30Aug2016 Pre-Market Commentary: US Futures Flat Ahead Of The Morning Opening, Crude Prices Rise Moderately Along With The US Dollar, Investors Remain Concerned With Timing Of Next Rate Hike

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 0.58% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.47% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.13%.

EU demands Apple pay Ireland up to 13 billion euros in tax

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators ordered Apple on Tuesday to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes plus interest to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid.

Dollar, shares rise on expectations for a U.S. rate increase

LONDON (Reuters) – Growing expectations the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates this year pushed the dollar up for a seventh time in eight days on Tuesday. Stocks rose.

Stock futures flat as investors await more clues from Fed

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday as investors waited for more clues on the timing of the next interest rate hike.

Fed’s Fischer says U.S. job market ‘very close’ to full strength

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. job market is nearly at full strength and the pace of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve will depend on how well the economy is doing, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Tuesday.

Abercrombie & Fitch sales fall for 14th straight quarter

(Reuters) – Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co’s sales dropped for the 14th straight quarter, hurt by lower traffic, including from tourists, at its flagship stores.

Oil prices rise on U.S. weather fears, OPEC speculation

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil futures rose on Tuesday supported by production suspensions in the U.S. Gulf due to an expected tropical storm and speculation that producers meeting in Algeria next month will act to prop up prices.

EpiPen maker Mylan hires banks for debut euro bond

LONDON (IFR) – Mylan has hired banks for a euro-denominated multi-tranche debut euro bond, a day after the under-fire drugmaker announced it would launch a generic version of its EpiPen allergy injection at half the price.

Buyout firms’ hushed deals with top investors risk SECs’ ire

NEW YORK(Reuters) – Some U.S. private equity firms are courting their biggest and savviest investors with privileged access to special fee-saving deals without telling other investors, according to people involved in buyout firms’ fundraising.

VW reviews procurement strategy in wake of supplier dispute

HAMBURG (Reuters) – Volkswagen is reviewing its supplier and procurement strategy to avoid another crippling dispute like the one that caused production slowdowns and even stoppages at six plants this month, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said.

Wake Up America – It’s Time To Eliminate The ‘Pusher’

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Central banks can only do one thing, and that’s provide monetary welfare for the wealthy.

The fact that central banks provide welfare for the wealthy is now entering the mainstream. The fact that all central bank policies since 2008 have dramatically increased wealth and income inequality is now grudgingly being accepted as reality by mainstream economists and the financial media.

The central banks’ PR facade of noble omniscience on behalf of the great unwashed masses has cracked wide open. Even The Wall Street Journal is publishing critiques of Federal Reserve policies that suggest the Fed has no idea how the U.S. economy actually works because their policies have failed to help the bottom 95%.

The grudging admission that central bank policies have enriched the rich while failing to benefit the bottom 95% is a breakthrough–the stone wall of denial has finally been pierced. The mainstream media and the Establishment have resolutely clung to the self-serving fantasy that the Federal Reserve 1) knows what’s it’s doing and 2) is boosting a “recovery” that will soon achieve self-sustaining “escape velocity”–that is, the economy will generate its own growth and the Fed can dial back its zero-interest rate policy and all its other unprecedented monetary easing measures.

But like a strung-out junkie that needs ever-stronger injections of smack just to stay alive, the U.S. economy is now totally and completely dependent on central bank heroin to keep from crashing. Rather then wean the economy of central bank largesse, the Fed has made the entire economy dependent on zero interest rates, central bank asset purchases and quantitative easing.

At the mere hint that rates …

“The Americans Give Us Nothing”: France Effectively Kills TTIP, Calls For End To Negotiations

Just two days after Germany’s outspoken vice chancellor (who has over the past 48 hours slammed not just Merkel’s refugee policy but also Brexit negotiation demands), announced that Obama’s transatlantic trade treaty, the TTIP, is dead, saying negotiations have failed because “we Europeans did not want to subject ourselves to American demands”, France voiced its support to the German position when the French trade minister on Tuesday called for an end to trade negotiations between the European Union and the U.S., the firmest sign yet of opposition in Europe to what would be the most ambitious trade deal in decades.

Matthias Fekl, cited by the WSJ, said on French radio that “France no longer politically supports these negotiations,” adding that “The Americans are giving us nothing. This is not how allies should be negotiating.” Fekl said he would ask the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, at a meeting of trade ministers late September to end negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, generally known as TTIP. The Commission leads talks with the U.S. for the EU.

“There should be an absolute clear end so that we can restart them on good basis,” he said on RMC Radio, adding he would suggest that course to fellow ministers.

Fekl echoed the position of Germany’s econ minister Gabriel who said on Sunda …

Germans “Lose Faith In Banks”, Rush To Buy Safes

It is no secret that one of the most admirable qualities of the German public – in addition to its striking propensity for thrift in the aftermath of Weimar – is its stoic patience and pragmatism when dealing with adversity. However, over the past month, we grew increasingly confident that said patience would be tested, if only when it comes to matters of monetary trust vis-a-vis the local, neighborhood bank. First it was the news that Raiffeisen Gmund am Tegernsee, a German cooperative savings bank in the Bavarian village of Gmund am Tegernsee, with a population 5,767, finally gave in to the ECB’s monetary repression, and announced it’ll start charging retail customers to hold their cash. Then, just last week, Deutsche Bank’s CEO came about as close to shouting fire in a crowded negative rate theater, when, in a Handelsblatt Op-Ed, he warned of “fatal consequences” for savers in Germany and Europe – to be sure, being the CEO of the world’s most systemically risky bank did not help his cause.

That was the last straw, and having been patient long enough, the German public has started to move. According to the WSJ, German savers are leaving the “security of savings banks” for what many now consider an even safer place to park their cash: home safes.

Indeed, as even the WSJ now admits, for years, “Germans kept socking money away in savings accounts despite plunging interest rates. Savers deemed the accounts secure, and they still offered easy cash access.

Why Fitbit’s New Band Got a Healthy Reception

Fitness band maker has much cheaper multiple, as it updates flagship devices.

What Happens When a Central Bank Buys Property Stocks

The Bank of Japan’s asset purchases have helped shares in real-estate investment trusts, but home builder stocks may be telling the true story.

Why the Math Doesn’t Work for Today’s Market

With interest rates low and stock valuations distorted, how much cash companies give back to investors is more crucial than ever.

Did It Matter What Types Of Assets The Fed Purchased?

from the St Louis Fed

One of the major intents of the Fed’s large-scale asset purchase programs was to drive longer-term interest rates down, thus encouraging people to spend more. But how did these large-scale asset purchases affect the economy as a whole, and did the composition of assets purchased matter?

Chuck Jaffe: Here’s a simple way either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump could tackle the retirement-savings gap

Whoever is elected needs to lead an effort to give a retirement-savings program to workers whose employer doesn’t offer one.