17Oct2016 Market Close: US Markets Turn Down As The Oils And Dollar Slip, Gold Having A Difficult Time Climbing Higher

Wall Street dips as energy stocks, Amazon weigh

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street ended modestly lower on Monday as energy stocks retreated along with oil prices, while Amazon and Netflix weighed on the consumer discretionary sector.

Weak utilities demand restrains U.S. industrial production

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. industrial production barely rose in September as a rebound in manufacturing and mining output was offset by surprisingly weak demand for utilities, pointing to a moderate acceleration in economic growth in the third quarter.

Fischer says Fed ‘very close’ to goals for U.S. jobs, inflation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve is very close to its U.S. employment and inflation targets, the Fed’s vice chair said on Monday, adding he is therefore “not enthusiastic” about raising the price-level target in an attempt to spur economic growth.

Bank of America profit rises on bond trading, cost cuts

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp , the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported its first profit increase in three quarters on Monday, foiling expectations for another drop, as bond trading surged and expenses fell.

Exclusive: New Boeing 737 economy seat supplier books initial sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A new supplier of economy-class seats for Boeing Co’s top-selling 737 jetliners has signed its first two customers, allowing it to begin production, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Carl Icahn on CNBC says a lot of companies are ‘way overvalued’

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Carl Icahn warned on Monday that many S&P 500 companies are “way overvalued,” considering soft-to-weakening economic growth in the United States as well as in emerging markets.

St. Jude forms cyber panel after claims of heart-device bugs

(Reuters) – Medical-device maker St. Jude Medical Inc said on Monday that it planned to set up a medical advisory board focused on cyber-security issues affecting patient care and safety.

Deutsche Bank’s options to solve capital dilemma seen to be limited

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank needs to move quickly to boost capital and deliver healthy profits if it is to restore investor confidence, but its room for maneuver appears limited, bankers, analysts and investors say.

Dutch regulator says Tesla’s ‘Autopilot’ name a concern

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch agency that approved electric carmaker Tesla’s “Autopilot” driver assistance system for use throughout Europe is concerned the name could be misleading, a spokeswoman said on Monday, after Germany asked the company to stop using the term in advertising.

Market Myth Shattered: Ned Davis Warns “There’s No More Cash On The Sidelines”

While the “cash on the sidelines” myth has infuriated many, it remains a staple excuse for why there’s always a buying opportunity in stocks when the market dips. However, as Ned Davis Research warns “we can’t find much cash on the sidelines… and when we do it seems mostly offset by debt/liabilities,” crushing yet another pillar of strength for stocks.

Ned Davis notes there is a lot of talk about all the cash on the sidelines from pessimistic investors that could power the market higher. There is some public caution and overall savings have risen somewhat, but I am having a hard time finding evidence that cash (potential demand) is anywhere near the market value of stocks (potential supply).

In fact, the only place Davis really finds a lot of cash is from nonfinancial corporations. This cash is being used aggressively to buy back stocks plus mergers and acquisitions. My only problem with corporate cash is that it seems to be financed not out of profit growth, but rather debt offerings. Either way this produces demand, but it can also hurt balance sheet quality (as we have detailed previous …

The Story Changes: The Pentagon Is No Longer Sure Yemen Fired Missiles At A US Ship

Last Thursday, after two consecutive missile attacks on the US Navy ship USS Mason, which allegedly were launched by Houthi rebel forces in Yemen, the US entered its latest military engagement in the middle east, when the USS Nitze launched several Tomahawk cruise missiles aimed at radar installations located by the Bab el-Mandab straight, and which enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. ship.

The USS Mason (DDG 87), a guided missile destroyer

As Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, “these limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation,” adding that “these radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea,” including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low. That said, as we highlighted, the U.S. said while there growing indications, there was no official proof that Houthi fighters, or forces aligned with them, were responsible for the attempted strikes which targeted US ships. Still, the lack of concrete proof did not bother the US which, cavalier as usual, unleashed the missile assault on Yemeni territory, breaching the country’s sovereignty and potentially killing an unknown number of people.

However, today – four days after the US “counterattack” – the story changes. According to Reuters earlier today the Pentagon declined to say whether the USS Mason destroyer was targeted by multiple inbound missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday, as initially thought, saying a review was underway to determine what happened.

“We are still assessing the situation. There a …

Everyone Has A Plan… And No One Has A Clue

“One thing I know for sure,” warns Bloomberg’s Richard Breslow, “everyone has a plan and no one has a clue.” The conundrum can be summarized as why you both have to pay close attention to what policy makers say, and take it all with a grain of salt.

Uncertainty about the direction of the economy, where we stand from past and future policy mistakes and no ability to predict how markets will ultimately re-price keeps price action very much afoot.

And lest anyone tell you otherwise, the only thing you might reasonably predict from election outcomes is the most immediate reaction. History tells us that what happens after the fact never fits the pat scenarios. Reality and events always best the best storylines.

These periods of intensified market debate allow us to get a real sense of investors’ most repressed position fears. And what central bankers worry could be the possible, horrifying, and never-to-be-admitted, unintended consequences of years of market distorting, yet oh-so theoretically appealing, policy measures.

The most difficult issue for everyone to negotiate is the flatness of all curves. The inexorable pushing out of duration, with little regard for adequate compensation, has put everyone into a dangerous situation. And from th …

Clinton Foundation’s “Backstabbing, Spoiled Brat” Chelsea Lists Her Grievances Against Doug Band And Justin Cooper

With each new WikiLeaks dump, the rabbit hole in the feud between Chelsea Clinton and Doug Band seems to grow a little deeper. The most recent disclosures included a November 11, 2011 email from Chelsea to John Podesta, Cheryl Mills and the Clinton Foundation lawyers at Simpson Thacher in which Chelsea clearly lists out her issues with Clinton aides Doug Band, Justin Cooper and someone referred to only as “Hannah,” which is presumably Hannah Deletto, Director of Membership at the Clinton Foundation. Among other things, the email alleges that Justin Cooper installed spyware on Bill Clinton’s computer in order to monitor his email traffic, that both Justin Cooper and Hannah Deletto stole “significant sums of money” from the Clintons and that Doug Band / Teneo “hustled business at CGI.”

Chelsea’s list of complaints from her email:

– today that Doug reached out to someone at Harry Walker (who represents my father on all speaking arrangements), to ask for a full list of all his speeches, how much he was paid for each speech, and told the contact person at Harry Walker that all speeches should now go through him, not Terry Krinivic (the scheduler)

– that Ilya physically saw/caught Justin a couple of days ago reading his bberry and loading the same spyware onto his computer that he loaded onto Bari’s computer

– a secret service agent told Marc (my husband) that Justin had asked another secret service agent to lie about the parking pass absurdity [we can talk about this really ridiculous anecdote offline]

– multiple people shared with me how upset they were at hearing how Justin refe …

More Than One Worry Is Hitting Bond Markets

Reduced global risk, changing central-bank tactics and higher inflation will all keep pushing up Treasury yields.

Winners Emerging Among Battered Banks

Big U.S. banks are benefiting from a strong rebound in trading activity. Competitors that pulled back from trading may not be so lucky.

Intel’s Stock Price Boots Up on PCs

The chip maker’s shares have surged thanks in part to decent PC sales, but growth plans still hinge on the cloud.

Bond Report: Treasury yields inch lower, but U.K. gilt yields jump as inflation talk in focus

U.S. Treasury prices rose, pushing yields lower Monday, with some investors suggesting a consolidation after two weeks of selloff that pushed the yields to their four-month highs

Capitol Report: State Department official pressured investigators to change email status, FBI documents show

A State Department official pressured the Federal Bureau of Investigation to change the classification status of one of Hillary Clinton’s emails as part of a “quid pro quo,” according to documents released by the FBI on Monday.

Earnings Outlook: Mattel earnings: Expect a comeback for Barbie

Mattel earnings have been negatively impacted by the loss of the Disney Princess and Frozen collections, but Barbie is making a comeback