There will not be any re-cap for the week of Feb 21 2020. We are away for some needed R&R.
Have a good week.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

The staffs at EGS.

“The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses in Wall Street even among the professionals, who feel that they must take home some money every day, as though they were working for regular wages.” – Jesse Livermore

1. T-Mobile, Sprint Deal Wins Approval, Reshaping Industry — a federal judge’s approval of T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint will test whether three giants will compete as aggressively for cellphone users as four unequal players once did. The opinion will leave most of the country’s wireless customers with three major network operators: Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and the new T-Mobile. New entrant Dish plans to use the deal as a springboard for its mobile ambitions, while U.S. cable companies are stuck with existing providers’ networks for their fledgling cellular services.
2. President Trump Unveilled $4.8 trillion budget — President Trump budget will propose steep reductions in social-safety-net programs and foreign aid and higher outlays for defense and veterans. The plan would increase military spending 0.3%, to $740.5 billion for fiscal year 2021, which begins Oct. 1. It will request $2 billion in new funding for border-wall construction, significantly less than the amount it sought last year. The proposal is unlikely to become law, however, as Democrats control the House and spending bills in the GOP-led Senate need bipartisan support.
3. FTC Expands Antitrust Investigation Into Big Tech — the Federal Trade Commission ordered five big tech companies to provide detailed information about their previous acquisitions of small companies, expanding the agency’s investigation into possible antitrust concerns in digital markets. The FTC ordered the companies— Amazon. com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google owner Alphabet Inc. —to turn over information and documents relating to the scope, structure and purpose of their takeovers of smaller companies between 2010 and 2019.
4. Bernie Sanders Wins New Hampshire Primary — Sen. Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night in a narrow victory that ensures the race to challenge President Trump this November will remain heated.
With more than 85% of precincts reporting, Mr. Sanders, who is from neighboring Vermont, had 25.7% of the vote, followed by Pete Buttigieg with 24.4% and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota with 19.7%. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joe Biden, who each have previously led the Democratic field in national polling, lagged well behind with less than 10% of the vote.
4. Mobile World Congress Called Off Amid Virus Worries — with swaths of individual companies pulling out of the exhibition over the past week, the GSMA telecoms association that hosts the get-together has called off the Feb. 24-27 event. Fears over the coronavirus outbreak were to blame despite assurances from local and national health officials that it would have been safe to hold it. The Mobile World Congress draws more than 100,000 visitors to Barcelona and is known as the year’s biggest event for the telecom industry.
5. Huawei Charged With Racketeering, Stealing Trade Secrets — Huawei Technologies Co. and two of its U.S. subsidiaries were charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets in a federal indictment. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said the new charges related to a decadeslong effort by Huawei and its subsidiaries, in the U.S. and China, to steal intellectual property, including from six U.S. technology companies. Prosecutors said Huawei’s efforts were successful and resulted in the company obtaining nonpublic intellectual property about robotics, cellular-antenna technology and internet-router source code. The alleged thefts allowed the company to cut costs and research-and-development delays, giving it an unfair competitive advantage

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

‘Look, everybody has a pain threshold, and you know when a stock becomes unmoored from valuations, [because] it has certain dynamic growth aspects to it and has cultlike aspects to it — you just have to walk away.’ — Steve Eisman about Tesla short

