05Jun2017 Market Update: Wall Street Trending Sideways And Directionless, Crude Prices Remain In A Slump As Gold Remains Higher

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The IPC is higher by 0.47%, while Brazil’s Bovespa is off 0.02%. Shares in U.S. are unchanged with the S&P 500 at 2,439.01.

Wall Street slightly lower as Apple weighs

(Reuters) – Wall Street was slightly lower in late morning trading on Monday as Apple dragged down all the three major indexes following a rating cut and ahead of its developer conference.

Exclusive: U.S., Mexico strike sugar deal ahead of NAFTA talks – sources

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The United States and Mexico reached an agreement in a dispute over trade in sugar on Monday, sources said, averting steep U.S. duties and retaliation by Mexico on imports of American high-fructose corn syrup ahead of the renegotiation of NAFTA.

Services sector slows; factory orders fall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. services sector activity slowed in May as new orders tumbled, but a jump in employment to a near two-year high pointed to sustained labor market strength despite a deceleration in job growth last month.

Supreme Court rules against SEC over recovery of ill-gotten gains

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday scaled back the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to recover ill-gotten profits from defendants’ misconduct, handing Wall Street firms a victory and dealing another blow to the regulator’s enforcement powers.

GM shareholders to decide on Greenlight stock plan, board challenge

(Reuters) – Greenlight Capital’s plan to split up General Motors Co’s stock, as well as its challenge to the company’s board of directors, will come to a head on Tuesday, as the U.S. automaker’s shareholders cast their votes on the hedge fund’s proposals.

Big oil, small U.S. towns see new reward in old production technique

HOBBS, New Mexico (Reuters) – Amid the frenetic activity of American shale oilfields recovering from a two-year recession sit a handful of oil towns that seemed impervious as many producers went into bankruptcy and the economy around them sank.

Oil falls 1 percent on fears Middle East rift could harm OPEC cuts

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Monday on concerns that the cutting of ties with Qatar by top crude exporter Saudi Arabia and other Arab states could hamper a global deal to reduce oil production.

Supreme Court agrees to decide major privacy case on cellphone data

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a major case on privacy rights in the digital age that will determine whether police officers need warrants to access past cellphone location information kept by wireless carriers.

Deutsche Bank asks for more time for U.S. query on Trump, Russia: source

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s largest bank has asked for more time to respond to a request from Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel for details about U.S. President Donald Trump’s possible ties to Russia, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Healthcare: “Insurance” Now Just Means Redistribution

Authored by Gary Galles via The Mises Institute,

Americans have been fighting over health insurance reform for ages. For example, 25 years ago, in 1992, over 200 congressional health care bills were introduced.

Unfortunately, while the rhetoric has focused on insurance, such as how many would supposedly gain or lose insurance if some change was implemented, that has not been the real issue. Income redistribution has. As Henry Aaron estimated that year, implementing a comprehensive national health insurance system would redistribute more income than any single national policy then in existence.

What Is Insurance?

How do we know insurance is not the real issue? Because claimed “reforms” violate so many principles of insurance.

Insurance is about reducing risk in the face of uncertain events. But insuring things that would happen for certain, say annual checkups, offers no risk reduction — it offers no benefits to weigh against the added costs of insurance administration that must be borne — yet such coverage is frequently mandated.

Similarly, small health care risks are cheaper to provide for from modest levels of savings, rather than bearing insurance administration costs. If one’s own resources were involved, absent government interventions, they would not be insured at all. Only when others are forced to bear much of the cost would people want insurance to cover such things.

Administrative costs are not the only issue, either. The benefits from risk-reduction through insurance would also have to outweigh the cost of the health care. This is made especially difficult by the fact that the insurance itself induces over-consumpt …

Saudi Arabia Shuts Local Al Jazeera Office For “Promoting Plots Of Terrorist Groups”

Shortly after Saudi Arabia announced it had cut ties with Qatar over Doha’s alleged support for Islamists and Iran, on Monday the kingdom said it had also shut the local office of Al Jazeera, Qatar’s influential satellite channel, and had revokved its license. Riyadh views Al Jazeera as critical of its government, but the outlet says it is an independent news service giving a voice to everyone in the region. The move was announced by state television.

From Saudi press agency SPA, google translated:

The Ministry of Culture and Information closed Al-Jazeera’s office in Saudi Arabia and withdrew its license.

The move comes after Al-Jazeera has promoted the plots of terrorist groups, supported and supported the Houthi militias in Yemen, and tried to break the Saudi internal ranks by inciting them to leave the country and harm the sovereignty of Saudi Arabia.

* * *

For readers confused about the ongoing spat between Saudi alliance and Qatar, Bloomberg has released a convenient Q&A which summarizes the key issues in the latest diplomatic spat:

Saudi Arabia and three of its Arab allies cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, furious with what they see as the tiny emirate’s tolerant attitude toward Iran and Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. The moves by the Saudis, Bahrain, the U.A.E. and Egypt came soon after U.S. President Donald Trump visited the region and joined Saudi Arabia in lambasting Iran for sponsoring terrorism from Syria to Yemen.

1. What’s caused the diplomatic rift?

It’s mostly, but not all, about Iran. The sp …

How to Invest in the Hidden Value of Big Trucks

The car market is in the doldrums but trucks are the place to be. That should increase the pressure on Freightliner-owner Daimler and MAN-owner Volkswagen to unlock the value in their sizeable trucking units.

London Attack and British Elections: Are Markets Too Calm?

The U.K. general election was supposed to be a foregone conclusion. But two terrorist attacks during the campaign—first in Manchester, then in London this weekend—and big swings in opinion polls have made the outcome more uncertain.

Not Coming to America

Signs are emerging that the $1.6 trillion U.S. tourism industry could suffer this summer as overseas travelers stay away.

May 2017 Conference Board Employment Index Improvement Continues

Written by Steven Hansen

The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index – which forecasts employment for the next 6 months improved saying “employment will likely grow fast enough to continue tightening the labor market”.

April 2017 Manufacturing New Orders Decline

Written by Steven Hansen

US Census says manufacturing new orders modestly declined. Our analysis is that inflation eats eats any gains. The rolling averages declined.

Robert Powell: How to get all Americans to save for retirement

We’re going to need some help from the government.

Liberal arts majors are a dying breed

More evidence people are using college to prepare for careers

Market Snapshot: Stock market bracing for potentially the stormiest stretch of trading this year

The stock market could face its most turbulent week of trading so far this year, with a trio of potentially destabilizing events on deck.