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    I'm Not Remotely Worried About a Federal Weed Crackdown

    By , Defense + Tech Specialist, Money Morning • @Robinson_STI -

    There aren't many U.S. Department of Justice officials who would be "rock stars" anywhere, period, let alone at a San Jose legal cannabis industry expo.

    But I'm here to tell you: There was such a star in our midst at this conference...

    I'm talking about former Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole.

    Back in 2013, he was the No. 2 official at the Justice Department who authored the now-famous "Cole Memo."

    That memorandum ordered federal agents to leave states with legalized marijuana well enough alone - as long as they had adopted a clear regulatory framework for doing so. The landmark memo gave the states and federal law enforcement a kind of legal modus vivendi for regulated cannabis, allowing each party to "look the other way."

    The memo was instrumental in helping a multibillion-dollar legal weed sector take root and thrive.

    So it's no surprise that, as a keynote speaker at the Cannabis Business Summit & Expo in San Jose July 25-27, Cole was treated like a conquering hero.

    I had the chance to catch up with him privately beforehand to hear what he had to say...

Article Index

I'm Not Remotely Worried About a Federal Weed Crackdown

By , Defense + Tech Specialist, Money Morning • @Robinson_STI -

There aren't many U.S. Department of Justice officials who would be "rock stars" anywhere, period, let alone at a San Jose legal cannabis industry expo.

But I'm here to tell you: There was such a star in our midst at this conference...

I'm talking about former Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole.

Back in 2013, he was the No. 2 official at the Justice Department who authored the now-famous "Cole Memo."

That memorandum ordered federal agents to leave states with legalized marijuana well enough alone - as long as they had adopted a clear regulatory framework for doing so. The landmark memo gave the states and federal law enforcement a kind of legal modus vivendi for regulated cannabis, allowing each party to "look the other way."

The memo was instrumental in helping a multibillion-dollar legal weed sector take root and thrive.

So it's no surprise that, as a keynote speaker at the Cannabis Business Summit & Expo in San Jose July 25-27, Cole was treated like a conquering hero.

I had the chance to catch up with him privately beforehand to hear what he had to say...

How We Can Get Out of the Tariff Tantrum "Box"

By , Technical Trading Specialist, Money Morning • @DRBarton_Stocks -

Tariff

Last week, I showed you a chart that revealed a key support and resistance zone at the top of the "tariff trouble penalty box" we were trapped in.

I said that, thanks to a just-right "Goldilocks" employment report, we were poised to break out of the box to the upside.

And indeed, that's exactly what happened...

... until we were walloped by more tariffs.

But, like many of the tariff announcement reactions of the past couple of months, the markets only did a brief one-day drop - more of a "wiggle" - down.

Of course, I have some charts to show you, including one that I think shows us getting back to some higher ground in the near term...

Markets Are in a Tariff "Penalty Box"… For Now

By , Technical Trading Specialist, Money Morning • @DRBarton_Stocks -

DR Barton

Following week two of the latest round of tariff troubles, our Technical Trading Specialist believes that the markets are momentarily in a tariff "penalty box" and that they're far from believing the world will erupt into an all-out trade war.

In fact, we've been in this situation before...

Here Are Some "Rated A+" Long-Term Holds for Very Dicey Markets

By , Managing Editor, Money Morning -

Keith Fitz-Gerald

Our Chief Investment Strategist recently sat down with Bill Patalon to name some of his favorite stocks to buy and hold long-term for superior returns during these particularly dicey markets.

Watch their latest video for all the details...

Why I Know the "Tariff Tantrums" Will Blow Over

By , Technical Trading Specialist, Money Morning • @DRBarton_Stocks -

"Tariff tantrums"

Here are a few things markets don't like:

Geopolitical leadership that doesn't follow a logical path

Uncertainty of any kind

The prospect of contracting economies

On Monday, we got truckloads of all three. And they all came from the trade war news headlines.

The effect was self-reinforcing - and profound.

There was no shortage of illogical geopolitical leadership on display: The U.S. and Chinese presidents (with some European Union officials thrown into the fray for good measure) exchanged barbs about tariffs that sounded more like pregame locker-room posturing than international statesmanship.

