Readers should realize that these dramatic market gyrations are triggered by computer programs and the institutions that established them. They win on the way up and on way down....100s of millions milked from the system in a flash. HFT... high frequency trading. Get your money for nothing....Should be illegal yes but it's the bedrock of current financial system.
7
@JL
Super the Robin Hood tax, a tiny tax (about .25%) on each trade that would both reduce the effectiveness of high frequency trading, plus generate billings in revenue to drive down the debt.
5
i worry less about this than of the last 2 years of gutting most regulations for the Big banks, corporations, environmental laws, opening up drilling throughout our country, rolling back clean air, and water regulations. What we will first have is a major recession due to the dereglation of the big banks; followed by a filthy land, poisoned air and water, and a country devoid of wildlife. Thanks for these Christmas gifts Republicans. You'll be remembered, and not in a nice way.
7
All I want to know is how on earth could such a dumb underachieving bully manipulate so many people in America?
3
@Wally Wolf I believe it's because he tells them what they want to hear and puts it in terms that are very simple. He seldom, if ever, produces much that is positive but he tells the lies over and over and when unsuccessful moves on to some other hyper exaggeration. You really can fool some of the people most of the time.
4
You wanted trump. Get trump.
2
Americans have not learned the obvious: Republicans equal enormous deficit and....an implosion of our economy!
Hoover, Reagan, Bush I & Bush II ....wake up, people!
Now Donald with his "trade war"... how much have Middle Class families lost?! How's your 401K now?!
4
Canada arrested Ms Wenzhou?? Now that is a story your faithful readers are waiting to read!
@Jeanne hutton
She was arrested at the behest of the Trump administration to be extradited to the U.S..
You may want to read the story.
2
To have a sane world, you have to reduce, greed, hate, and violence.
Every solution that Republicans offer is based on a combination of hate, greed, and violence, and they lie about it too.
The war in Iraq created chaos across the Middle East, including ISIS, Syria, the Arab Spring, and the migration crises in Europe. But it made a lot of money for the central players, Cheney and friends.
We are all one human family, and if we were not a dysfunctional family, we would be talking care of each other, so we can all be our best selves. Imagine living in a world where every one is their best self.
Trump, gives his Party permission to be worst and they love him for it.
The reason that socialism doesn't work is that eventually the right wing manipulates the economy and manipulates the government so they can suck money out of it.
It's the same reason capitalism doesn't work, or pay much any system.
Hate, greed, and violence wreck everything.
The right is wrong. The left is correct.
A military economy spreading war around the world is an unworthy endeavor for the United States of America. Supporting the troops means NOT putting them at the service of global corporations That is not what the troops should, or want, to do.
Corporations have run amok. They are fictitious persons created by the state, hiding their masters under anonymity while steadily promoting persons into people into pseudo citizens. A corporation is a creation of the state, so it cannot be a citizen!!!!
7
I begin to wonder: maybe DJT is trying to drive the markets down right now? But why? He does everything with an eye on personal gain, right? What's the game here? Or is the timing of this arrest just following orders from the Kremlin? There has to be more to this than just the random wailings of America's King Lear.
1
Mitt Romney said Trump is a phony when it comes to claiming he makes money. Wallstreet said his recession is coming and I hope it is a long one. The GOP will reap what they sow.
4
So, not only does the USA goes out and Slaps 200 hundred in tariffs on the second biggest economy on the planet with no support from our allies and and a smile from our biggest adversary. We now take a hostage but not any hostage. The daughter of the founder of one of China’s biggest companies. This is what passes as a negotiation? I
I forgot about that dinner
The stock market is and always has been a market driven by reactionary trading. Unless you're dependent on it for your financial needs day-to-day, no need for knee jerk reactions to its volatility that serve to fuel the rollercoaster ride.
3
If this keeps up I will end up with less than 1% gain for the year... maybe even a loss if it keeps going down. This is disastrous. Can the new Congress intervene and stop the President from plunging us into a recession? Where is the checks and balances?
10
@Jay- Congress acts in lock step with Trump. The danger is not him but the removal of laws we had to keep the big banks in check, not to mention the dozens of other laws repealed, all in favor of deregulation.
