GDP 4Q17 Estimate Up Again -- January 18, 2018

Europe running scared. This is a huge story and will be seen by few, over at Bloomberg.
France wants joint banking-union proposals with Germany in March. Why now? One reason: the Trump tax bill. Do you need proof?

[Germany's acting finance minister] praised the French government’s efforts to cut its budget deficit and reform its economy. The acting German finance minister also said that Europe had to react to U.S. plans to overhaul its tax system, noting that companies are likely to undertake a massive shift in funds from abroad as a result.

Gee, do you think that the lower US corporate tax rate had any effect on this?

This is good news for another reason: the "synchronized global economy." Seriously. CNBC won't call "it" the Trump rally. Instead they call the stock market surge due to the "synchronized global economy." Well, if France-Germany cut corporate tax rates because of Trump -- that can't be all bad.

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GDP

GDP Now: Latest forecast: 3.4 percent — January 18, 2018. Link here.

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2017 is 3.4 percent on January 18, up from 3.3 percent on January 12.

The fourth-quarter forecast of real consumer spending growth increased from 3.8 percent to 4.0 percent after Wednesday's industrial production release from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

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Government Shut-Down

The only thing that the government shut down really affects:

• parks
• museums

If the government shuts down, the national parks in North Dakota will close. I assume that makes the refinery issue in Belfield a moot point. No park, no reason to worry about whether the refinery can be seen from the park or not.

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Best Business Optic Every Day

Best business optic: when Rick Santelli schools Steve Liesman on CNBC. And it happens every, every day. Steve Liesman still can't give any credit to Trump. He's become a parody of himself. Steve still argues that repatriation is not guaranteed. While he's babbling about that, CNBC cuts to Rick Santelli, who says, "They should have asked Steve about 'inversions." Since Trump has come in as president, "no one is talking about inversions."

Great smack down.

If Steve is investing in line with his political views, he has missed one of the biggest bull markets in US history.