1. Chinese Leader Xi Jinping Called the Coronavirus a Major Test of China’s System of Governance — Mr. Xi told a special meeting of the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo Standing Committee there would be consequences for officials who shirk responsibility​ in tackling the crisis. the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China rose above 42,000. The death toll from the outbreak climbed above 1,000, while Hong Kong reported its first death from the pathogen. Macau moved to shut its casinos—whose revenues are more than six times that of the Las Vegas Strip—for two weeks. American health authorities reported a second case of passage from one person to another in the U.S., and raised the number of confirmed cases to 11. Companies, governments and schools are developing policies on the fly to try to halt the spread, creating a live global public-health experiment in containment.
2. State of the Union Address — President Trump touted his record in a lengthy and triumphal State of the Union. Ahead of today’s anticipated acquittal in his impeachment trial, the president used his annual address Tuesday to paint an optimistic picture of America’s future and present himself as the lead architect of the country’s economic boom. He avoided commenting on impeachment.The speech was punctuated by enthusiastic applause from Trump backers and mostly silence from Democrats; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi notably ripped her copy of the speech in half as Mr. Trump finished.
3. Disney Emerges as a Formidable Streaming Contender — the number of subscribers to the company’s new streaming service, Disney+, more than doubled in its first three months. CEO Robert Iger said older programming, ranging from classic Disney movies to seasons of “The Simpsons,” has been as popular with Disney+ subscribers as its new, original content such as “The Mandalorian.” Disney+ is already competing with Netflix, Amazon and Apple in the market. Netflix, the largest streaming platform, started offering streaming in 2007 and created a stand-alone streaming plan in 2010. It didn’t cross 28 million subscribers until late 2012, according to its financial statements.
4. Senate Acquits Trump on Both Impeachment Articles — the Republican-led Senate acquitted the president of charges stemming from his efforts to press Ukraine to announce investigations that would benefit him politically. The vote to acquit marked a clear victory for the president. GOP senators strongly supported his acquittal, but several said Democrats had proved that he acted improperly—though not in a manner deserving of impeachment—regarding Ukraine. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican to vote to convict and remove Mr. Trump from office.
5. China to Cut in Half Tariffs on $75 Billion of U.S. Goods — China said it would cut tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports in half as part of efforts to implement a recently signed trade agreement with Washington. The tariff cuts set to take effect on Feb. 14 come amid growing doubts about Beijing’s ability to follow through on the phase-one trade deal, in which China has pledged to boost its purchases of American goods and services by $200 billion over two years.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in 2019 for the first time in six years, as disputes with China and other countries reduced the U.S.’s exports and imports while reshaping relationships with economic partners. Exports declined for the first time since 2016, dropping 0.1%, the Commerce Department said. But imports fell more sharply, decreasing 0.4%. That combination shrank the overall trade deficit 1.7%, to $616.8 billion. U.S. tariffs on roughly $370 billion in annual Chinese imports remain in place.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

“The markets are always changing, and the successful trader needs to adapt to these changes” — Michael Stainhardt

1. Yield Curve Inverted — the U.S. Treasury yield curve, measured by the gap between yields on three-month and 10-year bonds, briefly inverted overnight for the first time since October as Treasuries rallied for a sixth day. The two-year/five-year curve already inverted on Monday, while the gap between two-year and 10-year yields – considered a recession signal – was at the flattest since Nov. 29. “If the signs were to multiply, there could be a more severe impact not just in China but globally,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec. “Markets are starting to speculate the Fed could bring rates down by summer.”
2. Flights To/From China Suspended as Coronavirus Spreads — British Airways became the first global airline to cancel all flights to and from the mainland as the virus spreads beyond Asia. The U.S. expanded passenger screenings for the virus to 20 airports and is considering suspending flights to China.
3. Corona Virus Updates — the coronavirus has killed at least 165 people while infecting more than 7,000. The vast majority of those infected are in China. Corona virus has a relatively high death rate compared with something like influenza (though less than the related SARS outbreak nearly two decades ago). And it is centered in a densely populated part of the world where international travel is increasingly common. It’s also new. Public health experts cannot say yet how long it will last, how far it will spread, and how deadly it could get. Public-health officials say the virus and the respiratory ailments it causes pose little risk in the U.S., where only 5 cases have been identified. And while there’s evidence it’s contagious even in the early stages before symptoms show, it appears to be far less contagious than SARS, whooping cough or measles. In addition, the outbreak is disrupting businesses around the world, from banks to retailers to airlines. Global firms are working to protect employees in or planning travel to China, while also dealing with dropping demand and its potential economic impact. Investors who began the year feeling largely sanguine about the stock market are struggling to make sense of whether the growing outbreak could upend their bets on a global economic recovery.
4. UPS Aims for Driverless, Electric Future — following in the footsteps of Amazon (AMZN), which recently inked a deal for 100,000 electric vehicles from Rivian, UPS (NYSE:UPS) has placed an order for 10,000 electric vans (with an option for 10,000 more) from U.K.-based Arrival. The contract, worth “hundreds of millions of euros,” will also see UPS take a minority stake in the startup. Besides joining the EV revolution, UPS has driverless dreams. A six-month test will begin with Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo next month, using the latter’s autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans to shuttle packages from Phoenix UPS stores to a nearby sorting center.
5. FOMC Meeting — the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and reaffirmed its make-no-moves posture. Officials repeated nearly verbatim the policy outlook expressed in December, and offered a mixed assessment of the economic outlook. They described consumer spending as moderate, a downgrade from “strong” last month, and said business investment had stayed weak. Fed officials have, however, signaled that they see greater risks of surprises that could force them to lower rates.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: