21Feb2017 Market Update: Wall Street Main Indexes Rise To New Historical Record Highs, WTI Crude Volatile In The 54 Handle And Higher Rices Foreseen

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are higher today with shares in Mexico leading the region. The IPC is up 0.81% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.42% and Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.32%.

82%

69%

85%

11,554

Wall Street hits record high as retail earnings boost optimism

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks hit record intraday highs on Tuesday amid gains across sectors as strong earnings from top retailers underscored the strength of the U.S. economy.

Higher customer traffic boosts Wal-Mart’s sales in holiday quarter

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported higher-than-expected U.S. sales on Tuesday for the crucial holiday quarter as its low prices attracted more customers to its stores and online activity accelerated.

Burger King and Tim Hortons owner to buy Popeyes for $1.8 billion

(Reuters) – Restaurant Brands International Inc , owner of the Burger King and Tim Hortons fast-food chains, said on Tuesday it would acquire Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for $1.8 billion in cash.

Verizon, Yahoo agree to lowered $4.48 billion deal

(Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc said on Tuesday it would buy Yahoo Inc’s core business for $4.48 billion, lowering its original offer by $350 million in the wake of two massive cyber attacks at the internet company.

Wall Street challenges U.S. regulator over proposed commodities rule

(Reuters) – Wall Street is pushing back against a proposed rule to force U.S. banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc to hold more capital against investments in commodities, placing what some see as an overly restrictive limit on banks’ ties to the sector. In a comment letter filed late on Friday and not yet made public, the industry argues the proposed rule would hurt the economy, and that fears about environmental risks from physical commodities activities are overblown.

Snap arrives in London to woo skeptical investors ahead of IPO

LONDON (Reuters) – Snap Inc, owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, kicked off its first investor roadshow on Monday, looking to persuade London money managers to back its initial public offering in the face of concerns about its growth prospects, valuation and corporate governance.

PSA says will honor existing Opel job guarantees

FRANKFURT/PARIS (Reuters) – PSA Group has pledged to respect existing Opel and Vauxhall job guarantees if it buys the European arm of General Motors , though some analysts say thousands of jobs are eventually likely to go for the deal to work.

HSBC share run stumbles on writedowns, tough outlook

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC’s full-year profit slumped 62 percent and fell far short of forecasts on Tuesday as the bank took hefty writedowns from restructuring and flagged near-term brakes on revenue growth.

Germany’s Stuttgart set to ban some diesel cars from city center

BERLIN (Reuters) – Stuttgart, home to Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and Porsche , said on Tuesday it will ban from next year diesel cars which do not meet the latest emissions standards from entering the city on days when pollution is heavy.

Bitcoin Soars Above $1100, Near Record Highs As Chinese Bypass Crackdown

Despite concerted efforts by authorities to crackdown on capital outflows – specifically through virtual currencies – prices for Bitcoin are soaring as the Chinese find way around regulatory controls. Bitcoin just topped $1100 – near record highs – as Chinese traders shift their action off regulated-exchanges to local peer-to-peer marketplaces.

China’s central bank has stepped up oversight of bitcoin exchanges this year, leading major trading platforms to impose halts on withdrawals and other checks to appease the regulator. But, as Quartz reports, Chinese traders aren’t playing along—they are apparently flocking to peer-to-peer marketplaces to continue buying and selling bitcoin.

As Yuan trading on bitcoin exchanges has plummeted…

Quartz notes that one of the longest established peer-to-peer marketplaces is LocalBitcoins, which acts as a kind of directory for buyers and sellers to find each other. Users can arrange to meet in person, on chat platforms, or talk on the phone to arrange exchanges involving bitcoin.

Yuan volumes on the marketplace have exploded in the past week. Trading on LocalBitcoins currently accounts for about 6% of the total trading volume in yuan, according to data source Crypto Compare.

