Last week we reported that for the first time since the election, Bank of America's smart money clients were, as a group, selling stocks. As BofA's Jill Carey Hall calculated, after significant buying over the past few weeks, net client sales of $2.1 billion were the largest since June. However, there was a further nuance, one which has emerged as troubling for those calling for sustained gains in the market.
Having managed to stem its recent earnings rout, reporting a Q4 rebound in income from continuing operations which rose to £380 million after reporting a loss of £2.24 billion a year ago, UK's Barclays is facing a more traditional problem: on Saturday Barclays customers have reported problems using their cards in shops and withdrawing money from some cash machines according to the BBC.
In its latest annual letter, released at 8am on Saturday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said Q4 profit rose 15% as net income increased to $6.29 billion, or $3,823 a share, from $5.48 billion, or $3,333 the previous year, while operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,665 a share, a slight miss to the $2,717 consensus estimate.
The United States has become a major exporter of crude oil since President Trump took office, sending a record 7 billion barrels into the world market last week. Like all of President Trump’s campaign promises, his plan to create “complete American energy independence” and ban Saudi Arabian oil from the U.S. market is being fulfilled ahead of schedule. During the election campaign Trump vowed to secure U.S. energy independence from “our foes and the oil cartels,” and predictably the Saudis, major donors to the Clinton campaign, were not happy with this plan.
Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Bitcoin hit an all-time high over $1200 today.
Traders are happy because the SEC is expected to rule on a Bitcoin ETF by March 11.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports China Is Developing its Own Digital Currency.
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