15Dec2017 Pre-Market Commentary: Is Tesla Responsible For Slide In USA Home Solar Sales?

Written by Gary

We are coming to the end of the year where significant news which moves the markets disappear. The global markets are taking a breather today – with USA markets looking to open marginally down.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.06%, while the CAC 40 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.40% and 0.30% respectively.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Global shares limp toward third week of gains, dollar hobbles LONDON (Reuters) – World shares fell on Friday and the dollar slipped against major and heavyweight emerging market currencies, as nagging uncertainty about a U.S. tax cuts package dovetailed with broad-based end-of-year caution.
	Disney buying Fox film, TV units for $52 billion in digital push (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co has struck a deal to buy film, television and international businesses from Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc for $52.4 billion in stock, giving the world’s largest entertainment company an arsenal of shows and movies to combat growing digital rivals Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc .
	Uber investor departs venture firm amid harassment claims SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Silicon Valley investor Shervin Pishevar, known for his early bet on Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], said on Thursday that he would sever ties with his venture capital company, Sherpa Capital, after being accused of sexual misconduct.
	Tesla largely responsible for slide in U.S. home solar sales: report (Reuters) – After years of double-digit growth, home solar installations in the United States are poised to fall for the first time this year, according to a report released on Thursday by GTM Research.
	Paralysis at PDVSA: Venezuela’s oil purge cripples company CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) – Decisions at some joint ventures with foreign firms are delayed. A growing number of oil tankers sit idle because no one authorizes payments. Employees struggle to get approval for routine expenses, from taxis to training.
	Airbus board triggers shake-up to end succession row PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus confirmed the departure of planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier as part of a series of board moves on Friday to clear the air over succession plans following weeks of speculation surrounding Europe’s largest aerospace firm.
	Some Canada firms could move to U.S. amid NAFTA worries: survey OTTAWA (Reuters) – More a quarter of Canadian firms could move part of their operations to the United States amid uncertainty over the future of the NAFTA trade pact, the nation’s export credit agency said on Friday.
	Exclusive: China’s CNPC weighs taking over Iran project if Total leaves – sources BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) – China’s top oil and gas company CNPC is considering taking over Total’s stake in a giant Iranian gas project if the French company leaves Iran to comply with any new U.S. sanctions, industry sources said.
	India raises import tax on cellphones, move to hurt Apple NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has increased the import tax on dozens of electronic products such as mobile phones and television sets, a government statement said, to help curb supplies from overseas and build up the domestic industry.
	“A Violent Downside Break”: Why One Trader Thinks The Christmas “Pain Trade” Will Be Especially Painful Before you shut down that terminal for the year, hoping that the year is – mercifully – finally over, you may want to consider that according to former Lehman trader and current Bloomberg macro commentator Mark Cudmore, the Christmas pain trade is about to be unveiled, and it will be especially painful for all those short Treasurys. As Cudmore warns, with ten-years stuck in a 2.3%-2.43% range for the past seven weeks, “the arguments are adding up for a violent downside break during the weeks ahead.” Here are his arguments why, as laid out in Cudmore’s latest Macro View : A Treasuries Rally May Be the Christmas Pain Trade Post-Fed price-action suggests Treasury bulls may stampede while traders are in holiday mode. Ten-year yields have been stuck in a 2.3%-2.43% range for the past seven weeks. The arguments are adding up for a violent downside break during the weeks ahead. Many investors were punting for a hawkish turn from Yellen this week. There was indeed a subtle, but important Fed shift, but it was dovish. The committee raised growth projections, that also incorporated tax reform, without raising the dot plot. The implication is that they’re struggling to explain “transitory” low inflation. Maybe there’s an increasing acceptance that either the Phillips curve is broken or that they should be paying more attention to structural disinflationary pressures from technology, globalization and demographics. And investors seem to have overlooked the fact that it’s still very far from certain that the tax bill will be passed before year-end. Come January, the Republican majority in the Senate shrinks to one.