6
The market is selling off because it wants to sell off. Maybe it is now spooked on anything to do with reconciling differences, from Iphone clones, to Mueller reports, with recommendations. . These relationships, be they with technology players, or with the politics of seducing the public amidst an election cycle, may put this country on a firmer psychological footing going forward. At this point, confronting the Iphone clone king and queen is medicine for the markets. The market was never really that spooked from that March rally into this past September, on any bad news. Now is the proper time to be spooked. Keep in mind, there is really nothing but good news in this market, particularly if there is a trade deal renegotiated between the U.S. and China, miraculously completing before Jan 1, 2019. In that case, the market can try for a nice January rally next year that will be impressive, and also create new found wealth to make those real estate bargains most appetizing. Just when it looked like the poison was spreading to real estate, maybe not. Of course the market needs to feel comfortable with the disconnected Trump policies that have been freeing, unless of course Mueller's report brings that momentum to a screeching halt, where the public must reflect and decide a new course. The markets may celebrate more and more good news in 2019.
Either way, seems like a big beautiful piece of chocolate cake will be involved
1
The gossip in Chinese says Ms. Meng is the daughter of Huawei's founder. I cannot but NY Times may be able to confirm this. If true, this is an unbelievable in-your-face instigation of the trade war. The cause of any economic disaster this time is all on the US.
7
What would happen if Huawei booked the Trump Hotel DC for its corporate holiday party?
18
Who was given a heads up on the arrest and made a killing?
10
The Chinese abuse has been going on for years! Intellectual property theft, violation of embargoes, currency manipulation, cyberattacks, social dumping, etc. I’m glad our president is taking actions to minimize the issue (even if he has nothing to do with arrest) . Americans must be careful when traveling to China. They can be a target of retaliatory measures.
3
To borrow a phrase, the Trump chickens are coming home to roost.
5
May I ask the author since when German economy is closely tied to China?
"Export-based economies that are closely tied to China — such as Japan and Germany — have started to struggle too."
I actually thought that Germany is member of the EU, its most closest tie was with France (+/- UK +/-Italy) until most recently when export nation number 1 became the USA. Both the EU and Germany have (also) close (economic/traditional/cultural) ties both to Canada and Japan.
Why to construct a close Chinese-German relationship within the NYT?
Next step will be to claim that
"Export-based economies that are closely tied to Russia, Iran, Ukraine, North Korea — such as Germany — have started to struggle too."
?
Who would be surprised?
1
Maybe you should read more.
Germany has been a huge trading partner with China for at least 25 years.
Look it up,
The info is out there.
Quit letting Fox and he rest spoon feed you what they want you to see.
3
@Beezelbulby
Germany is a huge trading partner of a large number of countries since decades. Export destination number 1 (of Germany) is, since most recently, the *USA*. This is new since prior export destination number 1 was usually France. In the list of export destinations (of Germany) China is ranking, in spite of the size of the Chinese economy, only at place number 5.
These are facts.
That GDP growth of Germany was negative in Q3/2018 is also a fact but this may be multi-factorial and no proof that Germany is suffering from the US-Chinese trade war itself. Other factors may be upcoming Brexit, ongoing weaknesses of both French and Italian economy, threats of Trump to punish EU based companies continuing making deals/investments in Iran etc. etc. etc. A factor among others may also be slow growth of China, admittedly. Another, rather realistic, factor may be the ongoing government crisis of Merkel having effects on domestic investments ...
But I continue to dislike a sentence such as "Export-based economies that are closely tied to China such as Germany have started to struggle too." This sounds like foreign language number 1 in Germany would have become Mandarin but not English.
Fact is also that the largest trading partner (besides the entire EU) of the USA is China. There "close ties" can be found.
I would like to know WHY this woman was arrested and why the U.S. wants to extradict her from Canada.
So far I have read nothing that even hints at what her alleged crimes are.
8
@Expat Annie- she is a very high corporate executive for a comapny that is alleged that for years it sold American-based companies' technology and secrets to Iran, which is a violation of Federal law(No company foreign or domestic is allowed ot give, sell or otherwise transfer American technology, knowhow or information to any country on the "Rogue Nations" list).
