Written by Gary
Markets closed mixed, DOW down 3points, dragged down by energy shares, but gains in Costco and tech shares lifted the Nasdaq. $NDX up3 and WTI crude down in the low 45’s.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | S&P, Dow end down; energy weighsNEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and the Dow ended lower on Thursday, dragged down by energy shares, but gains in Costco and tech shares lifted the Nasdaq. |
| Jobless claims, hiring data brighten U.S. labor market viewWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in June as small businesses ramped up hiring, and fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, suggesting a rebound in job growth after May’s paltry gains. |
| Volkswagen to pay $86 million in penalties to California over emissionsLOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG will pay an additional $86 million in penalties to California over its emissions scandal, on top of a settlement of about $15 billion the automaker reached with U.S. officials last week, state Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement on Thursday. |
| Exclusive: Top investor Gabelli says Viacom CEO exit inevitable(Reuters) – Mario Gabelli, Viacom Inc’s second-largest holder of voting shares behind majority owner Sumner Redstone, believes that Chief Executive Philippe Dauman can do nothing to save his job because he cannot win his battle with the Redstone family over control of the media company. |
| Justice Dept. has concerns over Aetna-Humana deal: source(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice has significant concerns about Aetna Inc’s proposed acquisition of health insurer Humana Inc , a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday, and shares of Humana fell more than 11 percent. |
| LSE gets U.S., Russia nod for Brexit-clouded Deutsche Boerse merger(Reuters) – London Stock Exchange Group said on Thursday that U.S. and Russian authorities had approved its $27 billion merger with Deutsche Boerse , giving it the first set of regulatory clearances needed to create a European exchange giant. |
| France’s Danone to buy WhiteWave to boost U.S. businessPARIS (Reuters) – France’s Danone said on Thursday it would double the size of its U.S. business by buying organic foods producer WhiteWave Foods Co for $10.4 billion in its largest acquisition since 2007. |
| Five U.S. investment banks offer support for London after Brexit voteLONDON (Reuters) – Five U.S. investment banks promised British finance minister George Osborne on Thursday that they would try to help London keep its top spot as a financial center, but gave no commitment on jobs following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. |
| Boeing slows payments to suppliers as it accelerates cost cuttingNEW YORK (Reuters) – Boeing Co is stepping up efforts to conserve cash, cut costs in its supply chain and trim inventory of parts in its factories, telling vendors it will take longer to pay bills, Boeing and aerospace industry executives said. |
| Late-Day VIX-Clubbing Saves Stocks From Gas-mageddonSo oil crashes to 2mo lows, DB hits record lows, and BMPS crashes… Starting where we normally finish, the energy complex carnage this week has been a big factor with today’s WTI crash the biggest in 5 months, weighing notably on stocks…
Plunging to 2 month lows… finding support at the intersection of its 100- and 200-dma…
And RBOB’s 3-day crash is among its biggest ever… (on the heels of a very disappointing inventory print for the bulls)
With something snapping in Oil VIX land…
All about DOE today… |
| No Cojones Comey And The Department Of Political JusticeSubmitted by Andrew Napolitano via AntiWar.com, Is it worth impairing the reputation of the FBI and the Department of Justice to save Hillary Clinton from a deserved criminal prosecution by playing word games? What has become of the rule of law – no one is beneath its protections or above its requirements – when the American public can witness a game of political musical chairs orchestrated by Bill Clinton at an airport in a bizarre ruse to remove the criminal investigation of his wife from those legally responsible for making decisions about it? How hairsplitting can the FBI be in acknowledging “extreme carelessness” while denying “gross negligence” about the same events, at the same time, and in the same respect? These are questions that now beg for answers in light of what can only be the politically motivated FBI report delivered earlier this week on the likely criminal behavior of Hillary Clinton. The espionage statute that criminalizes the knowing or grossly negligent failure to keep state secrets in a secure venue is the rare federal statute that can be violated and upon which a conviction may be based without the need of the government to prove intent. Thus, in the past two years, the DOJ has prosecuted a young sailor for sending a single selfie to his girlfriend that inadvertently showed a submarine sonar screen in its background. It also prosecuted a Marine lieutenant who sent his military superiors a single email about the presence of al-Qaida operatives dressed as local police in a U.S. encampment in Afghanistan – but who inadvertently used his Gmail account rather than his secure government account. And it famously prosecuted Gen. David Petraeus for sharing paper copies of his daily cale … |
| Greatest. Economy. Ever.Facts…
Fiction-peddlers…
Source: The Burning Platform |
| Brexit Provides Lucky Break for U.S. HomeownersFalling interest rates are already prompting more mortgage refinancing. |
| Why Slowing Job Growth Shouldn’t Surprise YouAt the current stage of this economic recovery, slow job growth may no longer be an aberration. |
| What Mobileye Is Driving AtInvestors seem to have accepted the notion that the future of self-driving cars won’t get here without many fits and starts. That bodes well for Mobileye. |
| Robert Powell’s Retirement Portfolio: Retirement planning: advice for womenWomen can’t catch a break when it comes to retirement planning. |
| Market Extra: Wall Street’s most boring stocks are in bubble territoryUtilities have risen 21.2% in the first half of the year — the sector’s best first-half performance in over 25 years. But this run-up in prices leaves the sector extremely overextended and valuations dangerously high, with some analysts suggesting the sector is now in a bubble territory. |
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