26Jul2016 Market Close: US Markets Close Flat And Lifeless, Crude Prices Low But Steady, Fed Announces Rate Decision Tomorrow

Wall Street mixed as Federal Reserve meets

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday as Federal Reserve policymakers kicked off a two-day interest rate meeting and investors braced for quarterly scorecards from Apple and Twitter.

Verizon posts subscriber gain shortfall, says Yahoo to fuel media push

(Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc disappointed Wall Street on Tuesday by reporting a smaller-than-expected subscriber gain for its main wireless business, while its CEO gave few details about plans to increase revenue from its planned purchase of Yahoo Inc’s internet assets.

Goldman is sued in U.S. over merger linked to Malaysia’s 1MDB

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc was sued on Tuesday by a major shareholder of a Malaysian bank it once advised, and which accused the Wall Street bank of fraudulently shortchanging it in a merger to curry favor with that country’s prime minister.

Fed seen holding rates steady as inflation watch continues

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week, deferring any possible increase until September or December, as policymakers hold out for more evidence of a pickup in inflation.

China’s LeEco to buy U.S. TV maker Vizio for $2 billion

(Reuters) – China’s Le Holdings Co Ltd , also known as LeEco, said on Tuesday it would buy U.S. consumer electronics company Vizio Inc for $2 billion.

Losing the X-factor: Hyundai fumbles in U.S. as former hit car Elantra stalls

SEOUL (Reuters) – At last February’s Super Bowl, Hyundai Motor hired ‘X-Men’ movie star Ryan Reynolds for an ad plugging the new version of its Elantra sedan. Not in the script: a slide in first-half sales of the South Korean automaker’s U.S. mainstay.

Special Report: In Venezuela’s murky oil industry, the deal that went too far

CARACAS/BOGOTA (Reuters) – Even for Venezuela’s notoriously opaque economy, it was a sweetheart deal that went too far.

New York AG refuses to comply with U.S. House subpoena on Exxon probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York state’s attorney general on Tuesday said his office will not comply with a subpoena issued by U.S. congressmen for details on its probe of whether Exxon Mobil misled investors on climate change risks, saying it interferes with the state’s “sovereign” interests.

Exclusive: EU to seek arbitration in dispute with U.S. over Norwegian Air – sources

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission will launch an arbitration procedure to resolve a dispute between Norwegian Air Shuttle and U.S. regulators over the budget carrier’s wish to fly to the United States from Ireland, two sources said.

Italy Races To Arrange 5 Billion Bailout For Monte Paschi Before Friday’s Stress Test

As we noted over the weekend, Italy’s bank stress test the result of which is due out on Friday, is a “near-term stress event”, and one which Italy’s most troubled bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is expected to fail. It is Monte Paschi’s massive non-performing debt load that is also the reason why over the past month Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has been desperately spinning Brexit as a catalyst event which would get Germany’s blessing to enact a taxpayer-funded, public, bailout of not just the world’s oldest, and Italy’s third largest, bank but also of the entire Italian banking sector. Alas that has not panned out as expected, and Italy never got Germany’s – or Dijsselbloem’s – permission to launch another TARP.

Which explains why moments ago the FT reported that Italy was last night “racing to secure a privately backed bailout of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the most exposed of the country’s troubled lenders, including a plan to raise 5 billion of fresh capital so as to avert nationalisation, according to bankers and European officials.”

As a reminder, Monte Paschi has been bailed out by the state twice has raised over 8 billion of capital in the past two years, money which it quickly burned through, and as of this moment it has a market cap of just over 800 million. In other words, all else equal, the Sienna bank is looking at dilution of nearly 90%. Which would be a concern if the stock wasn’t already trading as if it was insolvent, and if it hadn’t been halted already over the past two days despite a recent short-selling ban which did absolutely nothing to the bank’s long-term prospects.

Something Dark Emerges from the Tar Pits and Oil Sands, Destroying Crude Oil Price Rally

This article by David Haggith was first published on The Great Recession Blog.

The crude oil price rally has been completely crushed, though I’ll admit I was wrong when I predicted crude oil prices would plummet in March or April as the perfect storm developed against oil prices. Instead, they rallied. In spite of that, I continued to believe my error was in timing and not in fact — not in the fact that a another harsh fall in oil pr …

Why Sand Is the Oil Industry’s Bellwether

Sand miners have rebounded, bolstering evidence that fracking and the oil and gas market have bottomed.

Facebook’s Rally Is Too Much of a Good Thing

Facebook’s rally to record heights might be due for a breather.

Bond Report: Short-term Treasury yields climb to highest level since Brexit

Short-term Treasury yields climb Tuesday, hitting their highest level in more than a months after a pair of stronger-than-expected economic reports

Commodities Corner: Oil eyes $40 after speculators short futures

Analysts are increasingly eyeing the $40-a-barrel level as the next downside price target for West Texas Intermediate crude as non-commercial traders short oil

The Wall Street Journal: Redemption on offer as disgraced executive Sam Waksal’s startup readies IPO

Big-name investors who backed the company could emerge as winners if Kadmon manages to complete IPO.