16May2018 Open Market Commentary: Wall Street Opens Fractionally Lower, New North Korea Tension Weighing On Investor Sentiment, WTI Crude Trending Slightly Down

Written by Gary

US equities markets were little changed at the opening bell, edging lower, (SPY -0.2%) as investors assessed the impact of a surge in bond yields and U.S.-North Korea summit issues.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 0.32% while London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.15% and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.13%.

US stock futures little changed after Tuesday’s drop, yields stabilize

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Stock futures flat on rising U.S. yields, North Korea worries (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday as investors assessed the impact of a surge in bond yields, while growing doubts about the U.S.-North Korea summit also weighed.
	Netflix’s next act: feeding the service with its own movies LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As Hollywood studios unleash their summer blockbusters into theaters, Netflix Inc is trying to give film buffs a reason to stay home.
	Amazon cuts Whole Foods prices for Prime members in new grocery showdown (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc and Whole Foods Market are making a surgical strike in the already brutal grocery price war.
	Top Novartis lawyer exits over Trump attorney deal error ZURICH (Reuters) – Novartis’ top lawyer Felix Ehrat is leaving the Swiss drugmaker, saying a $1.2 million contract he co-signed with U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney was a mistake.
	Macy’s same-store sales growth trumps estimates, shares rise (Reuters) – Macy’s Inc reported a much better-than-expected increase in quarterly same-store sales, beating estimates for the second straight quarter, offering hopes for a company struggling to boost sales in the face of intense online competition.
	White House on NAFTA: ‘We still want to see something happen’ WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is pushing for a deal in negotiations on a revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and President Donald Trump is committed to getting a better agreement with Canada and Mexico, the White House said on Wednesday.
	Deutsche Boerse CEO on the hunt for acquisitions FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Boerse’s chief executive is on the lookout for acquisitions as one of the pillars of the German stock exchange operator’s growth strategy.
	Russia’s Alrosa sees rosy prospects from colorful diamonds MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Alrosa , the world’s largest diamond producer by output, plans to boost revenue from selling rare, colored stones where demand is stable, although it is a niche business.
	U.S. lawmakers push back on Trump talk of helping China’s ZTE WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday rejected any plan by President Donald Trump to ease restrictions on China’s ZTE Corp , calling the telecommunications firm a security threat and vowing not to abandon legislation clamping down on the company.
	European Council President: “With Friends Like Trump, Who Needs Enemies” The last few days – since President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal – have been tempestuous at best for US-EU relations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed President Trump for his decision to pull out. The unofficial leader of Europe believes it “damages trust” in the global order. She is not alone. The UK and France have also admitted that they regret Trump’s move. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated that European powers should not be Washington’s “vassals.” All of which follows US trade tariff impositions that sparked similar responses, as Eurointelligence notes. Over the last three days it gradually d …
	Hedge Funds Dump Most Apple Stock Since 2008: Full 13F Summary While Q1 saw hedge funds generally attracted to “growthy” tech names again (as shown yesterday with Druckenmiller and Tepper), one name stood out: Apple, which hedge funds dumped in droves. According to Bloomberg calculations, in Q1 investors slashed their AAPL holdings by about 153 million shares: the biggest decrease since at least the first quarter of 2008. It’s also the most among any S&P 500 stock in the first quarter. Some, like Appaloosa and Glenview exited their entire positions in Apple altogether. The first quarter drop was the third reduction in the last four quarters, with the sole outlier being an 8.6 million share increase in Q4 2017. Yet while investor enthusiasm for Apple has somewhat lessened this year amid concern about whether the company will be able to sustain its pace of iPhone unit sales, though the stock is up 10 …
	Housing Starts, Permits Tumble In April Having bounced notably in March, both Housing Starts and Building Permits in April tumbled (-3.7% MoM and -1.78% MoM respectively). March building permits growth was upwardly revised from +2.5% MoM to +4.1% MoM March housing starts growth was upwardly revised from +1.9% MoM to +3.6% MoM Starts dropped 3.7% MoM in April – far worse than the 0.7% drop expected but while permits also dropped 1.8% MoM, this was slightly better than the expected 2.1% drop… For some context, Starts and Permits remain over 40% below their 2005/6 peaks… Housin …
	Mortgage Refi Applications Plunge To 10 Year Lows As Fed Hikes Rates On the heels of the 10Y treasury yield breaking out of its recent range to its highest since July 2011, this morning’s mortgage applications data shows directly how Bill Gross may be right that the economy may not be able to handle The Fed’s ongoing actions. As Wolf Richter notes, the 10-year yield functions as benchmark for the mortgage market, and when it moves, mortgage rates move. And today’s surge of the 10-year yield meaningfully past 3% had consequences in the mortgage markets, as Mortgage News Daily explained: Mortgage rates spiked in a big way today, bringing some lenders to the highest levels in nearly 7 years (you’d need to go back to July 2011 to see worse). That heavy-hitting headline is largely due to the fact that rates were already fairly close to 7-year highs, although today did cover quite a bit more distance than other recent “bad days.” The “most prevalent rates” for 30-year fixed rate mortgages today were between 4.75% and 4.875%, according to Mortgage News Daily. …
	Trump’s ZTE Deal Is No U.S. Win The West’s main argument against Chinese trade practices has always been that it applies rules selectively and unfairly to achieve mercantilist aims. Now the U.S. is doing the same.
	Can Super-Voting Stocks Survive the CBS Challenge? The lawsuit against National Amusements is a last-ditch effort to block a merger with Viacom, but it’s is also a challenge to the idea of dual-class stock structures.
	Why Buy Volkswagen When You Can Get Porsche for Less? The key court case in the decade-old Porsche-Volkswagen takeover saga is due to restart in June, reviving the case for buying discounted Porsche stock.
	April 2018 Residential Building Headlines Mixed Written by Steven Hansen The headline residential building permits slowed and construction completions improved. But we keep our eyes on the rolling averages which told us this was a stronger report than last month.
	Outside the Box: This is the worst investment advice you can get It’s even worse than paying hidden fees and making costly tax-planning blunders (mistakes the author also made).
	NewsWatch: An investor shopping list: 20 high-conviction stocks with average upside of 25% Our call of the day offers up a basket of stocks that are ready to run higher from here, by as much as 40%. Plus the unloved Swiss franc in our chart of the day.
	Market Snapshot: Dow futures edge lower as traders weigh North Korea’s latest posturing U.S. stocks look edge lower, with fresh North Korea worries appearing to weigh on sentiment after the market’s sizable rally so far this month.