Tuesday Homestretch

Not sure if “Homestretch” will be everyday.  I originally thought about sending a market preview every morning and then random content during the session, but people tell me they are so inundated with morning notes that the weird shit I try to have hit pre-open is a pleasant departure, and then anything that resembles mkt commentary is more readable after lunch.

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So that is what this kind of is… Just a blurb on how things are doing, and then some shit to look at while the clock grinds to a halt between 2 and 4.  I’ll try to get this out maybe 2 or 3 times a week if there is demand.

Volumes today have picked up after yesterday’s lag, but stocks flat to lower after 2 days of solid performance.  SBUX amongst the losers, down 2% after announcing that Howard Schulz was leaving his post as chairman, possibly to start a political career, and maybe run for president… and why not, I guess.  At one point there was a newspaper headline when Schwarzenegger took over for Trump on “The Apprentice” that read “Former Action-Film Star/Turned Governor of California Replaces Reality Show Host/Turned President of the United States” and no one batted an eye.  So why not elect the guy who changed the meaning of the word “Venti” to the highest post in the land?

Kate Spade apparently took a self-inflicted report earlier… I immediately tweeted, “If you think her bags were expensive, wait’ll you see the coffin!” because I am an asshole.  Coach bought Kate Spade last year for $2.4 billion’ish, so Coach shares (TPR) took a hit following the tragic news about a billionaire hanging herself with a thousand dollar scarf… I am an asshole again.

News story I found most interesting so far today is Mexico coming back over the fucking top at the US after Trump dropped NAFTA-cucking tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum imports.  And Mexico is doing it by demanding their own pound of flesh from one US product in particular… Pork legs.

Loins, ribs, and bacon are the more popular cuts of pork in the US, so we ship a fair amount of the less-tender butts and shoulders to Mexico, because those sons of bitches can take the toughest cuts of any animal and make it into a delicious taco filling using only a cigarette lighter and a hubcap.  As a result, Mexico’s overall pork imports in 2017 totaled about 840,000 metric tons.

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These tariffs are set to go in affect as soon as tomorrow, with the only downside for the Mexican consumer being the price of pork may go up if officials are unable to secure non-tariffed trade agreements elsewhere.  As a result, Victor Manuel Ochoa, chief executive of top Mexican pork producer Granjas Carroll, said he would support a temporary import deal for Brazilian pork legs, which I believe is beneficial on the production end since Brazilians are nice enough to wax pork legs all the way up to, and then all the way around, the pig’s vagina.

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Take a report.

-Large