05Sep2016 Market Close: U.S. Markets On Holiday But Rest Of World Open For Business; Stocks Move Up, Oil Moves Both Ways

Global stocks push higher as oil takes wild ride

LONDON (Reuters) – Cooling U.S. rate hike expectations helped world shares notch up solid gains on Monday, though they came off highs as investors concluded an oil market pact between Saudi Arabia and Russia lacked substance.

Obama seeks to convince Asian partners that Washington will approve TPP

HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that U.S. trading partners in Asia did not need to be persuaded of the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, just that Washington would eventually approve the trade pact.

Ubisoft says Guillemot Brothers in deal to buy 4 million Ubisoft shares

PARIS (Reuters) – Ubisoft said on Monday that Guillemot Brothers SE and a bank had entered into an agreement related to the purchase of up to 4,000,008 shares in the French video game maker, representing 3.5 percent of Ubisoft’s total share capital.

Oil pares gains after Saudi, Russia sign pact

LONDON (Reuters) – Crude oil futures pared gains on Monday after top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed they had agreed to cooperate on stabilizing the oil market, including limiting output.

General Motors settles last bellwether ignition-switch cases

(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Monday it settled the last two so-called bellwether cases stemming from a faulty ignition switch linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries.

Brazil’s Taurus confirms suspect 2013 arms deal destined for Yemen

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian gun maker Forjas Taurus SA confirmed on Monday a Reuters report regarding the sale of guns to a known Yemeni arms trafficker who funneled them into his country’s civil war in violation of international sanctions.

Obama says countries must move in concert on tax avoidance

HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that the United States had to move in concert with other countries on the issue of tax avoidance, as some U.S. allies were “racing to the bottom” with their tax policies.

Nissan, dealers fined 6 million euros over antitrust practices in Spain

MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish competition regulator CNMC said on Monday that Nissan’s unit in the Iberian Peninsula and several of its autodealers had been fined 6 million euros ($6.69 million) over antitrust practices.

EU seeks to coordinate consumer action against Volkswagen over Dieselgate

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Commission will meet consumer groups this week to make sure they are doing enough to seek compensation for European drivers affected by Volkswagen’s cheating of diesel emissions tests.

Deutsche Bank Tries To Explain Failure To Deliver Physical Gold

The debacle involving Deutsche Bank’s failure to deliver physical gold from the Xetra-Gold exchange traded commodity (ETC) continued on Friday after a press release from Deutsche Bank. Zero Hedge covered the “non-response” from the beleaguered German bank over the weekend:

And so another non-response, because in the same press release Deutsche Bank both admits that it has an obligation to deliver the gold “as a matter of course”, and then tacitly confirms that it failed to do so, by first saying that it evaluates the “economic efficiency of physical delivery”, something it should have no right to do since the Xetra prospectus explicitly mandates that it should release gold on demand, and then adds that “should an investor’s request for the handover of physical gold not have been complied with immediately in individual cases, this will be reviewed and an individual solution will be found with the client.”

As we already know, this handover of physical gold failed on at least one occasion, and while we are comforted that Deutche Bank is reviewing the situation and a “solution will be found with the client”, it certainly does not e …

Trump Slams Yellen: The Fed Has Created A “Stock Bubble” And “A False Economy” To Boost Obama

One month ago, Donald Trump urged his followers to sell stocks, warning of “very scary scenarios” for investors, and accused the Fed of setting the stage for the next market crash when he said that “interest rates are artificially low” during a phone interview with Fox Business. “The only reason the stock market is where it is is because you get free money.”

Earlier today, speaking to a reporter traveling on his plane who asked Trump about a potential rate hike by the Fed in September, Trump took his vendetta to the next level, saying that the Fed is “keeping the rates artificially low so the economy doesn’t go down so that Obama can say that he did a good job. They’re keeping the rates artificially low so that Obama can go out and play golf in January and say that he did a good job. It’s a very false economy. We have a bad economy, everybody understands that but it’s a false economy. The only reason the rates are low is so that he can leave office and he can say, ‘See I told you.'”

He then lashed out at Yellen, whom he accused of having a political mandate when conducting monetary policy: “So far, I think she’s done a political job. You understand that.”

