12Feb2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Futures Up More Than 1 Percent After Worst Week In Two Years, Market Selloff Was Overdue, But Now It Looks Overdone, Strategists Say, Crude Gains 2 Pct As Global Markets Stabilize, Dollar Dips

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are sharply higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 1.78% while France’s CAC 40 is up 1.46% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 1.29%.

Futures up more than 1 percent after worst week in two years

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were up more than 1 percent, attempting a rebound from Wall Street’s worst week in two years, while volatility remained relatively elevated and U.S. bond yields hit new four-year highs.

A culprit for financial site glitches: you and your apps

BOSTON (Reuters) – Jittery investors and their smartphones stressed out leading U.S. online financial sites last week as heavy volatility shook markets, technology analysts said.

Data overload: commodity hedge funds close as computers dominate

LONDON (Reuters) – “Chocfinger” made his name and his money by taking bold bets on cocoa markets. But after nearly four decades of trading, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, Anthony Ward threw in the towel.

New York sues Weinstein Co., Harvey Weinstein over sexual misconduct

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York’s attorney general sued the Weinstein Company and Harvey Weinstein on Sunday alleging years of sexual harassment and misconduct by the movie producer, in a move that could jeopardize talks on a potential sale of the studio.

Comcast mulling new bid for Fox assets: sources

(Reuters) – Comcast Corp is considering a new offer for Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox assets, despite an agreement in December to sell them to Walt Disney Co for $52.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Exclusive: Amazon paid $90 million for camera maker’s chip technology – sources

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc paid about $90 million to acquire the maker of Blink home security cameras late last year, in a secret bet on the startup’s energy-efficient chips, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Fox commits to Sky News independence to try to secure Sky deal

LONDON (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox said it would commit to maintain Sky News in Britain for at least five years and would establish an independent board for the channel to try to secure its takeover of pay-TV operator Sky .

Qualcomm, Broadcom plan to meet on February 14: sources

(Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc and Broadcom Ltd plan to meet on Wednesday to talk about the latter’s $121 billion acquisition offer, the first time the semiconductor companies will discuss the potential deal, people familiar with the matter said.

Ford revs up large SUV production to boost margins, challenge GM

LOUISVILLE (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will boost production targets for two large sport utility vehicles by 25 percent this year to challenge rival General Motors Co’s hegemony in a highly profitable U.S. market segment and boost its own anemic profit margins.

Frontrunning: February 12

Investors Get a Reprieve From Recent Turmoil (BBG)

White House to Roll Out Trump Infrastructure Plan (WSJ)

Trump to Urge Wall, Opioid Spending While Congress Sets Its Own Course (BBG)

Overseas Markets Rebound After Their Worst Week in Years (WSJ)

Syrian frontline town divides NATO allies Turkey and U.S. (Reuters)

The Tax Law Is About to Make Analyzing Earnings Trickier (WSJ)

Record $23 Billion Flees World’s Largest ETF (BBG)

China’s HNA Group gets $3.2 billion credit from Citic Bank (Reuters)

Glitch Exploited by High-Speed Traders is Back at CME (WSJ)

Games organizers confirm cyber attack, won’t reveal source (Reuters)

Bitcoin Closes in on $9,000 as Regulatory Fears Peter Out (

London City Airport Cancels Monday Flights As WW2 Bomb Found

In an incident that echoes that evacuation of around 50,000 people in Hanover last year over the discover of five unexploded bombs that were dropped during World War II, London City Airport canceled all flights on Monday after the discovery nearby of another unexploded bomb dropped by Hitler’s Luftwaffe.

All flights in and out of London City on Monday are cancelled and an exclusion zone is in place in the immediate area. I urge any passengers due to fly today not to come to the airport and to contact their airline for further information. (2/3)

— London City Airport (@LondonCityAir) February 12, 2018

As Bloomberg pointed out, LCA carries just a fraction of the traffic that moves through London Heathrow, but it’s favored by business travelers for its short boarding times, quick takeoffs and proximity to London’s financial center. About 4.5 million passengers traveled through London City Airport last year, compared to 78 million at the Heathrow hub.

The ordnance was found in the River Thames early Sunday during planned development work at the airport, east of the Canary Wharf financial district. Royal Navy specialists established an exclusion zone of more than 200 meters (650 feet) to handle the situation, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“The airport is cooperating fully with the Met Police and Royal Navy and working hard to safely remove the d …

China’s Plunge Protection Team Arrives: Urges Companies To Boost Stocks, “Avoid Selling”

Over the weekend, we along with Bank of America and probably most carbon-based traders wondered if any central bank or government official would step up on Monday and intervene in the markets, either verbally or directly. The answer emerged overnight, when China officially urged controlling investors in listed companies to boost their holdings and told some mutual funds to limit equity selling this week, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The directive from the Chinese Plunge Protection Team was sent out over the weekend, when the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and other regulators “advised and encouraged” some major stockholders to purchase more shares in the mainland-listed firms they invest in. The regulators also called on some mutual funds to avoid being net sellers of equities as well.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said on Friday that it has issued warnings and limited intraday trading to prevent large equity sales that affected the market’s stability. Meanwhile, the China Securities Investment Services Center — a body serving smaller investors that’s managed by the CSRC — said major shareholders can boost investor confidence by purchasing stocks, Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday.

Additionally, the CSRC, which is also known as the “National Team” once it begins manipulating markets, told Chinese brokerages to provide trading summaries from last week to the regulator as well as trading plans and previews for this week.

JPMorgan Publishes The “Bitcoin Bible”

Five months after Jamie Dimon’s infamous outburst, in which the JPM CEO called Bitcoin a fraud, and threatened any JPMorgan trader caught trading cryptocurrencies with immediate termination “for being stupid”, which was followed by JPM’s head quant alleging bitcoin was a pyramid scheme, the largest US bank has released what can only be called the “Bitcoin Bible”: 71 pages of excruciating detail on everything from the technology of cryptocurrencies, to their applications and challenges.

While there is too much in the report – which was published on the same day that the NY Fed admitted that in “A Dystopian World, Bitcoin Would Dominate Payment Methods” which of course is the whole point behind cryptos which as a contingency plan to the collapse of fiat currencies – to be summarized in one post, and instead we will focus on the key points over the next few days, below we republish the Executive Summary from the report, highlighting the …

Nvidia’s Cryptic Road Ahead

Nvidia seems to be selling all the chips it can make, and it has benefited from demand from videogamers and cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

Cloud Bills Will Get Loftier

Capital spending by big cloud operators accelerated last year and is unlikely to slow this year.

Beyond Tesla: How Else to Buy Into Electric Cars

Chemical group Umicore is massively expanding its capacity to produce cathodes for electric car batteries.

BookWatch: How investors can spot the company whose ‘hockey-stick’ growth strategy is really a ‘hairy back’

Three McKinsey partners walk you through why so many companies’ plan for a glorious future so often turn into duds.

Jeff Reeves’s Strength in Numbers: This stock-market selloff is creating a rare opportunity to buy Apple on the cheap

Apple is a stock to hold for this year — and perhaps decade, writes Jeff Reeves.

Earnings Outlook: Blue Apron earnings: What’s happening in New Jersey?

When Blue Apron Holdings Inc. reports earnings Tuesday morning, the key to the results will not be in the meal kits arriving at customers’ homes but at a large warehouse in New Jersey.