Written by Gary
U.S. stock markets pointed to fractional gains (SPY +0.2, mostly cautious, at the open, ahead of a four-day Thanksgiving trading week. Wall Street will shut Thursday and then close early on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to holiday shopping. Crude prices rallied to a three-week high after Putin said he sees a an agreement to curb oil production.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 is up 0.52% while London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.45% and Germany’s DAX is up 0.40%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Futures up as oil prices rise; Fed’s Fischer in focus(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures inched up on Monday, supported by higher oil prices and the lingering effects of a rally sparked by Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the U.S. election. |
| APEC leaders vow to fight protectionism, look to China on tradeLIMA (Reuters) – Pacific Rim leaders vowed on Sunday to fight protectionism and Chinese officials said more countries are looking to join a China-led trading bloc after Donald Trump’s election victory raised fears the United States would scrap free trade deals. |
| Citi and JPMorgan top list of globally systemic banksLONDON (Reuters) – Citi has joined JPMorgan at the top of global regulators’ list of systemically important banks, replacing HSBC and meaning the U.S. bank will have to hold extra capital from 2019 to help preserve financial stability. |
| Tyson Foods profit misses estimates; CEO to step down(Reuters) – Tyson Foods Inc reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday and said Chief Executive Donnie Smith would step down at the end of the year as the company looks to expand its presence in branded prepared foods. |
| Sneakers show limits of trade policy in reviving jobs for Trump(Reuters) – American companies from appliance makers to auto parts suppliers have lined up to offer a quiet caution to President-elect Donald Trump as he considers pulling the United States from trade deals: most lost manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, but higher costs for consumers could. |
| Oil touches three-week highs ahead of OPEC meetingLONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday to their highest in three weeks, catching a lift from a weaker U.S. dollar and from cautious money managers, as OPEC appeared to be moving closer to agreeing an output cut when it meets next week. |
| Facebook ‘likes’ Britain’s talent, to add jobs despite BrexitLONDON (Reuters) – Facebook said it would expand its presence in Britain by 50 percent in 2017, joining other U.S. technology firms in increasing investment despite the uncertainty sparked by the country’s vote to leave the European Union. |
| Daimler expresses regret after China row involving senior executiveBEIJING (Reuters) – Daimler AG expressed regret on Monday for an incident in China that local media said involved a senior executive of the German luxury car maker making disparaging comments to people over a parking row. |
| Rowan, Saudi Aramco to form joint venture to operate offshore drilling rigs(Reuters) – Rowan Companies Plc said it was forming a joint venture with Saudi Arabian state oil giant Saudi Aramco to operate offshore drilling rigs in the country. |
| Putin Confirms Trump Is Willing To Normalize Russian-American RelationsThe shadow cold war between the US and Russia may finally be over. One week ago, Vladimir Putin explicitly called Donald Trump – something he hasn’t done to a standing US president in years – in which the Russian leader congratulated the president-elect on his victory in the presidential election, wished him “success in the implementation of the pre-election program, and noted his willingness to build a partnership dialogue with the new administration on the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of each other.”
