Good Evening, Friday I said there was a lot of uncertainty regarded the trade sanctions placed on China. One of the questions I posed was “would there be give and take as there was with earlier sanctions on steel and aluminum”. That question was answered when U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Sunday he believed Washington could reach agreement with China on some issues but tariffs would not be put on hold “unless we have an acceptable agreement that the president signs off on.” Trade officials from both Washington and Beijing reportedly were holding closed-door discussions in order to iron out terms of a bi-lateral deal that could avert a back-and-forth battle of trade tariffs and import restrictions after last week’s decision by President Trump to target up to $60 billion in China-made goods as part of his broader “America First” economic strategy. “As President Trump said, we’re not afraid of a trade war, but that’s not our objective,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Fox News on Sunday, March 25. “We’re having very productive conversations with (China). I’m cautiously hopeful we reach an agreement.” That was enough to propel the market to it’s best day in 2 1/2 years. Did we make back all last weeks losses? No. Are we out of the woods? No. However, with an administration that obviously views the market as a report card you have to ask yourself if they will intentionally do something that will give themselves a failing grade. I don’t think they will. One has to look no further than developments in North Korea to know that this is an intricate game of poker in which there are many bluffs. Did anyone think that North Korea would negotiate? It is a wait and see game. The market will move in each development to be sure but today’s news was definitely a step in the right direction!
The days trading left us with the following results: Our TSP allotment posted a gain of +2.21%. For comparison, the Dow was up +2.84%, the Nasdaq +3.26%, and the S&P 500 +2.72%. Thank God for the good day! We needed it.
The days action left us with the following signals: C-Neutral, S-Neutral, I-Sell, F-Neutral. We are currently invested at 100/S. Our allocation is now -2.07% on the year not including today’s gains which will put us back in the green. Here are the latest posted results:
| 03/23/18 | Prior Prices | ||||
| Fund | G Fund | F Fund | C Fund | S Fund | I Fund |
| Price | 15.6325 | 17.7582 | 36.569 | 47.8589 | 29.8172 |
| $ Change | 0.0012 | -0.0004 | -0.7815 | -0.9546 | -0.3481 |
| % Change day | +0.01% | +0.00% | -2.09% | -1.96% | -1.15% |
| % Change week | +0.06% | +0.03% | -5.93% | -4.67% | -3.45% |
| % Change month | +0.18% | +0.12% | -4.51% | -0.68% | -3.05% |
| % Change year | +0.59% | -1.97% | -2.77% | -1.25% | -3.37% |
| L INC | L 2020 | L 2030 | L 2040 | L 2050 | |
| Price | 19.5191 | 26.7205 | 30.2767 | 32.8504 | 18.9711 |
| $ Change | -0.0677 | -0.1647 | -0.3314 | -0.4278 | -0.2823 |
| % Change day | -0.35% | -0.61% | -1.08% | -1.29% | -1.47% |
| % Change week | -0.97% | -1.73% | -3.05% | -3.61% | -4.10% |
| % Change month | -0.55% | -1.10% | -2.05% | -2.44% | -2.77% |
| % Change year | -0.16% | -0.63% | -1.50% | -1.88% | -2.19% |
