In the aftermath of GM’s announcement to close the Lordstown, Ohio, auto assembly facility, President Trump worked earnestly to get GM to sell the facility and save jobs for the region.  Today President Trump and GM CEO Mary Barra announce the likely sale to Workhorse Group pending UAW union approval.

Washington (AFP) – General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest $700 million in Ohio and to sell a shuttered plant to a company that makes electric trucks, drawing cheers from President Donald Trump who has assailed the US automaker for cutting American jobs.

“GREAT NEWS FOR OHIO!” Trump tweeted, revealing the details ahead of the company’s official announcement.

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President Trump holds a mini press conference with Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon to announce her departure.  During the presser President Trump also answers questions on a variety of current events. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] Mar-a-Lago – Palm Beach, Florida, – 4:17 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Linda McMahon has done an incredible job as the head of the Small Business Administration. She has been a superstar. The fact is that I’ve known her for a long time. I knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was that good. She has been one of our all-time favorites. It was just so smooth. She’s helped so many people in the world of small business.
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While the MSM financial/wage reporting is two days apart from the BLS “JOLTS” release on job openings, the relationship is direct and connected.
CNBC is noticing the upward wage pressure is focused heavily on the middle-class workers and lower end of the labor market; another KPI (Key Performance Indicator) the economy is stronger than most financial pundits are admitting:

CNBC – The recent jump in paychecks has come with an unusual characteristic, as workers at the lower end of the pay scale are getting the greater benefit.
Average hourly earnings rose 3.4 percent in February from the same period a year ago, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report last week. That’s the biggest gain since April 2009 and seventh month in a row that compensation has been 3 percent or better.

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Fox News is reporting that Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is anticipated to resign mid-March and be replaced by a hand-picked deputy by AG William Barr.  Initial reporting is that Jeffrey Rosen will be the replacement.

FOX – Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his role at the Justice Department by mid-March, a senior DOJ official told Fox News on Monday. (read more)

This timeframe would align with prior reporting that Rosenstein would exit mid-March simultaneous to the completion of the Robert Mueller investigation.

NBC REPORT WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had been overseeing the special counsel investigation, plans to step down after Robert Mueller submits his report, according to administration officials familiar with his thinking.

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The White House announces the primary trade negotiators who will be heading to China next week for another round of trade discussions.  In the background, yesterday President Trump announced there was no planned meeting between himself and Chinese Chairman Xi, which would indicate there is still a considerable distance between the trade delegations.
USTR Robert Lighthizer is the tip-of-the-spear, and has been very direct about his approach.  Lighthizer stated that without very specific, actionable and measurable deliverables included in the terms of agreement, the March 1st tariff increase will proceed without impairment.

[White House] Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the members of an official United States delegation to China to discuss the trade relationship between the two countries. United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin travel to Beijing for principal-level meetings that will take place from February 14 through February 15, 2019. These meetings will be preceded by deputy-level negotiations that will begin on February 11, 2019, led by Deputy United States Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish.

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Cory “Spartacus” Booker rallies his presidential coalition to advocate for the Green New Deal by comparing bovine flatulence regulation to the U.S. moon landing and defeat of World War II Nazism.
The over-their-head irony is that “Nazism” is technically national socialism; which is exactly the current point of political advocacy within the Spartacus coalition. WATCH:

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Tomorrow, Friday January 4th, the U.S. Labor Department will release the December jobs report which will offer an in-depth look at the labor market including: job additions, the unemployment rate, the labor participation rate and actual wage growth.
In the interim, the ADP National Employment Report provides a monthly snapshot of U.S. nonfarm private sector employment based on actual transactional payroll data. Their review of national payroll ledgers shows a stunning; 271,000 jobs added in December.

(link to ADP data – link to pdf)

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The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released their manufacturing review today highlighting continued expansion of the underlying economy.  The results today from within the overall manufacturing industry emphasize the 27th consecutive month of growth…. and a future-view that seems to be predicting much more.  Much more!

ISM Release […] Manufacturing expanded in November, as the PMI^® registered 59.3 percent, an increase of 1.6 percentage points from the October reading of 57.7 percent. “This indicates growth in manufacturing for the 27th consecutive month, led by strong new orders, production output and continued slowing supplier delivery performance,” says Fiore. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally contracting. (more)

Okay CTH, so take the business wonk-speak out of this – what does it mean?
Here’s the summary: Manufacturers are increasing new orders (making more stuff). Production outputs and employment within the manufacturing sector are still growing. Suppliers are still having a tough time filling material orders, but they are finding new and innovative ways to speed up shipments of raw material. However, despite the speed (increased efficiency in delivering the raw material), the backlog of requests is still growing (new orders exceed supply chain). Customer inventories are too low (hence the backlog for new stuff). Inflationary pressure still exists, but the rate of price growth is slowing (increased supplier efficiency). Manufacturing exports and imports are growing. The economy is expanding.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the October 2018 jobs report and the Ju-Ju bones are jumpin’. A quarter million new jobs created, vastly exceeding all expectations. Every sector increased in jobs:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 250,000 in October, following an average monthly gain of 211,000 over the prior 12 months. In October, job growth occurred in health care, in manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing. (See table B-1.)
Health care added 36,000 jobs in October. Within the industry, employment growth occurred in hospitals (+13,000) and in nursing and residential care facilities (+8,000). Employment in ambulatory health care services continued to trend up
(+14,000). Over the past 12 months, health care employment grew by 323,000.
In October, employment in manufacturing increased by 32,000. Most of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, with a gain in transportation equipment (+10,000). Manufacturing has added 296,000 jobs over the year, largely in durable goods industries.
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An interesting video was captured a few days ago showing a Mexican trucking company named EXPRESS SAN JAVIER, assisting in moving Central American invasion force to the U.S. border.

What is additionally interesting is the Mexican company holds a Department of Transportation (DOT) license for operations inside the U.S. DOT License #1202728
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