisis and then (not entirely) solving it to make people think you are accomplishing something. North Korea, check. Kurds, check. Iran, check. China, check.
President Trump was right, day after day of more stock market records I am “tired of winning” … 😉
Goeb, you are famous for cherry picking whatever single metric you think is important at the moment to tout your favorite orange president. A paid stooge would sound the same.
What you intentionally ignore is that the stock market is not the economy. You cheer as the USA returns to the Gilded Age, with a few billionaires privatizing all the gains and socializing all the costs. The inept administration clearly has no strategy to do anything other than serve itself.
In 2019, 40% of companies made no money. Farm bankruptcies skyrocketed. Manufacturing employment ended the year with 5 months of declines. Wage growth is tepid and far from universal. Companies that bought back their own stock or hyped their latest electric car or FINALLY launched a tower Mac, sure their stock prices look great. Tesla and Apple are elated to sell you their Chinese-manufactured stuff. Problem is, Main Street isn’t as well off as Wall Street in America. The vast majority of Americans, if they do hold stock they are often tied up in retirement accounts, are living paycheck to paycheck. They are not making themselves overnight millionaires by buying AAPL.
Did the massive corporate tax cuts pay for themselves? Overwhelmingly the data says no. The US budget deficit is up 11.8*% from one year ago, eclipsing the expenses of the Bush crash and subsequent bipartisan stimulus for which you blame Obama. Why in such good times is The Great Orange Liar running LARGER deficits? And why do you pretend that federal debt doesn’t matter now? And why do you ignore the fact that average 2016-2019 GDP growth is slower than the 2010-2016 average? The Great Orange Liar thinks 2% annual growth is record setting, and you parrot the lies here. What’s the game plan for delivering jobs as promised next year, Goeb? Seems like your orange hero is more interested in media deflection (Iran mini-war, “Phase One” capitulation, claims of progress with stalled North Korean talks, and now taking credit for corporate stock buybacks) than delivering a reinvestment in US jobs and infrastructure as promised. Apparently you are fooled by all the tough tweets. I am not.
Failed campaign promises:
– Repeal and replace the AHCA (zero plans offered)
– Eliminate the federal debt in 8 years (he did the opposite)
– take no salary (has more than made up for it with emoluments and golf outings)
– Make Mexico pay for a wall (the only thing done is replacement of existing wall and pissing off US real estate owners who oppose the ridiculous eminent domain grabs proposed by this corrupt admin)
– cancel all funding of sanctuary cities (the heartless current admin can’t define the term sanctuary, so humanitarian aid continues to humans in need in every state)
– allow health insurance across state lines (this is just another example of a confused administration alternatively demanding federal authority to do whatever it wants while claiming that states have rights to set their own laws — which is it going to be on this issue? Nobody knows because the administration doesn’t have a clue.)
– expand criminal sentencing and deportations of immigrants that the current administration deems illegal (the harsh inhuman practices were outed and the current administration has no competence to revise immigration law, so legacy law is being enforced. Same as it ever was.)
– End birthright citizenship (nope, that would require embarking on immigration reform. Too hard for this administration.)
– Enact term limits for Congress (Well we all know Corrupt Moscow Mitch would never go for that, and he’s the one dictating all legislative agendas at the moment.)
– Put Hillary behind bars (The inept administration would have to charge her with a felony first. How long is that going to take?)
– Ban new regulations by executive order (Trump apparently didn’t know that it is Congress that writes laws).
– Alternatively promised to slash Medicare costs, improve Medicare coverage, and make no cuts to Medicare (Just goes to show that this guy guy has no shame about lying to anyone).
– Invest at least $550 billion in infrastructure renewal (Still waiting. How exactly is the USA supposed to be economically competitive when the vast majority of the nation’s aging infrastructure hasn’t been maintained or renewed in at least two generations? Orange Liar also claimed he would demand US steel be used in all building. Of course, many gilded Orange Liar buildings were built with imported steel using immigrant labor, so do as he says not as he does)
– Impose a hiring freeze on federal employment (well that lasted only a moment until he realized he had to appear tough in the Middle East, and hire for the 2020 Census, and actually execute all the governmental functions that he didn’t know about. Trump also promised to build 1200 new Air Force planes, hire 540,000 active duty military personnel including an increase in Marine Corps battalions from 23 to 36 and a big boost in navy warship production to 350 active ships, not that he actually followed through on those promises either. He just likes to impress his pep rally listeners with grand overtures assuming that those promises never really need to be kept. When it comes to actually providing security, mostly Trump believes in outsourcing war to Blackwater and other mercenaries. So between modest military budget increases and executing the functions that have to be done, Federal Employment has actually increased under Trump, despite his claims to the contrary.)
