Oil continues to defy logic as it rises to $44.60 after hours today. Even with record production out of Iraq and news that inventories are expected to rise. The weak economic numbers today helped as the U.S. Dollar continues to lag.

Earnings shows that Tech may have come up a bit too far in the recent rally. Google (GOOG) missed and the stock slid from $750 to $708. Netflix also missed - now at $91.50. Microsoft (MSFT) off by 12% after its earnings outlook was rather disappointing. Apple (AAPL) down 9% as it missed both top and bottom line, guides revenues and margin below estimates - BUT raises dividend and raises buyback to $175 billion (this looks like a $50 billion increase)
- Total buyback of 30% of the company!!!!!

----- Is Apple turning into IBM?

Apple metrics:

• Q2 iPhones 51.2 mln vs 51.5 mln ests vs 61.2 mln last year. (First ever iPhone sales drop)
• Q2 iPads 10.2 mln vs 9.9 mln ests vs 12.6 mln last year.
• Q2 Macs 4.0 mln vs 4.6 mln ests vs 4.5 mln last year.
• China revenue fell 26% compared to a year ago

Apple suppliers seeing weakness following earnings include: SWKS -4.0%, QRVO -3.9%. CRUS -3.0% (also reported its own earnings), AVGO -2.2%, NXPI -2.0%, QCOM -1.1%, INVN -0.9%, TXN -0.6%.

EVEN WITH ALL OF THIS NEWS - S&P 500 FUTURES HOLDING UP (So far)

Twitter (TWTR) beat by $0.05 on bottom line but missed on top and outlook was weak. However they did add 5 million users and MAU was up for the quarter (stock down 12% after hours)

This is big news: Exxon Mobil (XOM): S&P lowers credit rating to 'AA+' from 'AAA', Outlook 'Stable
- There are only 2 companies left in the U.S. that are AAA rated (MSFT and JNJ)

Baby boomers' long reign over the kingdom of American demographics has finally come to an end: Millennials have officially surpassed them as the largest living generation in the U.S. That's according to new population estimates released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed by the Pew Research Center. (Millennials, defined by those born between 1981 and 1997, now number 75.4 million)

See this chart - What is Silent?

Population Chart

Guess what is coming tomorrow - Yes, Fed rate decision - what will they do? Stick save for failing earnings or more confusion?

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS of the
DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest for GoPro (GPRO)

Currently week CTP = Domino's Pizza (DPZ)

Will announce new longer CTP next week...

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new DHUnplugged Shirts (Designed by Jimbo)DHU's Official Model - Vivi Jugo

How stupid is this? Snapchat has a filter that lets people share how fast they're traveling while they take selfies.
-- A car accident victim is blaming Snapchat's speed filter for a crash that left him with traumatic brain injuries, according to a new lawsuit.The plaintiff, Wentworth Maynard, was merging onto a four lane highway outside of Atlanta, Georgia when his car was struck "so violently it shot across the left lane into the left embankment," his lawyers contend. Christal McGee was allegedly driving the car that struck him. The lawsuit says that she was on her phone trying to use the Snapchat speed filter at the time of the accident.

Seems that Volkswagen was looking to cheat as far back as 2006 -  A presentation discovered as part of the investigations into Volkswagen provides a direct link to the genesis of the deception, involving vehicles equipped with software to cheat on the tests.

Thoughts on the current Presidential campaigns?

Is this a good thing? The Bank of Japan may become an even bigger shareholder of the nation’s equities if policy makers decide to boost stimulus this week. The central bank’s holdings have been rising since it began buying Japanese exchange traded funds at the start of the decade, and now account for more than half of those ETFs. (also now the largest shareholder in many of the stocks listed on the Nikkei 225)

BOJ Holdings

What is Dvorak writing about for PC Magazine?

Twist - Electric vehicles in Hong Kong may indirectly be the cause of almost 20 percent more carbon dioxide emissions than gasoline-fueled motors, undermining the city’s efforts to get ‘green’ cars on the road, according to Sanford C. Bernstein.

Last week's TDI Podcast - introduced a new way for investors to track their results and have opportunity to gain outside funds to manage with Jack Schwager. Pretty cool concept.

Cue the Trumpets! DJIA over 18,000 and S&P 500 over 2100!

