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After the Bell: Stocks to Watch September 21st, 2020
Stock-market selloff sets up worst September in 18 years.
S&P 500 index heading into a major correction. 3,222.76 is the level to watch
The banking sector plunged today on money laundering reports as suspicious activity being reported amidst Global Financial Corruption. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank named in money laundering reports.
HSBC has been accused of money laundering 880 million-dollar for the notorious drug kingpin JoaquÃn “El Chapo” Guzmán. Hundreds of suspicious transactions by a Turkish Financial Consultant we’re laundered through the bank for the Norte del Valle drug cartel.
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank Named in Money Laundering Reports
Other Banks that continue these practices to launder money after they were prosecuted were HSBC, Chartered, Bank of New York Mellon, JPMorgan Chase. Banks are required to file by law suspicious activity reports when transactions are spotted that show actions of money laundering. 2 trillion dollars is suspected of flowing illegally for money laundering purposes.
But wait, there’s more bad news. Millions of Americans may be missing out on a stimulus check as the United States deaths related to COVID-19 are now approaching 200,000. COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Europe as they prepare for more restrictions. Just enough bad news to stagger the economy once again .
Government scientists are warning in the UK that if actions are not taken to further prevent the spread of COVID-19 they could see up to 50,000 cases per day. Restrictions could include a curfew starting at 10:00 PM.
President Trump still claims that after a deal is set with Walmart and Oracle. He vowed that TikTok will not have a majority stake in the company, and the US will have majority control in TikTok global.
Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia ride an elephant in Rajasthan, India, in 1994. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at her home in Washington on Friday. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)
WASHINGTON (CN) – President Donald Trump has whittled his candidates to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court down to five.
Speaking Monday morning to the hosts of “Fox & Friends,” Trump said he wants to wait until Friday or Saturday to present his high court nomination.
“I think it will be Friday or Saturday and we want to pay respect,” Trump said. “It looks like we will have services on Thursday or Friday, as I understand it and I think we should, with all due respect for Justice Ginsburg, wait for services to be over.”
After the 87-year-old Ginsburg died Friday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly announced that he would not block the confirmation of any nomination for her successor that the president might put forward. The move drew a distorted parallel for many to 2016 when McConnell refused to consider Merrick Garland’s nomination, which then-President Barack Obama put forward after Justice Antonin Scalia died ahead of the last presidential election.
Ginsburg’s successor would be Trump’s third addition to the court. Only two weeks ago, he added 20 names, including GOP Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, to a running list of court nominees.
Adding to speculation that the president could select Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett or Ninth Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, the president said Saturday he would nominate a woman.
Graphic shows number of days for confirmation process for sitting justices.
Trump had reportedly said in 2018, when discerning who would replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, he was “saving” Barrett to fill Ginsburg’s seat, if he had the opportunity to nominate her replacement.
A devout Catholic and member of the federalist society, Barrett, 48, clerked for former Justice Scalia and graduated with honors from Notre Dame Law School in 1997.
She wrote for the school’s law review that year that Catholic judges are “morally precluded” from enforcing the death penalty. Barrett again highlighted her faith in 2017 when she was confirmed to her Seventh Circuit spot in 2017 on Trump’s nomination.
“But, I continue to stand and vehemently believe the core proposition of that article, which is that if there is ever a conflict between a judge’s personal conviction and that judge’s duty under the rule of law, that it is never, ever permissible for that judge to follow their personal convictions in the decision of a case, rather than what the law requires,” Barrett said.
Gabe Roth, head of the court transparency group Fix the Court, wrote in an email Monday that he thought 11th Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa was the frontrunner for Ginsburg’s seat – given her overwhelming 80-15 confirmation by the Senate, her swing-state roots and because, “unlike 85 percent of his appellate court nominees to date, she’s not white.”
Roth wants to see the candidate to the bench vetted thoroughly, calling it essential that lawmakers have “as much paper on a nominee” as possible. His organization has already begun compiling information on both Lagoa and Barrett’s financial disclosures, he said.
Many organizations have pushed back on Trump making another lifetime appointment to the bench before Election Day.
