11Nov2015 Market Update: Averages Session High Mark Slid To The Unchanged Line And May Fall Further As WTI Oil Slips Into The High 42’s

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The Bovespa is higher by 1.87%, while the S&P 500 is leading the IPC lower. They are down 0.12% and 0.05% respectively.

AB InBev launches SAB bid, to sell MillerCoors stake

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world’s biggest brewer, launched its $100 billion-plus offer for nearest rival SABMiller on Wednesday and agreed to sell the latter’s stake in U.S. venture MillerCoors to help win regulatory approval.

Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales surge 60 percent to $14.3 billion

BEIJING (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s total value of goods transacted during its Singles’ Day shopping festival was 91.2 billion yuan ($14.32 billion), the Chinese e-commerce giant said in Beijing on Thursday.

BAE nears sale of U.S. manpower and services businesses: sources

(Reuters) – Britain’s BAE Systems Plc is in advanced talks to sell its U.S. manpower and services businesses to private equity firm Veritas Capital Management LLC for more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oil near two-month low on worries of growing U.S. crude stockpiles

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday to their lowest since mid-September on worries that U.S. government data will show a seventh weekly build in crude inventories.

ECB, Fed ready for market jolts as they head on opposite policy paths

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The world’s top two central banks accept they will face periodic market jolts as they move in opposite policy directions, senior officials say, with such risks inevitable given the hugely differing fortunes of the U.S. and European economies.

Wall Street slightly lower as energy and retail stocks sag

(Reuters) – Wall Street was slightly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, as a drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks and disappointing results from Macy’s pummeled retailers.

Carlsberg takes $1.4 billion charges, cuts jobs

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Carlsberg , the Danish brewer that has long been struggling in Russia, said it would take $1.4 billion in charges and cut 2,000 jobs to position the business for a return to growth.

The Legendary U.S. Consumer Is Out Of Cash In These Cities

Today Macy’s dropped a bomb with results that were nothing short of abysmal, and which confirmed that not only the “legendary” U.S. spender, the driving force behind 70% of US GDP, but also foreign shoppers have hunkered down to a greater extent than at any other time during the so-called recovery.

Quickly the apologists said that this is not an indicator of overall consumer weakness as much as it is lack of retail strength: the argument being that more spending goes to online markets.

There is just one problem: if that were the case, one would see a pronounced deterioration in spending uniformly across US cities. However, not only is that not the case, but there is a very clear distinction in which cities US consumers are doing well, versus cities in which they have been tapped out.

We know this courtesy of Bank of America’s latest credit and debit card usage data which showed a dramatic divergence among the top 10 US metro areas.

As the chart below shows, there is a very distinct slow down in spending in various cities such as Atlanta and Washington DC, both of which saw a sudden and unexpected plunge in retail sales in October compared to their prior 6 month average; sales in Houston on the other hand continue to weaken — the region has experienced essentially no growth in nominal sales over the prior six months. On the upside, the US financial centers, Boston and New York, were the strongest as one would expect.

So for those wondering where the US consumer is all spent out, look no further than the cities at the bottom of this chart.

Why 123 Is The Most Important Number Of The Day For Stock Bulls

With no bond market to keep algos honest, it’s all about USDJPY (until the VIX ramp at the close)..

Charts: Bloomberg

“Irreversibly Broken & Dysfunctional” – There’s Something Wrong In The Markets

Submitted by Doug Noland via Credit Bubble Bulletin,

Bloomberg: “The October Jobs Report Gives Fed Officials a Green Light to Raise Rates.”

With global “risk on” back in full swing, the focus of U.S. monetary policy belatedly shifts back to fundamentals. October’s 271,000 was the largest jobs gain since last December. The unemployment rate is down to 5.0%, the low since April 2008. Average hourly earnings were up 2.5% y-o-y in October, the strongest performance since July 2009. The private sector added an eye-opening 268,000 jobs during the month, with Services employment up 241,000. Indicative of an extraordinarily unbalanced economy, no manufacturing jobs were created during October.

Existing home sales are on track for the strongest year since 2007. Automobile sales are booming as well. Monthly auto sales last month posted the strongest October since 2001 (from Dow Jones), with annual sales poised to test the all-time record. Kelley Blue Book is expecting 2015 sales 12% above 2014.

My point is not that the U.S. economy is robust – or even sound. From my perspective, booming home and auto sales reflect the upshot from years of ultra-loose financial conditions and a resulting “Bubble Economy”. Importantly, the Federal Reserve’s extreme monetary accommodation is grossly inappropriate considering U.S. financial and economic backdrops. Keep rates at zero, print a few Trillion, backstop booming financial markets long enough and spur unprecedented inflation in (perceived) Household Net Worth – and Bubble Economy Dynamics will eventually prevail. They have.

The Yellen Fed is now expected to raise rates next month. And, suddenly, there’s some trepidation that “one and done” …

U.S. Stocks Steady, Capped by Energy Shares

U.S. stocks swung between slight gains and losses Wednesday, while energy shares fell along with oil prices.

Coming to a Balance Sheet Near You: $2 Trillion in Leases

Some of America’s best-known companies—names like AT&T, CVS Health and Delta Air Lines—likely will soon have to effectively boost the debt they report on their balance sheets by tens of billions of dollars.

AB InBev-SAB Deal: Tastes Great But Will It Be More Filling?

AB InBev is noted for its ability to successfully integrate acquisitions. Its purchase of SABMiller will put its prowess to the test.

Futures Movers: Oil prices sink below $43 on fresh supply jitters

Crude-oil prices tumbled Wednesday, on the heels of weekly crude-oil supply data late Tuesday that surprised investors, sparking fresh worries about growing U.S. crude stockpiles.

Europe Markets: European stocks close higher, led by brewers, TalkTalk

Brewers are in focus as Carlsberg announces job cuts, and as SABMiller and AB InBev confirm they have finalized their merger deal.

How much money veterans make, in 7 maps and charts

As the U.S. pays tribute to the men and women of its armed forces this Veterans Day, here’s a look at what these men and women are earning in dollars and cents.