HI Financial Services Commentary 10-24-2017
You Tube Link to Watch Video: https://youtu.be/aXJGMT3Fkv8
What do you want to talk about today?
Let’s talk about “trading” for just a minute – Thought?
Trading is different than investing and it can be rolling the dice if you are looking for some quick money
Trading should be set up and run as one would do a business – Abraham
Blind leading the blind especially when it comes to advisory services
With trading, be ok with the worst possible outcome or DON’T place the trade
Spread trading limits risk as well as presents an opportunity for adjustments
Investing takes patience to allow a stock to run
I entered COST 160 Jun 2018 long calls again
Purely technical in nature using a possible Christmas Rally
What happening this week and why?
Earning week with little economic reports
Where will our markets end this week?
Higher
DJIA – Overbought bullish 
SPX – Overbought Bullish 
COMP – Bullish overbought
Where Will the SPX end October 2017?
10-17-2017 +2.0%
10-17-2017 +2.0%
10-10-2017 +2.0%
10-03-2017 +1.0%
09-26-2017 +0.5
What is on tap for the rest of the week?=
Earnings:
Tues: MMM, CAT, GLW, LLY, GM, JBLUE, LMT, MVD, PHM, AMD, T, COF, ESXR, JNPR, TXN,
Wed: ALK, BA, KO, DPS, GD, GRUB, IP, S, AMGN, FFIV, LVS, AGNC, FCX, V
Thur: BUD, BSX, CELG, BMY, CME, COP, HLT, LLL, POT, RTN, UNP, TWTR, UPS, WM, GOOG, AMZN, FSLR, MSFT, BIDU, F, LUV, MO
Fri: CVX, XOM, MRK
Econ Reports:
Tues:
Wed: MBA, Durable Goods, Durable ex-trans, FHFA Housing price index. New Homes,
Thur: Initial, Continuing Claims, Pending Home Sales.
Fri: GDP. GDP Deflator, Michigan Sentiment
Int’l:
Tues –
Wed –
Thursday – CN: Industrial Production
Friday-
Sunday –
How I am looking to trade?
Trying to let things run by following the current but the dips trend we are in
Earnings List:
AAPL 11/02 AMC
AOBC 11/02 AMC
BIDU 10/26 AMC
CLX 11/1 BMO
DHI 11/09 BMO
DIS 11/9 AMC
F 10/26 BMO
FB 11/01 AMC
FCX 10/25 BMO
LUV 10/26 BMO
MO 10/26 BMO
SODA 11/09 est
V 10/25 BMO
ZION 10/23 est
Questions???
www.myhurleyinvestment.com = Blogsite
customerservice@hurleyinvestments.com = Email
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/8-tax-changes-for-2018-you-need-to-know.html
8 tax changes for 2018 you need to know
2:10 PM ET Mon, 23 Oct 2017
The Internal Revenue Service has unveiled some changes for 2018 including cost-of-living adjustments for retirement savings and inflation changes for certain tax provisions.
The annual adjustments come as lawmakers in Washington are working feverishly on a new budget that is expected to precede tax reform. President Donald Trump this weekend called for Republicans to move on the legislation swiftly in order to clear the way for the tax efforts.
Here are some of the bigger changes:
· Higher contribution limits for retirement savings
Employees who participate in certain retirement plans ‒ 401(k)s, 403(b)s, most 457 plans and the Thrift Savings plan – will be able to contribute as much as $18,500, a $500 increase from the current $18,000 limit.Jamie Grill | Getty Images
· Deductible contributions to IRAs
Savers who contribute to individual retirement accounts will have higher income ranges following cost-of-living adjustments. Note that the deduction phases out for individuals and their spouses who are covered by workplace retirement plans.
For single taxpayers, the limit will be $63,000 to $73,000.
For married couples, the phase-out range will vary depending on whether the IRA contributor is covered by a workplace retirement plan or not. When the spouse who is investing has access to an employer plan, the range is $101,000 to $121,000. For individuals who don’t have a retirement plan but are married to someone who does, the phase out has been raised to $189,000 to $199,000.
The phase-out was not adjusted for married individuals who file a separate return and who are covered by a workplace retirement plan. That range is $0 to $10,000.Jason York | iStock | Getty Images
· Contributions to Roth IRAs
For individuals who are single or the heads of their households, the income phase-out has been raised to $120,000 to $135,000. For married couples who file jointly, the range climbs to $189,000 to $199,000.
The phase out was not adjusted for married individuals who file a separate return. That is $0 to $10,000.designer491 | Getty Images
· Standard deductions
Those who are married and filing jointly will have a standard deduction of $13,000, a $300 raise from $12,700.
Single taxpayers and those who are married and file separately will see their standard deduction rise to $6,500.
For heads of households, the deduction will be $9,550.Getty Images
· Personal exemption
The personal exemption will grow by $100 to $4,150. The phase-out for this exemption begins at income of $266,700, or $320,000 for married couples who file jointly, and phases out completely at $389,200 for individuals and $442,500 for couples who file together.etty Images
· Top income tax rate
The 39.6 percent tax rate will affect individuals with income over $426,700. Top rate kicks in for married taxpayers who file jointly at $480,050.
