DHUnplugged #720: GoldyLox

Finally Fed makes a move (they will not be done jabbering though) Storms heading to Florida and Gulf Coast - Natural gas prices jump COVID Shot Stocks - "fun" while it lasted Confidence is waning..... CHINA! PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter DONATIONS ? Warm-Up - Finally Fed makes a move (they will not be done jabbering though) - Storms heading to Florida and Gulf Coast - Natural gas prices jump - COVID Stocks - "fun" while it lasted - Confidence is waning..... - CHINA! Bazooka Time! Markets - All-Time Highs - Same saying Goldilocks conditions - Seasonality favors the bulls starting next quarter - Uranium starting to move as people warming up to nuclear energy again - Trump Stock on the move Need to Pick a new CTP Exile - A leading economist in China has vanished following critical comments about President Xi Jinping‘s economic policies. - What Happened: Zhu Hengpeng, deputy director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), was detained after allegedly criticizing Xi in a private WeChat group. Zhu’s remarks reportedly included veiled criticisms of Xi’s leadership and comments on China’s struggling economy, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. - The investigation into Zhu coincides with the Chinese Communist Party’s intensified efforts to suppress negative commentary about the country’s economic health. Under Xi, dissent has been increasingly punished, with critics facing imprisonment or exile. - AH would be have cement shoes if this happened in the USA On The Other Hand - CHINA PROP IT UP - China said it will allow institutional investors to tap central bank financing for stock purchases and is weighing plans for a market stabilization fund, sparking the biggest rally since 2020 for the nation’s beaten-down equities. - The People’s Bank of China will set up a swap facility allowing securities firms, funds and insurance companies to tap liquidity from the central bank to purchase equities - The CSI 300 Index, a benchmark of onshore Chinese stocks, surged 4.3% to cap its best day since July 2020. In Hong Kong, a gauge of Chinese shares was up more than 5% intraday. - MCHI up 8%, FXI up 8.5%, YINN (3X) up 25% M&A FOLLOW UP - Buyout firms Vista Equity Partners and Blackstone are in advanced talks to acquire Smartsheet, in a deal that could value the collaboration-software maker at close to $8 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. - NEWS: Collaboration software maker Smartsheet on Tuesday announced it would be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash deal which valued the company at $8.4 billion. THE FED - Cuts rates by 0.50% -- Seems to have been looking to appease markets - Initial reaction was blah... Unwinding of positions put on right before the decision - Next day stocks soared - “The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” the Federal Reserve statement said. - Last time Fed cut rates was COVID days , time before that was Financial Crisis of 2008 - The federal funds rate is now a range between 4.75%-5% Meanwhile - Consumer confidence in September suffers largest decline since August 2021 - The key takeaway from the report is that consumers' views of the current labor market situation continued to soften and became more pessimistic about future labor market conditions -- a sentiment that could weigh on consumer spending activity. ---- The Present Situation Index dropped to 124.3 from an upwardly revised 134.6 (from 134.4) in August.