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Tuesday August 11, 2015

// August 11th, 2015 // Comments Off on Tuesday August 11, 2015 // Daily News

Wall Street under pressure after China weakens currency

CNBC.com
U.S. stock index futures indicated a sharply lower open on Tuesday after the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) allowed the yuan to depreciate almost 2 percent against the U.S. dollar, pushing the currency to suffer its biggest fall in over two decades.
The central bank’s surprising move, which it described as a “one-off depreciation” moved the renminbi’s daily peg against the dollar from 6.2298 renminbi against the U.S. dollar, down from 6.1162 on Monday.
The move sent shock waves through currency markets, with analysts seeing the move as the latest aggressive step in the so-called global currency wars.
“Over the last two years, since the Taper Tantrum summer, the yuan has dropped 3 percent against the dollar, but the yen’s fallen 23 percent, the Euro 18 percent, and other Asian currencies have fallen by between 5 percent and 25 percent,” said Kit Juckes, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Societe Generale.
“Relative to those moves, the Chinese adjustment is a token move that won’t do anything to stop the economic slowdown. Whether or not the PBoC intends this to be the start of a series of steps towards a more competitive currency, the domino effect to weaker commodity prices and weaker currencies across EM and resource exporters will be hard to stop,” he added.
European stocks traded lower, with the French CAC and the German DAX both down over 1 percent after the news.
Markets will also be digesting the unexpected news from Google which announced after the close Monday that it will become part of a new publicly traded entity called Alphabet. Shares will still trade under the tickers GOOGL and GOOG. Both classes of the stock jumped more than 6 percent in after-hours trade.
On the data front, preliminary unit labor costs figures for the second quarter at 8:30 a.m. ET and wholesale trade data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET
Earnings from and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers are due before market open. Towers Watson reported quarterly results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom line.
Oil will likely remain a major factor for markets after dollar weakness and a refinery outage helped crude rally nearly 2.5 percent from a near five-month low early Monday. Brent crude was down 88 cents at $49.53, while U.S. crude fell $1.10 to trade at $43.86.

Today’s Inspiration

Exercise Self-Control

by Joyce Meyer – posted August 11, 2015

Adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), and in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), and in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
– 2 Peter 1:5–7

Does the thought of mowing the lawn get you discouraged? Do you think, Oh man, I wish I didn’t have to mow the lawn today. I really dread it. I wish I could just go shopping or do something fun. If so, you’re not abnormal. We are all tempted to think like that, but the good news is God has given you the spirit of self-control and you can choose what you will think about any situation (see 2 Timothy 1:7). You can also choose to do what you know is right no matter how you feel at the moment.

Dale Carnegie said, “You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. “We can conquer worry and fear, and we can also conquer dread. God has given us a spirit of self-control; all we have to do is exercise it and we will experience freedom from fear and dread.

Lord, I thank You that I don’t have to live bound by what I feel about situations. Strengthen my mind and thoughts with the power of Your Word. Amen.

Monday August 10, 2015

// August 10th, 2015 // Comments Off on Monday August 10, 2015 // Daily News

Warren Buffett: Trump won’t be a flash in the pan

CNBC.com
Warren Buffett said Monday that fellow billionaire Donald Trump has a solid base of support in the race for the Republican presidential nomination that seems unshakable by the real estate mogul’s controversial comments.
Trump will have a block of delegates when the convention arrives, but with the huge field of GOP candidates, it’s possible no one will have a majority, Buffett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in an interview.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if [Trump] maintained a quite a solid base for some time,” Buffett said—adding that he won’t run out of money.
Trump’s latest controversial comments were about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, following Thursday’s GOP debate.
According to the latest NBC News Online Poll conducted by SurveyMonkey, however, Trump remains at the top of the list of GOP candidates among would-be Republican primary voters.
The overnight poll was conducted for 24 hours from Friday evening into Saturday.
Buffett—a Democrat and supporter of Hillary Clinton—called the GOP race so far a “spectator sport.” He declined to say which Republican he’d like to see Clinton face in the general election.
“If I gave that prediction it would be sort of a kiss of death for the candidate,” Buffett joked—saying he’d like Clinton “to run against the whole field.”

Today’s Inspiration

Listen Carefully

by Joyce Meyer – posted August 10, 2015

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you the more [besides] will be given to you who hear.
– Mark 4:24

The Bible says that in the latter days many false prophets will rise up and tell people what their itching ears want to hear. People will search for one teacher after another who will tell them something pleasing and gratifying. To suit their own desires, they will turn away from hearing the Truth and will wander off into listening to myths and man-made fiction (see 2 Timothy 4:3–4). They will turn to methods that may be called “spiritual,” but are not safe in God’s Kingdom. They are “spiritual,” but they come from the wrong spirit!

Never before have we seen such an influx of psychics vying for a ready ear. Television shows feature mediums who claim to communicate with people who have died. These people are actually communicating with familiar spirits who tell half-truths about the past and lies about the future. This is strictly forbidden in Scripture (see Leviticus 19:31). God says He will set His face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists (see Leviticus 20: 6–7), yet Christians still read horoscopes and consult psychics—then wonder why they live in confusion and don’t have peace.

We must realize that it is wrong to seek guidance for our lives through anything other than God Himself. In fact, our seeking guidance through other sources offends Him. No one who does so will have the peaceful, joy-filled, blessed life God intended.

If you have been involved in activity of this kind, I urge you to thoroughly repent; ask God to forgive you; and turn away completely from such practices. God alone has all the answers you need, so go to Him and let Him give you the guidance and encouragement you need.