“The Supreme Court has of course always been a political institution, but if it’s going to retain its public legitimacy it can’t be seen as simply another wing of partisan politics,” Alicia Bannon, director of the Brennan Center’s Fair Courts program, said. “Supreme Court nominations have become far too politicized but packing the Supreme Court weeks before a presidential election is different in kind. It’s not simply another stress test for our institutions – there’s a real risk it will break them. That is genuinely scary – not just for the Supreme Court, but for the basic functioning of our country and the rule of law.”
The seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court is seen Monday, draped in black wool crepe to mark her passing. The tradition of draping the doors to the court and the bench chair of its late judges dates back at least as far as the death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase in 1873. Outside, the flags on the court’s front plaza will be flown at half-staff for 30 days.(Photograph by Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, via Courthouse News)
While Republicans have a Senate majority, their ability to unite behind a Trump nominee is uncertain with several facing tough reelection bids in their home states this November. Republican Susan Collins of Maine released a statement over the weekend that all the Judiciary Committee should do ahead of the election is vet Trump’s candidate.
“Given the proximity of the presidential election, however, I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the elections,” Collins said Saturday. “In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the president or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the president who is elected on November 3rd.”
Congressman Al Green, a Texas Democrat who served for 26 years as a justice of the peace in Harris County, said Saturday the nation couldn’t “allow a partisan power game by the president” when choosing a justice.
“In president Trump’s world, when it comes to winning, the only rule is there are no rules,” Green said in a statement. “In president Trump’s world, we are all pawns in his game of power. The question is: will we allow ourselves to be pawns or people with a constitution that protects the rights of all Americans?”
But unless Democrats can secure three more Republican defectors, Roth wrote Monday that there is little they can do to prevent a Trump nominee from advancing short of shutting down the government – a move likely to blow up in their faces amid a global pandemic, he wrote.
“It may be hard to concede the seat, but John McCain’s thumbs aren’t coming to save the Democrats, so a wise path forward might be to plan for the next vacancy – that is, what groundwork can the Democrats lay now should 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer get sick or leave the court?” Roth wrote. “Their lack of planning post-Scalia/Garland in 2016 has come back to haunt them. That’s where proposals like 18-year term limits for prospective judges – with biannual appointments, in order to make nomination more regular and less explosive – an automatically seating a retired justice in case of sudden vacancy come in.”
NBC’s Peacock Service Added to Netflix Streaming: Stock Surges
Peacock, owned by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), offers both a free and paid service. Shares of Roku Inc. ROKU surged today on the news of adding NBC’s Peacock Service to Netflix. Peacock owned by Comcast Corp.NBC Peacock offers both a free and paid service.
Peacock offers the only free tier of premium content in the market, featuring more than 13,000 hours of current, classic, and original movies.
“We are excited to bring Peacock and its unrivaled catalog to millions of Americans who enjoy entertainment on their favorite Roku devices,” said Maggie McLean Suniewick, President, Business Development and Partnerships, Peacock. “Roku customers are engaged streamers and we know they’ll love access to a wide range of free and paid content.” Source: ROKU
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) on Monday announced plans to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, one of the largest, privately held game developers and publishers in the world.
The Elder Scrolls and Fallout are two of the most popular games the company produces. Games are fueling new cloud-gaming services like Xbox Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 15 million subscribers.
Microsoft Corp. announced its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.56 per share, a 10% increase over the previous quarter’s dividend. The dividend is payable Dec. 10, 2020, to shareholders of record on Nov. 19, 2020. The ex-dividend date will be Nov. 18, 2020.
Trevor Milton stepped down as executive chairman. Milton has also resigned from the company’s board, Nikola said in a statement.
“The focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me,” Milton said in a statement posted on Twitter. “I intend to defend myself against false accusations leveled against me by outside detractors.”
Nikola’s stock skyrocketed after the startup joined the Nasdaq through a reverse merger with a so-called “blank check” acquisition company in June. Shares dropped 35% in premarket trading on Monday.
The news could also spell trouble for General Motors (NYSE:GM), which recently took an 11% stake in Nikola and said it would produce its marquee hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck called the Badger.
