15Feb2018 Market Close: Wall Street Soars Higher For 5th Session In A Row, DOW Rallies 307 Points, Dow Returns To 25,000 As Stocks Mount Rally

Wall Street climbs on tech strength

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street surged on Thursday to notch its fifth straight session of gains, led by Apple and other technology stocks as investors shrugged off recent inflation worries that sent the market into a sell-off at the start of the month.

U.S. producer prices rise in January; industrial output falls

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. producer prices accelerated in January, boosted by strong gains in the cost of gasoline and healthcare, offering more evidence that inflation pressures were building up.

Bitcoin rises above $10,000, strategist sees new high by July

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bitcoin rose above $10,000 on Thursday for the first time in more than two weeks, as investors bought back the digital currency after having fallen 70 percent from its all-time peak hit in mid-December.

Thomson Reuters chair sought better terms for financial unit: WSJ

TORONTO (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters Corp Chairman David Thomson urged the company’s board of directors to seek better terms for its $17 billion sale of a large chunk of its business to Blackstone Group LP , the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people close to the deal.

Roche to buy Flatiron Health for $1.9 billion

(Reuters) – Drugmaker Roche Holding AG said on Thursday it would buy the rest of the privately held oncology data company Flatiron Health Inc for $1.9 billion to speed up development and delivery of breakthrough medicines for cancer patients.

Boeing CEO says ‘getting closer’ to a deal with Embraer: CNBC

(Reuters) – Boeing Co is “getting closer” to a deal with Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer , the U.S. plane maker’s Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said in an interview with CNBC television on Thursday.

Hedge fund Bridgewater makes $22 billion bet against European firms

LONDON/FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bridgewater has shown its hand in Europe with a $22 billion bet against some of the continent’s biggest companies, filings reviewed by Reuters show, part of a bigger shift by the world’s largest hedge fund manager.

Amazon to pay $1.2 million in settlement over pesticide sales, U.S. says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc will pay a roughly $1.2 million penalty to settle nearly 4,000 alleged violations of U.S. law in a move to prevent harmful exposure to pesticides through illegal sales, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

Caterpillar expects no material impact of tax case on finances

(Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc said on Thursday it was vigorously contesting the $2.3 billion tax and penalties for certain years proposed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and that the case would not have a material impact on its finances and operations.

Stocks Extend Fastest Bounce In 8 Years As Dollar Crash Continues

Seriously…

Stocks are up five days in a row… Nasdaq up 5.6% this week alone…

For context, this is the Nasdaq’s best 5-day rally since 2011!!!!

Small Caps got back to even for 2018 (trannies still red)…Nasdaq is up 5% YTD

Colas: “We’re Not Out Of The Woods Yet”

Authored by Nicholas Colas via DataTrekResearch.com,

Not to be a party-pooper, but we wouldn’t take too much comfort in today’s US stock rally. Wednesday was the expiration day for monthly CBOE VIX Index options. Traders in those instruments have been on a wild ride over the last week. Squaring up positions on expiration day tends to create incremental volatility in normal environments. Add the much higher levels of open interest now, and you have the makings of a “Black Cygnet”, if not “Swan”. We linked to a Bloomberg story yesterday that highlighted this, and include it here.

We’ve seen the volatility market “tail” wag the stock market “dog” a lot recently, so we’re going to chalk up today’s move to the downdraft in the VIX related to expiration. One possible compounding effect: short covering as the S&P went unexpectedly positive just after 10am. While explaining daily moves is hard, we like this narrative better than “Stocks have discounted higher rates already”. That feels premature.

The combination of sluggish retail sales and higher CPI inflation, both out …

Crispin Odey: One Thing Will Determine If The Selling Is Over

For a few days last week, Crispin Odey, arguably the world’s most bearish hedge fund manager, felt vindicated when the very structure of the market appeared to be disintegrating before our very eyes, when a relentless liquidation panic by vol-selling machines seemed unstoppable and humans could only watch in horror and pray that someone would step in and BTFD. Then abruptly as it started, the selling stopped and the relentless low-volume, central-bank mandated grinding levitation that has become the hallmark of this “bull market” returned and last week’s correction is fast on its way to being relegated to the “crash” compost heap of the traders’ collective subconscious.

Or maybe not.

In his latest letter to clients – who were pleasantly surprised to see a modest pick up in Odey’s January performance – Crispin Odey wrote that there is one potential catalyst that will decide over the next few weeks that will determine whether the market slide is indeed over, or if what follows is continued risk asset pain, another market correction, and ultimately a recession: namely, whether investors, comforted by record high credit card balances and the promise of surging stocks, will retrench and start saving again after last week’s stock market scare:

Whether the fall was the herald of more bad news to come out of financial assets, the next few weeks will tell. High asset prices have driven down precautionary savings. Will a fall in those assets be sufficient to cause savings to rise sharply – a classic reason for a recession – that is the question?

The logic is simple: as we showed recently, America’s personal savings rate recently dropped to near all time lows. While this has had a stimulatory effect on the economy – and …

Be Smarter Than Harvard: Don’t Let Low Yields Make You Do Dumb Things

Authored by John Coumarianous via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Frustration with a decade of low bond yields can cause investors to sabotage their portfolios.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that low bond yields has pushed institutional investors like the Harvard University Endowment, the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii, and the Illinois State Universities Retirement System to make bets on market volatility. Specifically, the institutions used options contracts to bet on continued and ever increasing market calm.

Some also invested in ETFs designed to short (bet against) the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX, a measure of expected turbulence in the S&P 500.

The article quotes Alberto Gallo, a portfolio manager at Algebris Investments in London saying “Our fear is when these strategies unwind.” He estimates there are more than $500 billion in strategies depending on stock market volatility remaining low, though it’s difficult to track exactly how much money is in this b …

Health-Care Deals: An Offer They Can’t Refuse

The health-care industry is in the throes of a major shake-up. That creates a situation in which companies face a greater risk by standing pat than possibly overpaying for an acquisition.

Cisco Switches Back On

The network giant’s old businesses help revive growth.

Nestlé’s Fortunes Melting Like Ice Cream

Nestlé’s Chief Executive Mark Schneider has grasped the challenge facing the world’s largest food company. But making Nestlé more responsive and entrepreneurial is proving to be a very tall order.

Currencies: Dollar marks 4th loss in a row

The U.S. dollar was on course for a fourth-straight losing session on Thursday continuing to struggle even in the face of supportive economic data.

Market Snapshot: Stocks close higher for fifth straight session as Dow reclaims 25,000-level

The Dow rises to close above the 25,000 mark Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks as U.S. stocks finished higher for a fifth straight session.

Futures Movers: Oil shows resilience as dollar weakness continues

Oil futures prove resilient Thursday, with the U.S. benchmark reversing earlier weakness to end higher as the U.S. dollar continued to weaken.