MONDAY 9/8/14; Ukraine Cease-Fire; Scotland Independence

Japan’s GDP drops to -7.1% versus the prior reading and expectation at -6.8%; the weakest number since early 2009. The contraction is far worse than expected. Japan remains very ill. Private consumption falls. Japan, China and Taiwan markets are shut down due to the Mid-Autumn Festival and other Asian stocks trade on light volume. The dollar/yen remains buoyant above 105.10. SoftBank, a major holder of Alibaba stock, gains +2% as the hype around the BABA IPO increase





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 weak especially oil-related companies but tech and small caps lead higher.

TRAN drops -0.3% despite oil prices dropping. Brent oil slips under 100 today but recovers. WTIC crude oil is down -0.3% but well off the low print at 91.80; a 91 handle. The drop in oil creates an ugly day in the oil patch. OIH -1.8%. XOM -1.5%. CVX -0.9%. NBR collapses -3.4%. DO -1.3%. RIG -0.9%. Energy companies are whacked across the board. XLE -1.6%.

After the closing bell, FB trades at 78 at a new all-time high with market cap exceeding $200 billion. General Mills announces plans to buy Annie’s for $820 million so BNNY launches -37% and GIS trades slightly higher. PBY drops after disappointing on earnings. FCEL loses -10% after earnings. EBAY announces plans to allow the use of the digital currency bitcoin for payments on PayPal.

Marin Cilic defeats Kei Nishikori to win the US Open tennis tournament his first grand slam victory. The Croatian will try to capitalize on the win and build sponsorships. The sponsors such as NKE backing the favored players go home empty-handed.

President Obama will not improve his dropping approval ratings after saying that he was not referring to ISIL (ISIS) when he made the JV team comment a few weeks ago. In the States, the JV team is junior varsity where the weaker players and underclassman compete. The star players compete at the varsity level. The president said ISIS is JV insinuating that the terror group is not a concern and poses no significant thread. He greatly miscalculated and Iraq has now descended into chaos.

Instead of the president admitting a mistake by underestimating the ISIS threat, he narcissistically tries to twist the statement to rewrite history. This behavior destroys his credibility. Previous Whitehouse staffers say that the threat of ISIS was known over one year ago but the president remains without a strategy or plan. Instead of trying to twist words and rearrange lies, the president needs to put the golf clubs away and develop a plan and confident road ahead so the country can rally behind him.