Written by Gary
Wall Street indexes rose slightly in thin holiday trading (SPY +0.08%), supported by gains in technology and financial stocks. Oil prices dipped today but stayed close to their highest in 2-1/2 years.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are higher today with shares in Mexico leading the region. The IPC is up 0.29% while Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.25% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.03%. |
Traders Corner – Health of the Market
Looking at the last three columns (below), the first one (Actual), is what was reported this morning. The second column (Forecast) is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| Tech, financial gains lift Wall Street(Reuters) – Wall Street indexes rose slightly in thin holiday trading on Thursday, supported by gains in technology and financial stocks. |
| U.S. jobless claims steady in latest weekWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week and the underlying trend remained consistent with a tightening labor market. |
| Citigroup to pay $11.5 million fines, compensation over errant stock ratingsNEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc will pay at least $11.5 million in fines and restitution to settle charges it displayed the wrong research ratings on more than 1,800 stocks, causing many customers to own shares they never would have bought, a U.S. regulator said on Thursday. |
| IAG is remaining bidder for insolvent airline Niki: sourceFRANKFURT (Reuters) – British Airways owner IAG is negotiating exclusively with Niki’s insolvency administrator to take over the collapsed Austrian airline, a source close to the process said on Thursday. |
| SoftBank succeeds in tender offer for large stake in Uber: WSJ(Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp has succeeded in its bid to buy a large stake in Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] at a steep discount, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. |
| Apple, Epson face French legal complaints over allegedly shortening life of productsPARIS (Reuters) – Smartphone maker Apple and Japanese printer company Epson are facing legal complaints in France over allegedly speeding up the aging process of their products to stimulate demand. |
| Airbus seals $5.4 billion AerCap order for 50 A320neo planesPARIS (Reuters) – European planemaker Airbus sealed on Thursday a formal order from AerCap for 50 Airbus A320neo planes, in a deal worth an estimated $5.4 billion at list prices. |
| Oil prices stay near high on strong U.S. refinery runs, China dataNEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices dipped on Thursday but stayed close to their highest in 2-1/2 years, as data showed strong demand for crude imports in China and on increased refining activity in the United States that drew more crude from inventories. |
| Exclusive: Apple and Amazon in talks to set up in Saudi Arabia – sourcesRIYADH (Reuters) – Apple and Amazon are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia, two sources told Reuters, part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s push to give the conservative kingdom a high-tech look. |
| China Beige Book Warns Economic Slowdown Has BegunWhen it comes to the global economy, few things matter as much as China, the trajectory of its economy and especially the pace and impulse of its credit creation, which is ironic because virtually all data coming out of China is fabricated and manipulated, and thoroughly untrustworthy, either on purpose or “by accident.” The latest example of the former was highlighted over the weekend, when we discussed that a nationwide Chinese audit found some local governments inflated revenue levels and raised debt illegally, once again making a mockery of China’s credibility on the global stage. As Bloomberg reported ten cities, counties or districts in the Yunnan, Hunan and Jilin provinces, as well as the southwestern city of Chongqing, inflated fiscal revenues by 1.55 billion yuan, the National Audit Office said in a statement on its website dated Dec. 8. An even more blatant example of the former was highlighted in October ahead of China’s Communist Party Congress, when the local securities watchdog literally “advised” some loss-making companies to avoid publishing quarterly results ahead of the Congress as authorities sought to ensure stock-market stability during the critical gathering of China’s political elite. As a result, at least 17 Shenzhen-listed companies announced delays to their earnings reports from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24, up from three during the same period last year. However, now that the Party Congress is long over, China’s recent economic data offer a … |
| Lacy Hunt On The Unintended Consequences Of Federal Reserve PoliciesAuthored by Mike Shedlock via www.themaven.net/mishtalk, The Financial Repression Authority interviewed Lacy Hunt, Chief Economist at Hoisington Management on Fed policies. The interview below first appeared on the FRA website along with a video. The emphasis in italics is mine. FRA: Hi, welcome to FRA’s Roundtable Insight. Today, we have Dr. Lacy Hunt. He’s an internationally recognized economist and the Executive V.P. and Chief Economist of Hoisington Investment Management Company, a firm that manages over $4.5 billion USD and specializing in the management of fixed income accounts for large institutional clients. He also served in the past as Senior Economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where he was a member of the Federal Reserve System Committee on Financial Analysis. Welcome. Dr. Hunt. Dr. Lacy Hunt: Nice to be with you, Richard. FRA: Great. I thought we’d have a discussion on a variety of topics relating to the economy and the financial markets. You recently mentioned that you thought this was the worst economic expansion recovery in U.S. history since 1790. Wow. Can you elaborate? Dr. Lacy Hunt: If you calculate the average growth rate in the expansions since 1790, this is a long-running expansion, b … |
| Vanity Fair Editors Relentlessly Attacked Over “Don’t-Run-Again-Hillary” Satirical VideoIt appears the McResistance is on the warpath once again, and this time they’re going after Vanity Fair, which to the surprise of many published a satirical video about Hillary Clinton’s future prospects in the days just before Christmas with the caption, “Maybe it’s time for Hillary Clinton to take up a new hobby in 2018” as part of a broader series on New Year’s resolutions. “Take up a new hobby in the new year,” suggested Vanity Fair writer Maya Kosoff. “Volunteer work, knitting, improv comedy – literally anything that will keep you from running again.” Editor John Kelly, meanwhile, suggested that Clinton “finally put away your James Comey voodoo doll.” And added further with cheerful snark, “We all know you think James Comey cost you the election and he might have, but so did a handful of other things. It’s a year later and time to move on.”
Editors from the magazine’s politics and business section, Hive, published the one-minute video entitled “Six New Year’s Resolutions for Hillary Clinton” featuring themselves holding Champagne flutes while giving New Year’s advice, which includes telling the former secretary of state and failed presidential candidate to give up and retire in 2018. Though the … |
| Hannity Promises To Expose CNN & NBC News In “EpicFail”“Tick tock.”
In a mysterious tweet yesterday evening to his 3.19 million followers, Fox News’ Sean Hannity offered a preview of what is to come from his show next week, warning that he “will expose” CNN and NBC News for what he calls a “#EpicFail.” He followed up last night’s tweet…
With another tonight, highlighting the “fake news” being spewed forth from various media entities…
We will just have to be patient to di … |
| The Winners and Losers of the Heard’s Stock-Picking EventHeard on the Street’s columnists ran an experiment to see if they could beat the market by picking, or panning, 23 stocks, indexes or currencies. They tracked their performance over several months, and the results were humbling. |
| Why A Stronger Dollar Could Spoil the Emerging-Market PartyWhen it comes to emerging markets, the dollar giveth, and the dollar taketh away. In 2017, it has been generous: a softer dollar has buoyed equities and bonds and juiced returns for foreign investors. But nobody should take that for granted. |
| Apple’s Nearly Trillion-Dollar iPhoneThe iPhone maker’s stock price has soared, but is unlikely to repeat the performance. |
| Everything coming to Netflix in January — and what’s leavingNetflix will kick off the new year with a new crop of original films and TV shows, as well as some classic favorites |
| Market Extra: Stock optimism swells as S&P 500 hits most overbought level in 22 yearsFollowing a year where the U.S. stock market hit a record number of records and seen basically nothing in the way of pullbacks or volatility, investors have gone all-in on stocks. |
| Will the bull market for stocks finally end in 2018? If so, blame the credit market bubbleThe flattening yield curve and a bubbling corporate debt market suggests the clock is ticking for the bull market in stocks. |
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