Written by Gary
Wall Street closed flat again, quietly on low volume (SPY -0.01%) and the big question for this weekend is, ‘Where is this damn market headed?’. Some analysts have described this market as ‘No man’s land’, where you might be damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Indicators are neutral with a bearish slant.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
AT&T bids for Time Warner, 21st Century Fox not interested: sources(Reuters) – AT&T Inc is in advanced discussions to acquire Time Warner Inc , sources said on Friday, a deal that would give the telecom company control of cable channel HBO, the CNN news network, film studio Warner Bros and other media assets. | |
Wall Street flat as Microsoft ralliesNEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and the Dow were little changed and the Nasdaq advanced on Friday, as a record-setting rally in Microsoft and earnings from McDonald’s helped offset a fall in energy and healthcare names. | |
BAT offers to buy U.S. tobacco firm Reynolds in $47 billion dealLONDON (Reuters) – British American Tobacco has offered to buy out U.S. cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc in a $47 billion takeover that would create the world’s biggest listed tobacco company with brands including Newport, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall. | |
GE cuts year revenue target on oil, gas weakness, has third quarter profit beatNEW YORK (Reuters) – General Electric Co scaled back expectations for its full-year revenue and profit on Friday, overshadowing third-quarter profit that beat analyst forecasts and sending its shares lower. | |
U.S. auto sales in October expected to drop 7 percent: J.D. Power-LMCDETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales are forecast to drop more than 7 percent in October from the same period in 2015, the sixth monthly decline so far this year, as automakers offer steep discounts and adjust production to manage inventories, J.D. Power and LMC Automotive said on Friday. | |
New York governor approves new regulations on Airbnb(Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo approved legislation on Friday that would place new regulations on online home rental companies like Airbnb. | |
Fund managers focus on Prime memberships to gauge Amazon rallyNEW YORK (Reuters) – The strength of Amazon.com Inc’s nearly 75 percent rally since February may depend on how many more brown cardboard boxes end up on the doorsteps of U.S. consumers this fall. | |
N.Y. Fed lowers U.S. third and fourth quarter GDP outlookNEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Federal Reserve on Friday downgraded its forecasts on U.S. economic growth in the second half of 2016 following data on regional business activities in October and a steep drop in housing starts last month. | |
PayPal says some customers unable to make payments due to cyber attack on Dyn(Reuters) – PayPal Holdings Inc said on Friday that it has experienced some service disruptions due to the cyber attack on Dyn that caused Internet outages for its customers. | |
Did Clinton Press Secretary Get Caught On Tape ‘Rigging’ Media Questions?In the latest Clinton campaign sham, Press Secretary Nick Merrill can be seen in the video below blatantly feeding questions to reporters during a post-debate “press conference” Wednesday night on Air Hillary. The first question is planted with Andrea Mitchell (aka “old faithful”) when Nick Merrill shows her his cell phone. “Shockingly” Mitchell gets to ask the very next question and it’s related to Trump calling Hillary a “nasty woman” during the debate. Then, moments later, Merrill can be seen signaling another reporter after seemingly sending him/her a text. Serious, why doesn’t Nick Merrill just ask the questions himself so we can all just do away with this charade? You better behave, Andrea Mitchell, he’s always watching you…
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“Prepare For More Volatility As Yield ‘Hunger Games’ Comes To An End”Submitted by Jeffrey Miller of Stock Research May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor President Snow: Seneca… why do you think we have a winner? The Hunger Games, 2012 Just like President Snow, I think Chairwoman Yellen is playing a dangerous game with investors, giving them just a little bit of hope that someday monetary policy will normalize, that Fed Funds rates won’t be stuck right near zero forever. But a lot of hope, a real conviction that the Fed was going to embark on a hiking cycle, would be dangerous for financial markets, in particular bonds of all kinds, which are trading at levels that assume that the Fed never really will follow through. Hope has been contained. For now. But what would happen to bond markets if that hope turned into conviction that the Fed was really going to raise, or, even more dangerous (and much more likely), that credit spreads were going to widen? Then we’d see massive losses in bonds, in particular high yield CCC bonds, which are currently performing poorly f … | |
An Establishment In PanicSubmitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org, Pressed by moderator Chris Wallace as to whether he would accept defeat should Hillary Clinton win the election, Donald Trump replied, “I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense.” “That’s horrifying,” said Clinton, setting off a chain reaction on the post-debate panels with talking heads falling all over one another in purple-faced anger, outrage and disbelief. “Disqualifying!” was the cry on Clinton cable. “Trump Won’t Say If He Will Accept Election Results,” wailed The New York Times. “Trump Won’t Vow to Honor Results,” ran the banner in The Washington Post. But what do these chattering classes and establishment bulletin boards think the Donald is going to do if he falls short of 270 electoral votes? Lead a Coxey’s Army on Washington and burn it down as British General Robert Ross did in August 1814, while “Little Jemmy” Madison fled on horseback out the Brookeville Road? What explains the hysteria of the establishment? In a word, fear. The establishment is horrified at the Donald’s defiance because, deep within its soul, it fears that the people for whom Trump speaks no longer accept its political legitimacy or moral authority. It may rule and run the country, and may rig the system through mass immigration and a mammoth welfare state so that Middle America is never again able to elect one of its own. But that establishment, disconnected from the people it rules, senses, rightly, that it is unloved and even detested. Having fixed the fut … | |
BAT-Reynolds: A Modest Premium For Modest Cost SavingsGiven the limited scope for cost-cutting, BAT can’t afford to pay much more than a 20% premium for Reynolds American | |
AT&T Rethinks Possible With Time WarnerTime Warner is an attractive media asset, but acquiring it would be a blockbuster of a gamble for AT&T. | |
Why Portugal and DBRS Still Matter for EuropePortugal has held on to its investment-grade rating from DBRS. Drama has been averted, but remains on the agenda. | |
Futures Movers: Oil futures score a fifth-straight weekly gainOil futures finish modestly higher, with prices in New York marking a fifth-consecutive weekly gain. | |
The Tell: The stock market is caught deep inside ‘no man’s land’With no true bottom in site to settle those with a bearish view and insufficient signs from the latest crop of quarterly earnings reports to arouse the animal spirits that might help equities clamber definitively higher, investors are in limbo. | |
Bond Report: 10-year Treasury yield posts largest weekly drop in a monthTreasury yields followed Japanese and European rates lower on Friday, with the 10-year yield posting its largest weekly drop in a month. |
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