Well, as of today, the world appears to be back on the way to re-normalcy. According to Reuters, the Russian President said on Sunday, shortly after his last ever handshake with Obama in his capacity as president, that Donald Trump confirmed to him he was willing to mend ties, though he also said he would welcome President Barack Obama in Russia. “The President-elect confirmed he is willing to normalize Russian-American relations. I told him the same. We did not discuss where and when we would meet” Pu … |
| Frontrunning: November 21Dollar dips, stocks fall as Trumpflation trade pauses (Reuters) A profile of RenTec’s Medallion fund: Inside a Moneymaking Machine Like No Other (BBG) Mattis, Christie, Giuliani in contention for top posts (Reuters) Paulson’s Big Long: A Bet on Trump Yields Power and Profit (BBG) Ex-PM Fillon is favorite to win French conservative presidential ticket (Reuters) In weekend of deliberation, Mattis favored for Trump Pentagon chief (Reuters) Citigroup Leads U.S. Banks Higher in Global Systemic Risk List (BBG) Obama says urges a wait-and-see approach on Trump proposals (Reuters) Obama Seeks to Bolster Iran Deal (WSJ) Russia to deploy S-400 and Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad: RIA cites senator (Reuters) Trump Said to Discuss Treasury Post With Blackstone’s Gray (BBG) Trump’s Offshore Cash Plan Will … |
| Goldman Now Expects OPEC To Reach Production Cut Deal, Raises Q1, Q2 Oil Price Forecast; Cuts Q3, Q4Among the reasons for today’s rebound in oil prices, as noted earlier, is renewed hope that OPEC will reach a deal during the cartel’s upcoming meeting in Vienna on November 30. The catalysts include Iraq and Iran, both of whom signaled optimism surrounding the proposed OPEC supply-cut deal, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation is ready to freeze crude output at current levels, and sees no obstacles to an agreement. To emphasize this, moments ago Putin was quoted by newswires as reiterating a position he laid out over the weekend: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN SAYS WILL NOT BE DIFFICULT FOR RUSSIA TO FREEZE OIL OUTPUT RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN SAYS CANNOT SAY IF OIL FREEZE DEAL WOULD BE REACHED 100 PERCENT On the other hand, Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, said it would offer proposals this month to help the producer group reach an agreement on an output freeze to shore up prices. Curiously, there was no mention of Iraq actually agreeing to cut production and by how much, or just how much of the delta to 32.5 mmbpd Saudi Arabia is willing to absorb. As Bloomberg notes, details of the Iraq proposals were not provided in an e-mailed statement from the Iraq Oil Ministry on Monday, probably for a simple reason: there were none, as OPEC’s strategy remains simple: jawbone shorts into further covering ahead of the OPEC meeting. The nation’s “legitimate demands” shouldn’t be considered as obstacles to reaching an accord, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said in the statement. Iraq has sought an exemption from joining any production cuts, arguing that its fight against Islamic State justifies special treatment. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed in September in Algiers to cut their collective output to 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day. Wh … |
| “It Feels Like A Warzone”: 400 North Dakota Pipeline Protesters Clash With Police; 167 InjuredIn the latest in a series of protests against the North Dakota oil pipeline project, overnight an estimated 400 protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas at the scene of a similar confrontation last month. The protesters mounted the Backwater Bridge and attempted to force their way past police in what the Morton County Sheriff’s Department initially described as an “ongoing riot.” Protesters say the pipeline threatens water resources and sacred tribal lands.
According to Reuters, one arrest had been made by 8:30 p.m. local time (0230 GMT Monday), about 2 1/2 hours after the incident began 45 miles (30 miles) south of Bismark, the North Dakota capital. About 100 to 200 protesters remained after midnight.
The Backwater Bridge has been closed since late October, when activists clashed with police in riot gear and set two trucks on fire, prompting authorities to forcibly shut down a protesters encampment nearby.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department said officers on the scene of the latest confrontation were “describing protesters’ actions as very aggressive.” Demonstrators tried to start about a dozen fires as they attempted to outflank and “attack” law enforcement barricades, the sheriff’s statement said. Police said they responded by firing volleys of tear gas at protesters in a bid to prevent them from crossing the bridge. |
| The Treasury Market Comes to Terms With TrumpEven if President-elect Donald Trump’s policies don’t bring about the higher growth and inflation environment investors expect, Treasurys will struggle to regain the ground they lost. |
| How to Fight Amazon.com, Best Buy-StyleBest Buy’s turnaround strategy should be a model for other retailers scrambling to compete with Amazon.com. |
| More Boom, Less Bust for Applied MaterialsThe semiconductor-manufacturing-gear business gets less cyclical—and more diversified. |
| What President-elect Trump means for every U.S. industryTrump has pledged to roll back regulations in some key areas of the economy. |
| Need to Know: How Trump’s latest potential hires could send the stock market ‘through the roof’Mike Pence dusted himself off from his “Hamilton” outing long enough to confirm on Sunday that Mitt Romney is a top candidate to serve as Donald Trump’s secretary of state. And the stock market should embrace it. |
| The Fed: Fed’s Fischer says fiscal policy can help boost productivity and lift ratesFederal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer on Monday said fiscal policy can do more to help the economy — and even lift interest rates. |
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