2
We can thank the late George Bush and Bill Clinton who were doing Wall St's bidding for this mess. Accepting China's invite to opening up trade was a big mistake. The title should read instead: "Greed vs. national security". Greed has blinded everyone. Look at the consequences of doing business with the Gulf Oil nations in particular Saudia Arabia. Terrorism. Wahhabism run amok, unchecked, the well connected Bin Laden family allowed to sponsor and foment terrorism and allowed to escape just after 9/11. National security allowed to take back seat when money interests are involved. Those without money, end up having their rights taken away. The Huawei company it's been alleged, sold trade and security secrets to "rogue" nations, something that's against the law. Obama allowed this company to continue to do busines, it's executives going unpunished, allowing China to take control of the China Sea and threatening neighboring countries. Now that Trump has placed a bullseye on China, their companies are fair game, not to mention the copyright and trademark ripoffs that have been occuring there for 2 decades now, without any consequences. Personally, i think this action is long overdue. Trade= trading the rule of law for the highest possible profit margin. Wall St should have expected this. their greed has come back to bite them you know-where.
9
If only Meng Wanzhou’s alleged illegal financial transactions had links to Trump’s political or business dealings with Russia, then the president would be winking, nodding, and tweeting up a Manafortian storm of coded pardon promises.
6
Stock markets work best during periods of stability. Trump’s modus operandi is to create chaos and instability. No long term strategic planning. Decisions based on feel or intuition.Not fact based. Facts only slowdown the decision making process.Trump is solely responsible for this market crash. He can try to blame Obama. But he wears this deep market turndown Let’s see whether his loyal supporters recognize this reality.
12
The guicksilver market reactions to Trump’s tweets amazes me. The man is a serial prevaricator and fabulist. What he states undergoes a reversal or simply unravels with unfailing consistency. Although I’m opposed in principle to short selling, a profitable strategy might be to immediately bet against a market surge precipitated by something he says, since that something is surely about to be transformed into its opposite or become a nothing burger - either of which causes the aforementioned surge to evaporate.
2
One day he's a "tariff man" and a "nationalist." The next day we have the "globalist" making a a ''deal" and a "truce" with China and a renegotiated NAFTA, with small difference from what they were before. After all these manufactured crises and daily changes of position, via tweets, we're back to square one. The madness and economic instability will end only with a Democratic administration. but it will take years to correct, as it did under Obama with gradual progress over 8 years.
14
@Alan J. Shaw ... yes, quite so. The Obama recovery was indeed quite slow, maybe the slowest on record: and often characterized as " secular stagnation " by a number of Democratic economists ( Larry Summers, Paul Krugman ).
@BD@BD Why was that? Because the R's attempted at every stage to slow down the growth. Remember sequestration, aka the Budget Control Act of 2011? As Time Magazine wrote in 2013, “The Sequester is a Republican-Inflicted Wound.” Remember the fact that W never paid down the debt from the Iraq War, put it on a credit card to be paid later, and that plus the cost from the Great Republican Recession was trillions of dollars? So, yes, it was slow for a number of reasons, most of which was obstruction by a Republican congress that wanted to see Obama fail, first for re-election, which failed, and for eight years, which also failed.
The Trump policies are similar to those propounded by the Republicans (Coolidge, Harding) in the 1920s, by Reagan in the 1980s, and W Bush in the 2000s. All resulted in either a recession or the Great Depression.
The stock market has worked much better under Democrats than Republicans because of their stability, which is why Trump is doomed to failure — the 1920s redux with the Smoot-Hawley tariff thrown in early this time.
15
@Hugh Conrad ... the one thing we can all be thankful for is that the fracking revolution and implementation occurred " under the radar " and consequently was not stifled by Obama regulation. Perhaps one other thing; i.e. Obama listened to his top economic advisers; e.g. Bernanke, Geithner; and did not break up the big banks into noncompetitive units as was wished for by his more left wing advisors. Ok, maybe one more thing; i.e. he implemented his Iran deal as an " agreement " rather than risking having it shot down by a bipartisan majority in the Senate in an attempt to have the deal legislated as a " treaty ", which in turn allowed the " agreement " to be subsequently rescinded by his successor. Let's be fair. He did pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq, but unfortunately that let ISIS in. Thankfully, at least his befuddlement in dealing with " red lines " in Syria did not involve the U.S. in a war of regime change ( his comment that " Assad must go " was not, thankfully, followed up by military action ). Hitting the " red reset " button with Russia allowed a bemused Putin to seize Crimea and southeastern Ukraine. But look, it could have been worse.
