11Jan2017 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Higher, Crude Settles At The 52 Handle While The US Dollar Slips Significantly, Investors Remain Skeptical On The Trump Rally Continuing

Wall St. ends up, shrugs off Trump drug pricing comments

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday after a day of choppy trading even as many investors fled drug stocks after President-elect Donald Trump said pharmaceutical companies were “getting away with murder” by charging high prices for drugs.

Trump says pharma ‘getting away with murder,’ stocks slide

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder” in what they charge the government for medicines, and promised that would change, sending drugs stocks sharply lower.

Mexico’s peso hits record low on Trump talk of wall, auto tax

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Mexican peso weakened to a historic low of 22.04 per dollar and the country’s stock index fell on Wednesday, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump warned U.S. auto companies would face a high tax for products made south of the border.

NYSE to expand floor trading to all U.S. equity securities

(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange will make all U.S. securities available for trading on the NYSE floor by year-end, giving investors another, less speed-dependent, way to trade securities such as Nasdaq-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds.

U.S. plan to ease Wall Street rules may not be worth cost for banks: Fitch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leading U.S. banks may find that a Republican plan to ease restrictions on Wall Street is not worth the additional cost of capital, a report from Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday.

Samsung leader named a suspect in South Korea political probe

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean special prosecutor’s office will question Samsung Group [SAGR.UL] leader Jay Y. Lee as a suspect in a widening influence-peddling scandal that may force President Park Geun-hye from office.

Volkswagen agrees to $4.3 billion U.S. diesel settlement

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG has agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement to resolve the U.S. government’s civil and criminal investigations into the German automaker’s diesel emissions cheating, according to documents made public Wednesday.

Trump rally makes stock options great again for some CEOs

BOSTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump once described Jamie Dimon as “the worst banker in the United States,” but the president-elect has helped make the boss of JPMorgan Chase & Co $50 million richer.

Exclusive: Alibaba, part of planned Taiwan fund, won’t seek board seats at local firms – source

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding, which is awaiting regulatory approval for a $45 million fund it is participating in, has promised the Taiwanese government it will not take board seats at local firms the fund invests in, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

‘Czexit’ Looms As Traders Bet On Czech Republic Breaking Euro-Peg

Czech inflation spiked in the last two months, hitting the central bank’s target for the first time since 2012, heaping, as The FT reports, additional pressure on the country’s soon to be expired currency regime with the euro.

Along with on-target inflation, the Czech Republic also boasts the lowest rates of unemployment anywhere in the EU at 3.7 per cent.

Having kept an upper limit on the koruna in a bid to control inflation over the last three years, the central bank has been forced to buy up foreign currency at a faster pace to keep the regime steady. The koruna has been kept at around CZK27 against the euro since 2013, but policymakers have warned they are likely to scrap the regime at some point this year.

So Is a ‘Czexit’ on the cards?

Analysts at ING forecasting an end to the managed exchange rate system around April or May this year…

“It shows that the market is positioning against the CNB floor more intensively, as accelerating inflation is increasing the odds of the approaching exit”, said Jakub Seidler at the Dutch bank.

Mr Seidler now expects the currency regime to be scrapped around April or May, with annual inflation forecast to climb from 1.5 per cent to 1.9 per cent in December – close …

WTF Chart Of The Day: VIX At Pre-Crisis Lows, Uncertainty At All-Time Highs

Submitted by Jennifer Thomson via Gavekal Capital blog,

Recently, we have highlighted a number of divergent trends between ‘soft’ data and ‘hard’ data in both Europe and the US. For the most part, improving survey responses remain unconfirmed by the quantifiable information currently available. The surge in the economic policy uncertainty index is no exception.

In 2016, uncertainty rose around the world, led by the UK (unsurprisingly).

With that rise in policy uncertainty, we would have expected to see an increase in market volatility. After all, through 2015, major spikes in the simple average of the above policy uncertainty indexes coincided with a significant (above 30) rise in the VIX.

Last year, with the exception of a Brexit-related spike to 26 and an even smaller surge in reaction to the US election in November, the VIX averaged just under 16 (about 25% lower than its ten-year average of more than 21).

While the average level of economic policy uncertainty fell somewhat from November to December, it remains quite elevated versus the VIX at 11.49 today (about one point above its low near 10 back in early 2007).

Glenn Greenwald Slams The ‘Unverified Claims’ Of The Democrat-Cheered Deep State’s War With Trump

Submitted by Glenn Greenwald via The Intercept,

In January, 1961, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address after serving two terms as U.S. president; the five-star general chose to warn Americans of this specific threat to democracy: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” That warning was issued prior to the decadelong escalation of the Vietnam War, three more decades of Cold War mania, and the post-9/11 era, all of which radically expanded that unelected faction’s power even further.

This is the faction that is now engaged in open warfare against the duly elected and already widely disliked president-elect, Donald Trump. They are using classic Cold War dirty tactics and the defining ingredients of what has until recently been denounced as “Fake News.”

Their most valuable instrument is the U.S. media, much of which reflexively reveres, serves, believes, and sides with hidden intelligence officials. And Democrats, still reeling from their unexpected and traumatic election loss as well as a systemic collapse of their party, seemingly divorced further and further from reason with each passing day, are willing — eager&n …

Biotech Stocks Feel the Wrath of Trump

The easing of drug-price fears appears to have been misguided.

Banks Hold Best Cards in Rewards Contest

While consumers benefit as credit-card issuers increasingly offer rewards to lure customers, the real winners are big banks like Chase and Citigroup, which are leaving behind stand-alone card companies in the fight for market share.

Merck’s Blockbuster Dreams Look More Realistic

Merck’s cancer therapy Keytruda looks set to live up to its lofty expectations after the FDA approved an application to sell the immunotherapy drug in combination with chemotherapy to lung cancer patients.

Earnings Outlook: The Trump question and four other things to know about this earnings season

Expect the president-elect to be a major focus of conference calls this earnings season as companies brace for possible tax reform, the scaling back of regulations and a tax holiday for cash held overseas.

The Tell: Gross says this key bond level is a far bigger deal than Dow 20,000

The demise of the longstanding bull market in bonds has been squarely on the minds of investors lately. Bill Gross explains why the 10-year Treasury yield holds the key to stocks and other financial markets.

Medill News Service: Big business gung-ho on Trump overhaul of U.S. economy

The head of the nation’s largest business group on Wednesday said the U.S. has a “once in a generation chance” to reshape a slow-growing American economy, but he also cautioned that a golden opportunity could be lost if stiffer trade barriers get in the way.