07Mar2017 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Opened Lower With Trump's Economic Policies In Focus, Crude Prices Rise Sharply, US Dollar Showing Some Strength, Six Month Forecast For Flat Trading

Written by Gary

U.S. stock market futures opened moderately lower this morning (SPY -0.3%), putting the equity market on track for another negative session following a multi-week rally that took indices to all-time highs.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.03%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.36% and 0.05% respectively.

Market expectations for a U.S. interest rate hike were at 86.4 percent Monday, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. The Fed’s monetary policy committee is set to meet between March 14 and 15.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	U.S. trade deficit jumps to five-year high on imports WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit jumped to a near five-year high in January as cell phones and rising oil prices helped to push up the import bill, suggesting trade would again weigh on economic growth in the first quarter.
	HPE to buy Nimble Storage for $1.09 billion in hybrid IT push (Reuters) – Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co said it would buy data storage provider Nimble Storage Inc for $1.09 billion in cash, as part of the company’s focus on the fast-growing hybrid IT market.
	Trump says he is working on plan to bring down drug prices WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is developing a plan that will encourage competition in the drug industry and bring down prices for medicines, as the House of Representatives leadership unveiled a new health care plan.
	Wahaha boss sees U.S. suffering more in any trade war with China BEIJING (Reuters) – The chairman of China’s biggest beverage maker, Hangzhou Wahaha Group, said the United States would suffer more in any trade war with China, with a loss of access to cheap Chinese-made goods hitting American wallets.
	Brookfield to take control of SunEdison units for $2.5 billion (Reuters) – Brookfield Asset Management Inc said on Tuesday it would buy one of the two “yieldcos” of bankrupt U.S. solar company SunEdison Inc and take a 51 percent stake in the other, for a total of about $2.5 billion.
	UPS wins court challenge against EU block to TNT bid BRUSSELS (Reuters) – An EU court agreed with United Parcel Service on Tuesday that the EU had wrongly blocked its takeover of Dutch peer TNT four years ago, potentially allowing the world’s largest package delivery company to sue regulators for damages.
	Liberty, Zain invest in emerging markets streaming video provider (Reuters) – Liberty Global , the international telecommunications company controlled by American tycoon John Malone, and Zain , a Kuwait-based telecommunications operator, are investing in iflix, a Malaysian provider of streaming video, iflix announced on Tuesday.
	Autos bosses focus on technology rather than PSA-Opel GENEVA (Reuters) – The auto industry is facing seismic changes with the rise of electric vehicles, automated driving and car sharing set to eclipse even big mergers such as PSA’s purchase of Opel, executives at the Geneva auto show said.
	OECD Issues Gloomy Outlook on Global Growth, Due to Protectionism and ‘Failing Trust in National Governments’ Founded after World War 2 to administer the Marshall Plan in Europe, the OECD has been the preeminent force behind globalization in the world for decades. They are, quite literally, the New World Order and they don’t like what they’re seeing now, with Trump, Le Pen, revolt in Netherlands and Italy — the whole nationalist movement that is sweeping the planet. Their chief concerns lie in trade, citing protectionism as something that might truly derail global GDP growth. The culprit? Citizens no longer trust their governments, making it harder for national governments to enact pro globalist strategies (extra Trump). “We have acceleration but I’m concerned about this really soft foundation to the recovery,” OECD Chief Economist Catherine Mann said in an interview. “We still have this slow, sluggish productivity growth and persistent inequality. Put those together and it’s hard to see the robust consumption and investment profile you need to really get things going.” Though not named in the report, some of the concerns are related to the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, including his threats to impose tariffs on nations he deems to have an unfair advantage, The OECD also said there’s a “disconnect” between equity valuations and the outlook for the real economy, with the market performance partly linked to anticipation of a Trump stimulus package. “We think the dynamic response to increased protectionism could be really quick, so we have a pretty significant downward bias on what it could mean for growth,” Mann said. “What we mean by tha …
