11Oct2016 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Opens Lower, Alcoa Shares Fall On 3Q Earnings Miss, Crude Prices Continue To Rise, Investors Becoming Increasingly Concerned With Market Bubble

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 0.31% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.22% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.02%.

Samsung scraps Galaxy Note 7 over fire concerns

SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Tuesday less than two months after its launch, dealing a huge blow to its reputation and outlook after failing to resolve safety concerns.

Alcoa third-quarter profit rises but misses expectations; stock drops

(Reuters) – Metals company Alcoa Inc on Tuesday reported higher quarterly profit but missed expectations, sending its stock down more than 5 percent.

U.S. watchdog expands scrutiny to more Chinese deals

(Reuters) – Insurance mergers and acquisitions rarely raise red flags with U.S. national security watchdogs. China’s Fosun International Ltd took that history to heart last year when it paid $1.84 billion for the remaining 80 percent stake of U.S. property and casualty insurer Ironshore Inc that it did not already own.

Top U.S. airlines forecast better third-quarter profit margins, revenue

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc and United Continental Holdings Inc on Tuesday forecast improved profit margins and unit revenue for the third quarter, as travelers spent more on last-minute trips in September than expected.

Yum Brands to return $13.5 billion to shareholders by 2019

(Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc , owner of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, said it expects to return as much as $13.5 billion to shareholders by 2019 after the separation of its China unit.

U.S. must stop judicial ‘extortion’ of corporate Europe, French lawmakers say

PARIS (Reuters) – Europe should challenge the United States over its increasingly aggressive use of extraterritorial laws that have cost European companies – especially banks – billions in fines and other settlements, a French parliamentary report said.

China sales accelerate for global automakers in September

BEIJING (Reuters) – Honda and Nissan reported on Tuesday their strongest monthly vehicles sales growth for China this year in September, thanks to a tax cut on small engine vehicles and comparatively weak growth for the same month last year.

Exclusive: Russia’s Rosneft boss Sechin says no to OPEC oil cap

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Igor Sechin, Russia’s most influential oil executive and the head of state-controlled energy giant Rosneft, said his company will not cap oil production as part of a possible agreement with OPEC.

Wikileaks Releases Another 1,100 Emails From John Podesta In Third Data Dump

Moments ago, Wikileaks just released its third data dump from the hacked email account of Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Chair, John Podesta, which is becoming a true headache for Hillary Clinton and her supporter base.

There are as many as 1,190 new emails in the latest release, adding to the more than 4,000 emails from Podesta already released by the whistleblowing website, and bringing the total to 5,336. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has claimed he is sitting on as much as 50,000 messages.

RELEASE: The Podesta Emails Part 3 (1190 new emails) #HillaryClinton #PodestaEmails #PodestaEmails3 https://t.co/wzxeh70oUm pic.twitter.com/75jVhpvtX8

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 11, 2016

While we are going through the latest document dump, as usual, we urge readers to flag and point us to any of the more notable emails, starting which yet another beauty from CNBC’s own “unbiased” political commentator John Harwood emailed to Hillary’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.

Ungovernable Nation, Unmanageable Economy

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Not only will Fed policy not fix what’s broken, it will actively make the structural problems worse.

Yesterday I described the conditions that render the U.S. ungovernable. Here is a chart of why the U.S. economy will also be ungovernable. Longtime readers are acquainted with the S-curve model of expansion, maturity, stagnation and decline.

This is why the economy will be ungovernable: all the financial gambits that have been played to create the illusion of “prosperity” have reached stagnation/decline.

The key take-away is that the financial gambits–QE, zero interest rates, etc.–did not actually address the economy’s structural problems. All the Federal Reserve and fiscal stimulus policies accomplished was to prop up the corrupt, stagnant engine of debt-serfdom, rising inequality and financial fragility.