NADA in DOHA - No Deal on oil production freeze. Doomed from the start... However... Oil at $42
-- Kuwait strike takes 1.6m barrels/day offline
-- Nigeria has pipeline issue
-- IRAQ production interrupted

Crude Chart

Saudi Arabia - threatened to sell all their U.S. Treasury holdings - estimated at $750 billion my some if the 28 pages of redacted information on the 9/11 report is released. Also pending legistlation that would allow for victims of 9/11 to directly sue... (Not going to pass - or is it?)

IBM now racks up 16 consecutive quarters of declining revenue. EPS beat, but company is still suffering - Stock up near $143 (was $117 in February)

Yahoo! - Verizon still seems to be the front-runner in the "bidding" for Yahoo! assets/company. What does this do for them? Seems like the old Time Warner /AOL deal.

Seeing more sporting goods stores file for bankruptcy - The owner of Eastern Mountain Sports, which has 13 stores in Massachusetts, and Bob's Stores, which has 11 Bay State locations, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with debts over $500 million.

Sport Chalet has announced the closure of all its stores in the next several weeks. The Southern California-based sporting goods company owns 47 stores in about 50 locations in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The company issued an online statement saying that its stores have begun the process of closing on April 16, but it offered no explanation. The company stopped selling merchandise online but its retail stores will remain open for several weeks in order for customers to use their rewards and gift cards.
-- At the same time there is rumor that Bass Pro Shops is possibly looking to buyout Cabelas (CAB)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this year, posted a 60 percent drop in profit as the firm reported its lowest revenue for a first quarter since Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein took the top post.

Goldman Sachs Chart

Netflix (NFLX) - earnings out and while the company beat expectations, the outlook was miserable - at best. Stock down 11% to $96 after saying that international growth will expand much less that expected and investors seeing more competition from Amazon and others.

Intel (INTC) earnings were messy. Overall not a good outlook for the next quarter or so. Reducing outlook, cutting 11% of workforce and announced restructuring. Shares slipping again down to the $30 support level.

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS of the
DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest for Transocean LTD

Currently week CTP = GoPro (GPRO)

ANNOUNCING - Domino's Pizza (DPZ)

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new DHUnplugged Shirts (Designed by Jimbo)

Sunglasses from Spitfire and more!

DHU's Official Model - Vivi Jugo

Apple (AAPL) - announced last week that they will be slowing down production as inventory builds are seen. Same game plan as last quarter ? At that time suppliers tanked and then ramped higher when sales were not seen as soft as expected.

Back on the "no privacy" train: In its latest report on government requests for user information released Monday, Apple revealed U.S. law enforcement agencies lodged 1,015 requests for customer account information affecting 5,192 users in the second half of 2015. (Not time to be a criminal like the old days)

Smart mattress: Sleep tracking is nothing new, but one company wants to track when your mattress is being used, especially if you're not home. (WHY???)

And now - the Bloomberg Top 10 biz schools (under-grad)  [LINK]

Bloomberg Top 10 Undergrad Biz Schools

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) said it would remain in only a very small number of the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces next year and suggested that it doesn’t currently see a way to run the business effectively.

Who should be on the $10 bill? Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew planned last year to announce a redesign of the $10 bill that would put Susan B. Anthony on the front, but he changed course and decided to ask the public which woman should go on the bill. (Is this a smack to the face of Hamilton? and is the only woman in history they can think of?)

Scam: Theranos...Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the blood-testing company misled investors about the state of its technology and operations.

In some cases in Denmark and Sweden, banks are paying the homeowners mortgage interest as negative rates hit hard.

Saw this while waiting in doctor's office...

  Adult Coloring

And to finish it off - Friday is Earth Day - what are we doing to celebrate?

Markets have been trading sideways - up to resistance and then slowly stagnating. Volume has been anemic. Monday volume lowest of the year. Then....