Selling Of French Bonds Accelerates As Le Pen Extends Lead, Macron Tumbles In Latest Poll

Another day, another headache for owners of French bonds. In the latest French presidential poll, conducted by Elabe for TV broadcaster BFMTV, Marine Le Pen extended her lead by another 2-3 points, while support for her primary centrist challenger Emmanuel Macron, tumbled by 5 points in the last week.

The poll, released today, showed that Le Pen’s lead rose by either 1.5 points to 27% or by 2 points to 28%, depending whether centrist candidate Francois Bayrou would take part in the election…

… or withdraw.

The most surprising result, however, is the plunge in Macron’s odds, who lost five points in the first round voting intentions compared to the same poll conducted two weeks ago. Macron, who is the former French economy minister and who is running on a pro-EU platform, fell to third place behind right-wing candidate Francois Fillon, whom he eclipsed earlier in the month after a major embezzlement scandal erupted in which Fillon was accused of using public funds to pay for his family’s wages. Fillon gained 3 points in both variations of the poll.

But more concerning for her opponents, was the notable gains Le Pen made in the second round, where while still trailing behind both Fillon and Macron, she has seen a 4 points gain in the past week, shrinking the difference between Macron in the runoff round to 59-41. Until several weeks ago, she was firmly in the 20% range.

Intellectual Property Rights Give Zuckerberg His Fake Size

Via The Daily Bell

Facebook Plans to Rewire Your Life. Be Afraid … Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto, penned clearly in response to accusations leveled at the social network in the wake of the bitter U.S. election campaign, is a scary, dystopian document. It shows that Facebook — launched, in Zuckerberg’s own words five years ago, to “extend people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships” — is turning into something of an extraterritorial state run by a small, unelected government that relies extensively on privately held algorithms for social engineering.

Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest young men in the world with a company that spans the globe. And now he is putting that company to work defining what fake news is and is not. To help him in this task he has has recruited other like Snopes.

Snopes is run by a man who just divorced the co-founder to marry someone else. They seem to publish way too many articles for their small staff. Some have speculated the CIA is helping them. But no one is saying, exactly. So it’s speculation.

Zuckerberg says he’s done the best he can to build an unimpeachable references organization to help him decide what is fake and what isn’t. Presumably he will change it as necessary.

Nasdaq Now More Overbought Than At 2000 Bubble Peak

Sometimes you just have to laugh…

Minneapolis Fed’s Neel Kashkari said earlier…

“we are keeping our eyes open for asset prices to try to look for signs of bubbles” but admitted that it is “very hard to see asset bubbles in advance.”

Indeed it must be… if your salary depends on it.

The S&P 500 has now gone a stunning 50 days without a 1% swing…

The S&P 500 Tech Sector has gone a record 14 days without a single loss…

And the NASDAQ 100 index is now at its most overbought since 1992 – most notably more overbought than at the peak of the dotcom bubble in 2000…

Hey, Neel, do you see the bubble now?

Economy Up, Stocks Down? Don’t Be Surprised

Investors bullish about a Trump capital expenditure boom must realize that buybacks, one of the bull market’s drivers, may suffer.

HSBC Feels Chill Wind From Trump on Trade

For a bank that says it generates nearly half its revenue from business that crosses international borders, protectionism and populism are clearly a threat.

BHP: Watch Flip Side of Mining Giant’s Copper Surge

BHP’s concentration on copper paid off in 2016, but the easy part is over.

Chemours proves the bears wrong as stock climbs eightfold in a year

Predictions that Chemours would collapse beneath the weight of litigation relating to a toxic chemical and a large debt burden have been proved wrong.

Market Extra: OPEC’s Barkindo says too early to talk about extending production-cut pact

OPEC’s Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo is playing down speculation the cartel will extend its closely watched output agreement, saying it is too early to determine if the production accord has been a success.

London Markets: FTSE 100 closes in the red as HSBC slides by most since 2009

U.K. stocks ended lower Tuesday, with HSBC shares hit after the banking heavyweight posted a wider quarterly loss.