13Apr2017 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street To Follow Yesterday's Session Opening Moderately Lower, Investors Are Still Seeking Save-Haven Assets And Session Is Expected To Trade In A Sideways Fashion

Written by Gary

US stock index futures were moderately lower this morning (SPY -0.2%) following President Donald Trump’s remarks on the U.S. dollar and interest rates. Investors are keeping an eye on bank earnings after the US markets opened lower.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are lower today with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 0.67% while London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.53% and Germany’s DAX is lower by 0.35%.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fall as labor market remains firm WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting the labor market remains strong despite a sharp slowdown in job growth in March.
	Futures down on Trump’s dollar remark; bank earnings eyed (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Thursday following President Donald Trump’s remarks on the U.S. dollar and interest rates, while investors kept an eye on bank earnings.
	Citi profit beats estimates as fixed-income trading jumps (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc reported a better-than-expected 17 percent jump in quarterly profit, boosted by strong fixed-income trading as clients adjusted their positions following rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and changes in the forex and credit markets.
	JPMorgan profit jumps 17 percent on trading surge, underwriting (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a nearly 17 percent jump in quarterly profit on Thursday, thanks to a surge in trading activity and securities issuance that helped its Wall Street businesses.
	Wells Fargo’s profit flat, mortgage banking revenue down (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co, which has been mired in litigations stemming from a sales scandal, posted a nearly flat first-quarter profit, hurt by lower mortgage banking revenue and higher expenses.
	Self-driving ‘arms race’ complicates supplier alliances FRANKFURT/DETROIT (Reuters) – The race to develop and exploit autonomous vehicle technology is reshaping the hierarchy of the automotive industry, replacing traditional top-down manufacturing relationships with complex webs of alliances and acquisitions.
	U.S. producer prices post first drop in seven months WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. producer prices fell in March for the first time in seven months, weighed down by a drop in the cost of services and energy products, but the
	Tesla’s Musk tells disgruntled shareholders: Buy Ford SAN FRANCISCO/DETROIT (Reuters) – A group of Tesla Inc investors has urged the luxury electric car maker to add two new independent directors to its board, without ties to Chief Executive Elon Musk, to “provide a critical check on possible dysfunctional group dynamics.”
	‘Trump Trade’ winners switch into battered retail, biotech shares NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some of the actively managed funds that have performed the best since the Nov. 8 presidential election are switching from “Trump Trade” bets on financial and infrastructure stocks into beaten-down sectors such as retail, apparel or biotech.
	March Producer Prices Disappoint, Drop Most Since August Despite a modest rise in Final Demand producer prices to 2.3% YoY (from +2.2% YoY), this was a miss.. Highest PPI Final Demand YoY in 5 years… But combined with a 0.1% decline MoM – the biggest drop since August 2016 – suggests the inflationary impulse is fading. The full breakdown shows Core PPI was unchanged, missing expectations of a 0.2% MoM gain (and missing the YoY expectation of a 1.8% gain). PPI Services: A 4.1-percent drop in the index for loan services (partial) led the March decline in prices for final demand services. The indexes for apparel, footwear, and accessories retailing; securities brokerage, dealing, and investment advice; health, beauty, and optical goods retailing; and truck transportation of freight also moved lower. The indexes for food and alcohol retailing, machinery and equipment parts and supplies wholesaling, and insurance also advanced. PPI Goods: Leading the March decrease in prices for final demand goods, the gasoline index fell 8.3 percent. Prices for liquefied petroleum gas; jet fuel; hay, hayseeds, and oilseeds; and in …
