Written by Gary
Wall Street closed down moderately after rising off the session lows (SPY – 0.4%). The US dollar rose to and has been in the low 96’s in late afternoon trading while WTI crude fell into the 42 handle has settled in the low 43’s. Investors are increasing worried if the Fed is going to, or not, raise rates this year.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall Street falls as banks weighNEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Friday as the possibility of a $14 billion fine against Deutsche Bank weighed on big banks and investors wrestled with lingering uncertainty about when the U.S. Federal Reserve will hike interest rates. |
| U.S. inflation stirring as healthcare, housing costs surgeWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in August as healthcare costs recorded their biggest gain in 32-1/2 years, pointing to a steady build-up of inflation that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. |
| House committee to hold hearing on Wells Fargo sales practicesWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has opened a probe into Wells Fargo’s sales practices and plans to call the company’s chief executive before lawmakers at a hearing later in September, the committee chairman said on Friday. |
| GM seeks to delay recall of 1 million vehicles with Takata air bag inflatorsDETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co has asked U.S. safety regulators to a delay a recall of 980,000 trucks with Takata air bag inflators to allow it to demonstrate the vehicles are safe and avoid a hit to profits. |
| Deutsche Bank to fight $14 billion demand from U.S. authoritiesFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank said it would fight a $14 billion demand from the U.S. Department of Justice to settle claims it missold mortgage-backed securities, a shock bill that raises questions about the future of Germany’s largest lender. |
| Bayer in $66 billion bet that farmers will back linked-up suppliesFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer’s $66 billion purchase of Monsanto amounts to a long-term bet that farmers will grow to trust combinations of seeds and pesticides rather than continue to pick from ranges of separate products. |
| Fans cheer, but iPhone 7 gets a subdued welcomeSHANGHAI/SYDNEY/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple employees enthusiastically counted down the last moments before stores from San Francisco to Shanghai opened on Friday to launch the iPhone 7, but the ranks of shoppers were notably thinner than in previous years. |
| Abbott to sell its eye care business to J&J for about $4.33 billion(Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories said it would sell its eye care business to Johnson & Johnson for about $4.33 billion in cash to focus on cardiovascular devices and diagnostics business. |
| Nevada approves SolarCity, Berkshire unit’s rooftop solar pact(Reuters) – Nevada’s utility regulator on Friday approved a settlement between SolarCity Corp and the NV Energy unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc that grandfathers roughly 32,000 rooftop solar energy customers into older, more favorable rates for 20 years. |
| Household Net Worth Hits A Record $89 Trillion… There Is Just One CatchAs part of its quarterly Flow of Funds update, earlier today the Fed released snapshot of the US “household” sector as of June 30. What it revealed is that with $103.8 trillion in assets and a modest $14.7 trillion in liabilities, the net worth of the average US household rose to a new all time high of $89.1 trillion, up $1.1 trillion as a result of an estimated $474 billion increase in real estate values, and mostly $750 billion increase in various stock-market linked financial assets like corporate equities, mutual and pension funds. Household borrowing rose at a 4.4% annual rate, with total household liabilities grew growing by $200 billion from $14.5 trillion to $14.7 trillion, the bulk of which was $9.6 trillion in home mortgages. The breakdown of the total household balance sheet as of Q2 is shown below.
And while it would be great news if wealth across America had indeed risen as much as the chart above shows, the reality is that there is a big catch: as shown previously, virtually all of the net worth, and associated increase thereof, has only benefited a handful of the wealthiest Americans. As a reminder, from the CBO’s latest Trends in Family Wealth analysis, here is a breakdown of the above chart by wealth group, which sadly shows how the “average” American wealth is anything but. |
| Growth and Trust Are Scarce at ComScoreAfter an accounting scandal, comScore must win back investors’ confidence and convince them it can expand. |
| How Deutsche Bank Will Be Hurt by Mortgage FinesThe German lender faces demands to pay $14 billion. But, while that won’t be the final number, the penalty still looks damaging. |
| Inside Intel’s Latest UpgradeThe chip maker’s boost from PCs is likely a blip, while the iPhone payoff remains unclear. |
| Apple end four-day winning streakApple shares are down Friday, as the first iPhone 7 devices reach consumers. |
| Emergency communications company Everbridge’s stock soars in market debutCEO says timing was good, given the rise in emergency situations. |
| Bond Report: Short-term Treasury yields post largest daily jump in 3 weeksShort-term Treasury yields on Friday jumped by the most in three weeks after official data showed a stronger than expected rise in consumer prices last month, boosting the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest-rates at least once before the end of 2016. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
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