06May2016 Market Close: US Markets Have Trended Upwards Since The Opening And Closed In The Green, Canada’s Wildfire’s Continue To Burn Which May Push Crude Prices Higher Next Week

Wall Street reverses to trade up; S&P still down for week

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks rebounded from early losses in afternoon trading on Friday, though the S&P 500 was still on track for losses this week after monthly jobs data showed employment gains hit a seven-month low.

Sumner Redstone’s defiance gets judge’s attention at trial

(Note language in third paragraph some readers may find offensive.)

FCC confirms approval of Charter, Timer Warner Cable merger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission confirmed on Friday that it had voted to approve Charter Communications Inc’s acquisitions of Time Warner Cable Inc and Bright House Networks.

Wall Street gives up on June rate hike by Fed after payrolls disappoint: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street’s top banks have all but abandoned any expectation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in June, and most now see the U.S. central bank’s next rate hike coming in September, according to a Reuters survey conducted on Friday.

Smallest U.S. job gains in seven months temper rate hike expectations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy added the fewest number of jobs in seven months in April and Americans dropped out of the labor force, signs of weakness that left some economists anticipating only one interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve this year.

Exclusive: Apple’s Tim Cook to visit China for government meetings – source

BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials, at a time when it is facing some setbacks in its most important overseas market, a source familiar with the matter said.

Bitcoin has a governance problem, no matter who created it

LONDON (Reuters) – As one would-be father of bitcoin falls by the wayside, squabbling among the web-based currency’s lead developers is exposing a fundamental flaw: it must evolve to meet growing demand, but may lack a governance structure to achieve this.

Activist investor TCI tells VW to overhaul board pay, operations

LONDON (Reuters) – Activist investor TCI upped the pressure on loss-making German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) on Friday, demanding it overhaul its “excessive” executive pay scheme as part of a plan to boost profits and end years of “mismanagement.”

Job market slowdown, rising wages may fit Fed’s playbook

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A slowdown in U.S. hiring coupled with a jump in wages last month dovetails with what the Federal Reserve expected as the economy approaches full employment and is not likely to alter its interest rate hike trajectory.

Americans Unleash Epic Debt-Fuelled Spending Spree As Credit Card Debt Jumps Most On Record

While one of the recurring complaints about the US consumer has been the willingness to dig into their savings which recent matched the highest level since 2012, something unexpected was revealed today when the March Consumer Credit data showed that not only did total consumer credit soar by $29.7 billion, or almost double the $16 billion expected, and the highest in series history…

… but that this was driven by a record $11 billion surge in revolving (aka credit card) debt, as it appears in March US consumers unleashed a historic debt-fuelled spending spree, one which as the chart below demonstrates is either a misprint, a huge outlier, or something has dramatically changed in US consumer psychology.

We are confident the March surge will be promptly unwound (or corrected away), however a far more troubling trend remains: the even more distressing explosion in consumer debt owned by the US government – mostly student and auto loans – as shown in the chart below.

Source

What the Jobs Report Means for the Fed in June

It’s too soon to say a slower economy is cutting into hiring, but April jobs figures also give little urgency for the Federal Reserve to tighten.

Square: Learning Banking Truths the Hard Way

Like other fintech firms, Square’s lending business faced financing difficulties in the first quarter.

Miners’ Lessons for Investment: Avoid Past Pitfalls

Rio Tinto has taken the plunge with a $5.3 billion expansion of a copper mine in Mongolia. That will raise some eyebrows.

Endo Pharma’s stock is on track to log its largest one-day loss in 14 years

Endo Pharmaceutical’s stock suffers the biggest one-day plunge in 14 years on heavy volume, as the drugmaker’s disappointing outlook prompted an analyst downgrade.

The Wall Street Journal: Consumer credit surges at fastest rate in nearly 15 years

Borrowing by U.S. consumers ballooned in March at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

Futures Movers: Oil futures settle higher as output worries offset poor jobs report

Oil futures turn sharply higher Friday as a wildfire in oil-rich Canadian regions and an attack on a Chevron-operated offshore oil facility in southern Nigeria fuel concerns about global crude-output disruptions.