03Sep2015 Market Close: Averages Slide Ahead Of The August Employment Report That Could Put Skids On The Fed Raising Rates

Global stocks gain as European Central Bank says it’s ready to provide more support if needed

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. and global stocks were broadly higher in midday trading Thursday, helped by comments from European Central Bank policymakers, who said they were willing to provide more stimulus to the region’s economy, if needed. A rebound in oil prices lifted energy stocks.

READY TO ACT: The European Central Bank said it’s ready to give the eurozone a bigger dose of stimulus should inflation across the 19-country bloc fail to pick up, President Mario Draghi said in a news conference. Along with lower interest rates, the ECB is pumping 60 billion euros a month into the economy through purchases of government and corporate bonds. The program is slated to run at least through September 2016.

VW’s unassuming CFO emerges from boardroom wars as chairman

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Austrian Hans Dieter Poetsch, Volkswagen AG’s finance chief faces a massive task in his future role as chairman – to maintain the support of the often divided stakeholders who have chosen to back him while improving the carmaker’s profitability.

U.S. sanctions against Chinese firms could be next week: FT

(Reuters) – The United States is preparing to sanction Chinese companies connected to the cyber theft of U.S. intellectual property as early as next week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Credit-Card Fraudsters Pump Gas Stations for Profit

As motorists head out on the last big driving weekend of the summer, the credit-card industry and gas-station owners are deploying everything from sophisticated software to heavy-duty padlocks to combat an epidemic of fuel-related theft and fraud.

Wall Street higher ahead of key U.S. jobs data

(Reuters) – Wall Street rose on Thursday after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi hinted at additional stimulus measures and ahead of a key U.S. jobs report that could figure in the Federal Reserve’s decision about when to lift interest rates.

Counterterrorism “Success Story” Fails Completely As Yemen Set To Split Into Two Countries

Late last month, as the fighting in Yemen continued unabated, Jeff Prescott, the National Security Council’s Senior Director for the Middle East said “there is no military solution to the crisis.” Saudi Arabia seemingly disagrees and that will reportedly be one topic under discussion at The White House on Friday where President Obama will meet with King Salman to discuss a variety of geopolitical issues.

The Saudi-led intervention into the conflict in Yemen has transformed the country into a battleground for a Saudi-Iran proxy war on the way to exacerbating a worsening humanitarian crisis. Civilian casualties are a regular occurrence, although, between conflicting reports from Riyadh and the Houthis, it’s nearly impossible to determine the exact figures. Just this week, sources on the ground indicated that dozens of civilians were killed when Saudi warplanes bombed a bottling plant.

Meanwhile, operations in Yemen are taking their toll on Saudi Arabia’s increasingly precarious fiscal situation, which has deteriorated rapidly in the face of persistently low crude prices. Coalition partner UAE is in a similar, if slightly more stable, position from a budget perspective.

So while the market nervously eyes the petrodollar reserves of Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the countries juggle domestic expenditures, dollar pegs, and the cost of war, Yemen itself is coming apart at the seams – literally. As WSJ reports, it now looks as though the country may in fact split, as Aden residents have eschewed the red, white and black for the flag of South Yemen, which existed as an independent republic for more than two decades. Here’s the sto …

Samsung to make new smartwatch available to competition

BERLIN (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics said on Thursday it would make its next smartwatch technology available to its competitors who also use Google Inc’s mobile platform Android, hoping to increase its share of the market, which is now dominated by Apple Inc .

JPM Head Quant Is Back With New Warning: “Only Half The Selling Is Done; Expect More Downside”

The first two appearances by JPM’s head quant, Marko Kolanovic, caused a near-panic in the market.

The first time was the Friday before the August 24th flash crash, when as we first reported, he accurately predicted the gamma (un)hedging unwind into the Friday close which sent the market plunging and subsequently morphed into the limit down open on Monday.

The second time was exactly one week ago, when with the market up 450 points, Kolanovic again predicted imminent violent selling, which did indeed materialize not only earlier this week, but within minutes after we posted his note, sending the market tumbling to almost unchanged, before another violent bout of buying pushed it back to the highs in just 30 minutes.

Moments ago Marko came back back with a new note, and unfortunately, once again it isn’t pretty.

As a reminder, Kolanovic was the first to explain just how the various “technical” price-insensitive trading strats, which include derivatives hedgers, Trend Following strategies (CTAs), Risk Parity portfolios and Volatility Managed strategies, were incorrectly positioned, and how the residual volatility resulting from either option gamma-hedging or due to any other reason, had become a self-fulfilling prophecy as one after another technical …

U.S. and euro zone business improves, Asia a concern

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global manufacturing and service sector activity expanded in August at the same pace as in July, with both the U.S. and euro zone doing better than Asia, according to purchasing manager surveys.

Los Angeles drops mortgage discrimination case against JPMorgan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Los Angeles has dropped a lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase , the largest U.S. bank, of discriminatory mortgage lending, ending the first of the city’s four lawsuits accusing major banks of driving up foreclosures among minority borrowers.

Gun maker Colt says near deal to exit bankruptcy

WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) – Gun maker Colt Defense and its creditors are close to a deal on a plan to bring the company out of bankruptcy, but if it fails, the business will go on the auction block next month, a company lawyer told a judge on Thursday.