Written by Gary
Markets closed down with the DOW down 100 points, Spooze down 0.6% and crude settling in the high 43’s. Weighed down by tepid data on private sector U.S. jobs, weaker-than-expected results from companies including Priceline, the major averages took it on the chin for the second day. Short-term indicators are modestly bearish.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall St. falls for second day as tepid data weighsNEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks declined for a second day on Wednesday, weighed down by tepid data on private sector U.S. jobs and a retreat in biotech shares. |
| Strong U.S. services sector data buoys economic outlookWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. services sector expanded in April as new orders and employment accelerated, bolstering views that economic growth would rebound after almost stalling in the first quarter. |
| Amazon, Hyatt named top picks at hedge-fund eventNEW YORK (Reuters) – Larry Robbins and other prominent hedge fund managers speaking at an industry conference on Wednesday laid out some of their best ideas, but their stock picks, including Amazon.com Inc and Hyatt Hotels Corp , barely reacted to the endorsements. |
| U.S., Takata confirm recall of 35 million-40 million Takata air bag inflators(Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department and Takata Corp confirmed on Wednesday that automakers will recall another 35 million to 40 million U.S. air bag inflators assembled by the Japanese manufacturer by 2019. |
| Two Tesla executives leaving ahead of Model 3 ramp-upSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Two top manufacturing executives are leaving Tesla Motors Inc as the Silicon Valley electric-car maker prepares to launch its first mass-market car, the Model 3, and sharply ramp up production. |
| Exclusive: Big data breaches found at major email services – expertFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Hundreds of millions of hacked user names and passwords for email accounts and other websites are being traded in Russia’s criminal underworld, a security expert told Reuters. |
| Exclusive: Target gets tough with vendors to speed up supply chainCHICAGO (Reuters) – Discount retailer Target Corp is cracking down on suppliers as part of a multi-billion dollar overhaul to speed up its supply chain and better compete with rivals including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc . |
| Time Warner profit beats expectations, boosted by Turner, HBO(Reuters) – Time Warner Inc reported higher-than-expected earnings on Wednesday on strong revenue from its HBO cable channel and Turner Broadcasting unit. |
| Wells Fargo’s ‘criticized’ loans rise 62 percent, driven by energy(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co saw a 62-percent increase in commercial and industrial loans that regulators have classified as “criticized,” according to its first-quarter regulatory financial filing released on Wednesday. |
| Stocks Slump, Dollar Jumps After China Sends Message To FedBut but but Tim Cook said AAPL was “optimistic” about China!!! China started the shenanigans by devaluing the Yuan fix by the most since the August collapse…sending a loud and clear message to The Fed – if you normalize rates (and strengthen the USD) we will unleash ‘wealth-destroying’ volatility…
European stocks stumbled once again as Italian bank risks surge…
“Most Shorted” stocks fell for the 2nd day in a row – the biggest 2-day drop in 3 months…
Trannies & Small caps bearing the brunt of the most shorted weakness…
With Nasdaq leading the way (down over 6% … |
| Eight “New Normal” Charts That Are Insanely Abnormal (And Dangerous)Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, Is there anyone on the planet who’s actually stupid enough to believe these New Normal charts are healthy and sustainable? Anyone questioning the sustainability and rightness of The New Normal is immediately attacked by the mainstream-media defenders of the crumbling status quo. Not only is everything that broke in 2008 fixed, everything’s going great globally, and anyone who dares question this narrative in a tin-foil hat conspiracy nut or simply an annoyingly doom-and-gloomer who recalcitrantly refuses to accept the positive glories of official statistics: low unemployment, rising valuations of stock market Unicorns, etc. But the New Normal is anything but normal; all the readings of artificial life-support and manipulation are off the charts. If the New Normal were indeed a return to normalcy, we’d see a rapid and sustained decline in official life-support of the economy. Instead, we see official life-support efforts rising to new and dangerous levels. The only reason stocks are at nose-bleed valuations globally is massive, sustained intervention on multiple levels. We also see increasing dependence on debt to sustain increasingly weak growth. The New Normal is all about diminishing returns on additional debt. The New Normal is also about the loss of institutional credibility. The Federal Reserve denies it makes policy decisions based on the stock market, but as soon as stocks start tumbling, the Fed’s leadership hits the airwaves with a media blitzkrieg, frantically assuring the world that the Fed will do “whatever it takes” to keep stocks at absurdly overvalued levels forever. It once cost the equivalent of a new auto to … |
| CBS and Time Warner: Fitting Into Skinny BundlesThe future of pay TV is smaller bundles of channels “even the owners of the channels are acknowledging as much. But even if Big Media is trying to embrace the trend of the so-called skinny bundle, it will mean leaner times for some. |
| GoPro: The Bottom Isn’t Coming Into FocusGoPro hasn’t come close to achieving mainstream popularity, a flaw that will be exposed in its first-quarter results on Thursday. |
| Putting the Squeeze on ProfitsLow productivity is cutting into companies’ profit margins. It’s a problem that they helped sow. |
| In China, Apple isn’t the only iPhone maker in townApple loses exclusivity in China for use of the term ËœiPhone’ |
| The Sniff Test: Priceline investors are being fooled againPriceline’s stock tumbles, as investors appear to keep forgetting the online travel services company’s tactic of under promising so it can easily over deliver. |
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