Bonus Headline of the Day

In theory, the market should rally on this one. It'll test our currently cautious near-term assessment:

"President Donald Trump and leading Democratic lawmakers agreed that $2 trillion were needed for a plan to overhaul U.S. infrastructure..."

Headline of the Day

In case you're wondering what's ailing the market this morning (Dow down 130), here you go:

This Morning's Log Entry: In No Mood to Rally -- And, Alas!, THE Existential Economic/Market Risk

The Dow future contract was up 100 points in the premarket on McDonald’s earnings beat, however, since the open it’s been vacillating around the flat line. GE also just posted an earnings beat, and while MCD has already come back down to earth, GE is still up 7% as I type.

Google missed its number after the close yesterday, which is weighing heavy on the stock this morning, Apple reports after the close tonight.

This Morning's Log Entry: Not Alone In Our Cautious 'Near-Term' Assessment

Huge week this week in terms of earnings announcements (AAPL, GOOG, and tons more), the Fed and data!

Earnings Season Signals

While Q1 earnings season has a ways yet to run, enough companies have reported at this point for us to begin gleaning general market signals from the results.

Hoping We Avoid "A World of Pain"

Believe me, it is my sincere hope that we'll soon be able to dispense with our intense focus herein on the present state of international trade relations. 

Otherwise, as Asia Society Policy Institute president Kevin Rudd states at the end of the 2-minute video clip below:

This Week's Message: Still A Mixed Picture

I think the best way to describe my current read on the vast array of economic and market-related data that we track week in and week out is (as it was a month ago) simply "mixed".