06Oct2016 Market Update: Investors Waiting For Other Shoe To Drop, Gold Testing June Support, Crude Prices At June Resistance And Something Is About To Give

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed today. The Bovespa is up 0.45% while the S&P 500 gains 0.06%. The IPC is off 0.21%.

Twitter shares plunge on report bidders are scarce

(Reuters) – Twitter shares plunged on Thursday, a day after technology website Recode reported that Alphabet’s Google and Disney would not bid for the social network and Apple was unlikely to be a suitor.

Wall Street flat as focus shifts to jobs report

(Reuters) – Wall Street was little changed on Thursday, a day ahead of a crucial employment report that would show whether the economy is strong enough to absorb an interest rate hike.

Wal-Mart touts e-commerce over stores, tempers profit view

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday tempered its profit forecast for the next two fiscal years and said it would slow new store openings as it spends heavily on a long-term plan to transform itself into an e-commerce company.

U.S. jobless claims fall, point to labor market strength

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a 43-year low, an indication of firmness in the labor market which may support an interest rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year.

Mars to take full control of Wrigley’s with Buffett stake buy

(Reuters) – Candy maker Mars Inc said on Thursday it would buy out billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s minority stake in its Wrigley chewing gum business, taking full control.

Goldman sees U.S. auto sales entering slow lane, downgrades sector

(Reuters) – Earnings at U.S. automakers are expected to decline in the next two years as negative pricing and lower production weigh on North America results, Goldman Sachs said, downgrading the sector to “cautious” from “neutral”.

Fighting fires: Samsung struggles to limit damage from smartphone recall

SEOUL (Reuters) – Heated meetings, sacrificed holidays and teams monitoring social media round-the-clock to track whether there have been any new smartphone fires: Samsung Electronics is still desperately trying to limit the damage of a record global recall announced more than a month ago.

Oil rises to four-month highs as OPEC keeps output cuts in focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil rose about 1 percent, hitting four-month highs on Thursday, underpinned by news of another informal OPEC meeting on output cuts and surprise drop in U.S. crude stocks, though trading was choppy after a price gain of 15 percent in seven sessions.

Pfizer to seek more modern Manhattan headquarters

(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc , the largest U.S. drugmaker, said on Thursday it aims to sell its New York City world headquarters buildings in midtown Manhattan by the end of 2017 and to begin moving into more modern Manhattan facilities no sooner than the first half of 2019.

The Great Debt Unwind: Business Bankruptcies Soar 38%

Submitted by Wolf Richter via WolfStreet.com,

Six years of Fed & Wall Street hype come home to roost

Something funny happened on the way to the bank: In August, commercial and industrial loans outstanding at all banks in the US fell for the first time month-to-month since October 2010, which had marked the end of the collapse of credit during the Financial Crisis.

In October 2008, the absolute peak of the prior credit bubble, there were $1.59 trillion commercial and industrial loans outstanding. As the Great Recession chewed into the economy, C&I loans plunged. Many of them were cleansed from bank balance sheets via charge-offs. But then the Fed decided what the US needed was more debt to fix the problem of too much debt, thus kicking off what would become the greatest credit bubble in US history. By July 2016, C&I loans had surged to $2.064 trillion, 30% above their prior bubble peak.

But in August, something stopped working: C&I loans actually fell 0.3% to $2.058 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. That translates into an annualized decline of 3.8%, after an uninterrupted six-year spree of often double-digit annualized increases. Note that first month-to-month dip since October 2010:

It’s still too early to tell how significant this dip is. It’s just the first one. It could have occurred because companies borrow less because they need less money as there’s less demand, a …

German CEOs Said To Offer “Single-Digit Billions” Capital Injection To Deutsche Bank

The Deutsche Bank trial balloons are on fire today.

Moments after DB slumped on a headline that contrary to yesterday’s Reuters report that the German government is holding “discreet talks” with DB, a headline hit that “there are no talks taking place with the DoJ, a German government official said”…

… a new report out of Handelsblatt announced that German companies are ready and willing to offer a “capital injection” in the low, single-digit billion euro range, according to Handelsblatt sources. More from HB:

The chief executives of several German blue-chip DAX-listed companies have discussed the state of Deutsche Bank and are even prepared to offer a capital injection if needed to rescue Germany’s largest bank from a potentially crippling penalty in the United States, according to information obtained by Handelsblatt.

Under the emergency plan, the participating companies would purchase Deutsche Bank stock to help shore up the financial institution’s modest reserves. The capital injection under discussion is in the low, single-digit billion euro range, according to Handelsblatt sources.

Both the leadership of Deutsche Bank and high-ranking members of the German government have been informed about the plan, sources said. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Berlin, which has refused to publicly offer financial backing to Germany’s largest financial institution, welcomed the private-sector intervention.

&nb …

Dear Senator McCain, You & Hillary Are The Problem

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Senator John McCain is the biggest warmonger on the planet, next to Hillary Clinton of course.

Ironically, McCain has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today that proclaims Stop Assad Now—Or Expect Years of War.

Like Hillary who wants a no-fly zone over Syria, McCain says “Ground the regime’s air force, create safe zones for Syrian civilians, and arm the opposition.”

McCain: America’s intrepid secretary of state has now taken the meaningless step of suspending talks with Russia over Syria. Meanwhile, Mr. Assad and Mr. Putin are creating military facts on the ground in Syria that will enable them to dictate the terms of a peace secured by carnage. They have decimated coalition-backed Syrian groups, slaughtered countless civilians, consolidated the Syrian regime’s hold on power, and even struck a United Nations humanitarian-aid convoy. And they have done all of this with no consequences. Thus the war grinds on.

Mish: Dear Senator, how many innocent civilians were slaughtered in Iraq in a needless war you sponsored? How many in Afghanistan? How many innocent victims has US drone policy killed? And for that matter, how many innocent people have died in Syria because the US backed Al Qaeda terrorists? Can we please have an accounting?

McCain: While the U.S.-led coalition is making progress in the fight against Islamic State, we cannot forget this terrorist organization is a symptom of the Syrian civil war. The future of that conflict will have significant stra …

ECB vs Bond Markets: Jitters Likely to Persist

For once, Mario Draghi may have been less reassuring for markets than he could have been.

Shiller’s Powerful Market Indicator Is Sending a False Signal About Stocks This Time

A close look at a Nobel Prize winner’s valuation metric shows that the market isn’t as highly valued as it appears.

Elliott Agitates Samsung in the Right Direction

Elliott Management’s call for change at Samsung Electronics pushes the company in a direction it is already heading. That should benefit shareholders.

Mall of America to close on Thanksgiving this year

Not every shopping destination will be open this Thanksgiving.

Currencies: Dollar on track to strengthen for 4th session in a row as jobs report looms

Powered by strong U.S. service-sector data, the dollar has surmounted a crucial resistance at ¥103.25, and was holding on to those gains Thursday.

Howard Gold’s No-Nonsense Investing: Huge egos undermine star fund managers

Bruce Berkowitz, a one-time ‘Fund Manager of the Decade,’ crashes and burns, writes Howard Gold.