05Dec2017 Market Close: Wall Street Ends In The Red, DOW Down Triple Digits, Analysts Starting To Claim 'the Sky Is Falling' Syndrome, Disney Falls And Tech Rebounds

Written by Gary

Wall Street lost ground today as Microsoft and other technology stocks rebounded (SPY -0.4%). All three benchmarks ended in the red and there’s overwhelming evidence that the U.S. stock market is heading for disaster.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Disney’s bid for Fox assets gains momentum: sources (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co is in the lead to acquire much of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc’s media empire, though rival suitor Comcast Corp remains in contention, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
	Wall Street wavers as Disney falls and tech rebounds (Reuters) – Wall Street treaded water on Tuesday as Microsoft and other technology stocks rebounded and Walt Disney Co fell, while investors assessed how a Republican tax overhaul would impact corporate earnings.
	CVS likely wants FTC antitrust review, not Justice Department, of Aetna deal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It is uncertain who in the U.S. government will carry out an antitrust review of CVS Health Corp’s deal to buy health insurer Aetna Inc , but the drugstore company is likely hoping the potentially more lenient Federal Trade Commission gets the nod, antitrust experts say.
	Nestle to buy vitamin maker Atrium Innovations for $2.3 billion LONDON (Reuters) – Nestle is buying Canadian vitamin maker Atrium Innovations for $2.3 billion, expanding its presence in consumer healthcare as it seeks to offset weakness in packaged foods.
	Exxon takes climate-change probe fight to Massachusetts top court BOSTON (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp urged Massachusetts’ top court on Tuesday to block the state’s attorney general from obtaining records to investigate whether the company for decades concealed its knowledge of the role fossil fuels have on climate change.
	General Electric to cut 4,500 jobs in Europe: report PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. firm General Electric will cut 4,500 jobs across Europe after reviewing assets it purchased from France’s Alstom in 2015, French newspaper Les Echos said on Tuesday.
	Sprint expects pace of customer defections to slow in holiday quarter (Reuters) – U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Corp expects the pace of customer defections to slow in the key holiday quarter, helped by higher promotions, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday.
	Canada scraps buying 18 Boeing fighter jets amid trade dispute: sources OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is scrapping a plan to buy 18 Boeing Co Super Hornet fighter jets amid a deepening dispute with the U.S. aerospace company, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
	Jury orders Bayer, J&J to pay $28 million in Xarelto lawsuit (Reuters) – A Philadelphia state court jury on Tuesday ordered Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson to pay $27.8 million to an Indiana couple over the drugmakers’ failure to warn of internal bleeding risks from their blood thinner Xarelto.
	“Astonishing And Disturbing” Email Exposes Mueller Deputy As Anti-Trumper The rumblings that Special Counsel Mueller’s Russia investigation is perilously compromised by political bias are about to grow a whole lot louder. Just a couple of days after it was revealed that FBI veteran, Peter Strzok, was removed from Mueller’s team due to the discovery of anti-Trump text messages exchanged with a colleague (whom he happened to be having an extra-marital affair with), and hours after the WSJ editorial board called for Mueller to step down for being “too conflicted”, Judicial Watch has released emails obtained via FOIA that reveal another agent and a Mueller deputy, Andrew Weissmann, praising former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ efforts to defy a direct order from President Trump on the enforcement of his travel ban executive order. “I am so proud. And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects.” The email from Weissmann came exactly 1 hour after Yates was relieved of her duties with the Departm …
	Copper Crash And Yield Curve Carnage As Tech, Trannies, & TBTFs All Tumble Today was a day in the upside-down: Banks underperformed Tech; High tax underperformed Low tax; Momo outperformed Value; Nasdaq outperformed S&P; and VIX down with stocks down… While Nasdaq (green) outperformed on the day, and was bid at the open, Trannies (blue) underperformed; note that as Europe closed, everything rolled over…. Only Trannies are holding on to gains post-Tax vote, post-Ross-Rout-Retraction… For the first time in 7 days, high-tax companies underperformed low-tax compaies… Momentum outperformed value for the first time in 6 days… The Tech sector clung to green on the day as Financials leaked low …
	In Dramatic Reversal, Top Senate Republicans Now Want To Repeal AMT They Passed Just Days Ago When we laid out the key highlights of the Senate tax plan passed just before 2am on Saturday morning, we made one thing clear: nobody had read the massive 479-page bill which had several pages with handwritten revisions in the margin. I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0 — Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017 Now, three days after the bill’s passage and with tech stocks slumping around the globe after at least a few tax experts noticed “The Alternative Minimum Tax Bombshell”, or the retention of the controversial corporate AMT clause which “imperils GOP promises of business growth and more hiring,” republicans appear to have finally figured out that rushing to pass the biggest tax overhaul since Ronald Reagan in the deep of the night wasn’t the best idea, and according to Bloomberg, the chief Senate tax writer – the person who put together the bill that was passed 51-49 in the first place – wants AMT repealed. According to Bloomberg, in a stunning reversal, two influential GOP senators – Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the chamber’s main tax writers, along with Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee – said t …
	More Anti-Trump Messages Reportedly Sent By Members Of Mueller’s Team: “A Lot More Is Going To Come Out” Days after it emerged that former Special Counsel investigator Peter Strzok was fired from Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe in August for sending anti-Trump text messages to his mistress while the two were working together on the Clinton email investigation, Sara Carter of Circa told a Fox News panel that there are more anti-Trump messages sent by Mueller’s team floating around. Carter previously emerged as one of the handful of people to review documents obtained by an undercover FBI informant embedded in the Russian uranium industry. Appearing on Hannity’s show Monday night, Carter was asked about rumors of more anti-Trump sentiment expressed by Mueller’s team: Sean Hannity: I’m hearing rumors all over the place Sara Carter that there are other anti-Trump text-emails out there. And we know about them. Sara Carter: I think you’re hearing correctly Sean and I think a lot more is going to come out. In fact, I know a lot more is going to come out based on the sources I’ve spoken to. The clip is below: Tangential …
	The Great Tax-Windfall Surprise The biggest winners of the Republican tax plan are corporations. How they actually spend their windfall could jolt the economy and surprise markets.
	Spotify, Like Google, Wants to Reinvent the Tech IPO Spotify is next year expected to mount what is arguably the greatest challenge to the Wall Street IPO machine since Google went public in 2004. Silicon Valley’s startup giants will be watching closely.
	How China’s Migrant Crisis Could Hit Alibaba Despite all the talk about artificial intelligence and big data, the success of China’s e-commerce industry relies on something more dull: millions of workers willing to work cheaply to deliver parcels to customers’ doorsteps. The workers being evicted in Beijing have been vital to e-commerce giant Alibaba’s low-cost model.
	The Ratings Game: Amazon’s apparel business could grow to as much as $85 billion in sales by 2020 Amazon’s taking steps to grow its apparel market shares, with Instinet analysts drawing comparisons to other sectors where the e-commerce giant has become dominant.
	Capitol Report: The risks from a big stock or bond market drop ‘are high and rising,’ government watchdog says The U.S. Office of Financial Research, the government agency tasked with analyzing financial markets, said in its annual report on Tuesday that financial market risks ‘are high and rising.’
	Donald Trump and Warren Buffett’s vastly different strategies — to eating at McDonald’s The way Trump and Warren Buffett order at McDonald’s could be seen as mirroring their business philosophies.