This should surprise no one, as the economy has historically performed much better under Democratic Presidents, in terms of stock market returns, GDP growth, and job creation.
Some facts about the Trump economy:
1. Job creation faster in Obama's last 21 months than Trump's first 21 months. We've been setting records for the total number of jobs in the economy since May 2014.
2. Unemployment rate improving since 2010, for all racial groups.
4. Deficit for 2018 up 60% vs. CBO January 2017 forecast for 2018, due to tax cuts.
4. Debt addition trajectory up 45% for the 2018-2027 period. We should be reducing the deficit trajectory when the economy doing well, not adding to it to enrich the few.
5. Uninsured up about 1 million from 2016-2017, the first increase in uninsured since 2010, thanks to ACA sabotage.
That said, the Obama Boom is weathering Trump's incompetence pretty well.
27
Actually the uninsured is over 24 million! So much for the "Trump economy "!!
Lots of investors who understood that Trump was poison for the nation cynically supported him out of a belief that he was beneficial for their stock portfolios. The good news is that some of those may now experience some remorse and perhaps even a belated, if ultimately temporary, sense of higher civic duty.
14
The scales may have fallen from the eyes at the state level for Wisconsin businessman Sheldon Lubar, once proud funder of that state’s little Donald, Scott Walker. After the banana Republican bloodless coup this week there, Lubar attacked Waller as a “conniver”. Maybe this suddenly found civic responsibility can grow to a national level with other similar business people you allude to, once so enamored with our know-nothing President.
1
Unforced errors are the calling cards of ideologues. The last two Republican presidents led the country into unnecessary and unwinnable wars, one in Iraq, the other on trade. They also share a lack of curiosity and substance.
32
@JD in TN--and each poured trillions from our treasury into billionaires' pockets outright through tax cuts.
15
@jb ... I'm a working guy. My paycheck went up thanks to the tax cut.
Do the math, BD, as to how the cuts breakdown. After that project, the term “chump change “ may cross your mind.
2
Very unclear writing. Why did I have to read to the 6th paragraph to find out who arrested Huawei? And even then it wasn't clear clearly stated if the arrest was made at the behest of the US, or if the extradition request was made after the fact.
15
If the Trump Administration wants to play this kind of game, I'm sure the Chinese can play along. America's business elite should be careful about going to Hong Kong (or to may African countries).
7
Not even past how the markets have dropped yet, but here's my response: GOOD.
The cyberworld of 'wealth' is a ridiculous thing. They keep saying we will be a cashless society - and I keep saying no we wont. There will always be garage sales and home-based tradespeople and cash will NEVER be extinct. The grid WILL go down, but trades and produce and the basic skills of survival will always be here.
Woe to those who rely on the "world-wide-web" as a prop - or crutch - for a real life.
Go outside! Meet some people! Stop staring at your damned computer; it's just pixels on a screen.
Like ink on paper, but more sophisticated. Basically useless in a survival situation, though.
8
You know you sound like a Luddite, right? Cash will indeed soon become a thing of the past. It is an antiquated concept. If digital commerce and banking crash, your cash won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on. Food and shelter will be the only form of acceptable exchange.
2
My former congressman Randy Hultgren (R) was claiming that Trump was responsible for the "booming" US economy. However, now I believe that Trump's economic policies are beginning to kick in and as a result destroy the the well-managed economy that Obama left us. Too bad!
138
What a way to run an economy. Into the ground. There is nobody in charge here, folks. Just a Tariff Man who knows lots of big words and the meaning of none of them.
I'm so tired of winning. This way. MASSA! Make America Sane and Solvent Again. Dump Trump and the GOP cadavers in what used to be the government.
45
@George Dietz, he doesn't know lots of big words.
SO have soybeans started shipping yet?
Thank you Donald Trump Moron in Chief.
How come we haven'theard him tweet braying about "your beautiful 401K" lately?
You can be darn sure Hannity, Giuliani, Bannon, Kushner, and all the other White House criminals made a bundle with this market shellacking.
