26Aug2016 Market Update: US Markets Unexpectedly Opened Higher, Then Declined After Digesting Yellen’s Speech,Crude And Gold Returned To Normal And The US Dollar Remains Higher

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The Bovespa is higher by 0.18%, while the IPC is leading the S&P 500 lower. They are down 0.93% and 0.24% respectively.

Fed’s Yellen says case for interest rate hike has strengthened

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (Reuters) – The case for a U.S. interest rate hike has strengthened in recent months because of improvements in the labor market and expectations for solid economic growth, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday.

Declining inventories crimp U.S. second-quarter growth, consumer spending surges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth was slightly more tepid than initially thought in the second quarter as businesses aggressively ran down inventories, offsetting a spurt in consumer spending.

Wall Street declines after Fischer’s hawkish stance on rates

(Reuters) – Wall Street reversed course to trade lower on Friday afternoon after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer raised the specter of a rate hike as soon as next month.

Judge says has ‘concerns’ on information given to Sumner Redstone

BOSTON (Reuters) – A Massachusetts probate court judge said Friday he has “some concerns” about how much information was being given to Sumner Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc .

Uber wins halt to NY price-fixing lawsuit during appeal

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday granted a request by Uber Technologies Inc and its chief executive Travis Kalanick to put a price-fixing lawsuit against them on hold, while they appeal his denial of their bid to compel arbitration.

Ackman approached to buy Herbalife shares owned by Icahn

(Reuters) – Herbalife Ltd’s biggest critic, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, said he had been approached to buy shares in the nutritional supplements maker from billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Google hires Airbnb exec to commercialize self-driving cars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google self-driving car project took a step closer to market with the hire of a top executive from Airbnb, the online vacation home rental marketplace.

VW avoids cutting staff hours in supplier dispute

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen , ramping up output after more than a week of disruptions, said it has avoided trimming the hours of most of the 28,000 workers affected by suppliers retaining parts.

U.S. jobs data to test case for rate hike

DUBLIN (Reuters) – U.S. jobs data top economic readouts from around the world next week as global markets begin to return to business as usual following a typically quiet August with the calm broken on Friday by comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

Lots of Smoke Here, Hillary

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

Prediction: If Hillary Clinton wins, within a year of her inauguration, she will be under investigation by a special prosecutor on charges of political corruption, thereby continuing a family tradition.

For consider what the Associated Press reported this week:

The surest way for a person with private interests to get a meeting with Secretary of State Clinton, or a phone call returned by her, it seems, was to dump a bundle of cash into the Clinton Foundation.

Of 154 outsiders whom Clinton phoned or met with in her first two years at State, 85 had made contributions to the Clinton Foundation, and their contributions, taken together, totaled $156 million.

Conclusion: Access to Secretary of State Clinton could be bought, but it was not cheap. Forty of the 85 donors gave $100,000 or more. Twenty of those whom Clinton met with or phoned dumped in $1 million or more.

To get to the seventh floor of the Clinton State Department for a hearing for one’s plea, the cover charge was high.

Among those who got face time with Hillary Clinton were a Ukrainian oligarch and steel magnate who shipped oil pipe to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and a Bangladeshi economist who was under investigation by his government and was eventually pressured to leave his own bank.

The stench is familiar, and all too Clintonian in character.

Recall. On his last day in office, Jan. 20, 2001, Bill Clinton issued a presidential pardon to financier-crook and fu …

Stunning Maps Depict Epic Collapse Of Obamacare “Coverage” In 2017

Remember when Obama toured around the country telling everyone that Obamacare was going to increase competition and lower premiums? If not, here is an example to help jog your memory (comments taken from Obama remarks delivered at Prince George’s Community College on 9/26/13):

Now, this is real simple. It’s a website where you can compare and purchase affordable health insurance plans, side-by-side, the same way you shop for a plane ticket on Kayak — (laughter) — same way you shop for a TV on Amazon. You just go on and you start looking, and here are all the options.

It’s buying insurance on the private market, but because now you’re part of a big group plan — everybody in Maryland is all logging in and taking a look at the prices — you’ve got new choices. Now you’ve got new competition, because insurers want your business. And that means you will have cheaper prices. (Applause.)

