18Oct2016 Market Close: US Markets Closed Higher, WTI Crude Back In The 50 Handle, US Dollar Sowing Strength Again

Upbeat earnings boost Wall Street

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 posted its best day this month on Tuesday on the heels of solid earnings reports from names such as UnitedHealth and Netflix that put overall profits on track to snap a four-quarter streak of declines.

Intel’s quarterly revenue rises 9.1 percent

(Reuters) – Intel Corp reported a 9.1 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by improving PC demand and growth in its data center and cloud businesses.

Rising gasoline, rents push U.S. inflation higher in September

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices recorded their biggest gain in five months in September as the cost of gasoline and rents surged, pointing to a steady pickup of inflation that could keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates in December.

U.S. judge ‘strongly inclined’ to approve VW buyback settlement

(Reuters) – A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday said he is “strongly inclined” to approve a record-setting $10.033 billion proposed buyback and compensation offer from Volkswagen AG for 475,000 owners of polluting 2.0-liter diesel vehicles.

Goldman Sachs profit soars on bond trading and curtailed costs

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported a 58 percent jump in third-quarter profit on Tuesday as bond trading rebounded and the Wall Street bank managed to keep a lid on expenses.

J&J shares lose ground on fears of Pfizer’s answer to Remicade

(Reuters) – Booming pharmaceutical sales drove strong quarterly results for Johnson & Johnson , but the company’s shares fell more than 2 percent on worries that its blockbuster Remicade arthritis drug would soon face cheaper competition.

S&P 500 earnings now expected to show growth for third quarter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – S&P 500 earnings are now expected have increased slightly in the third quarter, reversing forecasts for another quarter of profit declines, Thomson Reuters data showed.

BlackRock CEO sees ‘hostile’ climate as index funds reel in cash

NEW YORK (Reuters) – BlackRock Inc , the world’s largest asset manager, reported better-than-expected quarterly profits on Tuesday, showing resilience in what has been a punishing market for fund managers.

U.S. plans steps to improve disclosures of airline pricing: source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House plans to announce steps aimed at promoting competition in the U.S. airline industry and increasing transparency in pricing and airline performance, a source said on Tuesday.

The ECB Made A Mistake During Its Daily Bond Purchases

Something unexpected happened when the ECB released its latest bond purchase data at during its scheduled release time on Monday: in addition to the purchase of at least 20 separate corporate bonds under the bank’s CSPP bond buying program during the week ended October 14, amounting to a total of 1.84 billion, which lifted the number of securities held by the central bank to 660, bringing the total to amount of its holdings to 33.8 billion, or 7.1% of the 476 billion outstanding for these issues, the ECB actually sold one bond.

This is notable, because the first P in CSPP stands for Purchase not Punt. Nowhere is there a discussion of selling, and yet that’s precisely what the ECB did – as Bloomberg noted earlier today, CUSIP FR0010955559 AKEFP 4% 10/2017 was no longer on the list of most recent ECB holdings. Why?

It turns out that in its buying frenzy, the ECB made a mistake, and according to an explanation provided by an ECB representative, the ECB had to sell a short dated Arkema bond last week it had bought some three weeks ago as it wasn’t eligible under the corporate bond buying program.

The ECB replaced the bonds, which it bought during the week ending September 23, with a longer dated Arkema issue that was eligible the representative said, the one noted below:

FR0012452191 AKEFP 1.50% 1/2025 700.00

In other It took the ECB almost a month to realize that not only was it not following its own guidelines, but that it had made the mistake. And, of course, there is no way to check what other errors the ECB’s trading floor, as showcased by the ECB earlier this year, has made since launching its bond buying program in June.

Major Hedge Funds ‘Shortest’ In 6 Months, Dump Stocks At Fastest Pace In 5 Years

US equity markets have gone nowhere fast since the start of September, coiling in a narrow range and breaking down… (along with bonds as risk-parity funds delever from record high correlation levels)

This also coincides with the peak in speculative long positioning in S&P Futures and for the first time since April, large speculators are net short the US equity market.