– Place a lifetime ban on foreign lobbyists (ha ha ha!!! Except the ones he used. The swamp is more disgusting than ever.)
– Achieve energy independence (this is far too complicated for this forum, but suffice it to say that the fracking boom has expanded natural gas exports while the USA remains dependent on oil imports for its transportation fuel. Coal is uneconomical and that will not change anytime soon. Meanwhile the surest bets toward total energy independence, renewable sources like wind and solar, have been ignored. Not even domestic manufacturers of renewable energy equipment have gotten the time of day from this pro-oil admin.)
– Defeat the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) (well that is hard to do when the USA is either hunkered down in isolated military bases or in full retreat in the region — Russia and the War Criminal Assad regime hold sway over what used to be a pretty nice country.)
– kick China out of the World Trade Organization (The admin doesn’t even know what the WTO does or how it functions, let alone have the ability to dictate its membership)
– Guarantee a minimum of a 6 week paid maternity leave for all (This promise was ignored the second it left the Orange Liar’s lips — despite the abundant evidence that proper early childhood development can pay enormous dividends in health and education, Trump simply doesn’t care about this issue. Period.)
I could go on but the theme is obvious. The only way someone would find the Orange Liar a promise-keeper is if he willingly attributed all the things they like to having been accomplished by the con-man in chief. The reality is no progress has been attempted on most of what was promised in campaign speeches, nor were competent department heads permanently put in place to reform government. I’d better cut off this list of lies because Goeb (and dd and the rest of the conservitards) doesn’t have the stamina to read complex sentences. He just believes tweets.
And… we’re off….. Libturd #1 has spoken.
You’ve already lost the argument when you resort to ad hominem attacks and name calling.
Not if they are accurate, which in your case you have proved that they are accurate.
Thank you for proving my last statement.
I don’t read @dd making an argument…
DickheaD never does have a reasonable argument to make.
JimBob,
Yeah, President Trump planned all of the Iranian conflicts over the last 40 years just in case he would become President so he’d have some “fake” crises to solve!
Now, that’s funny!…
Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. And when hubris is your leaders’ guiding principle along with 140 character answers to complex issues here we go again. Still waiting for that MidEast Peace Plan, Jared. And the Republican health plan, Mitch. And your tax returns, Donald.
So, JimBob, are you supporting the corrupt candidates or the socialist ones?
I applaud Jared for working on a Mideast Peace solution that has eluded every president for over 50 years. But as a Democrat you don’t care about results, same as President Obama. Lofty platitude words and symbolism are all that count, the Democrats could not be concerned less with the hard work to get it done. Modus Operandi of the NO RESULTS party, just look at Congress track record lately. Impeach and Washington HOLD EM. Bottom line: all that matters to Democrats is mouthing care about Mideast peace on CNN and call it a day. Can’t be late for happy hour specials or a toke party.
Regarding healthcare, I too am anxious for a Republican solution. They have to seriously fix the disastrous UNAFFORDABLE Care Act that was passed without reading it, the Rosetta Stone of the stupidest statement of all time by a House Majority Leader.
Regarding tax returns, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION, it is none of your business. Got it? You are only looking for arrows to shoot at the most economically successful President in history, pity…
dd must be impressed that corporate elites continue to hoard capital. Let’s relive the roaring 1920’s, that ended well, didn’t it?
Thanks to foolish fiscal policies and total lack of strategic leadership by the Great Orange Liar, the USA has accelerated its inequality and debt. The system is rigged.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-federal-deficit-skyrockets-trump-tax-cuts-blamed-defense-spending-gap-revenues-treasury-1467936
“With economists pointing towards the Trump tax cuts as a primary fault, the U.S. federal deficit for fiscal year 2019 hit $984 billion, a 26 percent increase from 2018.
The U.S. budget deficit has now more than doubled since 2015, as data from the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget showed. The skyrocketing $984 federal deficit fell just shy of hitting the $1 trillion mark previously predicted for 2019 by the Trump administration, but this number is still about $300 billion more than the Congressional Budget Office predicted prior to President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The expanding gap between revenues and spending hit its widest point in seven years in 2019, with military spending, foreign interest payments and Medicare accounting for the brunt of the widening divide.”
At what point are the minions going to pay back the record federal debt? We all know that the fat cats never will. They elected an incompetent buffoon to rubber stamp their self-serving policy at the long term harm to US prosperity. But then, people like dd don’t actually care about national prosperity. Their disdain for Americans (and any immigrants) is plain to see.
