Written by Gary
US markets closed higher with the Dow ending above 18,000 for the first time since April as declines in the dollar lifted some commodity-related shares and boosted the outlook for multinationals. Importantly, the volume on the early rallies and late declines suggest that smaller investors are bidding up this market and institutions are selling it, which is not a healthy way for stocks to go higher.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Dow ends above 18,000 as dollar weakensNEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow ended above 18,000 for the first time since April on Wednesday as declines in the dollar lifted some commodity-related shares and boosted the outlook for multinationals. | |
Hiring in April at slowest pace in nearly two yearsWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The pace of hiring by U.S. employers slowed to near a two-year low in April, pushing up job openings in a potential sign that firms are having a hard time finding workers. | |
Services data suggest upward revision to first-quarter GDPWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy was probably not as weak as has been reported in the first quarter, with data on Wednesday showing stronger consumer spending and investment in intellectual products than previously estimated. | |
Morgan Stanley pays $1 million U.S. SEC fine over stolen customer data(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that security lapses at the Wall Street bank enabled a former financial adviser to tap into its computers and take client data home, the regulator said on Wednesday. | |
Now roughly equal in value, Uber and Daimler trade gentle blowsBERLIN (Reuters) – A promised showdown between the chief executives of German luxury car maker Daimler and ride-sharing firm Uber, Silicon Valley’s most valuable private company, turned into more of a wary courtship when the two met publicly on Wednesday. | |
Oppenheimer to pay nearly $3 million for improper ETF sales: regulator(Reuters) – Oppenheimer & Co agreed to pay nearly $3 million in fines and restitution to settle U.S. regulatory charges that it improperly sold risky exchange-traded funds to risk-averse elderly customers and other retail investors. | |
Top auto regulator: Nimble rules needed for self-driving cars(Reuters) – The top U.S. vehicle safety regulator said on Wednesday the government needs to be more nimble in designing rules for self-driving vehicles. | |
Saudi Arabia aims for social overhaul in reform planJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s sweeping plans to overhaul its economy in coming years are matched by proposals for social transformation that extend to ways of tackling domestic violence, increasing city park space and reducing road deaths. | |
Dow Closes Above 18K Despite Buying In Bonds, Gold, And VIXBefore we start, there is this… And the market knows how crap things are as it prices out any rate hikes… So the incessant bid for stocks (at record valuations) is… Ok having got that off our chest, we note that VIX was not playing along with the equity meltup for the 2nd day in a row… But S&P pushed to fresh 11-month highs… Less than 1% from all-time record highs… Small Caps outperformed today as stocks bounced out of the European Close… | |
Peripheral European Bonds are the Short of the Decade (Video)By EconMatters
We think the Brexit vote is really a referendum on the European Union which we think has garnered all the positives from such a union, and now with rising debt to GDP ratios in the peripheral European countries they need the ability to monetize the debt through a currency devaluation like China. It is such a waste of resources to be buying corporate debt by the ECB which tells you in and of itself that European Bonds are a sell right here. It is not like these European countries are going to stop issuing massive debt to finance out of control government spending programs that are unsustainable over the next 10 years. The ECB has tried to sweep this rising debt issue under the table with their “Do anything it takes” bazooka rhetoric but traders and investors have done a bunch of the work for the ECB, and once the reality sets in that the ECB is just too small to be a backstop once the worm turns in European Bond Markets, anybody holding these assets on their books is going out of business full stop. Buy your CDS and Derivatives now on anybody holding this crap on their books because massive haircuts alone will not solve this upcoming stampede out of European Bonds. | |
The Tesla Effect: Elon Musk’s Tweet Saps Samsung’s BatteryElon Musk’s tweet about Tesla’s Model 3 batteries essentially shifted more than half a billion dollars of value from Samsung to Panasonic. | |
Much More at Stake in Williams Vote Than DividendsWilliams shareholders face a threat and an opportunity in an upcoming vote on their deal with Energy Transfer Equity. | |
June 2016 Livingston Survey: Forecasters Predict Slightly Lower Growth and Slightly Higher Unemployment for Second Half of 2016from the Philadelphia Fed The participants in the June Livingston Survey predict lower output growth for the second half of 2016 than they did in the December survey. The forecasters, who are surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia twice a year, project that the economy’s output (real GDP) will rise at an annual rate of 1.4 percent during the first half of 2016, weaker than the prediction of 2.5 percent in the December 2015 survey. | |
Netflix reveals which shows viewers binge watch the mostNetflix offers some insight into how people like to watch some of today’s popular programs. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated: