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Trump Cabinet nominees, appointees targeted with ‘violent, unAmerican threats’

Nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with ‘violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,’ prompting a ‘swift’ law enforcement response, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The ‘attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’’ according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Sources told Fox News Digital that John Racliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted.

‘Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,’ she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ‘In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.’ 

Local law enforcement officials responded to the threats and visited the homes of several nominees and appointees, Fox News Digital has learned.

Leavitt said Trump and the transition team ‘are focused on doing the work of uniting our nation by ensuring a safe and prosperous future.’ 

‘With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us,’ she said. 

Stefanik’s office confirmed in a post on X that she was one of the targets of the incident.

‘This morning, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, her husband, and their three-year-old son were driving home to Saratoga County from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence,’ the post stated. ‘New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism. We are incredibly appreciative of the extraordinary dedication of law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe 24/7.’

The threats come mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.

Just days before accepting the Republican nomination, Trump was shot at a rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. During the event, Trump was displaying a chart highlighting skyrocketing illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump credits the chart for saving his life.

Weeks later, in September, another would-be-assassin hid in the bushes at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The alleged gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47-style rifle pointing through the fence toward Trump as the GOP nominee was golfing. Trump was rushed off the golf course by U.S. Secret Service agents unharmed.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Business

Amazon workers worldwide set to protest on Black Friday weekend, union federation says

Amazon workers in more than 20 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, plan to hold protests or go on strike between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two of the marquee shopping promotions of the year, according to organizers.

The planned “Make Amazon Pay” demonstrations are intended to “hold Amazon accountable for labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy,” according to the initiative’s organizers, the Switzerland-based labor federation UNI Global Union and the grassroots activist group Progressive International.

“We stand united in demanding that Amazon treat its workers fairly, respect fundamental rights, and stop undermining the systems meant to protect us all. ‘Make Amazon Pay Day’ is becoming a global act of resistance against Amazon’s abuse of power,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union.

In a statement, Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards said: “These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we’re always listening and looking at ways to improve, we remain proud of the competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and engaging, safe work experience we provide our teams.”

The two strike organizers said unions and allied groups are planning to hold demonstrations in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, Turkey and other nations. In at least six German towns, thousands of Amazon workers are set to strike. In New Delhi, hundreds of Amazon workers are expected to rally to demand fair treatment.

The planned “global day of resistance” comes as labor leaders around the world feel increasingly emboldened to take on large corporations in an era of income inequality. The International Labour Organization, an arm of the United Nations, found that post-pandemic inflation and the rising cost of living have been eroding the real value of minimum wages in many countries.

In recent years, American labor activists have increasingly trained their ire on Amazon and the shopping behemoth’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos. The results have been mixed. In early 2022, an Amazon facility in Staten Island, New York, became the first company warehouse to vote to form a union. But similar union drives in Alabama and at least two others in New York failed.

It was not immediately clear how many Amazon workers in the U.S. would participate in the announced demonstrations against the Seattle-based company, one of the leading e-commerce and digital technology firms in the world.

“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we,” said Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. “By uniting our movements across borders, we can not only force Amazon to change its ways, but lay the foundations of a world that prioritizes human dignity, not Jeff Bezos’ bank balance.”

UNI Global Union and Progressive International said that this is the fifth year of “Make Amazon Pay” activities. In previous years, according to the groups, thousands of workers went on strike at company facilities in Germany, France, Spain, the U.K. and Italy.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Business

Retailers saw a dismal fall quarter. The election seems to be turning things around.

Many U.S. retailers are hoping to put the fall quarter behind them. The decisive outcome of this month’s presidential election, which showed a GOP sweep, seems to be giving them the fuel to do so.

On Tuesday, Best Buy reported one of its worst three-month stretches of the past decade, something CEO Corie Barry blamed in part on the ‘distraction’ of the presidential contest, alongside an overall more uncertain macroeconomic environment.

But she said the company has begun to see holiday sales momentum now that the vote is over — with particular demand for computers, tablets and sales in its services department.

“We continue to see a consumer who is seeking value and sales events, and one who is also willing to spend on high price-point products when they need to or when there is new, compelling technology,” Barry said in a release.

Best Buy’s latest results — representing its worst quarterly profit ‘miss’ of estimates in more than a decade — capture the uncertain environment most retailers are experiencing.

While consumers are still grappling with higher prices on everyday items and groceries, surveys and commentary suggest any uncertainty brought about by the election has lifted over the past couple of weeks.

Gallup’s monthly Economic Confidence Index survey saw a nine-point jump this month compared with October. Although the report still shows most Americans believe economic conditions are ‘getting worse’ overall, the current reading of -17 is the best since a -12 reading in August 2021.

The improvement was driven by a six-percentage-point drop in ‘poor’ ratings, while 36% of survey respondents said the economy is getting better, compared with 32%% in October. Overall, 55% said it’s getting worse — down from 62% last month.

Gallup’s survey was conducted between Nov. 6 and Nov. 20.

The index’s improvements were heavily partisan: Republicans’ scoring of the economy soared 29 points during the survey period, while Democrats’ dropped 10 points — though notably, Democrats still hold a net positive rating of the economy compared with both Republicans and independents.

A separate monthly consumer-confidence report released Tuesday also surged to its highest level in nearly 18 months, with optimism about family finances over the next six months hitting a new all-time high.

The widely followed survey from The Conference Board, a business nonprofit, also saw the lowest proportion of consumers anticipating a recession in more than two years, while inflation expectations fell to the lowest measure since March 2020. Job availability expectations, meanwhile, reached their highest level in almost three years.

Among those expecting stronger holiday sales Tuesday was Abercrombie & Fitch, which continues to see a sales renaissance. The trendy apparel chain now expects holiday quarter sales growth of 5% to 7%, ahead of the 4.8% growth that analysts had expected, CNBC reported. It also lifted its sales growth guidance for the full year.

Burlington likewise noted a strong start to holiday sales in a Tuesday earnings release, with the outerwear retailer stating it was ‘optimistic’ about its prospects for the upcoming quarter, while maintaining a ‘cautious’ outlook overall.

The sunnier if still cautious outlook is resonating on Wall Street: According to CNBC, a retail-focused stock-tracker traded on the New York Stock Exchange is up 10% month to date and is heading for its best month since February.

Last week, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve announced its quarterly survey of dozens of economic forecasters now showed the U.S. economy expanding at an annual rate of 2.2% in the coming three months, and 1.9% in the first quarter of 2025. That’s up from the predictions of 1.7 percent in the last survey.

‘The near-term outlook for the U.S. economy looks better now than it did three months ago,’ it said.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Sports

College Football Playoff rankings winners and losers include Oregon, Ohio State

No. 1 Oregon has secured a spot regardless of what happens this weekend against Washington and in the Big Ten championship game, likely a rematch with No. 2 Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ win against No. 10 Indiana was their second high-profile victory on the year, joining No. 4 Penn State, and gives them a playoff case that could survive an upset loss to Michigan.

Everyone else has to take care of business this Saturday and potentially the following weekend to make the 12-team field.

Indiana is looking good despite the loss to Ohio State. The Hoosiers have to beat Purdue to end the regular season with one loss but are heavy favorites to take the rivalry matchup against the Boilermakers.

Two SEC teams should feel strong about their chances based on Tuesday’s rankings. No. 7 Georgia is booked for the SEC championship game against the winner of No. 3 Texas and No. 20 Texas A&M. No. 8 Tennessee has surged back into the field thanks to losses by No. 13 Alabama and No. 14 Mississippi.

These teams lead the winners and losers from Tuesday night’s playoff rankings:

Winners

Clemson

Ignored as a serious contender for weeks following an ugly loss to Louisville, Clemson is a legitimate at-large player after rising to No. 12, ahead of all the three-loss teams from the SEC. The Tigers’ biggest asset is a pretty dominant six-game winning streak after losing to Georgia. Other than that, though, they have just one win against a team with a winning record in Pittsburgh. Clearly, this team has benefited from taking care of business since a loss to Louisville and allowing other contenders to fall off the map. Better yet, Clemson can add that much-needed marquee win this Saturday against No. 15 South Carolina, one of the fast risers in these rankings the past few weeks.

Tennessee

The Volunteers might’ve been the biggest winner of last weekend despite playing a paycheck game against Texas-El Paso, a 56-0 rout. Ranked No. 11 last week, fifth among SEC teams, Tennessee climbed three places in the CFP rankings and two spots into third in the SEC pecking order. The Volunteers are in very firm playoff position heading into a must-win season finale against Vanderbilt. Tennessee is also set to benefit from missing the SEC championship game, since a third loss could’ve been an eliminator, even if that loss was against Georgia or Texas.

South Carolina

No team has made more of a late charge toward playoff contention than South Carolina, which rose another three spots after making a similar three-spot leap a week ago. The Gamecocks have won five in a row, including two wins against teams in this week’s rankings in Texas A&M and No. 21 Missouri. They could continue to climb with a win Saturday against Clemson. In fact, beating the Tigers could move South Carolina above Alabama and Mississippi and into fourth among SEC teams, which might mean a playoff bid with some help in the rest of the Power Four.

Losers

Alabama and Mississippi

Saturday’s miserable loss to Oklahoma didn’t evaporate Alabama’s playoff chances. Like the Gamecocks, though, the Crimson Tide will need help around the country to sneak into the field with three losses after this week’s six-spot drop. There’s no such hope for Mississippi. After losing 24-17 to Florida, the Rebels dropped five spots from the previous rankings and are no longer a serious contender. What a difference a week makes: Both teams were in the field just several days ago but are now have dramatically diminished playoff hopes.

Army and Tulane

Losing 49-14 to No. 5 Notre Dame sent Army tumbling from No. 19 to out of the rankings entirely. That’s not great news for No. 17 Tulane, which is set to meet the Black Knights next weekend in the American Athletic championship game. Finishing higher than the Big 12 champion and earning an opening-round bye was never realistic for Tulane given a non-conference loss to Kansas State. But with a win this Saturday against Memphis and then against ranked Army, the Green Wave would’ve had the résumé to finish ahead of No. 11 Boise State had the Broncos lost to Oregon State this Saturday but beat No. 22 UNLV to win the Mountain West, leaving both teams with two losses.

Brigham Young and Colorado

Arizona State is up to No. 16 and Iowa State is up to No. 18, so a best-case scenario is beginning to unfold that would get the Big 12 champion into an opening-round bye: Arizona State, Iowa State, No. 19 Brigham Young and No. 25 Colorado all win this weekend to send the Sun Devils and Cyclones to the conference championship game. In that case, the winner might have enough ammunition to move ahead of Boise State. That possibility doesn’t exist if the winner is one of BYU or Colorado, however. The Cougars dropped five spots after losing to Arizona State and Colorado was dumped nine after getting bulldozed by Kansas.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Detroit Lions star avoids gun charge, gets another chance

DETROIT − Jameson Williams won’t face a gun charge. It’s a gift and it’s one the Detroit Lions receiver needs to appreciate and understand fully because second chances, especially in the NFL, don’t come around very often. 

Let’s face it, Williams is well past his second chance in his young career after serving NFL suspensions for violating league policies on gambling and performance-enhancing substances. 

All things Lions: Latest Detroit Lions news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Sports

Kansas star ejected after kicking Duke player in head

The big-time matchup between No. 1 Kansas and No. 10 Duke got chippy.

The two college basketball bluebloods met Tuesday night in Las Vegas for the Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown. The electricity was palpable inside T-Mobile Arena, and it’s also got intense on the court.

Halfway through the second half with the Jayhawks holding a slim lead, Hunter Dickinson posted up Duke’s Maliq Brown near the bucket and missed a shot. He got the offensive rebound over Brown but both players tumbled to the floor. When they hit the deck, it appeared that Dickinson swung his right foot and landed it on Brown’s head. The Blue Devils forward took exception with the contact and a mini-scuffle broke out.

It was initially called a Flagrant One foul, but the referees reviewed the play for a lengthy time period and determined Dickinson committed a Flagrant Two foul, which the NCAA defines as a move that is ‘brutal, harsh or cruel or dangerous or punishing.’ The call meant Dickinson was ejected from the game.

Dickinson stayed on the bench after the call, but at the next timeout he was instructed by the officials to leave the court, which an ejected player must do. He finished the night with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Kansas coach Bill Self agreed that Dickinson’s actions warranted a flagrant foul, but said he ‘thought the Flagrant Two may have been a little severe.’

‘I didn’t think at the moment that it warranted a Level Two, but I do think it needed to be called,’ Self said, per ESPN.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer was a little more pointed in his remarks.

‘I haven’t seen it other than I saw it on the screen that he kicked him in his face,’ Scheyer said, per ESPN. ‘So I think that warrants the Flagrant Two. But again, I haven’t had a good look or anything more, but to me that was really an easy one.’

Kansas ended up holding on to win the game 75-72.

Self said Dickinson’s ejection could ‘be the best thing to happen to us’ because ‘it’ll teach him a good lesson and also it’ll give some other kids some confidence.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Sports

Playoff rankings are clear: The easier schedule, the better your chances

Walk together with me, everyone, down the road of College Football Playoff confusion.

No. 4 Penn State has one win against a team in the College Football Playoff rankings. No. 3 Texas, No. 6 Miami, No. 9 SMU and No. 10 Indiana have none. What those five teams have in common: one loss.

Meanwhile, I give you those with wins against the committee’s top 25: No. 7 Georgia (three), No. 13 Alabama (three), No. 2 Ohio State (two), No. 15 South Carolina (two) and No. 5 Notre Dame (one). What those five teams have in common: a combined seven losses to teams in the rankings.

Now I’m not a rocket scientist, but it appears those who play easier schedules have better records. This, of course, leaves two critical questions:

Why reward teams who have an easier path to success?

Why – and here’s the biggie – penalize teams for multiple losses to those teams in the top 25?

BREAKDOWN: Winners and losers from the College Football Playoff ranking

At some point, if the College Football Playoff continues along this path of using a selection committee (which isn’t a given for the new contract beginning in 2026), degree of difficulty must be factored into the equation.

It’s like diving in the Olympics. Anyone can nail a jackknife. How many can hit a reverse 4½ somersault in pike position?

‘We were impressed with some of the things Indiana did,’playoff committee chairman and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said of the Hoosiers’ 23-point loss to Ohio State. ‘We still felt their body of work was strong enough to stay in the top 10.’

Indiana’s resume is wins over three 6-5 teams (Washington, Nebraska, Michigan), and a three-possession loss to Ohio State in its only other game against a team with a winning record.

That’s some body of work.

This leads us to this week’s overvalued and undervalued of the College Football Playoff rakings:

Overvalued

No. 4 Penn State

Best win: 21-7 vs. No. 23 Illinois

Worst loss: 20-13 vs. No. 2 Ohio State.

This week: vs. Maryland.

Eye test: Exhibit A for uniform bias. It’s Penn State, it’s the Big Ten ― and sonofagun, did you see that Illinois win? (Ignore that pesky late win last week over middling Minnesota. Nothing to see here).

No. 6 Miami

Best win: 41-17 at Florida.

Worst loss: 28-23 at Georgia Tech.

This week: at Syracuse.

Eye test: The Hurricanes face the Orange this week needing a win to reach the ACC championship game. Lose, and they’re all the way out of the rankings — with no hope of an at-large spot. Miami has 14 interceptions this season, and Syracuse QB Kyle McCord – who leads the nation in passing yards – has thrown 12.

No. 10 Indiana

Best win: 31-17 vs Washington.

Worst loss: 38-15 at No.2 Ohio State.

This week: vs. Purdue.

Eye test: The drum major of the overvalued. Indiana isn’t 8-1 in the SEC. Or the Big 12, or more than likely, the ACC. What exactly does that say about the top-heavy Big Ten? It says the committee isn’t doing its work.

Undervalued

No. 8 Tennessee

Best win: 24-17 vs. No. 13 Alabama.

Worst loss: 19-14 at Arkansas.

This week: at Vanderbilt.

Eye test: The No. 3 scoring offense and No. 2 scoring defense in the SEC. But like everyone else in the best conference in college football, the Vols have struggled on the road, including a 14-point loss at No. 7 Georgia. Alabama lost three games on the SEC road, Georgia lost twice, and all three of No. 21 Missouri’s SEC losses are away from home. Translation: Tennessee can’t overlook Vanderbilt. If the Vols win, they’re in the field.

No. 15 South Carolina

Best win: 44-20 vs. No. 20 Texas A&M

Worst loss: 27-3 vs. No. 14 Ole Miss

This week: at No. 12 Clemson

Eye test: A three-point loss to LSU, a two-point loss at No. 13 Alabama, and a season of what-ifs. The Gamecocks need a big win over Clemson, and a lot of help to reach the 12-team field: Vanderbilt over Tennessee, Auburn over Alabama, Syracuse over Miami, and most important, Mississippi State over Ole Miss.

No. 16 Arizona State

Best win: 28-23 vs. No. 19 BYU

Worst loss: 24-14 at Cincinnati

Up next: at Arizona.

Eye test: QB Sam Leavitt missed the Cincinnati game, and the Sun Devils couldn’t win with nomadic backup Jeff Sims. If Leavitt is healthy, they are likely 10-1 with two wins against the rankings (including at No. 24 Kansas State). In that scenario, considering the committee’s affinity for one-loss teams, Arizona State would likely be in the top 10 and among the projected first four seeds.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Politics

China releases 3 ‘wrongfully detained’ Americans, White House says

China is releasing three Americans Wednesday who the White House says were ‘wrongfully detained,’ Fox News has confirmed.

‘We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung from detention in the People’s Republic of China,’ a National Security Council spokesperson said. ‘Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years. Thanks to this Administration’s efforts and diplomacy with the PRC, all of the wrongfully detained Americans in the PRC are home.’

Mark Swidan of Texas was 38-years old when he went to China on business looking for flooring for construction work in November 2012. He was arrested after his driver and translator were allegedly found with drugs, the Texas Tribune has reported. 

A United Nations report determined that Swidan was not in possession of drugs on his person or in his hotel room, and records show he was not in China at the time of the alleged offense. 

The U.N. report said that the 11 other people arrested with Swidan as part of the alleged trafficking ring were unable to identify him and that the conviction was based on his visiting a factory that had once been used to manufacture methamphetamine. 

His mother Katherine Swidan told Fox News last year that she wanted President Biden to demand Mark’s release.

‘I want him to say his name. I want him to be strong and make some demands. Diplomacy is important, I understand that, but this has been going on too long,’ Katherine Swidan said at the time. ‘He is not well at all. He’s lost 100 pounds.’

Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, told Fox News around a year ago that his father was detained in China while traveling there for a memorial service for his own mother.

‘He was not allowed to get off the plane. As soon as he landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport, agents from the Ministry of State Security whisked him away and nobody has been able to see him outside of the prison ever since,’ Li said.

A website set up to raise awareness for Li said he had been held in China ‘since September 2016 on politically motivated charges of espionage and stealing state secrets. 

‘He is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence at Shanghai’s Qingpu Prison,’ it added.

Leung, who has permanent residency in Hong Kong, was also sentenced on espionage charges in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal.

He was first detained in April 2021. A friend of Leung told the newspaper that he was involved in charity work supporting low-income elderly people and students in Jiangsu province and has organized tours between the U.S. and China for musicians.  

Fox News’ Kate Sprague, Andrew Mark Miller and Kristine Parks contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Politics

Lincoln gave us Thanksgiving as a time to unite. We owe it to him to try

We tend to associate Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims in 1621. Shiny square buckles on boxy black shoes and a feast with the Indians, but in fact, this cherished national holiday actually began centuries later, in the midst of the greatest conflict to ever engulf the United States of America. 

In early October of 1863, fresh off of a costly, but eventually decisive, victory in the Civil War’s  battle of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln decreed that he would ‘set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving,’ the randomness of which, in fairness, does sound a bit like Nate Bargatze’s Geroge Washington on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ 

But remarkably, even as the cannons were still hot, even in the face of another two years of brutal destruction and loss, Lincoln was already thinking about how the country could once again be united. 

In his proclamation he does, ‘fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.’ 

Peace, harmony, tranquility and union. How lacking have these been in our society for the past decade? And while we have not fought with screaming hot lead, we have, with our words, and our actions, made strangers of each other. 

There are leading TV personalities such as MSNBC’s Joy Reid all but urging her viewers to cut off family and friends who voted for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the right too often accuses those on the left of having a woke mind virus, of not just being wrong, but somehow fundamentally broken. 

But if Lincoln, despite the depravities committed by both sides in the Civil War, could envision a future in which the men of the blue and the gray could sit and dine together peaceably, then surely, we can.  

Maybe it is fitting that this holiday, born of fraternal conflict, serves as the symbolic front lines, so to speak, of our political battles. We have built the cliché of the MAGA-loving uncle and the wine mom cousin screaming at each other about immigration over frustrated grandma’s stuffing. 

And it is precisely because Americans so cherish Thanksgiving that we use it in this rhetorical way, as an avatar, as if to say, ‘things are so bad that it’s even ruining Thanksgiving.’ 

In my travels throughout the election, I asked many people I met if they had relationships with family or friends that had been strained by politics. Many, if not most, said yes to varying degrees. 

‘Sometimes I just have to block people on Facebook,’ some of them told me. One woman, a Republican, said, ‘I try to avoid politics, but it’s not just politics, it’s who we are.’ Meanwhile, I have had Democrats insist that the supposed dangers of Trump are a moral, not a political issue. 

Well, I’ve got some news, and a little perspective. No matter how much one hates President-elect Donald Trump or the woke left, it is nothing compared to searing hatred felt for Lincoln south of the Mason-Dixon Line during the Civil War and the years that followed. 

And yet today, it is Lincoln who stands alone in the pantheon of American greatness, unblemished by slavery or the petty foibles of the founders, and so it is right and just that he gave us Thanksgiving, our truly American national holiday. 

There are signs, after the raw-and-punishing election of the past year, that many Americans are ready to move on from animosity, to mend fences, and to get back to treating our fellow man as human beings, not members of a political movement. 

Thanksgiving is an excellent time to begin such a journey back to peace, harmony, tranquility and union.  

If all of us made one call, sent one text, or sat down, full before the fire with one family member we disagree with, that could be a massive step to restoring the comity and good faith we have lost.  

And it is precisely because Americans so cherish Thanksgiving that we use it in this rhetorical way, as an avatar, as if to say, ‘things are so bad that it’s even ruining Thanksgiving.’ 

Lincoln opened this door for us 161 years ago, and ever since, without him getting much credit, this holiday, above others, has stood fast in our hearts.  

This year, let us allow it to be more, let it be an end to all the recent anger and agony, and the beginning of a new and generous phase of American political life.  

Abraham Lincoln, who sacrificed all for us, would have it no other way. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Stocks

Plunge in Treasury Yields Triggers Gap-Surge in Home Builders

The 10-yr Treasury Yield reversed its upswing with a sharp decline and the Home Construction ETF (ITB) reacted with a noteworthy gap-surge. Today’s report analyzes the yield, the TBond ETF (IEF) and ITB.  The 10-yr Treasury Yield plunged as Treasury bonds surged on the heels of a new nomination for Treasury secretary. These moves lifted small-caps, banks and homebuilders. Banks have been leading for some time and small-caps started their move last week (as noted in Chart Trader last week). Homebuilders held out for interest rates and got their catalyst on Monday. The only concern here is that the move in Treasuries is a knee-jerk reaction. Follow through would confirm the validity of these short-term reversals.

The first chart shows the 10-yr Treasury Yield ($TNX) in the top window and the 7-10 Yr Treasury Bond ETF (IEF). $TNX is the yield multiplied by 10. I used this version because it is updated in real-time, as opposed to end of day. $TNX and IEF are mirror images. The 10yr Yield is within a large falling channel and the 7-10Yr T-Bond ETF is within a large rising channel. The yield falls when the bond price rises.

These two caught my eye because they reversed the swings within their respective channels. $TNX fell sharply to reverse the upswing, which extended from mid September to mid October. This means the short-term trend (down) is now aligned with the long-term trend (down). On the flip-side, IEF surged and reversed its downswing. This means the short-term trend (up) is now aligned with the long-term trend (up).

Small-caps reacted to the plunge in yields with a surge the last three days. Actually, small-caps started moving higher before the 10-yr Treasury Yield surged and we noted this in the Chart Trader report on Thursday before the open. Moving to this week, the Home Construction ETF (ITB) also caught a strong bid as the 10-yr Treasury Yield fell on Monday. ITB gapped up and surged 5% on Monday. 

Next we will analyze the charts for ITB and five home builder stocks. This members-only report covers the long-term trends, medium chart setups and the recent momentum thrusts. 

Click here to join and get two bonus reports!

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