Of course we'll never know because Trump uses his own phone to conduct business. So he can call all his fellow cons and alert them to this arrest and what the market will do.
TRUMP declared Wednesday a holiday so his buddies could get in ahead to make money. He KNEW this announcement wouldn't come until early AFTER the markets closed.
The Hell with Russian collusion....how about economic collusion?
Just like Bush handed Obama a tanked market and economy, I guess we just have to wait til the next election to get Democrats in.
I would MUCH RATHER have a 4-5% increase in the market each year than a 15% drop based on moronic tariffs and "policies".
ANd guess what folks.....Trump has not got IDEA ONE to get out of this mess......and this arrest just compounded things to the tenth power.
Come on Trump....let 's hear some more tired "Lock her up!!!" "Hillary's e-mails" or " Witch Hunt" garbage while we watch our life savings evaporate.
47
You and me both.
The market went up steadily under Obama, with minor pauses and downturns.
Like a normal market.
It soared under Trump, then fell off a cliff.
Of course the huge corporate tax cuts led to an initial surge.
And as soon,as numbers show that the economy, in the long term, hasn't grown a bit, the market will crash horribly.
7
Get used to it, this is what " winning" looks like under Trump !
29
He's faster than a demeaning tweet! More powerful than a bull in a China shop! Able to leap a toothless Congress in a single excise tax! It's a dodo bird; a stock market in a tailspin; no, it's Tariff Man. Yes, it's Tariff Man, disguised as Donald Trump, angry narcissistic businessman for a shadowy metropolitan organization who fights a never-ending battle against trade deficits while Twittering away the American dream with his mantra of "Lock her up!"
39
Trump.....Shut-up!
28
Not a week goes by when I repeat those famous words, "elections have consequences".
Don't see what the advantage is by conducting "publicity" policy. This could trigger a vicious blowback by an infuriated Xi.
3
Maybe if our president wasn't trying to "govern" (a term I use loosely) while promoting his own businesses, self interests, and deny his illegal activities, he would see his egocentric trade war is not "Making America Great Again."
Then again, when you continue to think you are the smartest person in the world ( "I have a great brain") humility is a stranger.
13
Who arrested her in Canada? Canadians? Chinese?
4
Given the 10 year bull market, common sense, history and a potential bond inversion all indicate a market correction - call it recession - is on it's way. It would be a stretch to pin the full responsibility on Trump when it arrives. But,recessions are complicated and typically painful events enough without utter foolishness such as trade wars, imbecilic tweets, and creating enemies across the globe while cuddling up to world-class thugs. Right when we need a steady hand at the helm we have instead our president, who ignores the advice of seasoned sailors and is heading with full sails directly into the eye of the storm - without a compass.
What could possibly go wrong?
85
He took the credit for the bull market that started long before him by his predecessor. He should take the responsibility for a bear under his watch.
3
I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you. Cheap price cause you're an American.
@Plumberb- it took about 5 years after the 2008 crash for the markets to correct themselves(approx. Sept. 2013). From there it went into the "Bull Market" territory. So we are indeed due for another crash, probably worse, not really only due to Trump but to all Republicans and Wall St Democrats who removed all checks on the big banks, like we had before the 2008 crash. No one who is greedy cares to learn from the past mistakes and only answers the call to pursue their greed even further, risks be damned.
I’m thinking I’ll move my retirement investments to Ativan, Xanax, Tums, and Gas-X.
23
I need an LOL button for this comment. You made me laugh!
It is very difficult to charge an officer of corporation with a crime committed by the corporation. Can charge the corporation and if found guilty they will pay a fine. In addition I don’t understand from the article the USA jurisdictional basis to make such a claim against a foreign entity
7
It feels like the Iraq War II days all over again. A manufactured problem used to justify a massive action with no real exit and no clear benefit.
This invented trade war is going to cost us another couple trillion and leave America weaker when it's over. It's bumper sticker economic policy, oversimplified by self-published ideologues to prove some point they've had stuck in their craw for two decades.
Happy holidays! This year you're getting stomach pain for Christmas.
13
@Mark China has been a 'bad actor' on trade for decades. Nobody on either side of the aisle disputes this.
But instead of building a coalition of countries to address this, with and through the WTO, Trump is of course doing it all alone and all wrong.