	The Next Domino To Fall: Commercial Real Estate Via Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, Unless the Federal Reserve intends to buy up every dead and dying mall in America, this is one crisis that the Fed can’t bail out with a few digital keystrokes. Just as generals prepare to fight the last war, central banks prepare to battle the last financial crisis–which in the present context means a big-bank liquidity meltdown like the one that nearly toppled thr global financial system in 2008-09. Planning to win the next war by assuming it will be a copy of the last confict is an excellent strategy for losing the next war. The same holds true for the next financial crisis: reckoning that it will be a repeat of 2008 is an excellent way to be caught completely off-guard. Crises may rhyme, but they don’t repeat. The next Global Financial Meltdown won’t start in subprime mortgages–that sector has been wiped out, written down, or passed on to the poor tax-donkey taxpayers. The next crisis also won’t arise on money-center banks, either. Central banks have figured out how to bail out the banks, and have rebuilt the bank balance sheets by stripping hundreds of billions of dollars in interest from savers. (Sorry, widows and orphans–your interest income had to be transferred to the big banks. We’re sure you understand why the banks are more important than you are as you enjoy yet another meal of canned beans and saltine crackers.) The central banks and state treasuries around the globe may be confident they can bail out the banks, but what if the next domino to fall isn’t a bank? What if it is a “safe, high yield asset” held by institutional owners such as pension funds, insurance companies and REITs (real estate investment trusts)?
	Gold Investing 101 – Beware eBay, Collectibles and “Pure” Gold Coins that are Gold Plated Gold Investing 101 – Beware eBay, Collectibles and “Pure” Gold Coins that are Gold Plated (Part I) Investors looking to gold again but gold buyers need to exert caution ‘Wolves of Wall Street’ ready to hungrily gobble up life savings of unsuspecting ‘widows and orphans’ Like all markets are few bad apples in gold market Need to do due diligence on company buying from Avoid companies marketing gold plated coins as “pure gold” coins Collectible coins do not capture the value of gold and are not safe havens Not liquid and pricing similar to art market Own gold bullion coins as insurance, to reduce counter party risk and to preserve wealth Last year gold demand reached a three-year high and the gold price finished up 8% in dollars, 13% in euros and 31% in British pounds.
	Snap Crashes Into Bear Market – All Post-IPO Buyers Now Losers Well that escalated quickly… As short-selling begins (T+3 borrow availability opens up), Snap Inc’s shares are extending losses from yesterday, tumbling below the post-IPO open (and ows) and now down over 23% from the exuberant highs on Friday More disapointed Millennials. And as a reminder, Barron’s bashed the stock over the weekend, following Pivotal’s initial “sell” rating and Needham analyst Laura Martin writes in a note today that Snap is a “lottery-like” stock, and while lottery tickets sometimes pay off, risks for Snap include a total addressable market that’s 80% smaller than Facebook’s and no clear path to profitability before 2020. Rates new underperform, with share value of $19-$23; says share price should decline based on FB and Google EV/sales ratios. Other negatives include competitors replicating Snap’s best ideas and margin trajectory. 5 Sells, 2 Holds, and ZERO Buys…
	A Taxing Problem for Investors A corporate tax cut could provide a big boost to profits, but investors are expecting too much from it.
	Finding Value in the Payments Revolution Worldpay has come down from its eye-watering valuationsâ€”but there may be better bargains in the sector.
	China’s Massive Bond Market Coming to Index Near You Once included, most passive investors could end up holding Chinese bonds in some way in their portfolios.
	January 2017 Trade Growing But Trade Balance Worsened Written by Steven Hansen Trade data headlines show the trade balance significantly worsened from last month. Our analysis paints an improving picture for trade using the rolling averages – however imports grew much more than exports.
	Need to Know: These stocks are outrunning the bull market with quadruple-digit gains As the bull-market anniversary rocks up, our chart of the day offers up a list of stocks that not only survived, but thrived during the last eight years. Some names on there will surprise you.
	These workers are in hot demand, don’t need a college degree and make nearly 6 figures Residential remodelers have big expenses and lean profit margins but manage to net nearly $100,000 on average, according to industry group data.
	Market Extra: The real winners of the 8-year-old bull market? ETFs and passive investing Since the S&P 500 bottomed in the wake of the financial crisis, equity investors have been rewarded with a bull market that has tripled stock prices from that 12-year low. But the real winner over the past eight years has occurred behind the scenes, resulting in a fundamental change in the way people invest.