The KUIK Morning Market Report for Wednesday, December 21:
Markets are down.
Index
Direction
Change
Units
Time
Dow
Down
(5)
points
19,970
6:58 AM
S&P500
Down
-0.1%
percent
2,269
Nasdaq Composite
Down
-0.1%
percent
5,477
30 Year Treasury
Down
(1)
Basis Points
3.14
Annual Yield
Italy’s parliament has approved a government request for a €20 billion bailout fund will be used to guarantee liquidity in the banking system and support several of the country’s lenders that are crumbling under bad loans. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena estimates it will run out of liquidity in four months instead of the previously estimated 11. The bank is the world’s oldest and Italy’s third largest. It has been asked to raise €5 billion in fresh capital by the end of December or risk being closed by European regulators. The bank has only raised 500 million, raising expectations of a bailout as soon as this week.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Tuesday warned the incoming Trump economic team and the new Republican Congress they should not ignore how their tax cut plans impact the federal budget deficit. “Because if you open a big fiscal gap, the only way to close it is to cut spending or raise taxes,” Lew said. The budget deficit widened 34% to $587 billion in the 2016 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the first increase in five years.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