Well, as we’ve pointed out numerous times things are not really playing out as Obama had hoped with premiums skyrocketing (see “Obamacare On “Verge Of Collapse” As Premiums Set To Soar Again In 2017″) and “competition” collapsing (see “Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Warns Obamacare “Very Near Collapse””).

The two ma …

Stocks Plunge, VIX Spikes After “Hawk Cop” Fischer Spoils “Dove Cop” Yellen’s Party

Despite Yellen’s hawkish tone, market participants clung to dovish hopes in her words… but Stan Fischer just clarified “Yellen’s comments are consistent with a possible September hike” and that has spoiled th eparty in stocks, bonds, gold, and the dollar…

Fischer explains…

*FISCHER: I DON’T THINK FED IS BEHIND THE CURVE

*FISCHER: ECONOMIC PICTURE IS VERY COMPLEX

*FISCHER: YELLEN’S COMMENTS CONSISTENT WITH POSSIBLE SEPT. HIKE

*FISCHER: BIG ISSUES IN GROWTH ARE INVESTMENT, PRODUCTIVITY

*FISCHER: ON EMPLOYMENT, WE’RE DOING WELL

*FISCHER: FED IS RESOLUTELY NOT A POLITICAL BODY

*FISCHER: WE AREN’T ELECTION FORECASTERS; LOOK AT ECO. SIGNALS

*FISCHER: IN FOMC MEETINGS WE DO DISCUSS SUBGROUPS OF EMPLOYMENT

*FISCHER: NOT TOO CONCERNED ABOUT ASSET BUBBLES NOW

So to summarize:

Yellen: Hawkish titled speech but offered this dovish bone: “future policymakers may wish to explore the possibility of purchasing a broader range of assets.”

Fischer: Hawkish tone confirmation “Yellen’s comments are consistent with a possible September hike”

Which broke the tie for the algos… and the market reacts…

VIX is soaring…

No Complacency Among These Equity Options Traders, But…

Via Dana Lyons’ Tumblr,

Unlike many of the sentiment indicators we’ve looked at recently, traders on one options exchange recently exhibited a record show of nervousness.

We’ve written a fair amount recently about the growing level of optimism, or complacency, evident in many corners of the stock market. Indeed, overly exuberant sentiment is probably the most troublesome factor in the markets right now. There is nary a time, however, when all signals and indicators are in alignment with one another. The present is no exception. And in fact, the traders on one options exchange recently demonstrated a record level of cautiousness.

We have covered options ratios from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) on numerous occasions in the past. While it does not clear the level of volume seen on other exchanges, the ISE data can still be quite useful as a measure of trader sentiment. Part of its effectiveness stems from the fact that the ISE only includes opening customer long positions (calls or puts) in its ratio calculations. This practice, argues the ISE, makes for a more accurate gauge of investor sentiment than when incorporating more complicated trades by large firms and market makers as well.

Typically, we prefer to look at the ISEE, “ISE Equity”, call/put ratio for a read on sentiment out of the exchange (unlike most sources, the ISE lists their options ratios with calls as the numerator and puts as the denominator). Today’s Chart Of The Day, however, looks at the ISE “All Securities” ratio. This includes index and ETF options trades as well. The reason for highlighting this ratio today is that on Tuesday, August 23, it registered its lowest reading ever recorded, 31, since inception in 2002. I …

Yellen Cries Wolf

Fed chairwoman tries to convince the market that a rate rise is coming but investors aren’t listening.

Vivendi: Why Empire Building Is No Strategy

French media group Vivendi is benefiting from the growth of music streaming, but investments in struggling Italian companies are puzzling.

The Price of the Calm After the Storm

Markets are calm this August. Policy makers have ensured that, but distortions are rife.

Amy Hoak’s Home Economics: The really bad money decision millennial homeowners are making

Young people often prioritize leisure and entertainment, but many are going into debt to fund them

3 best Apple suppliers to invest in for the long term

Apple Inc. may be a hot stock a majority of analysts recommend to buy, but a few members of the iPhone maker’s supply chain might also prove solid for people with a long-term investment strategy.