“At what point are the minions going to pay back the record federal debt?”
“At what point” are you going to acknowledge the RECORD federal debt that President Obama DOUBLED in his first four years in office, more than every President before him, COMBINED?
Too easy to challenge the partisan pea brain with selective half truths that does not know anything regarding fair and balanced…
Your source is NewsWEAK? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Once owned by Trump hating Libtard Jeff Bezos, followed by the leftist Daily Beast and let’s not forget Bezos also owns the Number #1 Trump hating newspaper the Washington Post.
Where was the debt concern NewsWEAK, when Obama doubled it in four years, hmmm? Hypocrisy crickets :::::
Your partisan HATE BLINDS you and you will never be a fair and balanced commenter regardless of the volume of useless opinionated and biased words you write.
In other words, spare us the Democrat BRAINWASHING. As a lifetime independent, I can think for myself…
Goeb, you are about as independent as Tucker Carlson. You carry water for the least honest POTUS to ever assume the office. You stoop so low that you attack the media that reports the facts instead of providing proof to dispel the facts you find inconvenient.
One more promise the Great Orange Liar broke: he repeatedly promised to prop up the coal industry. Well that didn’t happen because in his trade spat with China, China decided it wasn’t in the market for increasing US coal imports. The POTUS should have known that the biggest domestic users, electric powerplants, are accelerating their conversion from dirty coal to cheaper natural gas. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-coal-decline-graphic/u-s-coal-fired-power-plants-closing-fast-despite-trumps-pledge-of-support-for-industry-idUSKBN1ZC15A Power companies retired about 15,100 MW of coal fired power generation last year. Had the Orange Liar simply accepted that, he could have signed the Paris Accord. It would have cost the US nothing, as US utilities are already finding renewables and natural gas to be the better economical choices. But noooooooo, he refused to believe the simple economics of coal and touted it over renewables at every opportunity. One wonders why any out-of-work coal miner would vote for a man who promises to resurrect the dying industry instead of simply offering them retraining to work in renewables or natural gas instead.
Out of work miners was surely the overriding concern as the POTUS and his entourage spent 242 days on golf courses, costing taxpayers about $121,000,000. The Great Orge Liar SPENDS ONE OUT OF EVERY 5 DAYS ON AVERAGE VACATIONING ON A GOLF COURSE ON YOUR DIME. Money that could have been spent on worker retraining … https://www.trumpgolfcount.com/
“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” –Donald J. Trump, August, 2016
Sorry, Goeb, but neither your honesty nor Don’s are rating particularly well. But you do both come across as exceptionally proud of being ignorant.
Exactly what I expect from defection Mike. Can’t address my post and has no problem going into off topic deflection land and cannot answer President Obama doubling the national debt in his first four years in office. Pity…
Goeb: I addressed your vapid point. I stated, correctly, “You stoop so low that you attack the media that reports the facts instead of providing proof to dispel the facts you find inconvenient.”
You attacked Newsweek. You attacked media owners. You attacked Obama (who inherited the debt and the bipartisan Congressional bailouts). You attacked me. But you made NO POINTS and you offered no data. Your one and only concern, as always, was whether the the loyalty test to der Fuhrer Great Orange One has been signed. Sorry, pal, in the USA, the press is free, by constitutional law. They don’t have to bow down to presidential lies and deflections.
YOU LOSE.
Believe it or not, I’m coming around to Mike’s point of view. The prez is a lying sack of excrement and dumbasses who excuse him are indeed pathetic losers. The USA deserves a better president.
There, I said it.
You actually trust the BIASED media?!? HA!
If you define “attack” as speaking the TRUTH, you are a lost cause, MikeWEAK… 🤣
Glib straw man argument. Right up there with “Have you or have you not stopped beating your wife?” Get off the false all-or-nothing Us/Them dichotomy.
I support honest debate. I support a Senate that will debate issues, engage in give and take, and realize that it is a third co-equal branch of government. One that will can send stuff to the president’s desk that he may not sign or have asked for. With Senators who will honor their oath of office and the Constitution and remove their personal feelings from the upcoming trial and debate FACTS. Anyone on EITHER side who has publicly decided the outcome (Warren, Graham) already should recuse themselves. And the role of the Senate trial should to be find the TRUTH – which means calling witnesses who have firsthand knowledge about the charges = Mulvaney, Bolton, Guliani. If they report nothing there, it’s done, right?
Give me a candidate who will show that they are open to debate and consideration of other viewpoints and I will pick them over the anyone of any party who is not. I do not wear labels other than Truth.
