Wow…that was the most amazing press gaggle ever.  It was unlike any you've ever seen before and I loved it.  Put your cards on the table.  It all started with "Nancy would you like to say a few words?

President Trump stepping up and saying he would take full reasonability for a government shutdown, seemed to throw Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for a loop.  Their good cop-bad cop routine wasn’t bad, but they never threw out any facts despite saying the wall should be based on facts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had already slipped into negative territory by the time the political heavyweights engaged in that mesmerizing exchange.  I’m not sure what happened other than the market stopped going up and then it began to go down. 

There was talk from a pro-Brexit organization, the European Research Group, saying the votes were in place for a no confidence vote on Theresa May.   Teresa May is in Berlin and plans to meet other political leaders on the continent in a desperate effort to get EU concessions.

Meanwhile, the Fed is vaguely back in the picture, as core PPI came in higher than expected, although the headline number was benign with respect to the threat of inflation.   

• The index for final demand, excluding food and energy increased 0.3%, consensus was 0.1%
• PPI for final demand increased 0.1%, consensus was looking for flat
• Year-over-year final demand was up 2.5%, which was lower than October’s reading of 2.9%
• Year-over-year, excluding food and energy, the index was up 2.7% versus 2.6% in October