Sigh.
9
@Mark
Great comment mark. This arrest makes it personal, no corporate titan is safe with it's concomitant negative effects on global trade. Who will want to do business with the US? The Europeans have a better policy, take umbrage with the company, not the individuals. If I was China, I'd take a hard stand against bullying by this corporate fascist plutocracy with Trump as it's figurehead. America needs to get Trump out of the oval office as the damage he is doing to our global reputation is immense. We'll see if the Congress moves to reinstate sanity
1
Slower than a golf cart ! As powerful as Twitter ! Able to dodge drafts and income taxes with achy heels and chintzy checkbooks !
Look, down in the dumpster ! It's a Birther Liar! It's a Bankruptcy-Filer ! It's Tariffman!
Yes, it's Tariffman, strange moron from planet Prevarication, who came to Earth with Dunning-Kruger powers and abilities far below those of normal men.
Tariffman, who can ignore truth and facts, bend reality in his amoral head, and who, disguised as Donald Trump, bloviator for the nation's easily bamboozled masses, fights a never-ending battle for angry white guys who can't stand evolution, education, justice or American democracy.
Tariffman to the idiotic rescue !
144
@Socrates...if scorn can warmeth the soul then this comment is large flagon of eggnog by a roaring fire.
Delicious!
10
@Socrates This comment is so great, Socrates, you've outdone yourself--really made me laugh and from now on I will never get the image of Tariffman trundling along in his golf cart, dodging drafts and the IRS, out of my head!
Sometimes it is good to chuckle at this absurdity of a president.
9
@Socrates
Can I please recommend this 20 times? Absolutely hysterical. Thank you!
7
I have a feeling that we and China will find a happy medium, and sooner rather than later. The fear of the Fed raising interest rates prematurely is the fear for short-term investors.
Someone in SEC better check the future options trading of Jared Kushner and All the President's men to how much of a killing they made on going short.
61
Hey, Mr President! How are those sanctions working out for you?!
12
Tired of winning yet?
18
Not a peep about the stock market on Breitbart. Maybe they haven't heard.
23
Cold war cooling stocks? Duh, that's what you get one-percenters for being so gleeful about Trump. Hope he wipes you all out until you are meager and poor like the rest of us. Ha ha ha. Now, I LIKE Donald Trump.
5
@Daniel Kinske
My 401k took about a 5% hit today. Now I have about 20 years to make that up, but our senior citizens sure don't. Consider that when you cheer the fall of the stock market just to get one over on the 1%.
11
I am a teacher with a 403b and am five years out from retiring. I’ll be 65 and looking at Career #3. This is making me cringe. Thankfully my dear husband is NOT a teacher and is able to save/invest far more than I am able. Still...
1
I spent my entire career working in high tech, including many classified programs. What's bizarre about the arrest of Huawei's CFO is that this is just the wrong target, at the wrong time. What were these idiots in the WH thinking?! This will only cause huge uncertainty, stoke discontent and retaliation from China, and send the markets reeling. The reality is, a much sounder approach would be all the subtle things the US can and should be doing to shut down Chinese industrial espionage of US companies and technology (not to mention our military). But this administration is not about subtlety, is it? The consequences are not going to be pretty.
43
Making America Great Again for revolution.
7
Such a brain-dead action that will force Beijing's hands and trigger a new round of full scale trade war. This is ridiculous.
17
How about a NYT piece on who are the expected winners and losers in this continuing decline in market values? Will the losers be, per usual, the small investors, the general public or will the plutocrats feel pain. I believe there'll be no controls on Trump until the powerful, the wealthy are adversely affected.
Meanwhile, I worry how much permanent damage we ordinary folks will be left with when/if our tyrant king finally leaves the scene. Since the inauguration, every day's news feels like yet another stomp of Trump's fat foot on my neck. I'm getting an idea of what an oppressed population feels like. I feel this isn't our country anymore. We've been conquered without even one drop of blood lost and without anyone even realizing our danger. As I recall, the Dems were told be quiet and wait for Mueller. The Republicans sold us out for their tax break and at least two Supreme Court justices.
Democracies are not lost but stolen under our very eyes. Timothy Snyder spelled it out in his book "On Tyranny" written the day Trump won the election.
