Let's Do Popcorn! News & Markets for 2-20-18
BLS inflation report. LOL They lie. I stopped listening to them a long time ago. During the Obama administration they just started messing with all the numbers so why even go there and get their side? Nah. Just dig to get it.
Examples.
The price of a 28 inch Samsung TV in 1997 – $750. The same size Samsung TV costs $200 today. That’s a 73% decrease. The good old BLS says the decrease is really 99% because the new TV does so much more. They call this a hedonic adjustment.
According to the BLS the cost of housing is up about 56% over the last 20 years. Here are a couple facts from the same government.
The average new home cost $175,000 in 1997. The average new home in 2017 cost $380,000. A 117% increase. The average monthly rent in 1997 was $576. In 2017 it was $1,021. That is a 77% increase.
Useless.
President Trump has directed AG Sessions to clarify if 'bump stocks' are illegal; and to propose regulations to "ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns."
For the first time since President Trump signed it into law late last year, the Republican tax-reform plan has more supporters than opponents, according to the New York Times.
The paper admits that the law's growing popularity is eroding the Democrats' lead in election polling for 2018.
Kim Dotcom tweeted "Let me assure you, the DNC hack wasn't even a hack. It was an insider with a memory stick. I know this because I know who did it and why," adding "Special Counsel Mueller is not interested in my evidence. My lawyers wrote to him twice. He never replied. 360 pounds!" alluding of course to Trump's "400 pound genius" comment.
His assertion is backed up by an analysis done last year by a researcher who goes by the name Forensicator, who determined that the DNC files were copied at 22.6 MB/s - a speed virtually impossible to achieve from halfway around the world, much less over a local network - yet a speed typical of file transfers to a memory stick.
'Russia did not meddle.' - the Kremlin's first official response following last Friday's indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
CNN sent a reporter to the St. Petersburg "troll farm" uncovered by Mueller's investigation.
Chief International Correspondent Matthew Chance had his cameraman literally dig through the garbage outside of an office building which is home to the alleged Russian troll farm for clues.
It was summed up this way on Twitter.
CNN goes to Russia so they can dig in the trash to try to find proof of Russian collusion.
They can't find any so they ask a Russian who works there if he's a troll, he blows smoke in their face and walks away.
They follow him into the building and get thrown out. pic.twitter.com/kkV71rcBTe
— Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) February 20, 2018
Markets were closed on Monday for President's Day. Looks like Gartman got a win today! Bless his heart! We are making a wedge and the pattern indicates more sideways action.
S&P 500 Resistance – 2730, 2759, 2785, 2811, 2842, 2876, 2905
S&P 500 Support – 2715, 2682, 2655, 2638, 2607, 2575, 2560, 2530, 2505, 2478, 2422, 2400, 2375
Target 3200 remains
Cryptos - Bitcoin
Nice rally. Looks like 12,500 then 13,500 for the upside. 12,500 is a bit of resistance so we will watch where that ends up.
Be careful. These ICOs are risky investments.
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera ran a Riot Blockchain CNBC expose on Riot Blockchain, which sent the stock plunging. The company has been a fraud ever since it decided to move from veterinary products last October to chasing the latest and greatest stock boosting buzzword of the day - blockchains.
Then there is one advertisement for Datecoin described as "the world's first dating service that uses neural networks and artificial intelligent [sic] algorithms based on working business model with clear buyback on blockchain..."
LOL if you are buying that I have a bridge here in Houston, TX I am happy to sell you.
Take care,
Rita
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