Dow 30

With oil crashing, 'hard' economic data slumping, political chaos ahead of the debt ceiling debacle, and The Fed about to embark on something no central bank has ever done (let alone done successfully), it should be no surprise that earnings expectations are being ramped exponentially higher and The Dow (thanks in large part to Boeing recently) has exploded near 22,000 today for the first time ever making yet another new record high...

Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan blasphemously warned a year ago of an "imminent crisis":

"This is the worst period, I recall since I've been in public service. There's nothing like it, including the crisis - remember October 19th, 1987, when the Dow went down by a record amount 23 percent? That I thought was the bottom of all potential problems. This has a corrosive effect that will not go away. I'd love to find something positive to say."

Earlier today, in an attempt to deflect from the relentless scandals that plague his administration, Trump tried to pivot attention to either the stock market, highlighting the record high 22,000 print in the Dow Jones, and also pointing out that "Corporations have NEVER made as much money as they are making now."

"Corporations have NEVER made as much money as they are making now." Thank you Stuart Varney @foxandfriends Jobs are starting to roar,watch!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2017

Welcome to August: you may be surprised to learn that S&P 500 futures are once again levitating, higher by 0.3%, and tracking European and Asian markets. Asian equities traded higher across the board after China's Caixin Manufacturing PMI beat expectations and printed its highest since March, refuting the decline in the official PMI data reported a day earlier, while firmer commodity prices boost both sentiment and commodity stocks across Asia and Europe.

Just seemed appropriate...

July was a month of extremes across asset classes...