	Nobel Laureate ‘Discovers’ Cause Of Opioid Crisis: Complete Economic Destruction Of The “White Working Class” For several decades now the American Midwest has suffered from unprecedented economic decay courtesy of a persistent outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the automotive and steel industries, among others. As we’ve noted frequently, that economic decay has resulted in a devastating surge in opioid overdoses that claim the lives of 100s of people each year. Of course, many attribute Trump’s staggering victories in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania to his efforts to tap into the frustration of the dispossessed Midwest masses by promising a rebirth of the manufacturing economy that once provided them a solid middle-class lifestyle. That said, no economic crisis is truly “discovered” until an Ivy League, Nobel-prize-winning economist says it is. As such, we present to you the intriguing findings of Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton who said he was “looking for something else” when he noticed a staggering increase in white mortality rates for people aged 50-54. Per Market Watch: That was the case with landmark research undertaken by Nobel Prize winning economist Angus Deaton. The Princeton economist, working with his wife Anne Case, stumbled on the fact that mortality rates were rising for working-age white Americans since 1999.
	Norway Is Moving To Decriminalize All Drug Use Authored by Carey Wedler via TheAntiMedia.org, Norway is the latest country to move toward decriminalizing drugs and promoting addiction treatment rather than punishing addicts. This week, a majority of members of the Norwegian parliament directed the national government to reform its policies. “The majority in the parliament has asked the government to prepare for reform,” a spokesperson for the Storting, the Norwegian legislature, told Newsweek. “It has started a political process,” he said, still cautioning that “it’s just the starting point.” Despite some headlines’ claims that drugs have already been decriminalized, there is no legislation yet.
	Why Does The New $1 Billion US Embassy In London Need The First Moat Since Medieval Times If you google “London moats”, you’ll probably alight on a link which will take you to “London’s Top 10 Moats: A Spotter’s Guide”. We had no idea there were so many and could only think of the “obvious” one surrounding the Tower of London, even if it’s waterless these days. According to the guide, a defensive ditch has surrounded the Tower since its origins in the eleventh century. The moat, which contained water from the thirteenth century until the 1840s, helps to protect the roughly cuboid “White Tower” keep, which gives the Tower of London its name. Built by William the Conqueror in 1078, the White Tower was resented as a symbol of oppression inflicted on London by the new ruling elite. Yesterday saw the press launch for the new US embassy in London which is situated on the south bank of the River Thames in the re-developed – albeit unattractively – part of the city near to Battersea Power Station. During the “celebrations”, architect James Timberlake, of Philadelphia-based firm Kieran Timberlake, described the new building as “the embodiment of peace and security”. The Daily Mail reported a spokesperson saying the glass structure “gives form to the core democratic values of transparency”. The lobby looks a bit “imperial” to us, but we’re probably mistaken.
	Bank Stocks Can Fight the Fed, for Now At some point, higher interest rates may become a negative for banks, but not for a while. Despite the flattening of the yield curve, banks’ net interest margins have been rising, and their stocks have fared well.
	No Sequel to ‘Massacre at the Shopping Mall’ Amazon didn’t stop retailers’ Christmas from coming. Somehow or other, it came just the same.
	Fox Gives Disney Muscle for Next Net Fight Getting bigger as Disney is doing gives it improved leverage to negotiate favorable distribution terms with cable and wireless companies, which stand to gain by the rollback of net neutrality.
	Rail Week Ending 09 December 2017: Economic Predictive Elements At 3 Year High Week 49 of 2017 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) expanded according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. The economically intuitive sectors remain in expansion and the rolling average growth rate improved.
	Is Nike More Successful Than Adidas? Is Nike really more successful than Adidas? How did both companies start? Which one is popular nowadays?
	The Tell: Why the yield curve flattening — a recession red flag — is the ‘real deal’ As intense debate swirls over the portents of the yield curve’s flattening, bond market notable Jeff Gundlach weighed in to proclaim the recent trend as the “real deal.”
	Deep Dive: If you’re bargain shopping for U.S. stocks, start here The companies have increased sales per share and gross margins, yet their shares have stalled. By Phil van Doorn.
	Deep Dive: These 3 stock screens can help find value amid a boom in U.S. housing shares Shares of home builders have run ahead of a strong stock market, but a housing shortage could mean there’s more to come.