And, as we've seen, when emotion enters the process, traders and investors get worried that it could add to the uncertainty.

And one pithy quote sums up the uncertainty the markets felt yesterday.

The Wall Street Journal reported a quote from President Xi of China: "In the West you have the notion that if somebody hits you on the left cheek, you turn the other cheek," Xi said in the report, according to people briefed on his remarks. "In our culture, we punch back."

A biblical analogy: Check.

Open-ended, ominous threat: Check.

That's the height of uncertainty.

Of course, at the root of all this is the prospect of contracting economies. That's the ultimate goal of a trade war, after all - to do such damage to the "other guy's" economy that they blink first. 

If tariffs stick (and tens of billions of dollars' worth are already in force), we'll see the real economic slowdown. Goods will become more expensive for consumers, so they'll buy less of them. Pretty simple stuff from that perspective.

And so, with that triumvirate of market-rocking news, the major U.S. indexes had their biggest down day since...

...The last tariff tantrum on May 29th.

So the big question before every investor this week is: Is this all coincidence? Or is the "Trump growth" narrative asserting its dominance?

I think it's the latter, and I'll show you why that's important with a few charts here...

How to Cash In on the Transatlantic "Split" That's Got Nothing to Do with Trump's Tweets

By , Managing Editor, Money Morning -

Trump’s Tweets

Of course, last week, on June 6, the West marked the 74th anniversary of the allied "D-Day" landings in Normandy, France.

This anniversary, though, was capped off by a G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada.

Right now, relations - at least, on the surface - between the modern Western allies are mighty frosty, dominated by Twitter and press conference feuds between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.S. President Donald Trump, largely over the subject of the multilateral trade war breaking out over protectionist tariffs. Of course, they've largely kept quiet on social media, but it's no secret British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel aren't thrilled with Trump's positions, either.

I'm hard-pressed to recall any recent G7 (maybe call this "G6+1") meeting as tense as this one, though a few probably come close.

On the other hand, dispassionate observation and analysis of market action tell us that all this hostility and discord has been baked into prices - discounted.

But our Capital Wave Strategist, Shah Gilani, is watching a "split" of sorts beginning to open up between the United States and the European Union - one that's got nothing to do with politics or soundbites and everything to do with... growth.

I caught up with him to get filled in on the details, but he did me one better...

He told me how to play this emerging situation that's coming and going - there are going to be some pretty big swings...

Trump or Kim Could Cancel the Summit (Again) Tomorrow, and It Wouldn't Change My Outlook on These Winners

By , Executive Editor, Money Morning • @privatebrief -

deal with north korea

Back in April, our Bill Patalon warned you that Kim Jong Un was like a real-life "Goodfella," and since then, there's been a lot of tense back-and-forth over the June 12 summit in Singapore.

Regardless of whether it will happen or not, Bill has become even more bullish on these picks...

The Truth About That $20 Billion Boeing "Lost" When Trump Pulled Out of the Iran Deal

By , Executive Editor, Money Morning • @privatebrief -

Boeing

From the very first episode, I've dug "Mythbusters," the popular Discovery Channel TV series in which special-effects wizards Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman used the scientific method to prove or "bust" urban legends, myths, rumors, movie scenes, and even current news stories.

Well, there's another sequence of myths making the rounds right now about one of the best stocks you can buy.

So, tongue firmly in cheek, I thought it might be instructive (and fun) for us try our hand at mythbusting, with me as the "host."

So here is the myth, broadly stated...

"Boeing will lose as much as $20 billion in aircraft deals as Trump pulls the United States out of the Iran nuclear pact... and that loss will clobber Boeing."

While I'm having fun "hosting" this "episode," I'm dead serious about a critical examination of these media claims to determine whether they're factual reporting... or yet another cluster of "media myths" aimed at The Boeing Co.

There are three key reasons why this is so important:

Boeing is a longtime Private Briefing favorite and a dynamite outperformer, too. This stock has zoomed as much as 500% since I first recommended it to my subscribers at about $62 back in September 2011. Even after a pullback (before the Iran news broke), the stock is still at $344, a 455% gain - not including dividends.