23
@citizen vox
The winners are the wealthy individuals and corporations, who use the millions of dollars gained from their recent tax cut, to buy bargain basement stock.
The losers are everyone else who are financing this transfer of wealth to these people and entities.
Taxes are for little people.
2
Markets tend to fall on Friday, the smart money closing out their positions to lock in profits.
Wait a minute, it's only Thursday. Uh oh!
6
Talk about "burying the lede". After the first paragraph I should know who sought to arrest this person and where. I was initially confused as to whether China did the arrest. Otherwise informative.
5
"Administration"? I use quotes, because so very little from Trump and company appears to clear the bar of having been administered. It's more like a random hall of mirrors where this fact bumps into that lie until you can't help shouting, "where the ----are we?" Our democracy is somewhere over there, far from wherever "here" is.
Dinner talks went great with China.
Next move: Arrest major Chinese businessperson.
Next move: Pay golf.
Next move, I hope, is Mueller's.
18
This is what happens when you have leaders that do not understand their actions and words have consequences. Impeach Trump!
6
As it's always been, when an administration starts stepping on the toes of the investor class, the hammer will come down.
Please start swinging soon.
13
Perhaps the economic facts have gotten simple enough for Trump's cadre, though using the word "fact" probably alienates them. Trumpeters.. when will you tumble to this man is a poseur who makes his moves based on stroking his vanity and what will benefit him financially.
6
I wonder if “Tariff Man” has read this article.
I know it is a silly question.
He doesn’t read.
11
Just following the bouncing "treasuries"....the 10-yr. treasury bond rose in value as its interest rate fell as low as 2.83% early today. Keep in mind that it was as "high" (albeit still historically low) as 3.26% one month ago. Ever since Alan Greeenspan's "conundrum" speech some 20 years ago, the 10-yr bond has become the depositary for the world's excess cash (i.e. Russian oligarchs, Saudi princes, Chinese state sponsored billionaires) as our treasury market is still perceived to be the safest haven in the world. That's where the stock-selloff proceeds have gone. Of course, with a record amount of margin debt, leverage and sky-high PE ratios, further drops will cause margin calls which will result in more selloffs, etc. And of course, Trump has no clue, no clue whatsoever.
12
Trump appears to be modeling his foreign policy
on how North Korea conducts theirs.
Neither rhyme nor reason need apply.
Destabilization is the only constant.
Works great in a dictatorship.
Not really suited for a democracy,
unless you're intent on reducing it
to a dictatorship.
When people feel they've no response left
but to throw their hands in the air
at your brand of "leadership",
well, you've got their hands in the air.
25
The Bankruptcy-Filer-In-Chief is starting to hit his stride.
It always takes time for Grand Old Poison to kick in....but it's kicking in.
This is what tends to happen when Americans rig a right-wing moron into the Oval Office.
The Party of Stupid stands tall, proud....and unusually clueless.
157
Fear of a cold war should not be a concern as long as the we are treating the issue at a level that is warranted.
We need to continue to strive to have good relations with China but we should not be willing to be bullied or intimidated for no just reason.
In other words we must be fair and simoutaneously hold to our principles.
We are no longer the only big guy on the block.
5
This arrest exemplifies the strategic bind our president has drawn us into with his arrogant blundering. Since inauguration, he has alternated between fawning on Chinese leadership and sabre rattling against China. Now we are left with a tactical choice: do we further signal antagonism to China by bringing this executive to trial here in the U.S., or do we allow China to interfere with our justice system, and send her home? Either way we pay a strategic cost.
So, we have a choice between looking even weaker than this dope has already made us, or following him into more conflict with China. Place this in a context in which the U.S. has systematically weakened alliances, torn up treaties, antagonized rivals (and then folded against them), and ignored tactical advances in China, and Russia.
My magic eight ball tells me the outlook is cloudy. I'm thinking maybe I'll join Elon and emigrate to Mars, if the option comes up, because Earth is looking pretty sketchy.
50
No one who reads now and then would call himself 'Tariff Man'.
27
@Doug Fuhr
But he has the best words.
2
That's completely unfair. There's ample evidence that President Trump reads the crawler on Fox and Friends.
12
@Fremont Probably true, General. What one reads (and hears) on Fox is not likely to send one in the same direction as a more general learning program might.
