The semi cycle is getting weak, but the main reason for the overall weakness is the government messing around with the market between tariffs and threats of Internet regulation it makes you wonder if Republicans are running things down there.

Sadly people in Washington don't understand, a good portion of foreign aid goes right back to the US in military spending and Europe etc. spend money on US defense products. Our actions to alienate our allies is making them develop and buy their own military equipment which is adverse to our defense industries and economy. Eventually they will compete in this field making the situation worse for the US. The long term consequences of these actions will be felt for decades.

It is very sad to see Republicans adding political risk to stock investing. It is equally sad to see some companies willing to be political about things that have nothing to do with their business. It is a strange time indeed. I don't blame Google for not being in Washington. I agree, lawyers, lobbyists, politicians should be there. It is useless to send a statistician or a mathematician to a senate hearing to explain how search works and why their search is not biased. This is literally why Google is such a success.

Don't destroy American dominance with political horse pucky.

They don't engage in buy and hold strategies because they make money off of trading and mutual funds. The real wealthy still engage in buy and hold primarily because they bought and made profit and to sell would cost them dearly in income tax. Buy and hold gets more valuable the longer you hold it if you are careful about what you apply this strategy to.

No, however, steep run ups usually come to an end and moderate over time. There is good reason for the run up. Housing is flat lining so new money is going into stocks. Inflation and rates are picking up so people are moving money out of bonds. And eventually the stock market may buckle, however, it most likely will be because of global trade wars and/or meltdown by third world countries. Always keep your eyes open and don't fall for end of the world calls without a good spark to ignite a mass change in demeanor.

Last, watch earnings. This is the biggest indicator of the direction of the stock market.

Truth hardly matters to Trump, that we know. Google, Facebook, and the rest will just deal with Trump. Unfortunately it puts downward pressure on the valuations, however, as long as they keep performing financially it is fine.

The issue brought up at the last Anti trust that Google dealt with was Apple was a competitor. It is in the fact Google dishes out a lot of money to Apple to get access to their phones. The simple fact is Google doesn't have strong search competitors is because they are not biased and does a good job helping people see what they are looking for. If they were as critics say they were there would be numerous competing search engines built around various points of view much like the media.

Trump's issue is an issue of the media which appeals to their interest groups they cater to much like Fox caters to the interest group that follows them. He should focus on them. If he has a big issue with Google that means he is losing not just the majority but large parts of the minority. Google can't and shouldn't cater to the small extreme groups at the loss of their current unbiased search parameters.

There can be concern about Google, however, Facebook, Twitter, and all the other social media will get slammed long before Google because they have a narrower following and thus an arguably more biased leaning. It is an inevitable result of market forces on media. One can not wish away reality. Trump can improve his ratings by actually caring about the population and not doing things that purposely disrupt the status quo on a whim.

Soft dollar policy is where you let your currency slip so prior dent devalues and your exports get cheaper. It is what China did a while back although right now it is fighting to keep their currency up which negates the Chinese currency manipulation argument some propose. This usually includes increasing deficits (which we are), lowering interest rates and engaging in QE, and talking down the currency.

Emerging market liquidity has been dropping as a few countries head into hyper inflation. This is to be expected.

Good stat to note. The good news is housing prices are leveling off, however, since it is artificially undervalued by the Fed it will not be that much of a benefit against inflation. As the trade war rages on, inflation will get worse. Then Trump will rally against the Federal Reserve for raising rates which it should do. I hope he is forced to pick up a book on economics sometime.

100% agreed. It is going higher and higher with or without increased US demand. Global demand is growing and oil development can't keep up. This is a precious commodity and is being used as if it's sea water.