Written by Gary
US markets closed in the green with the DOW ‘sporting’ 18,004, hugest since Dec, 2015. As everyone knows, The OPEC meeting in Doha was a dud and Morgan Stanley’s 52% crash in earnings was better-than-expected. Treasury prices fell today, leading yields to end higher after logging Friday their largest weekly jump in a month earlier this year.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Disney, Hasbro lift Wall Street as earnings heat upNEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow Jones industrial average climbed to a nine-month high on Monday, as Hasbro and Disney shares lifted the consumer discretionary sector while investors braced for a flurry of quarterly earnings reports through the week. |
| Weak markets leave Morgan Stanley struggling to reach return-on-equity target(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley’s trouble growing revenue in weak markets may prompt management to take further actions to achieve financial goals, Chief Executive James Gorman said on Monday. |
| The global oil deal that never came to beDOHA (Reuters) – It was supposed to be the easiest deal ever reached among key oil market players, a mere formality. |
| Exclusive: Target increases minimum wage to $10 an hour – sourcesCHICAGO (Reuters) – Discount retailer Target Corp has started raising employee wages to a minimum of $10 an hour, its second hike in a year, pressured by a competitive job market and labor groups calling for higher wages at retail chains, sources said. Target management has informed store managers, who in turn have started informing employees about the wage hike and most employees who earn less than $10 per hour should see their base pay go up in May, two sources with direct knowledge of the |
| PepsiCo benefits from cost cuts, strong North America snack sales(Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it trimmed costs and demand rose in North America for its snacks, which include Cheetos and Lay’s chips. |
| Weak markets crimp wealth management profits at big U.S. banksNEW YORK (Reuters) – Volatile financial markets took a bite out of earnings at big U.S. banks during the first quarter ” not just in trading but wealth management, too. |
| YP Holdings plans first-round bid to merge with Yahoo: source(Reuters) – YP Holdings LLC, the digital advertising business of what was formerly called Yellowpages.com, is planning to submit a first-round bid on Monday to merge with Yahoo Inc , a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. |
| Oil down but off lows as Kuwait strike offsets failed output freezeNEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices slid on Monday after a plan by major oil producers to freeze production was scuttled, but a Kuwaiti oil industry strike still helped the market to settle way off the day’s lows. |
| China, major producers fail to reach deal over steelBRUSSELS (Reuters) – China and other major steel-producing countries failed on Monday to agree measures to tackle a global steel crisis as the sides argued over the causes of overcapacity and whether Beijing is keeping loss-making producers afloat. |
| Dow Tops 18,000 As Doha Dud Didn’t MatterIt’s crazy pills time – no doubt… Doha was a dud and Morgan Stanley’s 52% crash in earnings was better-than-expected… Did you really expect anything else…?
This means The Fed has a major problem – no turmoil means no excuses for hiking rates. Since Dec FOMC Hike, everything is now awesome: Dow +3.2% (Dow Earnings -3.5%) Inflation – CPI up from 0.6% YoY to 0.9% YoY, Core CPI up from 2.0% YoY to 2.2% YoY Unemployment Rate U6 down from 9.9% to 9.8%, U3 5%, Initial Claims down from 285k to 253k China Stocks +17% in last 2 months China FX vol -4pts to 7.6% in 2 months But for now – this is the LOL WTF Chart of The Day…Dow tops 18,000 as EPS expectations collapse…
Futures markets show the day’s real moves… and the utter buying panic that occurred at VWAP as US stocks opened for gambling… Stocks were bid at the China open, the Europe open, and the US open… |
| Stocks and Oil Prices Break Out of Their Lock StepOil and stocks aren’t trading in tandem like they did earlier this year. That is a good thing. |
| Oil’s Anti-Freeze: The Saving Grace of a StalemateExporters’ failure to reach agreement in Doha is a blow to sentiment. But longer-term the market is still creaking in the right direction. |
| What’s Driving Bidding War for China’s Leading Auto WebsiteA $3.5 billion battle is brewing to own China’s biggest auto sales website, Autohome. |
| Bond Report: Treasury yields end higher as equities rally, oil pares lossesTreasury prices fell Monday, leading yields to end higher after logging Friday their largest weekly jump in a month. |
| Metals Stocks: Gold ends in the green as Doha oil-freeze talks unravelGold futures closed marginally higher Monday, but momentum for the precious commodity looked upbeat after a meeting of key oil producers failed to yield an agreement on a hoped-for output freeze. |
| Market Extra: Why bad news for Dilma Rousseff isn’t lifting Brazilian stocksBrazil’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly voted to impeach wildly unpopular President Dilma Rousseff over the weekend “but the widely expected rally in the country’s stocks and currency failed to materialize. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
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