14Mar2017 Market Close: Wall Street Down Moderately, Crude Prices Remain Low And The Storm Stella Stranding Thousands

Written by Gary

US stocks fell today (SPY -0.4%) as oil prices dropped to their lowest since November and airlines pulled industrial stocks down as a blizzard hit the U.S. Northeast. Airline stocks dropped today, as investors felt the brunt of thousands of flight cancellations while winter storm Stella pounded the Northeast.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Energy drags Wall Street lower; airlines slide NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as oil prices dropped to their lowest since November and airlines pulled industrial stocks down as a blizzard hit the U.S. northeast.
	Ackman’s Pershing Square sells Valeant stake, takes $3 billion loss BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman walked away from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc on Monday with a loss of more than $3 billion as he sold his entire stake in the struggling drug company after trying to rescue it for some 18 months.
	Snapchat 2017 ad revenue forecast trimmed to $770 million: eMarketer (Reuters) – The 2017 advertising revenue forecast for Snap Inc’s Snapchat has been trimmed by $30 million due to higher than expected revenue sharing with its partners, digital marketing firm eMarketer said in its latest ad spending forecast on Tuesday.
	Neiman Marcus says it is exploring options, including a sale (Reuters) – Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd LLC said on Tuesday that it was exploring strategic alternatives, including changes to its capital structure or a sale of the company, as it seeks relief from its swelling debt pile.
	Boeing, aerospace manufacturers back U.S. tax overhaul SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co and about 90 other aerospace companies are urging Congress to overhaul the U.S. tax system, saying a set of changes Republicans proposed last year – including a big cut in the corporate tax rate – will make them more competitive globally and help create U.S. jobs.
	AIG asked CEO Hancock to resign to avoid battle with Icahn: WSJ (Reuters) – American International Group Inc’s decision to remove Peter Hancock as its chief executive was to avoid a proxy battle with billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
	LPC: Valeant refinancing on track despite Ackman stock sale NEW YORK (Reuters) – Drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals will not see any changes to its planned refinancing in the wake of billionaire William Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square selling its share of the company, sources said.
	Exclusive: Delta hires consultant to study refinery options – sources NEW YORK (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines has hired a consultant to assess the impact on jet fuel prices if the carrier sells or closes the Philadelphia-area refinery it purchased five years ago to keep fuel affordable, two sources familiar with the process said.
	Political noise? Markets don’t care – it’s all about growth LONDON (Reuters) – One of the biggest mysteries in global markets so far in the Trump era is the historically low level of volatility that has prevailed despite all the turmoil and uncertainty that analysts warned his victory would unleash.
	Stocks Drop, Bonds Pop As Crude & Credit Crash Continues Overheard in the Oval Office when Yellen unleashes her rate hike into dismal economic growth expectations tomorrow… Since the last fed rate hike, bonds are lower, banks are best… Trannies and Small Caps are in the red since the last Fed rate hike… A down day for stocks…but the dip-buyers were active once again after Europe closed… Goldman is down 10 days in a row… SNAP is ugly… VIX was chaotic into the close – gapping all …
	What’s A Money-Losing Company Worth? Via ConvergEx’s Nicholas Colas, All the chatter about one recent IPO got us thinking about an underappreciated question: “How exactly should you value a money losing company?” In a former life as an auto analyst, I covered a lot of loss-making companies, and there are basically 5 types of cash burners. Four represent potentially good investments: cyclical firms at a trough, early stage companies, takeouts and breakups. Only one is toxic for equity investors: the irredeemable loss maker with high debt levels, and even then it usually takes an external catalyst to bang the last nail in the coffin. Today we review a checklist of fundamental questions to help readers categorize these opportunities. Imagine an adorable golden retriever puppy, wide eyed and eager. Now imagine a big stack of clean, crisp brand new $100 bills. Both are attractive images, each in their own way. Now put the puppy in a large box with the $100 bills and wait an hour. What you will get is a soppy mound of shredded paper and a puppy with a possibly upset tummy. Two good things become one unhappy outcome. This is a lesson I learned covering the US auto industry from 1991 to well into the 2000s, and even now I still read Automotive News every week. Manufacturing and selling cars and trucks is a tough business. Demand varies by 50% or more across …
	“Something Snapped”: US Department Store Sales Crash Most On Record As we first documented last week in “Mega-Bears Smell Blood As Mall REITs Tumble” and as Bloomberg followed up yesterday, looking at CMBS on the Mall REIT space, many have set their sights on mall REITs as the “next big short.” However, an obvious question that has emerged is whether it is too late to go all in on this particular short, or whether as some have suggested, the bottom is in. “The short feels crowded to us,” said Matthew Weinstein, principal at Axonic Capital, a hedge fund that specializes in structured products. “If these defaults start happening soon, the short will work, but if the defaults do not occur quickly, the first guy out could drive the market meaningfully higher.” On the other hand, one particular chart revealed in the latest monthly Bank of America debit and credit card spending report shows that things may be about to get a whole lot worse for America’s department stores, as well as malls where they are for the most part the anchor tenants. Of note: while official US retail sales data will be released tomorrow (BofA data always comes several days ahead of the official release), what is especially ominous is that the collapse in department store spending was the biggest on record. The collapse in department store spending in February took place in the context of broad weakness across the entire retail universe, with BofA reported that retail sales ex auto declined 0.2% seasonally adjusted. Since that was not accepetable, BofA decided to s …
	Assange Claims Hillary, Intel Officials “Quietly Pushing A Pence Takeover” Over the weekend we noted chatter that some saw Mike Pence as “the Deep State’s insurance policy,” and now, judging by tweets from Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, that may well be the Clinton/Intelligence Officials plan… Clinton stated privately this month that she is quietly pushing for a Pence takeover. She stated that Pence is predictable hence defeatable. — Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017 Adding that… Two IC officials close to Pence stated privately this month that they are planning on a Pence takeover. Did not state if Pence agrees. — Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017 As The Daily Caller notes, Assange’s claims appear to come in response to reports that President Trump authorized the CIA to perform drone strikes on terrorists Monday evening… By handing unilateral power to the CIA over its drone strikes at this time White House signals that bullying, disloyalty & incompetence pays — Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) March 14, 2017
	Generic Drugmakers Can Live With a Speedier FDA FDA chief nominee Scott Gottlieb’s changes may pressure generic drug prices, but there are other positives for the sector.
	A Split Decision for Neiman Marcus Debt Holders Neiman Marcus’s creditors aren’t going to be happy if Hudson’s Bay won’t assume its debt, but it may be the debt holders’ best option.
	Why Emerging Markets Shouldn’t Fear the Fed The Fed is in focus for emerging markets again. But stronger growth is the key element for investors to watch.
	The Tell: 5 insights from a retail trader who claims he parlayed $600 into $100,000 Last month, a Sydney, Australia-based trader, whose self-deprecating Twitter bio says he has been “consistently buying tops and selling bottoms since 2014,” shared an illustration of his trading performance over the past few years.
	Winter storm Stella snarls traffic, grounds flights across East Coast Even after the storm was downgraded along with snowfall forecasts, motorists were being asked to stay off the roads.
	Airline stocks drop as winter storm Stella grounds thousands of flights Airline stocks dropped Tuesday, as investors felt the brunt of thousands of flight cancellations while winter storm Stella pounded the Northeast.