Week of Mar 9 2018 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others fearful.” — Warren Buffett
1. China Sets Growth Target at ‘about 6.5%’ — China’s National People’s Congress has officially kicked off with over 3,000 lawmakers descending on Beijing, where the country’s rubber-stamp parliament is expected to eliminate the two-term limit for the presidency. Continuing a campaign to reduce risks in China’s financial system, Premier Li Keqiang also set a target for economic growth for 2018 at “about 6.5%,” a slight recalibration from last year’s objective of “around 6.5% or higher if possible.”.
2. Senate to Vote on Dodd-Frank Rollback — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has filed a motion to have a procedural vote on a bill, sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, that would roll back key regulations of Dodd-Frank. The measure spikes the asset level at which a bank becomes “systemically important” from $50B to $250B, freeing dozens of regional banks from stringent rules like additional capital buffers and stress tests.
3. Gary Cohn Announced His Resignation as Top Economic Adviser to President Trump — widely viewed as a voice for Wall Street in the White House, Gary Cohn has announced his resignation as the top economic adviser to President Trump, fanning fears of protectionist tariffs and a full-blown trade war. Trump tweeted he “will be making a decision soon” on replacing Cohn, who oversaw a major revamp of the U.S. tax code and pushed for a significant rewrite of financial rules.
4. AAII Weekly Sentiment Survey — in this week’s sentiment survey from AAII, bullish sentiment dropped nearly 11 percentage points falling from 37.28% down to 26.4%. That’s the lowest weekly reading since the end of August and the largest two-week decline since June 2013.
However, bearish sentiment hasn’t seen much of a bounce. At 28.38%, it is slightly higher than bullish sentiment, but it has been higher as recently as early February.
5. Trump Agrees to Meet N. Korean Leader on De-nuclearization Talks — President Trump has agreed to an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet to discuss denuclearization. Kim made the invitation for Trump to come to North Korea in a letter hand delivered by South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, and Trump said he would meet by May, though the White House is now saying the time and place of the meeting is yet to be determined. Kim says he’s prepared to suspend nuclear and missile tests in the meantime.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