Large speculators were short a net position of 2,200 contracts, after staying long for 25 straight weeks, according to the latest data from Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In fact the rate of collapse in sentiment over the last six weeks is the fastest since 2011.

Duterte Visit To China: Hillbama’s Pivot Has Failed

Submitted by Tom Luongo via PlanetFreeWill.com,

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in China to meet with Chinese Premier Xi Xinping. Duterte has become a very controversial figure in Asian politics as he has publicly excoriated U.S. President Barack Obama’s treatment of him and his country.

Duterte has pursued a frank and brutal policy to clean up drug trafficking and crime in the Philippines while at the same time backing away from U.S. influence over the former U.S. colony.

His meeting with Xinping comes after multiple public clashes with Obama which has led to ending joint sea patrols with the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the disputed South China Sea.

These increased patrols and diplomatic overtures in Southeast Asia, particularly with Vietnam are all part of the ‘Asian Pivot’ of which Hillary Clinton was the architect during her reign as Secretary of State.

That Duterte is looking to mend fences with China after the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands back in June which denied China’s historical claims to much of the South China Sea is telling.

Because the Philippines has been the loudest opponent of China’s territorial claims.

Vietnamese Waffling

Across the way, Vietnam, on the other hand, has been vocal and taken steps to make substantive claims in the Paracels, it has also been willing to negotiate with China on this issue.

Tensions in the region are always high given the historical backdrop of past Chinese invasions. Vietnamese political moves, in particul …

New Emails Reveal Hillary Staffers Scrambling Over Bill’s “Roommate In Chappy”

Back in the summer of 2014, the Daily Mail revealed a woman who they speculated to be Bill Clinton’s Chappaqua mistress. The mistress, Julie McMahon (codename: “Energizer”), was rumored to frequently visit Bill in Chappaqua sometimes staying just a couple of hours and other times for a couple of weeks depending on Hillary’s travel schedule.

She always arrives in an SUV, sometimes staying for a few hours, sometimes as long as a week — just so long as the lady of the house is away.

And, thanks to the fact that the house in question — the palatial residence of Bill and Hillary Clinton — is protected by a squad of U.S. Secret Servicemen who are in on the deception, the attractive, busty blonde can time her arrivals and departures to within minutes of those of Mrs Clinton.

The bodyguards claim they don’t know her identity, but say they are under orders neither to stop nor approach her, but to let her in. She does, however, have a codename. Every member of a family protected by the Secret Service, responsible for guarding presidents and ex-presidents, is given a codename starting with the same letter.

Given that Bill Clinton is ‘Eagle’ and Mrs Clinton is ‘Evergreen’, the special visitor was dubbed ‘Energiser’ in a rare moment of levity by the men in the mirror sunglasses.

Now, new emails reveal a scramble within the Hillary campaign to address the rumors of Bill’s “Energizer” mistress. The first email regarding the “Energizer” surfaced in February 2014 when the Washington …

Netflix’s Show Must Go On

Domestic subscribers grow despite a price shift, giving the streaming company a much-needed hit.

Why Can’t All Japanese Banks Be Like Suruga?

Japan’s provincial Suruga Bank shows how to thrive even in a negative rate world.

Burberry Frustrates Hopes of a Luxury Revival

It’s a good time to pick up a Burberry trench coat if you happen to be passing through the U.K. It’s probably a bad time to buy the British designer’s stock.

Personal Finance Daily: The cost of a bachelor’s degree continues to rise and how free shipping isn’t always free

Tuesday’s top personal finance stories

Commodities Corner: Why gold will rise no matter who becomes the next U.S. president

No matter who is elected as the next U.S. president, gold is poised to be the winner.

The Ratings Game: Is Netflix burning through cash like a ‘Narcos’ coke kingpin?

Netflix’s cash burn accelerates as it invests heavily in producing original content.