BTW, let’s remove the corrupting influence of money from the electoral process – pass a constitutional amendment that each individual can contribute say 10% of the annual household median income of the country to political parties/candidates. No donations from corporations (they are not citizens, shareholders can be foreigners, and it’s a double dip), unions, etc. The problem with Citizens United and Mitch’s “money is free speech” that both SCOTUS and Mitch overlook that we have reasonable limits on free speech. I can not sit in the public square with a 24/7 loudspeaker drowning out your right to be heard in the same forum, and yet this is precisely what we have under Citizens United.
“And the role of the Senate trial should to be find the TRUTH – which means calling witnesses who have firsthand knowledge about the charges = Mulvaney, Bolton, Guliani. If they report nothing there, it’s done, right?”
Tired Democrat talking point. What you are asking for is the Senate clean up the shoddy rush to judgement impulsive Democrat impeachment that neglected to do its duty. You know it, so spare us the pious pronouncements.
Pelosi repeatedly saying we must act immediately because our Constitution is in peril is FALSE and LAUGHABLE. Speaker at the time of this writing, listen up, the Constitution is intact and just fine. It did not crumble, it did not collapse and it is not on fire. Give us a break from swamp double tongue Democrat talk for a change.
“BTW, let’s remove the corrupting influence of money from the electoral process”
And just then, you woke up… 🤣
“Talking point”. So you don’t want the truth? You don’t want the record cleared and show clearly once and for all there was nothing there with the testimony of those in a position to know and put it on the public record?
That’s not a Democratic talking point, it’s the point of a democracy.
The House had its shot, rushed the process because the Constitution was burning (smug crock of 💩), did not allow Republicans to call witnesses and as far as I am concerned without producing the whistleblower behind closed doors, that person is technically a PHANTOM and no proof he or she EXISTS. Probably another deep state bad actor like lovers Peter and Lisa. Pelosi blew it and everyone knows it, what elitist gall to hold the articles this long and tell the Senate what to do. EPIC FAILURE along partisan lines, no facts, no crimes, indicted by opinions and partisan interpretation of events. The SHAM of the century!
The House called witnesses to testify the truth. The corrupt administration ordered many of those witnesses to not appear, a violation of Constitutional law.
Your party was present in all hearings and had full ability to call any witnesses they wished. Being good little partisan stooges, however, they chose only to call a few so-called constitutional expert university professors, and nobody with any firsthand knowledge of the workings of the corrupt US administration nor the Russian or Ukranian governments.
So, Goeb, go on attacking the dedicated professional whistleblower that recognized the violation of the Constitution and flagged it. Tomorrow, Goeb, you can also attack the GAO which concluded that the administration broke federal law by not executing congressional budgets as voted on by the peoples’ representatives. And the day after than you can attack the press for trying to find out what sham of a process McConnell has tried to set up behind closed doors in consultation with the accused. Next week you can concentrate on attempting to distance Butt Dialer Guiliani from all his foreign associates, and you can pretend to ignore the Constitutional emoluments clause.
The sham is that you, like McConnell, don’t want to know the facts. You don’t want to know who else Guiliani works with, who Parnas reports to, what other players Manafort worked with, what the POTUS directed and to whom, …. you simply don’t want Constitutional justice. You ony want your party to “win”. Period, by any means necessary. There’s a term for this kind of government. It’s called fascism. Perhaps that’s why The Big Orange Liar holds pep rallies like Hitler, tweets lies that would make Gohring proud, sets his jaw like Mussolini when in front of a camera, and pretends that the POTUS is always above the law.
All your juvenile labels — “deep state” and the like — show how brainwashed you have become, believing partisan lies, at least until the script is flipped and yours is the minority party. You love unlimited partisan power until you are on the receiving end of it. YOU are the victim of your own partisan opinions. You would have to start developing genuine intererest in the “Truth, Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth” from ALL government officials regardless of affiliation before your empty head would start to form logical and defensible thoughts. As it is, you’re just another FUD generator, always spinning to defend Lyin Don, the Golfingest prez ever.
Congratulations on the photo op between Lyin’ Don and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Yeah, that’s right, China thought this 96-page vague “deal” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-the-full-text-of-the-us-and-chinas-phase-one-trade-deal-2020-01-15 was so big that it sent its VP to do the dirty work. It wasn’t worth Xi’s time to show up. If you think “Phase One” is going to right the trade ship and calm the stormy seas, well, then, you’ve drunk way too much kool aide. This is a 96 page document explaining how the USA is backing down and hoping that China could see its way to bailing out US farmers. Yay. You should buy some French Champagne before Orange Liar imposes unilateral tariffs there next.