20Feb2018 Midday Update: Wall Street ‘lovefest’ Continues After DOW Opened Down Triple Digits, DOW Still Down After Poor Walmart Results, Other Benchmark Indexes Solidly Trading In The Green

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed today. The Bovespa is up 1.40% while the S&P 500 gains 0.16%. The IPC is off 0.59%.

S&P, Dow falter after six days of gains as Walmart weighs

(Reuters) – A steep fall in Walmart’s shares put the skids on the S&P 500 and the Dow’s six-day winning streak, but gains in Amazon and technology stocks kept the Nasdaq in positive territory.

Qualcomm gets hedge fund nod with raised offer for NXP

(Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc raised its offer to buy NXP Semiconductors NV to $127.50 per share on Tuesday, and said it has the backing of the shareholder group led by hedge fund Elliott Management that opposed its previous proposal.

Walmart profit drops, online sales growth slows in holiday quarter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. retailer Walmart Inc on Tuesday reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and posted a sharp drop in online sales growth during the critical holiday period, sending its shares tumbling more than 9 percent.

Albertsons to buy rest of Rite Aid as Amazon threat looms

(Reuters) – Supermarket operator Albertsons Companies Inc will buy the rest of Rite Aid Corp not being sold to Walgreens Boots Alliance , the latest in a string of drug industry mergers to tackle the threat of Amazon.com Inc .

Thomson Reuters says CEO Jim Smith to make full recovery after arrhythmia incident

TORONTO (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters Corp said on Tuesday Chief Executive Officer Jim Smith is in stable condition after an arrhythmia incident on Feb. 12 and is expected to be released from hospital within the next two weeks.

Guess co-founder gives up duties during probe of alleged improper conduct

(Reuters) – Guess Inc said on Tuesday its co-founder Paul Marciano will give up his day-to-day responsibilities at the company on an unpaid basis pending the completion of a probe into accusations of improper conduct.

Home Depot’s earnings powered by strong U.S. housing market

(Reuters) – Home Depot Inc’s profit and revenue topped Wall street estimates for the sixth straight quarter as more shoppers visited the No.1 U.S. home improvement chain and, on average, spent more in an improving housing market.

Xerox shareholders Icahn, Deason urge company to sell itself to rivals

(Reuters) – Xerox Corp shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason said on Tuesday the U.S. company should seek to sell itself to one of its rivals or a private equity firm.

Gap brand CEO Jeff Kirwan to leave retailer, shares fall

(Reuters) – Gap Inc said on Tuesday that Jeff Kirwan, president and chief executive of its eponymous brand will leave the apparel retailer, pushing its shares down 4.2 percent.

Elliott’s Singer: Bitcoin Boom Confirms “The Limitless Ignorance Of Humans”

With Bitcoin having bounced almost 100% off its early February lows, dashing many hopes that the decentralized cryptocurrency ‘fad’ had begun to die, it appears the FUD-mongering is resonating once more among the cognoscenti.

One of the world’s largest hedge funds Elliott Management, founded by billionaire Paul Singer in 1977, dedicated three pages to describing its negative view of cryptocurrencies in a fourth-quarter letter to clients, calling cryptocurrencies “one of the most brilliant scams in history.”

As a reminder, Paul Singer is also among the group that initially funded the creation of the so-called ‘Trump Dossier’.

Record Three, Six-Month Bill Auctions Sell Without A Glitch

The market was closely watching today’s record 3 and 6 month bill auctions, which as noted earlier come at record amount of $51BN for the 3M and $45BN for the 6M. And with the auctions just concluded, it appears that the market had no problems digesting the massive supply:

The 3 Month yielded 1.63%, below the 1.64% when issued.

The 6 Month yielded 1.82%, also below the 1.84% When Issued.

That said, the yields on both were well higher than last week, with the 3M up 6bps vs last week, while the 3M was up 3.5bps compared to last week’s auction. Putting the auction in context, this was the highest 3M auction yield going back to 2008.

The internals were somewhat mixed, however, with the BTC on the 3M sliding from 3.12 last to 2.74…

In Tweetstorm, Trump Denies Knowing Woman Who Accused Him Of Forced Kissing

President Trump’s raging weekend tweetstorm metastasized into a non-stop fusillade of angry outbursts on Tuesday as he lashed out at many of his favorite targets this morning, including his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, and Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign..

He also thanked Fox & Friends – long rumored to be the president’s favorite news show – for a report they did on the Obama administration’s failures to counter Russian interference…

Thank you to @foxandfriends for the great timeline on all of the failures the Obama Administration had against Russia, including Crimea, Syria and so much more. We are now starting to win again!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2018

“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, there’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that it will happen this time, and so I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and make his case to get votes.” …..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2018

CNN Roots Through Russian Garbage, Gets Tossed Out Of Russian “Troll Farm”

Following Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals on Friday for (unsuccessfully) attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, CNN sent one of its most intrepid reporters to the St. Petersburg “troll farm” uncovered by Mueller’s ever-widening and totally legitimate investigation.

Chief International Correspondent Matthew Chance (had his cameraman) literally dig through the garbage outside of an office building which is home to the alleged Russian troll farm for clues.

“This is the office in which that atmosphere of chaos was stoked from the Russian side,” Chance told guest host Jim Sciutto. “That’s why 13 Russian individuals, including the financial benefactor, the person who bankrolls that organization, have now been indicted in the United States.”

“You looked through the trash there?” Sciutto asked. “What did you find?”

“Yes, we did,” Chance answered, sheepishly. “We came here expecting this office to be empty, but, in fact, all day here, we’ve been here throughout the course of the day, people have been going in and out.”

“We went to the trash can to see what we could find with old people dumping rubbish there. New computers are being delivered here and they are throwing it away with the rubbish.”

Later, Chance spoke with an actual Russian troll – who appears to be about 250 lbs underweight for his alleged profession, who blew smoke in his face. When the CNN crew attempted to then enter the “troll farm” they were promptly told to leave.

BHP Is Still Caught Between a Rock and an Oil Well

BHP is emerging as a copper powerhouse, which helped buoy its first-half earnings. That strength conceals some troubling signs in oil and coal, however.

Is Reckitt’s Deal Machine Still Up to Snuff?

As the battle to buy Pfizer’s $20 billion consumer business heats up, Lysol-owner Reckitt Benckiser is trying to convince investors that its acquisition record is clean.

The Big Shift Driving Tech Profits​

Big tech companies learning to look past the initial sale as subscriptions build an important base of recurring revenue.

NewsWatch: Technical charts suggest another stock-market drop is coming

The S&P 500 likely will retest the lows, writes Avi Gilburt.

Encore: Social Security is the wrong way to finance student loan debt and parental leave

Not all new ideas are good ideas.

The New York Post: Mueller charges Russian oligarch’s son-in-law with making false statements to FBI

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday charged a lawyer with making false statements to FBI agents conducting the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.