· Alternative Minimum Tax
The exemption amount will be $55,400 for individuals before the AMT kicks in, and begins to phase out at $123,100. For married couples who file jointly, that will be $86,200, and will begin to phase out at $164,100.
· Estate tax
The basic exclusion amount for estates of decedents who die in 2018 will be $5.6 million, up from $5.49 million in 2017.
China has grand ambitions to dethrone the dollar. It may make a powerful move this year
- China is looking to make a major move against the dollar’s global dominance, and it may come as early as this year
- The plan is to price oil in yuan using a gold-backed futures contract in Shanghai, but the road will be long and arduous
Published 18 Hours Ago Updated 10 Hours AgoCNBC.com
China is looking to make a major move against the dollar’s global dominance, and it may come as early as this year.
The new strategy is to enlist the energy markets’ help: Beijing may introduce a new way to price oil in coming months — but unlike the contracts based on the U.S. dollar that currently dominate global markets, this benchmark would use China’s own currency. If there’s widespread adoption, as the Chinese hope, then that will mark a step toward challenging the greenback’s status as the world’s most powerful currency.
China is the world’s top oil importer, and so Beijing sees it as only logical that its own currency should price the global economy’s most important commodity. But beyond that, moving away from the dollar is a strategic priority for countries like China and Russia. Both aim to ultimately reduce their dependency on the greenback, limiting their exposure to U.S. currency risk and the politics of American sanctions regimes.
The plan is to price oil in yuan using a gold-backed futures contract in Shanghai, but the road will be long and arduous.
“Game changer it is not — at least not yet,” said Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington based think tank focused on energy security. “But it is another indicator of the beginning of the glacial, and I emphasize the word glacial, decline of the dollar.”
Beijing faces skeptical global oil markets and global perceptions it exerts too much state control. Those factors will hinder its drive to build a viable oil pricing benchmark that’s able to compete with more established benchmarks like West Texas Intermediate or Brent (both dollar-denominated).
The architects of the “petro-yuan” face an uphill struggle in dislodging the “petrodollar” and, with it, more than four decades of U.S. dollar-priced oil. Attracting interest from entrenched and active markets in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East — used to price more than two-thirds of the world’s oil worth trillions of dollars – poses another major challenge.
“Many, many futures contracts are launched because they make some sense from a logical market point of view and they get a lot of attention. But then they die because the key is liquidity,” said Jeff Brown, president at FGE, an international energy consultant.
There are really only a handful of truly global oil contracts from which all else is based, Brown explained, adding: “It will be extraordinarily difficult to change that.”
Level playing field?
Another obstacle standing in the path of China’s ambitions to price oil in yuan is the currency itself. The yuan is not yet fully convertible, it’s fixed daily, prone to intervention and subject to capital controls.
Given that regime of tight control over the currency, many global players are likely to assume a yuan-denominated oil benchmark would be firmly under Beijing’s thumb.
“My biggest reservations are the role of the Chinese central government, potential state intervention and favoritism toward Chinese companies,” said John Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services in Singapore and a former oil trader whose career spans nearly 40 years.
“Will the contract create a level playing field? The biggest challenge in global oil markets may be ensuring that no country or entity garners a dominant advantage,” Driscoll added. “China may be world’s fastest growing and most formidable energy consumer, but its central government plays a dominant role in the energy sector.”
Beijing is likely to lean heavily on state-owned oil companies to adopt the yuan-based contract in an effort to drum up activity and generate sufficient liquidity — the lifeblood of any financial instrument. But despite the scale they bring, involving such state-backed players risks discouraging participants outside China.
Final stage
The main hope for the survival of a yuan-based oil futures contract, according to FGE’s Brown, is that the government pushes the Chinese national oil companies onto the exchange.
Still, he added, “Most counterparties will not want anything to do with this contract as it adds in a layer of cost and risk. They also don’t like contracts with only a few dominant buyers or sellers and a government role.“
Beijing is plowing ahead regardless, and state-run media reported in September the plan was “moving swiftly.”
Yuan pricing and clearing of crude oil futures is the “beginning” of a broader strategic push “to support yuan pricing and clearing in commodities futures trading,” Pan Gongsheng, director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said last month.
To support the new benchmark, China has opened more than 6,000 trading accounts for the crude futures contract, Reuters reported in July.
‘Well-advanced’
The market’s response to the yuan-priced oil benchmark is likely to be lukewarm at first, “but could grow over time, especially if it sparks other commodity hedging tools,” said Rachel Ziemba, managing director of emerging markets at Roubini Global Economics.
China is likely to approach its main crude oil suppliers in the Middle East, Russia and Asia — some of who already accept the yuan as payment — to price their cargoes off a Chinese benchmark.
“The U.S. coverage is dropping off,” said Juerg Kiener, managing director and chief investment officer of asset manager Swiss Asia Capital. “Iraq, Russia and Indonesia have all joined in non-dollar trades.”
The petro-yuan is “well-advanced” and already “structurally in place,” Kiener added: “As China is an importer it will push harder to get yuan contracts.”
HI Financial Services Mid-Week 06-24-2014