1
Chaos, confusion, fear and massive dishonesty. The signature tenets of the Trump administration. Perfect for a positive market and business environment. Right?
91
How strong can the economy be if it's supposedly swayed by the arrest of one person?
34
@Liam: This particular "one person" is a senior executive of the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, a company that provides equipment to 90% of the largest telecommunications service providers in the world.
Huawei is also a *very* important and powerful company, in China, with a close relationship to the government.
What we have here is one person whose arrest could easily cause big trouble for big economies.
26
To build on your point, for all the reasons you brought out, the arrest of this one person is taken as a signal indicating the larger probabilities of conflict with China over trade. This is the bread and butter of market players.
8
@Douglas So, why didn't her arrest just affect telecommunication companies? An economy affected by one person--irrespective of who they are--is a straw man. According to your logic, the whole movie industry should have collapsed when Harvey Weinstein was arrested?
2
Trump tweets, and markets lose trillions.
Trillion-dollar tweets.
Twillions. By Twump. The Twillion-dollar tweeter.
40
@Toms Quill This is a brilliant comment! Let's face it, by any standards whatsoever, even Elmer Fudd would be a vewy, vewy better pwesident than Twump!
3
@Toms Quill
Time to give Tweetie the bird.
1
So who is Trump going to blame for this?
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@EW
Don’t you know? It’s Hillary’s fault.
wow - so much winning.
51
Funny that the NY Times says that the reason for arrest is not known. Here's your new source of information
Meng Wanzhou arrested on suspicion of violating trade sanctions against Iran: report
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-huawei-arrest-cfo-1.4934269
18
Yes, and we're about to learn how the world's second-largest economy feels about the US treating its nationals as criminals for "violating" unilaterally-imposed trade sanctions against a third country.
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@Douglas PM Trudeau says the arrest was not politically motivated. Hmmmm. Not happy to see us cowtowing to US political will.
1
Mueller, hurry up!!
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@Alex
I second that!
"Trump Economics" is on display for all to see. Ignoring the beyond-stupid tax cut for a strong economy to juice the markets in time for an election, or tariffs to appease his followers of bumper sticker length economic policies, we now move onto arresting those he doesn’t like. It was just a matter of time …
38
But I thought trade wars were good and easy to win. Isn't that what the Tariff Man said when this all started?
118
This is what happens when a clueless president appoints clueless "experts" to key economic and strategic positions.
Trickle down tax cuts, anyone? Start a tariff war with our trading partners and allies? Threaten to cancel NAFTA? Let the TPP go on ahead without us? (yes i know Hillary opposed it!)
If America doesn't wake up from this nightmare within 2 years, there will be nothing left to reverse.
83
The phrase 'tipping point' has quickly become part of this era's lexicon. We are now witnessing the effect in action. This could be the card that causes the whole house to fall down.
While I've been worried about the financial house for a while, I now have growing concerns about the whole neighbourhood.
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@Karl Gauss The same might be said of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand for WWI. People are going to take sides. The economy is so shaky with Trump doing stupid stuff it might not take much to set off major rumblings.
9
@Karl Gauss
I was taking about all of the tipping points we are creating back in 2011.
The environment is at a tipping point, with global warming threatening to unleash accelerated global warming by melting sea ice, and possible releasing large stores of methane.
Our Republic is at a tipping point, with global corporations buying up our politicians, who keep doing the opposite of what the Constitution says. Trump just cut out the middleman to accelerate that process.
The internet can either be a force for greater democracy or a giant vacuum storing or data to be used against critics of corporate government.
DNA editing is spinning out of control with the ability to create entirely new organisms, whose actual affects on other life is impossible to predict, since we have a far from complete understanding of how DNA actually works or more the many proteins it creates interact. We know enough to do crazy things, but we don't really know enough to avoid disaster.
Nuclear war, narrowly avoided in the past, is becoming more likely now with the U.S. and Russia building medium range and tactical nukes which are more tempting to use, not to mention smaller countries figuring out how to make nukes work. And far too many people, mostly on the right, talk casually about nuking North Korea or the Middle East without considering the fact that these countries are far too close to Russia China, India, and Israel to nuke without them launching their their nukes.
That would solve everything.