On whether we can have a rate hike in September: “Well, the only thing that’s strong is the artificial stock market. That’s only strong because it’s free money because the rates are so low. It’s an artificial market. It’s a bubble. So the only thing that’s strong is the artificial market that they’re created until January …

VIX Options Activity Signals Possible Volatility Spike

Submitted by Elizabeth Harrow via SchaeffersResearch.com,

This week, we present to you one of those interesting data discoveries that occasionally crops up in the course of our routine study of various technical and sentiment indicators. In the process of composing his weekly report to our research team, Schaeffer’s Quantitative Analyst Chris Prybal noted an apparent correlation between CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) futures put option volume and the action in the S&P 500 Index (SPX). Namely, per the chart immediately below, it would seem that when VIX’s 20-day cumulative put volume falls below 400,000 contracts, the S&P tends to experience some weakness.

While VIX 20-day put volume regularly clocked in below the 400,000 threshold prior to 2013, there have been only 10 occasions since then when this low bar has been breached (limiting the study to only one signal per month to eliminate some redundancies). Upon further inspection, these troughs in VIX put volume have, in fact, served as precursors to VIX spikes, as well as some corresponding S&P weakness.

Looking out 21 days after a low-volume signal from VIX put options, the S&P is sitting on an average loss of 0.7% — well below its average “anytime” 21-day return of 1%. Meanwhile, the VIX is up nearly 26%, on average, 21 days post-signal — easily outstripping its average return of 2.8% for this time frame. While average returns go on to stabilize (and eventuall …

MSNBC Cuts Live Coverage As Hillary Has “One Of The Worst Coughing Fits Ever”

It’s probably nothing, or maybe it isn’t?

As Hillary Clinton began her speech at a rally in Cleveland, Ohio this afternoon, the democratic presidential candidate suffered what MSNBC anchor Ari Melber described as “one of the worst coughing fits I have ever seen.” She coughed and cleared her throat through over 4 minutes of almost incoherent babble before MSNBC cut away, joking that hillary had quipped “every time I think about Trump I get allergic.”

I’m shocked she’d allow herself to be seen in this condition…#HillarysHealth pic.twitter.com/w49SXPgbeX

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) September 5, 2016

We are not so sure she can just blame this away on Trump however.

Should we be worried about this 69-year-old woman?

And just as she started another unprecedented coughing fit again, MSNBC cuts away to spare the public (around 4:45)

Is it such a conspiracy theorist comment to question just how her health is? Has anyone got an EpiPen?

Bank of Japan’s New Unease With Negative Rates

Bank of Japan Gov. Kuroda says the central bank needs to consider the effects negative rates have had on banks, an important turn in his rhetoric.

HowAppleCan Make the Next iPhone Count

Expectations for the next smartphone are modest, which leaves the company with room for surprise.

Why Brexit Politics Now Trumps Economics

U.K. business sentiment has rebounded sharply as the Brexit vote shock has faded. The focus is now on Westminster.

What We Read Today 05 September 2016

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

This feature is published every day late afternoon New York time. For early morning review of headlines see “The Early Bird” published every day in the early am at GEI News (membership not required for access to “The Early Bird”.).

BECOME A GEI MEMBER – IT’s FREE!

Every day most of this column (“What We Read Today”) is available only to GEI members.

To become a GEI Member simply subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter.

Worst Packaging And Labeling Fails Ever

It seems like packaging design should be fairly simple, but there seem to be quite a few people in the business who don’t seem to get the basics. This video is all about the worst packaging and labeling fails that happen to be amazingly hilarious. These people had one job and they simply failed .

NewsWatch: 4 best new car deals for Labor Day weekend

This Labor Day is the best in years to buy a new car

Capitol Report: As housing reignites, even bust towns are booming again

Some metro areas hard-hit by the housing bust are now among the hottest real estate markets, according to Realtor.com.

The Wall Street Journal: G-20 agrees to look beyond low interest rates to spur global economy

Chinese President Xi Jinping said leaders will put in place guidelines on global investment and explore structural overhauls, acknowledging the need for new measures to prop up the global economy amid growing resentment of globalization.