Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) has been arrested on insider trading charges lodged by the Justice Department, CNBC reports.
Russia Liquidated Nearly All of Its U.S. Treasury Securities
“The Russian government has sold off the vast majority of its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities for reasons that remain mysterious, in a dramatic move that experts are calling unprecedented,” the Daily Mail reports.
“A U.S. Treasury report released on July 18 shows that Russian holdings of Treasury securities declined by 84% between March and May, down to just $14.9 billion from March holdings of $96.1 billion.”
Trump Blasts Fed for Raising Interest Rates
In a stinging and historically rare criticism, President Trump expressed frustration with the Federal Reserve in an interview with CNBC and said the central bank could disrupt the economic recovery.
“Presidents rarely intercede when it comes to the Fed, which sets the benchmark interest rate that flows through to many types of consumer debt. Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, have raised interest rates twice this year and have pointed to two more before the end of 2018.”
Stock Market Won’t Change Trump’s Mind on Trade
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that there’s no level on the downside in the stock market that would alter the way President Trump approaches trade.
Said Ross: “There’s no bright line level of the stock market that’s going to change policy. The president is trying to fix long-term problems that should have been fixed a long time ago.”
Mulvaney Picks Deputy to Run Consumer Bureau
“Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has picked a deputy at the budget office, Kathy Kraninger, to succeed him at the consumer watchdog agency,” the New York Times reports.
“The choice of Ms. Kraninger, who oversees the preparation of the budgets for cabinet departments, generated immediate opposition, with critics pointing to her inexperience in consumer and financial services issues and her association with Mr. Mulvaney. She was selected over the objection of some White House officials, who argued that her nomination could founder.”
Issa Considered to Run Consumer Bureau
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is among the candidates who have been discussed as President Trump gets closer to naming someone to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bloomberg reports.
Trump Sent Market Early Signal on Jobs Report
President Trump “broke with decades of protocol and commented publicly about the highly anticipated jobs report data 69 minutes before they were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” the Washington Post reports.
Treasury yields moved sharply higher within seconds of a Twitter post from President Trump that said he was “looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning.”
“The jobs data come out once a month, and often can lead to massive buying or selling trends on Wall Street depending on how the information is received. It is extremely closely held and kept under tight control until it is released at 8:30 a.m. on the first Friday of each month. The Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers is traditionally given the report the day before it is released, and it can often be shared with the president after that time. But the president – and other administration officials – never tip their hand about what the numbers reveal.”
Mulvaney Loves Running Agency He Detests
Bloomberg: “Along with reshuffling its initials, he’s reviewing its enforcement, supervisory, and rule-making functions. He’s frozen data collection in the name of security, dropped enforcement cases, and directed staff to slash next year’s budget. He also wants to curb the agency’s independence by giving Congress—rather than the Federal Reserve—control of its spending, and replace the powerful director position he fills with a five-person commission.”
Congress Passes Rollback of Banking Rules
“The House voted to exempt small and regional banks from some of the most stringent rules put in place after the financial crisis, while also loosening some of the rules aimed at keeping the biggest banks from failing,” the Washington Post reports.
“The measure does not repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, as some in the GOP had hoped, but it does represent the most significant scaling back of the rules to date.”
New York Times: “While the legislation offers little for the very largest banks, the Trump administration has already been working through the regulatory system to make things easier for them.”
Big Banks Saved $3.6 Billion in Taxes Last Quarter
An analysis by the Associated Press shows the nation’s six big Wall Street banks saved at least $3.59 billion in taxes last quarter, thanks to the recently enacted Trump tax law.
Trump Rattles the Stock Market
Bloomberg: “The turmoil has damaged Trump’s ranking when it comes to equity returns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 32 percent rally during his first year gave him the third-best start by a president going back more than 100 years. But tack on the turmoil since January and he drops to the middle of the pack, behind former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.”
Mulvaney Hikes Pay of Top Aides at Consumer Bureau
“Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau,” the AP reports.
“Mulvaney has hired at least eight political appointees since he took over the bureau in late November. Four of them are making $259,500 a year and one is making $239,595. That is more than the salaries of members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, and nearly all federal judges apart from those who sit on the Supreme Court.”
The Trump Slump
New York Times: “Even after a fast start to 2018, stock markets finished the first quarter down for the year — the first quarterly decline since 2015. It suggested that a period of calm and steadily rising markets had given way to a turbulent new era with a bearish bent.”
Financial Times: “Traders said anxieties were being exacerbated by Donald Trump’s tweets and trade policies.”
[alert type=”general” dismiss=”no”]The Dow is up 19% since Trump took office. By comparison, it was up 32% for Barack Obama during the same time period.[/alert]
Democrats Will Help GOP Roll Back Financial Regulations
“The Senate is preparing to scale back the sweeping banking regulations passed after the 2008 financial crisis, with more than a dozen Democrats ready to give Republicans the votes they need to weaken one of President Obama’s largest legislative achievements,” the Washington Post reports.
“Eight years after nearly every Senate Democrat backed a sweeping set of new rules for financial firms large and small, the party is now split, with moderates, several of them facing tough midterm election contests, working with the opposing party.”
SEC Dropped Inquiry After Firm Aided Kushner Company
“The Securities and Exchange Commission late last year dropped its inquiry into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate firm a $180 million loan,” the AP reports.
“While there’s no evidence that Kushner or any other Trump administration official had a role in the agency’s decision to drop the inquiry into Apollo Global Management, the timing has once again raised potential conflict-of-interest questions about Kushner’s family business and his role as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Trump.”
Obama Market vs. Trump Market
Since President Trump is fond of touting his stock market record, here’s what the S&P 500 has done since inauguration for him vs. during same period in Barack Obama’s presidency.
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