Daimler AG to Conduct Nationwide Recall and Repair of Mercedes-Benz Diesel Vehicles, Pay over $945,000,000 in Penalties, Perform Projects to Mitigate Pollution, and Revamp Internal Audit Procedures.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced today a proposed settlement with German automaker Daimler AG and its American subsidiary Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (collectively, “Daimler”) resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and California law associated with emissions cheating.
Update, Sept. 16, 2020: On Sept. 4, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order that protects most renters from eviction for nonpayment of rent through Dec. 31, 2020. You can find out more about whether you qualify and how to protect yourself by checking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. If you have an eviction pending that was filed against you between March 27 and July 24, you can still check below to see if you may be protected by a previous federal eviction ban.
The federal government has ordered a halt to all evictions until July 25 against tenants who can’t pay their rent in properties that have federally backed loans or that participate in certain programs. After that, landlords have to give 30 days notice to vacate, so you may be protected from legal action until August 25. Use this database to search apartment buildings nationwide to find out if your rental unit may qualify for eviction protection. Related story → | About this database →
This database contains addresses for more than 177,000 buildings with five or more units that have mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac; those insured by the Federal Housing Administration; and properties that are part of certain low-income housing programs. Some properties that qualify for federal protections, including ones with fewer than five units backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in our database.
When State Eviction Protections Expire
State and local governments have assembled a patchwork of eviction protection rules, meaning some renters may face the threat of eviction sooner than others as reopening begins.
After Aug. 31 or End of Declared Emergency
Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31
No Rule or Before Aug. 1
Sources: Comprehensive data on federally assisted rental housing in the U.S. was taken from a database compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation. Multifamily loan data was collected from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration. Additional information was drawn from state-by-state eviction moratorium research led by Columbia Law School professor Emily A. Benfer. For more details, read our post.
Microsoft (MSFT) declared a quarterly disbursement of 56 cents a share, up almost 10% from 51 cents. Microsoft stock is up 50% for the year. The dividend is payable Sept. 10, 2020, to shareholders of record on Aug. 20, 2020. The ex-dividend date will be Aug. 19, 2020.
Texas Instruments Inc. raises its dividend by 13%.Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) declares $1.02/share quarterly dividend, 13.3% increase from prior dividend of $0.90.The dividend is payable Nov. 16.
In other news:Shares of Apple dropped -3.17% from its high today, giving up $500 billion in market cap. This may be an opportunity to get in and hold for the long-term. Apple will launch first online store in India next week. Apple currently sells its products on Amazon.com Inc’s Indian unit and Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart. Apple gives shareholders a dividend of $.82 per share.
Netflix subscribers are outraged over the release of the French film cuties. #cancelNetflix is the biggest trending hashtag on social media today. The movie is facing backlash for over sexualizing children performing as provocative dancers with movements that portray young girls in a burlesque style manor. The film uses real child actresses around the age of 11. Children should not be portrayed this way. Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard as well as Republican Senator Ted Cruz denounced the film for over sexualizing women below legal age.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the filmmakers “violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography,” despite the fact that the film does not showcase any nudity of underage children. “[I]t is likely that the filming of this movie created even more explicit and abusive scenes, and that pedophiles across the world in the future will manipulate and imitate this film in abusive ways,” he wrote. Source Axion
Visit any store in the United States and you’ll see that it’s really hard to get spray bleach to disinfect your home. The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) has always been the number one brand in cleaning disinfectants.
Pine-Sol ® announced today Pine-Sol ® Original Multi-Surface Cleaner received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for kill claims against SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on hard non-porous surfaces. The new claims come after third-party laboratory testing proved the disinfectant’s efficacy against the virus with a 10-minute contact time on hard non-porous surfaces. Source: Clorox
Analyst Price Target on CLX $223.33 â–² (8.48% Upside) Based on 9 analysts offering 12 month price targets for Clorox in the last 3 months. The average price target is $223.33 with a high forecast of $269.00 and a low forecast of $189.00. The average price target represents a 8.48% increase from the last price of $205.87.Source TipRanks
Clorox (CLX) is a worthy dividend stock for your portfolio paying a dividend of $1.11 per share. Clorox’s annualized dividend of $4.44 is up 4.7% from last year.