Yellen speaking today in NY - dovish as can be... Here are a few of the highlights

• Importantly, this forecast is not a plan set in stone that will be carried out regardless of economic developments. Instead, monetary policy will, as always, respond to the economy's twists and turns so as to promote, as best as we can in an uncertain economic environment, the employment and inflation goals assigned to us by the Congress.
• Looking forward however, we have to take into account the potential fallout from recent global economic and financial developments, which have been marked by bouts of turbulence since the turn of the year.
• The Committee continues to expect moderate economic growth over the medium term accompanied by further labor market improvement.
• There is a consensus that China's economy will slow in the coming years...
• The inflation outlook has also become somewhat more uncertain since the turn of the year, in part for reasons related to risks to the outlook for economic growth.
• Given the risks to the outlook, I consider it appropriate for the Committee to proceed cautiously in adjusting policy. This caution is especially warranted because, with the federal funds rate so low, the FOMC's ability to use conventional monetary policy to respond to economic disturbances is asymmetric. If economic conditions were to strengthen considerably more than currently expected, the FOMC could readily raise its target range for the federal funds rate to stabilize the economy. By contrast, if the expansion was to falter or if inflation was to remain stubbornly low, the FOMC would be able to provide only a modest degree of additional stimulus by cutting the federal funds rate back to near zero.

Naturally, post comments markets shot higher - except banks

Bank Stocks

What the Yellen commentary is saying is that there is a lot more to fear about the global economy than we think... Her speech had plenty to say about it and it is not usual that the Fed discusses things so overtly if they are not big issues.

Another example: Japan’s industrial production dropped the most since 2011 in February, as falling exports sapped demand and a steel-mill explosion halted domestic car production at Toyota Motor Corp. Output slumped 6.2 percent after rising 3.7 percent in January, the trade ministry said on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 5.9 percent drop.

Small business hiring hot spots. See chart below...

Small Biz Hiring in USA

Crafty plan: Canadian energy companies with surplus cash are buying back bonds on the cheap to help shore up balance sheets amid the worst oil downturn in decades. “If they can go out and spend $100 in cash and buy their bonds at 60 cents on the dollar, it’s a reduction in net leverage,” said Nicholas Leach, a high-yield portfolio manager at CIBC Asset Management Inc.

Virgin America (VA) — The airline's stock continues to be on watch today, after multiple reports Monday said JetBlue and Alaska Air were planning bids for their rival airline. Reuters is also reporting that various Asian airlines may also be interested in Virgin America.

The FBI caved - now THEY have the means to unlock the iPhone...

*** Is there growing apathy about terrorist acts? Quite the week we have had... Brussels, Iraq and a passenger falsely claiming he was armed with explosives hijacked an EgyptAir plane carrying 71 other people and forced it to land in Cyprus.

• Limited response from markets on any of the latest events.

ANNOUNCING THE WINNER of the
DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest for Ford (F)

US Steel (X) and Michael Kors (KORS) announced as well... Coming up end of this week -Transocean LTD

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new DHUnplugged Shirts (Designed by Jimbo),
Sunglasses from Spitfire and more!

DHU's Official Model - Vivi Jugo

Well known hedge fund manager Kyle Bass - reportedly owns $20 million of nickles and has advocated owning physical gold and platinum rather than financial instruments tied to the precious metals. (where do you keep all those nickles?)
*-*-*- Bonus Question: How much does $20 million of nickles weigh?   4,464,285.71 pounds

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the former telephone monopoly in Japan, agreed to buy technology services businesses from Dell for $3.055 billion as the company seeks to expand overseas to counter an aging domestic market.

Last week we discuss how Lumber Liquidators (LL) shot up on report of settlements that appeared fishy. Since then stock retraced all of the move.

SunEdison (SUNE) - In real trouble now - SEC investigation about their recent report on company liquidity in question. Stock down 50% on the news.

Yahoo — Yahoo has given possible suitors until Apr. 11 to submit bids for its assets, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yahoo is said to be shopping both the core web business and its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.(Will MSFT be in the deal?)

A California judge ordered a now-defunct for-profit college chain to pay more than $1 billion Wednesday over claims the company misled students and investors. (How are they going to pay that?)

Terrorists hit Belgium... Once again Europe is the center of attention - just days after the capture of the Paris bombings "mastermind". Two separate attacks, ISIS claims responsibility. U.S. Markets shrug off - Europe modestly lower.  (Recall that the last couple of attacks saw massive market rallies)
-- Of course the usual rumors of other potential acts circulated today as shorts/bears try to push on the news - none were confirmed.

Global Economics - Take a look at the stats for Manufacturing..

Markit PMI Table

Valaent Pharma (VRX) - Remember last week, we questioned whether the CEO's 2-month leave for "pneumonia" was for real? Well... Monday it was announced that CEO Pearson will be leaving the company. Ackman was appointed to board. Stock up 15% in reaction. (Note: CEO leaving does not seem to be good news as it may lead to more revelations about some of the internal issues with the company...)

