31Aug2016 Market Close: US Markets Close Fractionally In The Red, Crude Prices Remain Depressed, US Dollar Off Session High Mark, But Remains Elevated

Written by Gary

Wall Street closed in the red, but recovered 80% of its morning losses. Crude prices remain near the session lows, falling to the lowest level in nearly three weeks after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose for the second week in a row. U.S. private employers have maintained a steady pace of hiring suggesting the economy is ready for the Fed’s to raise interest rates this year.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The first column is what was reported this morning. The second column is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Wall St. ends lower on energy weakness NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks ended lower on Wall Street on Wednesday, closing out the first negative month for the S&P 500 since February, as energy shares tracked oil prices lower.
	Irish cabinet delays decision on Apple tax appeal DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s cabinet could not agree on Wednesday whether to fight a European Commission ruling against Dublin’s tax dealings with Apple , raising questions over any appeal and the government’s stability.
	U.S. private payrolls rise solidly; pending home sales jump WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. private employers maintained a steady pace of hiring in August and contracts to buy previously owned homes surged in July, suggesting the economy was regaining sufficient momentum for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.
	Tesla will release Autopilot update ‘in weeks’: Musk (Reuters) – Tesla Motors Inc plans to release an update of its partly automated self-driving system “in a few weeks,” Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday.
	Alere lawsuit accuses Abbott of ‘buyer’s remorse’ in proposed merger (Reuters) – Alere Inc alleges Abbott Laboratories is trying to stymie its planned $5.8 billion takeover of the diagnostics company by purposefully delaying key submissions to anti-trust regulators, according to a lawsuit made public on Tuesday.
	Japanese airline ANA to replace 100 Rolls engines on 787s SEATTLE (Reuters) – ANA Holdings Inc , Japan’s largest airline, said on Wednesday it will replace all 100 Rolls-Royce engines on its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners following three engine failures this year caused by corrosion and cracking of turbine blades.
	After Apple, EU may focus on companies closer to home BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Multinational companies can expect the European Commission to press on with a crack down on sweetheart tax deals after handing Apple a breathtaking demand for 13 billion euros, officials and experts said on Wednesday.
	U.S. sues to stop Deere from buying Precision Planting WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Wednesday aimed at stopping Deere & Co from buying Monsanto Co’s Precision Planting farm equipment business.
	Takata parts involved in blast were shipped properly: NTSB (Reuters) – An initial check showed that Takata Corp air bag parts and material involved in a deadly explosion in a truck in Texas last week were being shipped properly, a U.S. regulator said on Wednesday.
	Stocks Suffer Worst Monthly Loss Since January, Bonds Worst In 14 Months The streak is over… Small Caps (Russell 2000) was the best performing major US equity market on the month as The Dow and S&P ended red – breaking a 6-month winning streak VIX was crushed to try and get back to 2173.6….BUT FAILED Another v-shaped recovery ramp today to VWAP… On the day stocks ended red – despite the best efforts to get Nasdaq green… Ramped S&P/Dow into green for the week… (Nasdaq still red)
	And The Best Performing World Stock Market In August Was… China… 3 of the top 10 best performing world equity indices in August are from China with HSCEI the best overall, gaining 6.5% in local currency terms. We find this move in China interesting as officials start to sound the alarm over the real estate market and need an outlet for that hot money flow… back into stocks – to avoid major currency weakness. At the other end of the scale is Venezuala’s market which tumbles 7.74% – which is actually better than we thought it would be. One thing that is notable is that the last month has seen correlation across asset classes remains high… but this time it’s rolling over – as Global Central Bank balance sheets actually fall modestly in USD terms… Charts: Bloomberg
	Fear Spreads Of A Housing Crash In Canada Submitted by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com, More Canadians sour on their Magnificent Housing Bubble. Canadians have been gung-ho about their magnificent housing bubble, feeding it with an endless willingness to pay every higher prices, even as regulators and international institutions issued warnings, as short sellers began circling, as subprime liar-loan scandals made their reappearance, and as a generation was getting priced out of the hottest housing markets in Canada, the metros of Toronto and Vancouver, and as locals came up with an acronym to describe what has fired up the market: HAM – Hot Asian Money. But the Vancouver housing bubble, the hottest even in Canada, hit rough waters in early summer. By July the first serious troubles appeared. Even as apartment prices soared 27% year-over-year and detached house prices 38%, overall sales plunged 19%, while sales of detached homes plummeted 31% [Vancouver Housing Bubble, Meet Pin].
	Emerging Markets: Catch the Yield Where You Can The latest target in the search for anything with a yield: emerging-market bonds in local currencies.
	Finding Safer Ground at Palo Alto Networks A rich multiple has made cybersecurity star Palo Alto Networks a dangerous play, but its shifting revenue mix is a good sign.
	Bidding War for Medivation Is Good News for Biotech Pfizer had stiff competition in the chase for Medivation, which bodes well for biotech.
	Key Words: Stein and Johnson aren’t the most potent third-party foes faced by Trump, Clinton Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are not the only, or perhaps even the most potent, so-called third-party challengers whom Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump need to contend with in November, notes a Wall Street Journal editorial.
	Futures Movers: Oil futures end at 3-week low, but gain 7.5% on month Oil futures end at a nearly three-week low after U.S. government data reveal a bigger-than-expected weekly increase in crude inventories.
	Key Words: What does ‘alt-right’ even mean? The Southern Poverty Law Center dates the term to 2008.