I've seen these types of scare headlines before - directed at Boeing by journalists who are going for the drama of the disaster du jour, though they clearly don't "get it" in terms of what's really going on. And with each of these - the "Boeing Dreamliner Scare," for instance, and again more recently, with the Southwest Air Flight 1380 incident - those media folks were flat-out wrong.

And most important of all, we believe Boeing continues to be a great long-term growth play - which is why it's on Private Briefing's "Super 10" list of stocks to accumulate when prices go down.

With massive potential future gains on the line, let's investigate whether all the assertions of "catastrophic damage" to Boeing's top-line prospects hold water or not...

Here's What to Know About the 10-Year Treasury Yield

By , Managing Editor, Money Morning -

Right now, some of the market's biggest tech leaders are getting ready to report earnings, but there's a big deal of concern over the 10-year Treasury yield.

That's why our Keith Fitz-Gerald is here to tell you everything you need to know about it...

Two D.C. Developments Look Great for Pot Stocks

By , Defense + Tech Specialist, Money Morning • @Robinson_STI -

Pot stocks

As members of Congress burned the midnight oil to pass a $1.3 trillion budget bill by their March 23 deadline, they attached a recurring "rider" that bans the U.S. Department of Justice from using funds to interfere with medical marijuana in states that have legalized it.

U.S. President Donald Trump went on to sign that $1.3 trillion spending measure, which protects medical marijuana businesses through at least Sept. 30. And this time he didn't include a signing statement reserving his right to ignore that rider, which he did last May.

In other words, we just got another "green light" from Washington.

Now, this isn't exactly a slam dunk for the industry: Some lawmakers wanted to extend these protections to cover recreational marijuana as well, but the U.S. House Rules Committee blocked that effort along a party-line vote on March 21.

Still, these moves by federal lawmakers give you a sense of their seriousness here...

Leading Economist: Don't Bet Your Holiday Budget on a Rational U.S. Government

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

U.S. Government

This top economist says Americans shouldn't risk their holiday budgets on a rational U.S. government.

That's because Congress is facing a fiscal crisis on two fronts.

Here's a look at what's ahead for the national debt ceiling crunch and government spending, plus a profit play in case there's a near-term market pullback...

Congress Spent Your Tax Dollars on Sexual Harassment Settlements

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @DavidGZeiler -

Your Tax Dollars

Members of Congress accused of sexual harassment have used your tax dollars to pay for settlements to the victims.

And to make matters worse, confidentiality requirements ensured that the Congressmen responsible remained anonymous - and safe from any negative consequences.

But the recent revelations of sexual harassment against high-profile lawmakers like Rep, John Conyers and Sen. Al Franken have uncovered this unseemly practice.

Here's what's been revealed so far...

Why the Latest Tax Reform Plan Is "Fake News"

By , Capital Wave Strategist, Money Morning • @WallStreet_II -

Tax reform

The truth is, the GOP's sweeping plan to overhaul the U.S. tax code - the plan to create jobs and lighten the tax burden on America's wage-earning workers - is insulting.

That's because the justification for the cuts is based on hoary, old, fake tax policy narratives like: "Higher taxes on the rich hurt the economy," and "tax cuts for the rich trickle down," or "U.S. corporate taxes are the highest in the world," and "lowering taxes will bring outsourced jobs back home."

Besides being fake, nothing in any of these narratives addresses the new American economy, where more income is earned by companies and wealthy individuals through capital than through labor.

When you understand that, you'll see why income and wealth gaps are increasing all over the United States.

What's more, you'll see that the real, workable solution is in fact a few simple tax and tax-cutting ideas that actually spread the wealth.

Here's what I mean...

How Congress Could Make the Fed Even Worse for the U.S. Economy

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

Congress

Congress wants control over the Federal Reserve, even though the economy has never been its strong suit.

But the real reason Congress shouldn't be anywhere near the Fed? Western culture.

Here's what we mean...

The Koch Brothers Are Steering Trump's Tax Reform Policy

By , Money Morning -

Koch brothers

The Koch brothers' vast monied lobbying network is going to take on tax reform next week.

They'll be hosting a party for White House GOPers on Monday.

But this "party" is just a ploy to reshape America's tax code...

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