Robert Mercer the multi-billionaire hedge fund co-chief of Renaissance Technologies; owner of Breitbart media; previous backer of Ted Cruz and currently reformed supporter of President Trump is making significant moves.
The overarching direction of the repositioning appears to be common sense. The end result, at least from a 30,000 ft level, positions Mercer toward the pragmatic MAGA Trump movement (CTH perspective) and politely distanced from the gnats and Bannon Bros.

Mr. Mercer sent a letter to his hedge fund principles (investors and pension advisers) notifying them of his stepping down from Renaissance Tech, including the board of directors, though he will remain deeply involved in the research and analytics side of the operation.
Additionally, Mercer appears to have caught-on to the general direction where the gnat swarm was/is headed and is now distancing himself from the nuttery side of right-minded political engagement.  Mercer is shifting controlling ownership of Breitbart media to his two daughters.  This is good news for team common sense and bad news for the hungry gnats.
In a very rare statement attributed directly to Mr. Mercer, he explains his perspectives on Steve Bannon and how despite the general agreement on intent, the methods and approach by Bannon is not always in alignment with Mercer’s own outlooks on politics.
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President Trump has announced his nominee for Federal Reserve Chairman.  Moments ago President tapped Fed Governor Jerome Powell to become head of the U.S. central bank to replace Janet Yellen when her term expires in February 2018.
Mr. Powell was appointed to the Fed board in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama and  emerged as the preferred choice from group of five possible nominees that included current Chair Janet Yellen – as well as others who would have represented a sharp change in monetary policy. During a Rose Garden announcement, President Trump called Powell a strong, committed and smart leader:

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Earlier today President Donald Trump held a meeting with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and all participants in the tax reform proposal.
Interestingly, and in a typically Trump power play dynamic, POTUS Trump invited U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue to the meeting and after finishing his prepared remarks put Donohue directly in the spotlight (Video 04:00).  The U.S. CoC is the biggest lobbyist for globalist economics. Donohue is essentially MAGA enemy #1.
You might remember Tom Donohue specifically targeting President Trump for personal criticism in the last round of NAFTA negotiations.  POTUS Trump positioned Donohue physically directly across from him at the table and it was obvious President Trump was planning to put Donohue on the spot.  The look on Gary Cohn’s face is priceless.

[Transcript] 11:41 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being here, for the incredible work you’re doing to help us pass the really historic tax cuts. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. It’s cuts and it’s relief and it’s also reform. And frankly, it’s also simplification. So we’re covering everything.
There has never been anything like it, and it’s so important. The economy is doing very well but it can do much better. A lot of jobs are going to come from this and a lot of companies are going to start pouring back into the United States. In fact, we’re going to be announcing one big one sometime very shortly — a very big one coming back into the United States.
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The U.S. Conference Board is an economic think tank in partnership with Nielsen surveys which provides predictive economic analysis based on consumer and economic surveys within the larger U.S. economy.  The latest monthly report from the board shows a stratospheric level of consumer confidence, 125.9 the highest level since 2000.
Accordingly, “consumers were even more optimistic in October than economists polled by Reuters expected.”  The media and economic teams who thrill at the possibility of being able to talk-down the U.S. economy are apoplectic…

(Reuters) U.S. consumer confidence jumped to a near 17-year high in October, with households upbeat about the labor market and business conditions, which could underpin consumer spending and boost the economy in the final three months of the year.
The economy’s prospects were further bolstered by other reports on Tuesday showing an acceleration in wage growth in the third quarter and sustained increases in house prices in August.  (read more)

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There’s essentially five candidates being discussed for Federal Reserve Chair: •Stanford University economist, John Taylor; •current Chair, Janet Yellen; •economic adviser, Gary Cohn; •former Fed Governor, Kevin Warsh; and the most likely pick •Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell.
More than likely two candidates from this group of five will be selected; one for Federal Reserve Chair and one for the currently open Vice-Chair.  WATCH:

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MAGAnomics is a generally common sense approach toward achieving dynamic growth in the U.S. economy.  Left-leaning economic experts (most of them) are gnashing their teeth as the America-First MAGAnomic principles are paying YUGE initial dividends.
Reuters News is forced to painfully publish the positive numbers; yet they talk down the economy despite the reality.  Again, using the Reuters information we’ll dig into the economic news, and deconstruct their dismissive ideologically-driven narrative.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy unexpectedly maintained a brisk pace of growth in the third quarter as an increase in inventory investment and a smaller trade deficit offset a hurricane-related slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in construction.

♦First, “unexpectedly”. Yeah, it’s always ‘unexpected’ when the results run counter to the preferred outcome.  Notice, “inventory investment”, that’s parseltongue verbiage to describe manufacturing and production infrastructure investment.  It’s not just “inventory” as in “unsold products”, what’s happening is companies are investing in growth and building out production capacity.  The “inventory” is actually equipment (being purchased) and operational infrastructure (being built), two measured GDP values.
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On Tuesday of this week the Senate voted, narrowly, to strike down a CFPB banking rule that was set to begin in 2019.  The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), is the watchdog financial agency created by Congress in the aftermath of the mortgage mess.
The CFPB rule, five years in the making, would have allowed individual and class action lawsuits against financial institutions by consumers and lawyers instead of arbitration to settle disputes.  The Democrats and those who supported the rule framed the arguments around protecting consumers from predatory banks. However, those against the rule pointed out the cost to smaller banks, community banks and credit unions.
Big banks and multinational financial enterprises (ie. The Big Club) can afford massive groups of lawyers to defend their interests; smaller community banks and credit unions cannot afford such litigious costs.  The K-Street lobbyists were against the regulatory rule as a natural outcome of their general disposition toward regulation.  However, K-Street was specifically ambivalent to the final senate vote because increased systemic regulation supports their competitive ability to dominate the U.S. financial system.

Richard Condray is the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and was appointed in 2012 to a five year term by President Obama.  Condray is anticipated to step down soon and run for Ohio governor.  President Trump will appoint his replacement and will likely appoint someone who is focused on protecting consumers but also understands the important need to expand capital investment into Main Street USA.

President Trump’s political opposition will frame any appointee as a person likely to remove regulation; thus will continue their political argument that POTUS Trump is removing all of the regulatory “progress” installed by President Obama. However, those who have followed the goals and objectives of President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin will note the administration regulatory goals are inherently different from all prior approaches.

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President Trump arrives in Dallas, Texas, to get a briefing on ongoing hurricane recovery efforts and attend two republican party functions.  After an initial greeting by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, POTUS Trump goes to meet the crowd.
A very enthusiastic group of Gen-Zer’s greets President Trump with a sign: “We Played Hooky to High-Five Our President“. Of course POTUS Trump couldn’t resist:

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The President arrived in Dallas, TX, (3:10pm) for a briefing on hurricane recovery efforts (3:30pm – Video Below). The President then participated in a roundtable with Republican National Committee (RNC) supporters (4:30pm). In the evening, the President will give remarks at a Dallas Trump victory reception (5:20pm). The President will then depart Dallas (6:25pm), TX for Washington D.C., en route to the White House (10pm).
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Today the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, son of King Salman, ally to U.S. President Trump, guardian of the Holy Mosques, delivered remarks during a conference on investment that stunned the regional geopolitical world.
Of course for most CTH readers, who understood the larger dynamic behind Trump and T-Rex’s sword dancing diplomacy, this doesn’t come as a surprise. However, for the larger U.S. electorate, perhaps they will begin to understand the positive consequences downstream from President Trump’s regional policy.
The scale of consequence was clearly evident in the expression of Maria Bartiromo.

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Five months ago we discussed the significance of the pageantry and scale of the royal reception for President Trump and the U.S. delegation.  Specifically how the structure of the trip was reflective of much more than a singular presidential visit to a nation and region of geo-strategic importance.
The word “reset” is frequent amid media reporting of the Saudi trip but few people have followed the recent regional history to thoroughly understand what exactly is being reset.
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“MAGAnomics” is about gaining serious economic benefits for the middle-class; the “Trump Doctrine” is about securing the national security interests of the U.S. through economic leverage and economic partnerships; put them together and you have Boeing Airline Manufacturer signing a deal with Singapore Airlines worth almost $14 billion and providing 70,000 U.S. Jobs.
During the diplomatic White House visit between Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and U.S. President Donald Trump the leaders of Boeing and Singapore Airlines signed the deal. Watch:

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But wait, there’s a strategic aspect to this deal.  In the background, and generally invisible to an oblivious U.S. media, you’ll note the Trump administration (Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary of State Tillerson) are  on the verge of quashing a deal between Boeing and Iran.
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