Written by Gary
Wall St. closed lower on Tuesday, led by financials, as uncertainty concerning the timeline of the Trump administration pro-growth policies weighed on sentiment.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Wall Street sinks on fears of delays to Trump tax cuts(Reuters) – Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday as investors worried that President Donald Trump will struggle to deliver promised tax cuts that propelled the market to record highs in recent months, with nervousness deepening ahead of a key healthcare vote. | |
Markets fret as Trump agenda shows signs of cracksNEW YORK (Reuters) – The steepest pullback in stocks since the U.S. presidential election reveals investor angst about President Donald Trump’s ability to push through major reforms, leaving stocks vulnerable to a long-anticipated correction. | |
Wall Street should avoid cutting foreign bank ties: U.S. regulatorWASHINGTON/ST LOUIS (Reuters) – U.S. banks should not cut ties with foreign clients over money- laundering worries unless officials have concrete cause for concern, a leading U.S. regulator is telling staff and lenders. | |
U.S. bank stocks fall as investor hope wanes for policy boosts(Reuters) – Shares in U.S. banks tumbled on Tuesday as investors shrunk back from a post-election rally on worries that President Donald Trump would not be able to live up to his promises for large-scale relief on tax and regulation. | |
Google to revamp policies, hire staff after UK ad scandalLONDON (Reuters) – Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos. | |
U.S. oil hits November low as fresh glut fears overshadow OPEC cut talkNEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Tuesday, with U.S. crude dropping to its lowest since November, as concerns about new supplies overshadowed the latest talk by OPEC that it was looking to extend output cuts beyond June. | |
Apple drives further into Facebook, Snap territory with video appSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – With the release of a new video app called Clips, Apple Inc is inching one step closer to fully engaging in the messaging world, where its huge base of iPhone users could help it compete with Snap Inc’s Snapchat and Facebook Inc’s Messenger. | |
U.S. judge will not certify Deutsche Bank mortgage class actionNEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday said investors seeking to hold Deutsche Bank AG liable for causing $3.1 billion of losses by failing to properly monitor 10 trusts backed by toxic residential mortgages cannot pursue their claims as a group. | |
Wells Fargo banks on new ad campaign to regain customer trustNEW YORK (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co will launch a new multi-channel ad campaign, its chief executive said on Tuesday, in a further sign of the bank’s efforts to regain trust after a sales scandal last year caused a sharp drop in account openings. | |
Kolanovic: “Today The Gamma Imbalance Shifted Toward Puts For The First Time In 5 Months”Marko Kolanovic has done it again. Last Thursday, one day ahead of the massive quad-witching where over $1.4 trillion in options expired in relatively tame fashion, the JPM quant warned of “near-term market weakness” and suggested “reducing US equity exposure. And, sure enough, JP Merlin’s Gandalf timed it impeccably yet again. To be sure, the jury is still out on what caused the selloff – lack of votes to repeal Obamacare, fears about Trump’s fiscal policy agenda, the market’s sudden realization that it is at 30 CAPE, or just a technical revulsion – what matters is that once again, like clockwork, Kolanovic called a key inflection point just days in advance. And speaking of causation, Kolanovic is convinced that today’s selloff was largely due to technical selling, according to Kolanovic who reemerged with a follow up. According to the JPM quant, Friday’s options expiration changed options dealers’ positions in a manner that left them more likely to sell into a falling market, which is precisely what happened today and is contrary to the market action from early March, when dealers’ positioning was skewed to the call side and helped dampen volatility. “Following Friday’s option expiry, the gamma imbalance shifted towards puts for the first time in about 5 months and the market was ‘free’ to move again,” said Kolanovic. Specifically, the S&P 500 option gamma imbalance turned about $20Bn towards puts as of today, creting a feedback loop and significantly contributing to the selling. | |
The Mainstream Media Is Using “Trolling” As An Excuse To Censor The RightAuthored by Duane Norman via Free Market Shooter blog, Free Market Shooter was recently presented with an article from Vogue detailing the steps Google’s Yasmin Green is taking to become a “slayer” of internet trolls. A few notable excerpts are below:
Does this sound at all to you like a simple reprogramming of search algorithms? Because it sure reads a lot more like McCarthy-ist censorship. And a closer look at Google’s strategy reveals that is exactly what Google intends to do, with right-wing news as the target. First, you have to take a look at what Yasmin Green and Jigsaw have been up to, and what its original purpose was. Jigsaw was originally put in place to counter ISIS, which was an idea everyon … | |
Conservative Students “Violently Threatened” At Lutheran CollegeVia TheCollegeFix.com, Four in five students at St. Olaf College, a Lutheran liberal arts school, voted for the Clinton/Kaine ticket in 2016, while Trump/Pence drew 1 in 10 and Johnson/Weld 1 in 20. But it’s not only that feeling of marginalization that has led conservative students to stay in the closet at the Minnesota school known for its music program, according to student newspaper Manitou Messenger:
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WTI/RBOB Pump’n’Dump After Surprise Inventory DataAfter last week’s surprise draw (but big build at Cushing), API reports a bigger than expected crude (and Cushing) build and bigger than expected draw in Gasoline inventories. For now, both WTI and RBOB kneejerked higher but WTI faded very rapidly. API Crude +4.539mm (+3mm exp) Cushing +1.968mm Gasoline -4.934mm (-2.4mm exp) Distillates -883k Another big Cushing build and another big gasoline draw… And the immediate reaction in WTI and RBOB – after both sold off today despite Russian jawboning – Bloomberg reports: “The catalyst is concern over demand due to potential difficulties with President Trump getting his pro-growth agenda through,” Bart Melek, the head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, says by phone. “The crude market acted technically here.” “We’re still pretty high when it comes to inventories and if they keep getting higher, it’s only going to put more pressure on the market,” Carl Larry, principal consultant for Oil Outlooks and Opinions in Houston, says by phone < … | |
Why Trump’s Tax Cut May Be Later and Smaller Than Investors ThinkWith Republicans’ health-care overhaul threatening to chew up the legislative calendar, their tax-reform plans risk getting pushed back. | |
Auto Lenders Are on a Bad TripWarning signs continue to accumulate in the auto-finance industry. | |
Apple Pads Its Future BusinessCulling its iPad line speaks to Apple’s need to boost memory and drive service revenue. | |
What We Read Today 21 March 2017Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included. This feature is published every day late afternoon New York time. For early morning review of headlines see “The Early Bird” published every day in the early am at GEI News (membership not required for access to “The Early Bird”.). BECOME A GEI MEMBER – IT’s FREE! Every day most of this column (“What We Read Today”) is available only to GEI members. To become a GEI Member simply subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. | |
March 2017 Chemical Activity Barometer: Optimism Reflected in Increased Chemical Industry Activityfrom the American Chemistry Council The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) posted its strongest year-over-year gain in nearly seven years. The 5.5 percent increase over this time last year reflects elevated consumer and business confidence and an overall rising optimism in the U.S. economy. | |
Market Extra: A history-setting trading streak for the Dow, S&P 500 just came to a screeching haltThe Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index halted a monthslong streak without a 1% decline. | |
The Tell: Blame options expiration, not politics, for stock-market pullback: analystFriday’s options expiration—known as quadruple witching—set the stage for Monday’s stock market pullback, says J.P. Morgan’s Marko Kolanovic, in a note. | |
Remote workers are NOT watching daytime TV in their pajamasTelecommuters are more productive than office workers, study finds. |
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