Business

Last week, rating agency DBRS raised a red flag when it calculated that in the past decade average US wages have risen by only 5.7%, while consumer debt over the same period rose 60% more, or 9.3%. However, while the US household's reliance on debt to fill in the income gaps is hardly news, on Monday JPMorgan found another, even more concerning debt inflection point: household debt, fast as it may be rising, is about to be eclipsed for the first time ever by the even faster rising federal government debt.

Microsoft is down almost 4% - the biggest drop since June 2016 - filling the gap from earnigs as the entire tech space is coming under serious pressure in this low-high tax rotation.

No, there is no MSFT-specific news or catalyst...

FANGs, Semis, and the broad tech sector are in trouble...

As the low-to-high tax company rotation continues...

Earlier we joked that today's rally was losing steam, and it "needs a North Korean ICBM launch to find new strength."

This rally needs a North Korean ICBM launch to find new strength

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 4, 2017

"Did he really say that" was the rallying cry across social media after Republican Senator Chuck Grassley placed his foot directly in his mouth over the weekend as he commented on tax reform impacts on Americans...

Coming in a little late to the game, UBS today released its top 5 themes and 19 trades for 2018. Not surprising from the bank whose base case S&P forecast is 2,900 one year from now (with potential upside to 3,200), and who just told CNBC that "valuations are still somewhat cheap", the bank is optimistic, if not "rationally euphoric" and writes that it all boils down to one question: will the Kool-Aid party continue, or "will underlying macro shifts reveal fragilities in asset valuations" and more specifically, will the yield curve invert. To wit: