26Apr2016 Pre-Market Commentary: Futures Modestly Higher, WTI Crude Steady In Low 43's, US Dollar Weakening, Two Day FOMC Starts Today

Written by Gary

US stock future indexes are fractionally higher puts the market on track to rebound somewhat after dropping in two of the past three sessions. The S&P 500 is fractionally higher ahead of today’s Fed meeting. Stochastics and the RSI are neutral to bearish signaling that a short-term top might be in or is near. The FOMC is scheduled to start today, the first of a two-day meeting where it’s expected to hold rates at 0.25-0.5%.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.38%, while Germany’s DAX is off 0.03%. Shares in France are unchanged with the CAC 40 at 4,546.22.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	P&G reports better-than-expected rise in profit (Reuters) – Procter & Gamble Co , the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette shaving products, reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly profit, boosted by cost-cutting and higher selling prices.
	Global stocks, oil prices climb as investors ready for Fed, BOJ LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks climbed for the first time in four days on Tuesday and a weaker dollar helped oil prices gain as investors fine-tuned their expectations for monetary policy meetings in the United States and Japan.
	Post-it maker 3M’s profit beats estimates on lower costs (Reuters) – Diversified manufacturer 3M Co reported a higher-than-expected 6.6 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by lower costs.
	U.S. durable goods orders rise less than expected WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) – – Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rebounded less than expected in March as demand for automobiles, computers and electrical goods slumped, suggesting the downturn in the factory sector was far from over.
	Google, Ford, Uber form coalition on self-driving cars (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google unit , Ford Motor Co , Volvo Cars and two ride-sharing companies said Tuesday they are forming a coalition to urge federal action on self-driving cars.
	DuPont raises full-year outlook, first-quarter results beat forecast (Reuters) – DuPont’s first-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates and the chemicals and seed producer raised its full-year guidance as it sees lower currency impact than expected.
	Mitsubishi Motors says it used non-compliant mileage data for 25 years TOKYO (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Motors Corp said it had used fuel economy testing methods that were not compliant with Japanese regulations for 25 years, much longer than previously known, and would set up an external committee to investigate the matter.
	Sikorsky acquisition boosts Lockheed’s revenue (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp reported a 15.7 percent rise in quarterly sales and raised its forecast for the year, helped by the acquisition of helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft and higher sales of its F-35 fighter jets.
	U.S. workforce growth may give Fed one more reason to go slow on rates RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) – Americans with a high school education or less are returning to the labor force in larger numbers, a trend that points to a broadening of economic growth, but could also keep wage growth subdued and stay the Federal Reserve’s hand in its hiking cycle.
	Sarepta Plunges 50% After FDA Rejects Key Drug 2016 has been a tempestuous year for Serepta shareholders. From over $40 to just $10 and then the miracle ramp from february back to $25 before the writing on the wall ahead of last night’s FDA decision and now – following yesterday’s monstrous short-squeeze (36% surge), a 50% collapse to $8 – a 4 year low for yet another Biotech darling of old. This morning’s collapse comes after the FDA voted that SRPT’s muscular dystrophy drug was not effective… As Bloomberg reports, An FDA advisory panel voted 7-3 with 3 abstentions that Sarepta’s single historically controlled study doesn’t provide substantial evidence that eteplirsen is effective for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Some panel members raised questions about study design, said more data are needed. Not a great morning for Stevie Cohen who just upped his stake (seems he did not get the nod this time)… Any questions, refer to Christopher Marai or Chad Messer (PhD!)… …
	“This Is The Longest Uninterrupted Selling Streak In History” – Smart Money Sells Stocks For Record 13 Consecutive Weeks One week ago we were surprised to learn that no matter what the market was doing, whether it was going up, down or sideways, Bank of America’s “smart money” (institutional, private and hedge funds) clients, simply refused to buy anything, and in fact had continued to sell stocks for a near-record 12 consecutive weeks. In fact, the selling continued despite what we said, namely that “at this point it was about time for the selling to stock, if purely statistically, otherwise said “smart money” would be sending the clearest signal yet that the market rally from the February lows is nothing but a huge gift to sell into.” One week later we were absolutely convinced that finally the selling would end. It has not. As BofA reported overnight when looking at the latest trading activity by its smart money clients, “BofAML clients were net sellers of US stocks for the thirteenth consecutive week last week “making it the longest uninterrupted selling streak in our data history (since 2008) as clients continued to doubt the market rally.” According to BofA, “net sales were $3.8bn, the biggest in three weeks but the sixth-largest in our data history (since ’08), with sales from hedge funds, private clients and institutional clients alike. This follows a week of net buying by hedge funds the prior week; institutional and private clients have both been consistent net sellers since February. Clients sold stocks in all three size segments, and year-to-date only small caps have seen cumulative inflows.”
