24May2016 Market Close: Wall Street Closed Higher Along With Tech Stocks Pushing The DOW Up

Wall Street surges over 1 percent, banks and tech rally

(Reuters) – Wall Street surged over 1 percent on Tuesday, with solid gains in technology and bank shares as investors grew more comfortable with the possibility that the U.S. Federal Reserve might soon raise interest rates.

Monsanto rejects Bayer bid, but open to more talks

(Reuters) – Monsanto Co , the world’s largest seed company, turned down Bayer AG’s $62 billion acquisition bid as “incomplete and financially inadequate” on Tuesday, but said it was open to engage further in negotiations.

Apple rehires prominent security pro as encryption fight boils

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc , which has resisted pressure from U.S. law enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products.

EU regulators clear $100 billion-plus AB InBev, SABMiller deal

The world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev gained EU antitrust approval on Tuesday for its $100 billion-plus acquisition of SABMiller on condition it sell almost the whole of SABMiller’s beer business in Europe.

Sumner Redstone appoints two new members to his trust

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sumner Redstone, chairman emeritus of Viacom Inc said on Tuesday he has appointed two � new trustees to a trust that will determine the direction of the media conglomerate and CBS in the event of his incapacitation or death.

U.S. new homes sales hit eight-year high, point to firming economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. single-family home sales recorded their biggest gain in 24 years in April, touching a more than eight-year high as purchases increased broadly, a sign of growing confidence in the economy’s prospects.

Red Bull deal gives GoPro wings

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of GoPro Inc got a lift on Tuesday after the struggling action camera maker said it was partnering with extreme sports sponsor Red Bull in a marketing and promotion deal.

Volkswagen, U.S. make substantial progress toward final deal: judge

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG has made substantial progress toward reaching a final settlement next month with car owners and the U.S. government over the German automaker’s cheating on diesel emissions tests, a federal judge said on Tuesday.

Bulgari aims to have up to six stores in Russia over 10 years

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Bulgari, the flagship jewelry brand of luxury group LVMH , plans to open up to four more stores in Russia over the next ten years, betting on the long-term prospects of its luxury market.

Days After Apple Invests In China’s Didi, Toyota Invests In Uber To Boost Car Leasing

Less than two weeks after Apple unveiledan unexpected $1 billion investment in China’s Didi Chuxing, an amount some have speculated may be the cost of continuing “business as usual” for Apple’s service offerings in China, moments ago Toyota unveiled that it would inject an undisclosed amount of funds in one of the most valuable private “Decacorns” in the US, Uber.

As Bloomberg reports, Toyota said it is making a strategic investment in Uber Technologies. The purpose behind the investment appears to be to expand the company’s lease vertical as it will offer auto leases to the ride-hailing company’s drivers.

Uber declined to disclose the size of the investment. Toyota wasn’t immediately available for comment. By leasing Toyota cars, Uber will expand its existing program, which also includes Enterprise Holdings Inc.

BLoomberg adds that automakers have been developing alliances with the various global ride-hailing services, with one simple motive: to find partners that can help sell more cars. Gett Inc., an Uber rival in Tel Aviv, said on Tuesday that it raised $300 million from Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Daimler AG acquired a pair of ride-hailing startups in 2014.

In January, General Motors Co. invested $500 million into Lyft Inc., the second-largest U.S. ride-hailing service. GM leases vehicles to Lyft drivers in Chicago, and the companies plan to expand the program. As noted above, in a less obvious deal, Didi Chuxing, the Chinese car-booking giant, received a $1 billion investment from Apple Inc. this month.

“Ridesharing has huge potential in terms of shaping the future of mobility. Through this collaboration with Uber, we would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to customers,” Shigeki Tomoyama, senior managing officer of Toyot …

Charting The Most Important Investors Through Time

The most important investors of all time…

h/t @RudyHavenstein, Source: TheIrrelevantInvestor.com

Because nothing… else… matters…

Are stocks still pricing in additional QE?

Clinton Campaign Blames Slumping Support On Bernie “Holding Her Back”

“I don’t think he realizes the damage he’s doing at this point…” whines one Clinon campaign surrogate, who as The Hill reports, is concerned that Sanders is still – this late in the game – throwing shots at Clinton and the Democratic establishment. How dare Bernie Sanders, who explains “I’m not harming the party, I’m invigorating it,” not just lay down and let the establishment roll right over him and his supporters?

As Hillary “Death Cross”-es in the national poll…

The talking heads need excuses and someone to balme… (as The Hill reports)

Hillary Clinton allies worried about polls that suggest a tightening general election match-up with Donald Trump are placing blame on Bernie Sanders.

They say that the long primary fight with the independent senator from Vermont, which looks like it could go all the way to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, has taken a toll on Clinton’s standing in the polls. In the latest RealClearPolitics average,she is two-tenths of a point behind Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

“I don’t think he realizes the damage he’s doing at this point,” one ally said of Sanders. “I understand running the campaign until the end, …

Trump Escalates Clinton Attack, Calls Vince Foster Suicide “Very Fishy”

Just hours after Donald Trump released a clip in which the presumptive Republican presidential candidate hinted at Bill Clinton’s sexual transgressions which featured audio of two women – Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick – who have made rape accusations against Bill Clinton, Trump escalated his attack on Hillary and Bill Clinton in an interview with WaPo in which Trump called the circumstances of Vincent Foster’s death “very fishy.”

“He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said of Foster’s relationship with the Clintons. “He knew everything that was going on and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.”

As a reminder, Vince Foster, a longtime friend of the Clintons, was deputy White House counsel in the first few months of Clinton’s presidency. He was found dead from a gunshot wound to the mouth in July 1993. The three official investigations into Foster’s death concluded he committed suicide as he suffered from depression, however unproven theories have constantly swirled that the Clintons were involved in Foster’s death.

The Washington Post was not pleased, saying that “Trump is reviving some of the ugliest political chapters of the 1990s with escalating personal attacks on Bill Clinton’s character, part of a concerted effort to smother Hillary Clinton’s campaign message with the weight of decades of controversy.”

The WaPo d …

Anthem and Cigna: What Worried Investors Have to Hear

Anthem’s deal for Cigna hinges more on antitrust concerns than on infighting.

Applied Materials: Dialed In to the iPhone Rumor Mill

Future iPhone models may use OLED displays, which would boost demand for Applied Materials’ manufacturing tools.

Williams-Sonoma Tidies Up Well

Even in an Amazon world, Williams-Sonoma, a beaten-down retail stock, could be due for a revival.

May 2016 Chemical Activity Barometer Accelerated for Third Consecutive Month.

from the American Chemistry Council

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) expanded 1.0 percent in May following a revised 0.8 percent increase in April and 0.1 percent increase in March. All data is measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA).

What you need to know about the Costco-AmEx breakup (and the new Visa)

Visa is coming. What to do next if you’re an American Express cardholder.

Currencies: Dollar hits 2-month high vs. euro as traders brace for summer rate raise

The dollar rose Tuesday to its highest level against the euro in nearly two months as hopes that U.S. interest rates could rise as soon as this summer overpowered a batch of strong economic data out of Germany.

Car software glitches on the rise, report finds

Software glitches in cars are on the rise as more vehicles rely on technology to run, J.D. Power says.