All the monetary gambits are versions of trickle-down economics: if we give free money to banks and financiers, this will spur speculation that inflates asset bubbles that generate a wealth effect–households looking at their swelling IRA accounts will feel wealthier and thus more enthused about borrowing and spending money they shouldn’t borrow and spend.

But “trickle down” wealth effects do absolutely nothing to address the structural challenges that are undermining the economy: they do nothing to address the collapse of interest income for the households that save rather than spend, the collapse of low-risk yields for pension funds, the demographic time-bomb of pensions and social welfare programs that are uns …

A Strange “Production Cut” – OPEC Oil Output Hits Record High As Rosneft Says “No” To Production Cap

Something odd happened on the way to the recently “agreed upon” OPEC production cut: instead of cutting production, OPEC countries have seen their oil output surge, and according to an IEA reported released today, the oil producing countries pumped oil at record-high volume last month, while officials from three member countries, those exempt from the “deal”, said they plan to raise output even more in the near future.

OPEC increased output by 160,000 barrels a day to a record 33.64 million barrels a day in September, the IEA said, a rather stark departure from last month’s Algiers agreement where most OPEC members agreed to bring output down to a maximum of 33 million barrels a day.

The increased production shows, among other things, not only just how farcical the recent oil surge has been on the back of expectations that somehow OPEC will actually not only agree on lower production quotas and more importantly comply with then, but also how much work OPEC must do to achieve production cuts it agreed to last month in an attempt to end a crude glut that has depressed prices for two years.

“Now the real work starts,” the IEA, which advises industrialized nations on energy policy, wrote in its monthly report. The market—if left to its own devices—may remain in oversupply through the first half of next year, it said.

The work will be even more difficult as a result of the deal exemption granted to Libya, Iran and Nigeria, who are now scrambling to capture as much market share as possible before the OPEC deal is effected, if ever. As the WSJ reports, last month, production from Iran, Libya and Nigeria increased by a collective 120,000 barrels a day over August lev …

Frontrunning: October 11

Samsung scraps Note 7 (Reuters)

Note 7 fiasco could burn a $17 billion hole in Samsung accounts (Reuters)

Trump’s struggles may depress Democratic voter turnout (Reuters)

Major Investor Sues Theranos (WSJ)

S. Africa’s Gordhan to Be Charged; Rand Plunges Most Since June (BBG)

Oil price falls back from one-year highs, hit by OPEC deal concerns (Reuters)

Saudi Capital Spending to Drop 71% in 2016 Amid Low Oil Prices (BBG)

How Julian Assange Turned WikiLeaks Into Trump’s Best Friend (BBG)

Rising OPEC Oil Output Shows Challenge of Curbing Production (WSJ)

Hundreds stranded in North Carolina floods after Hurricane Matthew (Reuters)

Didi, China’s Uber, Navigates Rough Regulatory Road (WSJ)

Apple Pay, Now 2 Years Old, Looks for Ways to Be More Useful (BBG

America’s Fling With Bling Is Getting Old

A post-election rebound in U.S. luxury spending could prove wishful thinking.

Why Samsung’s Dud Phones Will Cause Lasting Damage

Samsung’s latest recall will test the patience of its smartphone-addicted customers.

The World Looks Brighter for U.S. Companies

The global economy looks as if it is in for another year of weak growth, but the sales that U.S. companies draw from abroad could get a lot better.

Japan’s Central Bank Writes Tokyo A Blank Check

from STRATFOR

— this post is authored by Mark Fleming-Williams

Official announcements often have hidden meanings that escape the commentariat, leaving citizens unaware that an important page in their governments’ policies has just been turned. So it was with the Bank of Japan’s Sept. 21 press release, which held so many revelations that observers struggled to digest and explain them all.

Four-year deal and revamped pensions prevent Chicago teachers strike

Chicago Public Schools officials and leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract to keep open the nation’s third-largest school district, serving nearly 380,000 students.

Capitol Report: Trump drops a big tax clue in debate — here’s what it means

Trump says he pays federal taxes but continues to refuse to prove it by releasing his returns