(Washington)

Bloomberg is reporting that the SEC is under a lot of pressure regarding its investigation of Tesla and Elon Musk. The SEC usually investigates companies without public knowledge, but Musk’s very public tweet changed their whole investigation (which has been going on for months), and they are now under pressure to punish the company or Musk personally. The investigation is now so public that the SEC would come under heaps of political criticism if it were to exonerate Musk.

FINSUM: The other question here is timing, as it can take years for the SEC to determine if laws were broken, but investors want an answer quickly.

(New York)

It looks like JP Morgan is trying to eat Schwab and Fidelity’s lunch, and the latter’s stock prices show it this week. The mega bank announced that it would offer free stock trading to its clients, allowing 100 free trades a year for most, and unlimited free trades for some. That is a huge change for a bank that formerly charged $24.95 per trade as late as last year. JP Morgan has 47 million online customers, who will now have free trading access. Reacting to the move, the VP of marketing for Interactive Brokers said “Banks and brokers that give away so-called free or cheap trades make their money by paying next to nothing on idle balances, executing trades at inferior prices, and charging exorbitant borrowing fees, which is costly to those that don't do their homework”.

FINSUM: That is a pretty sharp response from Interactive Brokers, and one that sounds true. Still, this is a sign of changing times where trading will soon become largely free.

(New York)

The markets look troubling right now. They are just about to cross to a new high at the same time as they have just breached the record for the longest ever bull market. P/e ratios are way above historical averages and stocks have risen 400%+ (including dividends) since their lows in 2009. At the same time, there are ample geopolitical headwinds, tightening rates, and trouble in tech. Is it time to take risk off the table? Maybe, but don’t act rashly. The key is to take small, gradual, and reversible steps. If you end up being right, you will have minimized your losses, but if you end up being wrong, you won’t kick yourself from missing gains.

FINSUM: Advisors say that these kinds of strategies are well-received by most investors, so simple risk mitigation efforts can go a long way to minimizing the psychological discomfort one feels at the potential peak of the market.

(New York)

Citigroup says that the US just crossed a scary economic threshold. The bank’s well-known economic surprise index shows that the US is now at greater risk of negative economic surprises than is Europe, the first time that has occurred in some time. While the economy has been doing well, the trade war and a multitude of other factors, including the Fed, mean the US is more at risk of an economic downturn than Europe.

FINSUM: It is pretty easy to say that a country whose growth is at 4.1% is at risk of a downturn. It would not take much for the US to slow down considering its growth appears to be peaking.

(San Francisco)

Apple just crossed the trillion Dollar threshold. Shares have been rising, up over 27% this year, on strong sales figures. Everything seems good, right? Think again, says Barron’s, as it believes the stock could be in for a “clobbering”. The reason why is that Apple’s recent success with the iPhone X may have weakened its prospects for 2019. Because there is a longer and longer timeline between phones that have the dazzle to get customers to actually trade up, currently good iPhone X sales may be sapping demand for 2019, meaning the next few quarter’s earnings might be quite disappointing.

FINSUM: This makes sense to us. Customers only have so much wallet share for smart phones, and the iPhone X took a lot of that this year, which means the next several quarters could be lean.