16Aug2016 Market Close: Wall Street Closed Down Moderately, DOW Off 84 Points, WTI Crude Settled At 46.47, Possible Fed Rate Rise In September Spooks Investors

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July but a rise in industrial output and home building suggested a pickup in economic activity that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.

Gaining confidence, Fed officials eye U.S. interest rate hike this year

NEW YORK/KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve is raising expectations for an interest rate rise this year, even as early as next month, after two policymakers on Tuesday said the economic stars now appear to be aligning despite weak U.S. economic growth in the first half of 2016.

Wall St. slips from highs after Fed officials’ rate comments

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks eased from record highs on Tuesday after comments from Federal Reserve officials fueled speculation of an interest rate hike this year.

Exclusive: Blackstone challenges Honeywell with JDA financing plan – sources

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP has offered a financing plan to help debt-laden U.S. supply chain management company JDA Software Group Inc, giving it an alternative option to selling itself to Honeywell International Inc , people familiar with the matter said.

SEC cracks down on severance agreements that deter whistleblowing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For the second time in less than a week, U.S. securities regulators on Tuesday filed civil charges against a company for inserting language into its severance agreements that prevents outgoing employees from reaping the benefits of government whistleblower awards.

Oil at five-week high as OPEC sources, Russia, talk of cooperation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil settled up nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, hitting five-week highs for a second straight day as sources at OPEC spoke of Saudi Arabia’s apparent desire for higher crude prices while Russia met the producer group to discuss the market.

Hedge fund Tudor Investment lays off 15 percent of staff: source

BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones on Tuesday laid off roughly five dozen employees, or about 15 percent of his workforce, a person familiar with the moves said on Tuesday, in the wake of poor returns and investor redemptions.

U.S. senators quiz airlines on IT systems after Delta disruption

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators on Tuesday sent letters to 13 major airlines expressing concerns that their information technology systems are vulnerable to outages that can strand thousands of passengers similar to recent flight cancellations.

ValueAct stake in Morgan Stanley shows challenges in big bank activism

(Reuters) – ValueAct Capital Management’s newly acquired stake in Morgan Stanley underscores how tempting big bank stocks are for activist investors, but also how difficult it can be for them to move the needle in terms of performance.

Crude Cruises To 1-Month Highs But Dudley Damages Stocks & Bonds

This seemed appropriate for today… (you’re welcome)

Before we start – today’s big moves were driven by Fed’s Dudley spewing some shit about time to hike rates this year soon.. everything is awesome… etc… So explain this idiocy Dudley!!

Ok, having got that off our chest, stocks shockingly did not end higher… and puked into the close…

S&P and VIX danced their odd jig once again today – noticed the compression in S&P and VIX around 1200ET and the tiny downtick in VIX that snapped the ‘pennant’ pattern creating a false breakout which rapidly got sold…

S&P managed to stay out of the twilight zone for now…

& …

A Bull Market In Complacency

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

On Monday, the markets hit new “all-time highs.” That’s the good news.

The bad news is that such is occurring on a rapid decline in volume as shown in the chart below.

While volume by itself is not a great indicator from which to manage money by, it does lend credence to the level of participation in the market’s advance. Volume, like volatility which we will discuss in a moment, is most useful in denoting turning points in the market. Historically, volume tends to begin increasing just prior to, and during, a market decline.

While declining volume does not suggest the current advance is over, it is worth paying attention to when it turns higher.

Furthermore, with the extension of the market now 7.5% above the 200-day moving average, a reversion at some point in the not-s0-distant future becomes much more likely. This is particularly the case given the current overbought conditions combined with weakness in price momentum from high levels as denoted by the red circles below.

But such “bear markings” seem to provide little wo …

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