10Jun2016 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Down, DOW Off Triple Digits, Crude Slips Further As US Dollar Gains On Hopes Of A September Raise

Gawker Media files for bankruptcy, to go up for sale

NEW YORK/ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Reuters) – Gawker Media LLC, the online publisher ordered by a U.S. court to pay $140 million to former wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of a sex tape, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday and is planning to put itself up for sale.

Wall Street falls with oil, worries about global economy

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks extended losses into a second day on Friday following another drop in oil prices and rising worries about the global economy ahead of Britain’s referendum on whether to stay in the European Union.

Investors avoiding risk on weak global GDP outlook: Gundlach

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said on Friday that investors are dropping risky assets from their portfolios because of falling global Gross Domestic Product expectations, fueled by China’s slowing growth, and the intensifying U.S. presidential race.

Exclusive: Amazon is preparing to launch streaming music service – sources

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is preparing to launch a standalone music streaming subscription service, placing it squarely in competition with rival offerings from Apple Inc and Spotify, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Viacom warns bylaw change may hurt stock: SEC filing

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Viacom Inc warned on Friday that its shares could fall as a result of a bylaw change by controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone to restrict Viacom’s planned sale of a stake in its Paramount film unit.

Connecticut businessman pleads guilty to hiding assets from SEC

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Connecticut businessman pleaded guilty on Friday to pocketing money he made selling antiques instead of using it to pay a judgment he owed U.S. regulators for illegal stock trading.

Toyota tells U.S. dealers to disclose future Takata recalls

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it had told its U.S. dealers to disclose, at the time of sale, the identity of vehicles with defective Takata air bag inflators that will be subject to recalls by 2018.

U.S., Canada lumber talks stalled, litigation looms: sources

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Talks between Canada and the United States to resolve a dispute over exports of softwood lumber are making little progress and the matter likely will return to the courts, sources familiar with the negotiations said on Friday.

Caution pervades at four of world’s top central banks

LONDON (Reuters) – It is a sign of the caution that permeates the global economic outlook when four of the world’s top central banks, all due to meet within days of each other, are almost unanimously expected to make no change to their extraordinary stimulus programs.

Post-Payrolls Panic-Buying Evaporates As “Bad News Is Bad News” After All

Well that escalated quickly…All-time highs within reach… everything is awesome…wait what…

Quite a week:

Gold +5.25% in last 2 weeks – best run in 4 months

Silver +5.65% this week – best week since May 2015

Copper -4% this week to lowest weekly close since January

Sterling -2.5% in last 2 weeks – worst drop in 3 months

US Dollar Index +0.6% – up 7 of last 9 weeks

30Y Yields -21bps in last 8 days – best rally in 4 months

2Y Yields -17bps in last 7 days – biggest plunge since Jan 2015

Nasdaq -1.51% today – worst day since Feb 8th

VIX +3vols in last 2 days – biggest spike since Feb 9th – highest close in 3 months…

Bonds were the big news this week – as equities tried to ignore the message from the massive institutionalized buying of fixed income to record low yields…The yield on the Bloomberg Global Developed Sovereign Bond Index dropped to a record 0.601 percent Thursday.

In April 2015, with 10Y German bond yields at 5bps, Bill Gross and Jeff Gundlach called …

Baby Bust: US Fertility Rate Unexpectedly Drops To Lowest On Record

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Economists figured the recovery would bring about increased confidence and a rise in the birth rate.

Instead, the rate dropped into a tie with the lowest birth rate on record.

This is yet another surprise for economists to ponder.

Please consider the Wall Street Journal report Behind the Ongoing U.S. Baby Bust.

The newest official tally from the National Center for Health Statistics showed an unexpected drop in the number of babies born in the U.S. in 2015. The report was a surprise: Demographers had generally expected the number of births to rise in 2015, as it had in 2014. Instead, the U.S. appears to still be stuck in something of an ongoing “baby bust” that started with the recession and housing collapse and has yet to reverse.

Baby Bust

Baby Bust by Race

“We Do Not Have An Explanation” – Home Improvement, Luxury Spending Unexpectedly Plunges

One of the main reasons for marcoeconomic optimism heading into last Friday’s abysmal jobs report, is that the seasonally-adjusted April retail spending report came far stronger than expected, even as CEOs and CFOs of actual retailers have and continue to lament a dismal consumer spending picture (and as a result have continued to slash guidance). Indeed, the payrolls report confirmed that much if not all of the April retail sales rebound was due to seasonals and other “opportunistic” upward adjustments. Of course, after the May payrolls, all optimism promptly evaporated, and for a brief period “bad news became good news” as suddenly the Fed was seen as being on hold – again – indefinitely.

And with the Fed suddenly poised precariously between being the need to hike (so it can ease again shortly thereafter), and having to cut right now, a decision that could be finalized as soon as the June payrolls are reported in three weeks, the most important data point between now and then will again be the retail sales report, this time for May. It will be reported on June 14.

However, in advance of the official government data, courtesy of Bank of America we have the always informative monthly aggregated credit and debit card spending report, which traditionally gives an early look into consumer spending trends. What it reveals is that, not surprisingly, “the BAC aggregated card data decelerated more than the Census Bureau data at the turn of the year, when measured as retail sales ex-autos and gasoline.” But while in recent months there has been a modest pickup at the headline level, if weaker when one excludes gasoline sales which are higher due to rising gase prices, the picture is far less pleasant if broken down by retail sales by high vs low-income consumers. In this case, the slowdown clearly continues for …

Stocks Slammed Red Post-Payrolls, Cable Tumbles After Shocking Brexit Poll

Following a shocking report from The Independent indicating a 55% Brexit to 45% Bremain poll, cable and US equities are tumbling to fresh lows as it appears – as Soros warned – Brexit fears are under-priced…

Smashing all major US equity indices red post-payrolls…

As The Independent reports,

The campaign to take Britain out of the EU has opened up a remarkable 10-point lead over the Remain camp, according to an exclusive poll for The Independent.

The survey of 2,000 people by ORB found that 55 per cent believe the UK should leave the EU (up four points since our last poll in April), while 45 per cent want it to remain (down four points).

These figures are weighted to take account of people’s likelihood to vote. It is by far the biggest lead the Leave camp has enjoyed since ORB began polling the EU issue for The Independent a year ago, when it was Remain who …

Apple: Looking Through the iPhone Gloom

A maturing iPhone business means Apple’s business gets unavoidably complex as it spreads its efforts.

Tesla: Just Another Car Company

News that regulators have begun probing possible safety problems on Tesla Motors vehicles highlights an important reality for shareholders: Tesla isn’t immune from the pitfalls of the automobile business.

The Yield Curve’s Message for the Fed

The narrowing gap between short- and long-term rates may not be the signal it once was, but the Federal Reserve should still pay heed.

Outside the Box: More powerful facial recognition software will soon shred your remaining anonymity

Soon anybody with a high-resolution camera and the right software will be able to determine your identity. That it will have serious implications for your privacy.

EMV chip cards have helped lower fraud, but people still hate them

Those new debit and credit cards ” you know, the chip ones that have extended the time shoppers spend at checkout terminals ” have been effective at lowering fraud rates, according to Visa Inc., but they still irritate people.