Team Trump: Expect Bigly GDP Numbers; Foreign Investment Rules Not Disastrous: Markets Edge Higher

Futures were miserable up until this news came out. By golly, I felt there was a possibility that I’d lose some money today. Alas, team Trump and his band of wonderful villains came thru with the news to save the day.

Two items. Rules to be imposed on foreign investment, not that big a deal. CNBC can fuck off.

The White House won’t be looking to block companies with 25 percent or more of Chinese ownership from buying certain U.S. tech-related companies.

Instead, the government will rely on the newly strengthened Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to deal with concerns about foreign purchase of sensitive domestic technologies, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

In all, measures the administration announced were less harsh than proposals floated earlier in the week, providing relief to markets who continue to worry about the threat of a global trade war.

The second item, a whimsically great one; expect a bigly GDP number.

“We’re excited. This is the six month anniversary of tax cuts. We’re expecting a big second quarter GDP number,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “Let me just say I have no advance notice of what it looks like.”

President Donald Trump signed the Republican tax overhaul in December, which lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. Mnuchin cited the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s projected GDP growth of 4.7 percent for the second quarter.

“I have no idea whether it will be that high [referring to the Atlanta Fed forecast], but a year ago people were laughing when we talked about 3 percent GDP,” he said. “We have an economy that is here because of the president’s tax plan and the president’s regulatory relief and we always said trade is part of this.”

Sure, why the fuck not?

I need to sashay on over to the dealership. I’ll be back at the trading turret gunning down fools in about an hour.