VRX Chart

Nike (NKE) has announced that a self-tying ( or self adjusting) shoe will be out by the end of the year. Now that seems to be progress!
-- Nike earnings released today  (stock down 5%++ after hours...)
- NIKE Q3 EPS $0.55 vs. $0.48 Capital IQ Consensus; rev $8.032 vs. $8.2 bln consensus
- NIKE Futures Orders +12%; +17% in constant currency vs. estimates in the mid to high teens ex-FX
-- Futures as reported (ex-FX): North America +10%, W. Eur +16% (+23%), C & Eur +5% (+14%), China +28% (+36%), Japan +23% (+24%), Emerging -3% (+14%).

IMPORTANT: Sales will increase by a high-single-digit percentage during the next fiscal year, the company said on a conference call Tuesday. Analysts had projected a rate of about 10 percent for that period. Earnings will rise in the low teens, Nike said, compared with an estimate for growth of about 15 percent.

Nike's "Back to the Future" Shoe

Will liquidity dry up like it did the first quarter before and during earnings season? Retail still pulling out of equities?
Deutsche Bank reports:

Buyback blackout period starts Monday. An increasing number of S&P 500 companies will enter into their blackout period starting next week, about a month before the earnings season kicks into high gear in the third week of April.

If there is any truth to the notion that much of the recent rally was due share repurchase programs, liquidity will start to dry up starting today and we may see some additional volatility and downside potential for markets. Depending on how many institutional investors positioned for the ramp higher, it may create an interesting environment over the next few weeks.

** ANNOUNCING THE WINNER of the DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest **
Tesla (TSLA)

John C. Dvorak !!!!!

Ford (F) and US Steel (X) announced as well... Coming up end of this week - Michael Kors (KORS)

Winners will be getting great stuff like the new DHUnplugged Shirts (Designed by Jimbo),
Sunglasses from Spitfire and more!

Markets closed Friday in observance of Good Friday

Thinking about Twitter (TWTR) - some recent changes makes it a more viable platform. Videos, gifs and other feature enhancements... Worth a look?

Some Apple news: (Smaller is better??? - Seems that size is the company's only innovation)

Apple at event unveils new bands for the Apple Watch; says Apple Watch will now start at $299 starting today (prior price was $399)

New iPhone released - 4 inch model

• iPhone SE will feature 'hands free Siri' and improved battery life.
• iPhone SE will start at $399; will start shipping on March 31
• iPhone will feature the 64-bit A9 chip, introduced in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, offers iPhone SE customers two times faster CPU and three times faster GPU performance compared to iPhone 5s.

Unveils iOS 9.3 - Software will feature light and dark mode, new enhancements to notes and news applications, and new educational applications.  iOS 9.3 will be available immediately.

Apple confirms ResearchKit advancements; also confirms new healthcare application 'CareKit' - Available April 2016

Apple at event unveils 9.7 inch iPad Pro (current iPad Pro is 12.9 inches)

--- FBI/Justice dept drops their calls for Apple to create a backdoor - they say they have another solution. Really?

Interesting news. SunEdison (SUNE) rumors are that the company is looking for debtor-in-possession financing. This is a tactic used by distressed and bankrupt companies that need financing. This type of debt is AHEAD of all other debt, equity or other assets that can be claimed. How great is that?

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc.'s stock soared 14% in midday trade Tuesday, after the wood flooring maker announced an agreement with the California Air Resources Board that "fully" resolves previous inquiries into its laminate flooring products sourced from China. As part of the agreement, Lumber Liquidators will pay CARB $2.5 million, and will implement voluntary compliance procedures to ensure all of its flooring products comply with CARB's formaldehyde standards.(Didn't they have 3X the expected amount of carcinogens?)

Kazakh officials and their visitors will have to leave their smartphones at the door of government buildings from March 24 in line with a new policy aimed at preventing leaks of sensitive documents, a leaked document showed on last Thursday.

Minnesota officials seized a "FMUSLMS" license plate and apologized for issuing it at a driver's request, saying on Wednesday that approval procedures for so-called vanity plates were under review.

Cuba is gaining opportunities for travelers - Carnival Cruise line wins approval to sail to Cuba. We going? DHU Trip?

