22May2015 Pre-Market Commentary: Investors See Little Future In Today's Financial Posting Sending U. S. Futures Down, U. S. Dollar Up And Oil Down

Written by Gary

U.S. stock index futures were unchanged early this morning, a day after the S&P 500 ended at an all-time high and ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s take on the economy that investors will peruse for clues on the timing of a rate hike. Then the U.S. Financials posted at 8:30 am sends the U.S. futures falling like a rock and the US dollar rises significantly.

Markets expected to open lower.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.54%, while the DAX is leading the CAC 40 lower. They are down 0.31% and 0.07% respectively.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	U.S. Stock Futures Turn Lower U.S. stock futures turned slightly lower Friday after a stronger-than-expected reading on inflation in April, though the S&P 500 remained poised to notch a weekly gain.
	Core Consumer Prices Jump Most Since March 2006 Thanks To Surging Healthcare Costs The market appears to have chosen the hotter-than-expected Core CPI print (as opposed to weakest headline CPI YoY print since Oct 2009 of -0.2%) as key. Core CPI rose 0.3% MoM in April – the most since March 2006; and 1.8% YoY – the most since Jan 2013. The biggest driver of the surge in consumer prices is medical care costs – which rose 0.7% – the biggest increase since January 2007 (thanks Obamacare). Overall CPI is the lowest since Oct 2009… But Core CPI is surging… The Core CPI breakdown… The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.3 percent in April, its largest increase since January 2013. The shelter index increased 0.3 percent, the same increase as in March. The indexes for rent, owners’ equivalent rent, and lodging away from home all rose 0.3 percent. The medical care index rose 0.7 percent, its …
	April 2015 CPI Annual Inflation Rate Continues In Deflation! by Doug Short and Steven Hansen According to the BLS, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) year-over-year inflation rate continues in deflation. The year-over-year core inflation (excludes energy and food) rate was unchanged at 1.8%, and continues to be under the targets set by the Federal Reserve.
	U.S. consumer prices soft, underlying inflation pushes up WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices moderated in April on weak gasoline prices, but rising shelter and medical care costs boosted underlying inflation pressures, which should keep the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates later this year.
	Goldman Sachs Recaptures Mojo With DuPont Win The bank’s fortunes changed for the better last week when Goldman Sachs helped DuPont prevail in a high-profile feud with an activist firm.
	SEC Commissioner Furious That SEC Has Made A Mockery Of “Recidivist Criminal Behavior” By Banks Yesterday, in the aftermath of the latest settlement by the world’s biggest banks, who finally admitted they have criminally rigged virtually all markets since the Great Financial Crisis (and prior) despite promising repeatedly they would not do that after having been caught time and again and punished with ever “harsher” wristslaps, we wrote that the “Public Is Confused Why World’s Biggest Banks Admitting Criminal Fraud, Leads To Public Yawns.” It appears the public is not the only one who is confused, or yawning, that yet again banks get away with just another penalty (to be paid by their shareholders) and zero jail time for the perpetrators despite what is supposedly “criminal” rigging: none other than a SEC regulator working for the same enforcer who “punished” the Too Big To Prosecute banks only to immediately grant them waivers to continue business as usual, is just as confused. Here, two weeks after SEC commissioner Cara Stein raged that the SEC would turn a blind eye to Germany’s Deutsche Bank for a “Decade Of Lying, Cheating, And Stealing”, is her dissenting opinion with the SEC settlement, this time broadening her anger to include all the banks, not just the German one. * * * Dissenting Statement Regarding Certain Waivers Granted by the Commission for Certain Entities Pleading Guilty to Criminal Charges Involving Manipulation of Foreign Exchange Rates Commissioner Kara M. Stein May 21, 2015 I dissent from the Commission’s Orders, issu …
	Greece sees reforms deal with lenders in next 10 days ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece expects to reach a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors in the next 10 days and aims to meet all its payments in June, the government’s spokesman said on Friday, after the prime minister met with EU leaders.
	Hong Kong Tops Listing Venue After Huatai’s $4.5 Billion IPO Huatai Securities has raised $4.5 billion after pricing its IPO at the top end of an indicative range, making Hong Kong the No. 1 listing venue this year.
	Huatai Collects More Fuel for China Stock-Market Fire China’s $20 billion barrage of brokerage fundraising is looking long in the tooth, as Huatai Securities launches its Hong Kong IPO.
	TomTom’s Maps Need Clearer Route to Profits TomTom is benefitting from renewed interest in location services required for autonomous driving. But the company has yet to prove it can navigate a profitable path.
	Brazil Raises Tax on Financial Firms The Brazilian government announced Friday an increased tax on financial firms’ profits, part of an effort to boost the country’s revenue and cut its budget deficit amid weak economic growth.
	China Shares Hit Seven-Year High China’s stocks rallied for a fourth day to their strongest level in seven years, while Japan’s red-hot market rallied anew as the nation’s central bank kept its policy on hold.
	ECB’s Draghi urges Europe to reform to brighten dim prospects SINTRA, Portugal (Reuters) – The president of the European Central Bank called on euro zone countries to reform their economies, warning that future growth, in the face of entrenched unemployment and low investment, will be modest.
	Tick Tock, The Greek Time Bomb Is About To Go Off We were warning in several previous articles (here & here) the Greeks didn’t have much time left to enter into a new funding agreement with its lenders as the country was facing several billions of euros in mandatory repayments over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has estimated Greece has until June 5th before it runs out of any money, so the leaders of Greece, the EU and the Eurozone have two more weeks to make the final tranche of 7.2B EUR of emergency funding available, or the consequences might be disastrous. The negotiations to make the 7B+ EUR available have been ongoing for several weeks, if not months, and the parties involved in the negotiations haven’t even come close to reaching a deal. Athens was already running on fumes and directed its public institutions to send their cash back to the central government to meet some shorter term payment obligations. On top of that, the government is mulling over instating a transaction tax on cash withdrawals and wire transfers, and several sources indicate this will happen i …
	U.S. drivers yield ‘swing’ oil demand crown to Saudis NEW YORK (Reuters) – As the United States raced over the past five years toward becoming a global petroleum powerhouse, the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia quietly seized a market milestone from America: the largest source of peak summer demand.
	Eurozone Economy Is Improving, E.C.B. Chief Says, but Outlook Is Muted Governments need to address impediments to investment and growth like bureaucracy, rules for hiring and firing, and overregulation, Mario Draghi said.
	Etsy’s Unique IPO Crafts a Stock Swoon The company’s results on Wednesday missed some growth forecasts, but observers said the stock-price decline may have been exacerbated by the unusual ways Etsy structured its April IPO.
	Jury Sides With High-Speed Trading Firm A Houston-based high-frequency trading firm won a six-year civil lawsuit against a former employee and a businessman it accused of stealing code.
	Mazda, Mitsubishi add 624,000 more cars to Takata air bag recall TOKYO (Reuters) – Mazda Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Friday they would recall about 624,000 more vehicles to replace air bag inflators made by Japan’s Takata Corp , following similar moves last week by domestic automakers.
	Lufthansa CEO advocates random psych tests for pilots: FAZ FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Random checks of pilots’ psychological fitness could help reduce risks in the aviation sector, Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said in his first newspaper interview since the crash of a Germanwings plane in March.
	China, India likely to be biggest shareholders in AIIB SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China is likely to hold a 25-30 percent stake in the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) while India will be the second-biggest shareholder, delegates said on Friday after a three-day meeting of the bank’s founding member-nations.