	Why Dennis Gartman Just Flip-Flopped Back To “Cautious… Perhaps Defensive” One day after a sliver of a bullish Gartman peeked out, when he announced that he was “slightly net long of equities”, it would appear that yesterday’s red close prompted the “world-renowned” commodity expert (according to his family relations at CNBC Fast Money), to do what he now tends to do on a daily if not hourly basis, and is back to being “cautious… perhaps defensive.” First, this is what he said just yesterday morning: We, here at TGL, are very, very, very slightly net long of equities, for we are long of gold in EUR and Yen denominated terms of course, but we’ve had those positions on for months in the case of the EUR and for years in the case of the Yen. Indeed, we do not consider those to be œequity positions at all, but we have to mark them somewhere in our commentary and this is the only place that seems reasonable, and so they are marked here…. So, we’ve punted bullishly, but again by only a very small sum. Shortly after this hit, stocks promptly dropped and closed in the red despite another inexplicable last minute jump in the S&P. Maybe that is why as of this morning his bullish punt is no more, and instead has been replaced with “caution… perhaps very real defensiveness”. Here’s why: we note that the CNN Fear & Greed Index, having risen late last week once again to 75 ¦ the level the creators of the Index have referred to as œExtreme Greed ¦ has fallen back from those highs and closed last evening at 70. The Index has spent the past sevea …
	Cyber Fraud At SWIFT – $81 Million Stolen From Central Bank Swift, the vital global financial network that western financial services companies, institutions and banks use for all payments and transfer billions of dollars every day, warned its customers yesterday evening that it was aware of cyber fraud and a number of recent “cyber incidents where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system and $81 million was apparently stolen from a central bank. SWIFT (Wikipedia) As reported by Reuters, the disclosure came as law enforcement agencies investigate the February cyber theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Swift has acknowledged that the scheme involved altering Swift software on Bangladesh Bank’s computers to hide evidence of fraudulent transfers. Yesterday’s statement from Swift marked the first acknowledgement that the cyber attack on the New York Federal Reserve Bank was not an isolated incident but one of several recent criminal schemes that aimed to take advantage of the global messaging platform used by some 11,000 financial institutions.
	Why China Will Struggle to Turn Toxic Loans Into Beautiful Bonds China’s latest program to clean up bad loans “securitizing toxic assets into bonds “faces serious challenges.
	Oil Fallout: Husky’s Relief Comes at Somebody Else’s Expense Husky Energy’s deal to sell assets to sibling companies also controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing leaves some investors without a say.
	Why Oil Isn’t Everything for Standard Chartered The emerging markets bank is cleaning up its books, but has lost a lot of revenues permanently.
	Durable Goods New Orders Improved in March 2016 Written by Steven Hansen The headlines say the durable goods new orders improved. The unadjusted three month rolling average improved this month and remains in expansion. Our view of this data is mixed. .
	The Tell: China’s crackdown and May Day could mean ‘Mayday!’ for commodities After the recent rally for commodities, analysts are buzzing about a possible break in the buying ” and blaming China.
	The Wall Street Journal: Regulators block Disney from entering China online video market China is putting on ice an Alibaba partnershipÂ to bring Disney characters to Chinese screens, at a time when Chinese regulators are tightening control over online content.
	BookWatch: This Warren Buffett rule can work wonders on your portfolio Ask Warren Buffett for the single most powerful factor behind his investing success, and he’d respond œcompound interest ” without skipping a beat.