Poor Elon Musk - He an wife are divorcing for 2nd time. Why marry again after divorce in the first place?

Trip to Panama - had some interesting foods and experiences. (Plenty of Ceviche, Cow Foot Soup, Tripe and more...)
- Panama casinos... 5.5% cash check out charge!
- Diving 2 oceans on one day!

Daylight Savings Time is here! Happy? - Plenty of stories about problems related to the time change... More accidents, less productivity. Really? LINK

Prem Watsa, the investor who heads Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and foretold a drop in technology company shares two years ago, is now saying “I told you so.” In his annual letter to shareholders, Watsa said he expects tech stocks from Twitter Inc. to Yelp Inc. to fall even further -- as much as 90 percent from their peak in the last two years. Now calling former UNICORNS = UNICORPSES

Weird story - A day after indited on violations of Sherman Act, U.S. shale pioneer Aubrey McClendon dies in suspicious auto accident.
-- Data shows he hit speeds of 89 miles an hour seconds before his Chevy Tahoe slammed into a concrete bridge earlier this month in a fatal crash, according to a report issued Monday afternoon by the Oklahoma City Police Dept. McClendon’s SUV, which was fitted to run on compressed natural gas instead of gasoline, crossed the center lane more than 60 yards before the crash. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the Oklahoma City Police said. Data recovered from the vehicle’s black box showed that McClendon tapped his brakes several times before the crash, but didn’t truly brake hard. His Tahoe hit the bridge at roughly 78 miles an hour.

Just as the markets turn, several big brokerages are slashing the year-end price target for S&P 500. Morgan Stanley is the latest with a price target of 2,050. Do we view this as a contrary indicator?

OOFAH - The massive rise for some energy and materials companies over the past couple of weeks has been amazing. (and the fall this week)

-- Past 30 days: Halliburton +22% , Helmrich & Payne +29%,  Chesapeake Energy +176%, Marathon Oil +49%, Linn Energy +157%,  Continental Resources +43%.... (Some relief as companies get reprieve with advancing oil prices and secondary offerings)

Politics: Trump rallies cancelled as violent protests have begun. This is going to be a nightmare... What happened today? Who will drop out?

Twitter and social media - how to make sense of the financial world? So many players trying to advance their own agendas...
-- Afterthefact'ers, toldyouso'ers, vague range gang, complainers, pumpanddump'ers, pompous parade, clickandsell'ers, negative nellies, positive posse...

Auto-Upgrade? As Microsoft auto-upgrades more PCs to Windows 10, some users are complaining that they weren't adequately notified. Reports of unwanted Windows 10 upgrades have been circulating for the past few days on Reddit and Twitter, etc.

New trend? After years of relying on the Amazon cloud to store its users' files, Dropbox has shifted gears and begun using primarily its own technology instead.

Japan's central bank issues statements during their two-day meeting that was a bit of a surprise. While many did not expect any further stimulus actions this meeting, there was also thoughts that there would at least be a some commentary about the potential for something in the future. Not only did they have nothing to say on that matter, there was a clear omission about the negative interest rate policy that led some to believe that they may actually be rethinking the tool. In response, the Yen climbed sharply and that created a negative bias for equities.

Yen Rises on Comments

** ANNOUNCING THE FIRST WINNER of the  DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest **
Walt Disney (DIS)

Tesla (TSLA) and Ford (F) announced as well.

Busy couple of weeks - Central banks ! Europe went more negative on deposit rates, ramped up asset purchases and now including some corporate debt. What next?

HOOSICK FALLS, NY: More than six weeks after declaring an environmental emergency in this upstate village, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made his first visit here on Sunday, announcing that a new filter system had successfully cleared a toxic chemical known as PFOA from the municipal water supply.

Valeant (VRX) - Stock got crushed after earnings report. While company had a good quarter as compared to analyst estimates, the outlook was very poor - showing a sharp reduction in revenue and earnings. Plus a big write-down of the Philador unit.
-- How did smart guy like Ackman get bamboozled with this name? (Akman's Hedge fund estimates are showing a loss of $1 billion+ on today's plunge)
-- CEO Pearson is now back after months of "pneumonia"  (who has pneumonia for months?)

VRX Chart

Anyone see the video with the guy urinating into the Rice Crispies?

Not a surprise - Chipotle (CMG) posted some nasty numbers - sales down 25%+