Ongoing trade disputes, political divisiveness, geopolitical threats, and tense feelings about Russia meddling have no doubt weighed on investor sentiment.Uncertainty hangs over the market like a dark cloud. But there's sun poking through those dark clouds, and it's none other than U.S. corporate earnings reports!

Here is a brief summary of the news – and all positive! China apparently decided to print more money, build more speed trains, wonderful airports, more freeways.)  One of the largest European banks – UBS - just reported great earnings.  Manufacturing index out of Germany is much better than expected.  On this side of the pond, earnings continue to impress – Google yesterday was a pleasant surprise, but others (Verizon, Biogen, Eli Lily, Lockheed Martin) are doing very well. 10 year Treasuries yield is approaching 3% again and the gap between 2-year Treasuries and 10-years is increasing again. Are we out of the woods?

But the question for investors is, will it matter if earnings, revenues, and sales are stronger than expected? We'll find out tomorrow.Time will tell.  

Russian hackers have also gained access to U.S. electric utility networks, claiming "hundreds of victims" in a campaign that would have enabled the hackers to cause disruptions to service at best and full blackouts at worst.Though the government has known about the Russian threat since 2014, this was the first time they alerted the public to the threat with so much detail. 

Harley-Davidson Inc. pared back its 2018 profit margin forecast. In a statement released Tuesday, the Milwaukee-based iconic motorcycle maker said that it has revised down its expectations for operating margin this year to 9-10% - compared to its previous forecast of 9.5-10.5%.The firm indicated the potential role of tariffs in raising costs and therefore eating away at profits as a reason behind the downward revision in margin projection. Last month, Harley had expressed its willingness to shift some its production overseas in order to avoid the European Union’s tariffs on American goods.

Whirlpool had earlier cheered President Donald Trumps’ tariffs on imported washing machines, hoping the policy to boost the firm's sales. But Trump’s tariff spree also includes raw material such as steel and aluminum."  The company has been hiking prices on its washing machines following Trump’s implementation of the tariffs, amidst flagging sales in recent times.

Verizon’s subscriber growth in Q2 surpassed expectations. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, analysts projected an average of 436,000 gains in Verizon Communications’ monthly subscribers.This marks the fifth straight quarter of the firm’s increasing subscribers. The period saw its mobile phone subscriber base rebounding from previous quarter’s decline, to increase by 199,000.  

China’s ZTE seems to have gotten off the hook of U.S. export ban. On Monday, the House and Senate announced that they have agreed to the final version of the annual defense policy bill, which did not include a provision to reinstate a U.S. export ban on ZTE.ZTE is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company, In a deal with ZTE earlier this month, the U.S. Commerce Department agreed to lift the ban on the firm's purchase of American components, following ZTE’s paying up $1 billion fine and depositing $400 million in an escrow account.

Alphabet posts a stellar quarterly report. Investors apparently had been fretting over Google’s substantial expenses incurred in paying to phone-makers to get its apps installed on their devices.On top of that, Google’s net revenue surged 25.4% in Q2 2018 compared to the year-ago period, marking its fastest growth in four years. Plus, Alphabet’s operating profit margin peaked at 24 percent – its highest since the Q3 2017 (excluding a $5 billion fine from European antitrust authorities).

Chinese markets finally seem to turning up the “risk”, following its policymakers’ recent announcements that hint at better economic stimulus for the nation. The CSI 300 Index of mainland stocks rose 1.6 percent Tuesday, clocking its biggest three-day rally since mid-August 2016.China's 10-year government bond yields climbed, rebounding from their record lows. For most part of the year, Chinese markets experienced a  risk-off environment sparked by its government’s deleveraging campaign that sought to limit leverage and impose restrictions on bond trading. But now, it seems market optimism, on the back of policy makers' latest moves: On Monday, a State Council statement suggested that fiscal policy would be “more proactive”. The PBOC offered to give 502 billion yuan ($74 billion) of one-year loans to banks. PBOC’s newly released guidelines for the nation's  $15 trillion asset management industry was less stringent than most people had apparently expected. With the

Google has partnered up with a blockchain company 'Digital Asset', and the company has announced that they want to incorporate this technology into their cloud platform.So this move might boost Google's market share in this cloud service, and with adding blockchain technology for app developers, there will be a major sense of security for all users.

But I never knew that they had many different products like Discrete Semiconductors, Programmable Logic ICs, Wireless & RF Integrated Circuits, and more.If you are looking to get some exposure in the semiconductor industry, these companies might be worth checking out! 

Is that working for them? We are at the early stages of this exciting experiment and only time will show if this works better than a “Wonderful Human Mind”. One pattern that is very useful is a very simple momentum play discovered by Dr. Clifford Asness – he received a PhD.for this work and got three billion dollars to manage (AQR Capital Management). He formalized the strategy known as momentum factor”.

Day traders and market watchers are often left wondering whether -- and by how much -- President Trump's tweets affect the market and stocks.As the president unabashedly wages trade threats and targets companies like Amazon in his Twitter feed, traders have eyed the market closely for reactions. Now, Goldman Sachs has compiled data to pinpoint just how much tweets affect market action.

Meat is starting to pile up in U.S. warehouses, with some 2.5 billion pounds of beef, pork, poultry, and turkey now sitting in cold storage as producers confront the impact of rising tariffs with China.Government figures coming as early as today are expected to show record stockpiles.

There was acquisition buzz over the weekend, with Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba and Tencent involved in talks to buy an approximately 20% stake in the Chinese unit of WPP, the world's largest advertising group.This acquisition would value WPP at roughly $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, in Europe, French technology services company Atos has agreed to acquire Syntel in a $3.7 billion all-cash transaction.

They believe that some Ritz cracker items may contain whey powder tainted with salmonella. There's a benefit to nipping any health issue in the bud before it makes its way to the public eye.Many investors also remember Chipotle's long struggle to re-establish its brand after its E.coli outbreak, not to mention the stock's plummet that followed.  

So, it has prepared the “poison pill”. John Schnatter resigned as the firm’s chairman this year after admitting to using a racial slur in a conference call.But he now accuses the board of inadequate investigation into the matter, which he claims to have resulted in his forced resignation based on “rumor and innuendo”. Schnatter is still on the Papa John’s board, and owns 30% stake in the firm alongwith and his associates.

Tesla asks suppliers to refund a portion of its payments to them.Tesla hopes the cash return to help it become profitable, according to the Wall Street Journal’s review of a memo that the electric car-maker sent one of its suppliers last week. The refund request apparently seeks to enable Tesla to continue its operations and to bolster its long-term growth – something that both the company and its suppliers could potentially benefit from. Although Tesla declined to comment on the specific memo, the company did indicate that it is seeking price discounts from suppliers on projects (including incomplete ones and those dating back to 2016) – as mentioned by the Wall Street Journal.

Speculations of Japan’s momentary policy changes push up the nation’s currency and yields, which in turn triggers its central bank’s unlimited bond buying offer on Monday. The current policy of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) includes maintaining its short-term policy interest rate at negative levels, which has kept the 10-year yields near zero.Reports of possible tweaks in monetary easing measures to be made by the BOJ spurred a six basis point surge (sharpest increase in two years) in the Japanese 10-year government bond yields and pushed the yen to a two-week high against the U.S. dollar. In an attempt to apparently stem the tide, the BOJ announced an offer to buy unlimited bonds on Monday.