08Apr2016 Market Close: The DOW Closed Up 35 Points, Paring Earlier Losses And Crude Prices Testing Resistances

Written by Gary

US markets closed in the green, but on a weakening position as the afternoon session continually melted in a downtrend, mostly on Global Fears. Investors are increasingly worried about the various financial players pulling the rug out from under them. WTI crude settled in the mid $39’s, Gold rose back up to the low 1240’s and the US dollar appears to have broken support.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	U.S. to continue appeal of iPhone data case in N.Y (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Friday said it will move ahead with an appeal of a court ruling blocking the government from forcing Apple Inc to help unlock an iPhone in a drug case in New York.
	Yahoo extends deadline for bids by a week: Re/code (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc has extended the deadline to bid for its businesses by a week to April 18, technology news website Re/code reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
	Goldman Sachs pays CEO Blankfein $22.6 million for 2015 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc paid Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein $22.6 million for 2015, according to a regulatory filing on Friday, marking his first pay decline in four years.
	Energy gains boost Wall St.; S&P on track for weekly loss (Reuters) – A sharp rally in crude oil and energy shares kept U.S. stocks in positive territory on Friday, but indexes were on track to post losses for the week and a drop in shares of biotechs kept a lid on the Nasdaq.
	Marriott, Starwood Hotels stockholders approve deal (Reuters) – Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc and Marriott International Inc said on Friday the stockholders of the companies voted to approve Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood to create the world’s largest hotel company.
	Twitter appoints Hugh Johnston and Martha Lane Fox to its board (Reuters) – Twitter Inc named PepsiCo Inc Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston and Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of travel website lastminute.com, to its board on Friday in its latest management shakeup.
	U.S. government appeals court decision in MetLife ‘too big to fail’ case WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Friday appealed a court decision that major insurer MetLife cannot be considered “too big to fail” in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, according to a filing.
	FCC proposes reforming business data services market WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday proposed reforming the estimated $25 billion a year market for high-capacity data and voice connections, known as special access lines, to businesses.
	BMW launches car-sharing in Seattle in U.S. push FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s BMW launched on Friday a car-sharing service in Seattle, where it will offer customers the use of 370 BMW and Mini vehicles, before expanding to other cities in the United States.
	Something Just Snapped In Saudi Money Markets Away from the headlines about The Panama Papers, global financial markets turmoiled quietly this week with a surge in equity and FX volatility and banks suffering more death blows. However, something happened in Saudi Arabia’s banking system that was largely uncovered by anyone in the mainstream… overnight deposit rates exploded to their highest since the financial crisis in 2009… It is clear that that the stress in Saudi markets has spread from the forward derivatives markets to actual funding problems. This suggests one of the two main things: either Saudi banks are desperatly short of liquidity or Saudi banks do not trust one another and are charging considerably more to account for the suspected credit risk. Either way, not good. So what is going on behind the scenes in Saudi Arabia?
	The ECB Effect: European Telecom Issues Largest Ever Junk Bond After More Than 100% Upsizing Two weeks ago we previewed how, in the aftermath of the ECB’s stunning announcement the hedge fund masking as a central bank would start buying investment grade corporate debt, it is only a matter of time before the ECB is forced to buy junk bonds too. there’s no reason to believe Draghi will stop at IG debt going forward. There’s a kind of one-upmanship going on among DM central bankers and with his massive book full of Japanese ETFs not to mention his monetization of the entirety of JGB gross issuance, Kuroda is still the archetype against which all Keynesian craziness is measured. When judged against the BoJ, the ECB probably still has a ways to go before hitting the limits of central banker insanity and so, we think it’s entirely possible that Draghi moves into HY next. We then cited an analysis by BoA’s Barbany Martin according to which if the ECB wants to avoid getting caught up in having to potentially make decisions on corporate tenders, then it may focus on buying bonds with maturities of 5yrs and higher. “But if we exclude 1-4yr bonds… … then this shrinks the ECB eligible universe from ‚¬550bn to only ‚¬361bn ” just 22% of the true European IG credit market size.” Barnaby’s conclusion when looking at the rapidly shrinking universe of eligible bonds: “[this] potentially means that the ECB might have to consider buying BBs down the line.” And after BBs come Bs, CCCs, CCs and so on. * * * This was not lost on the market, which is now frontrunning not just what the ECB has announced it will buy but what it m …
	Don’t Panic! S&P Slides Back Into Red Year-To-Date Do not panic: there’s plenty of time to rig these markets back into the green for year yet. Time for the 3:30pm ramp to show what it can really do…
	Pfizer: Slim Down to Bulk Up the Stock With Allergan in the rearview mirror, Pfizer should move to break itself up.
	Wall Street’s First Quarter Looks More Like a Dime Trading activity stayed weak in March, but shares of big banks still look cheap.
	Valeant’s Debt-Deal Wrinkle: What It Says About Profits A part of Valeant’s agreement with lenders suggests its own doubt about near-term earnings.
	Currencies: Dollar snaps 5-day slide vs. yen, logs biggest weekly loss since February After falling to a nearly 18-month low against the yen earlier in the week, the dollar pared its losses Friday to snap a five-day losing streak.