THURSDAY 8/18/16; China Property Prices; Brent Oil Tags 51; WTIC Oil Above 48; BONT; HRL; TTC; WMT; CSIQ; JKS; TSL; Philly Fed; Leading Indicators; GPS; ROST

Asia indexes begin the session trading lower. NIKK -0.5%. Topix -0.6%. Straits Times -0.3%. ASX 200 -0.4%. Aussie dollar 0.7670. Australia employment rises a big 











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American families feel that have loved ones held in foreign prisons? Why does President Obama choose to pay ransom to release some Americans but not pay ransom to release others? Those families deserve an explanation. The country’s moral compass is broken.

Fed’s Kaplan says the economy and markets are a “challenging time.” Kaplan says the Fed has room to raise rates, however, the rate hikes would be very slow and gradual.