	Wells Just Reported The Worst Mortgage Number Since The Financial Crisis When we reported Wells Fargo’s Q4 earnings back in January, we drew readers’ attention to one specific line of business, the one we dubbed the bank’s “bread and butter”, namely mortgage lending, and which as we then reported was “the biggest alarm” because “as a result of rising rates, Wells’ residential mortgage applications and pipelines both tumbled, specifically in Q4 Wells’ mortgage applications plunged by $25bn from the prior quarter to $75bn, while the mortgage origination pipeline plunged by nearly half to just $30 billion, and just shy of all time lows recorded in late 2013 and 2014.” Fast forward one quarter when what was already a bad situation, just got as bad as it has been since the financial crisis, because buried deep in its presentation accompanying otherwise sold Q1 results (EPS small beat, revenue small miss), Wells just reported that its ‘bread and butter’ is virtually gone, and in Q1 the amount of all-important Mortgage Applications has tumbled by a whopping 23% to just $59 billion, below the lows hit in early 2014, and at fresh lows since the financial crisis. And while Wells’ application pipline was not quite as dire, it too was just shy of fresh post crisis lows at only $28 billion, in line with the lowest numbers reported this decade. The lagging mortgage originations number was nearly as bad, plunging 39% sequentially from $72 billion to only $44 billion, “due to higher rates and seasonality.” Since this number lags the mortgage applications, we expect it to post fresh post-crisis lo …
	Perth Mint Silver Bullion Sales Surge 43% In March Perth Mint Silver Bullion Sales Surge 43% In March – Perth Mint’s silver bullion sales rise 43% in March – Perth Mint’s monthly gold coin, bars sales fall 12% – Gold silver ratio of 32 – 32 times more silver ounces sold – Gold: 22,232 oz and Silver: 716,283 oz – bullion coins and minted bars sold – Gold is 2.6% higher and silver surged 3.1% in the shortened week with markets closed for Good Friday tomorrow
	North Korea’s “Big And Important Event” – A Street Opening! Amid social media chatter of Pyongyang evacuations, North Korea told foreign journalists to prepare for a “big and important event” on Thursday (ahead of The Day of The Sun) – conjuring images of nuclear missile tests or Supreme-leader-led military drills. However, the “big and important event” turned out to be… a street opening! After much secrecy, Beijing Correspondent for Channel News Asia Jeremy Koh reports that foreign reporters in Pyongyang watch Kim Jong Un preside over opening of the skyscraper-lined Ryomyong street… In fact, as Reuters noted, North Korea often uses such visits to showcase new construction projects.
	Trump’s New Chumminess With China Could Easily Reverse The factors pushing the U.S. president into a closer embrace of China have been apparent for some time: the rising threat from North Korea paired with a better economy at home. If the latter disappoints, however, tensions could rebound quickly.
	The Coming Profit Squeeze Rising costs and weak profit growth at home will leave some companies with shrinking margins, which could further slow growth.
	Big Economies at Risk of Over-Revving Consumer Engines Rapid growth in consumer credit is troubling policy makers. More defaults are likely to follow when rising interest rates push up repayment costs.
	March 2017 Producer Price Final Demand Year-over-Year Inflation Increases Marginally to 2.3% Written by Steven Hansen The Producer Price Index year-over-year inflation marginally gained from 2.2 % to 2.3 %. However, the month-over-month movements showed inflation moderated?
	08 April 2017 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Improves Again The market expectations for weekly initial unemployment claims (from Bloomberg / Econoday) were 239 K to 245 K (consensus 243,000), and the Department of Labor reported 234,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 250,250 (reported last week as 250,000) to 247,250. The rolling averages generally have been equal to or under 300,000 since August 2014.
	Paul Brandus: Trump is flip-flopping on everything — and it may make him great again President Donald Trump has switched positions on at least half a dozen major economic and foreign policy issues in the last week alone. The net result: Trump is emerging as a president more acceptable to the mainstream, writes Paul Brandus.
	Beat the System: United is about to hit more turbulence CEO Oscar Munoz’s annual bonus is a PR disaster in the making for United, writes Brett Arends.
	Market Extra: United Airlines skewered on social media as overbooking backlash continues United Continental Holdings is still drawing a blistering social-media backlash about after it had a passenger forcibly removed off a flight.