Written by Gary
US stock market major index’s futures have sea-sawed between positive and negative in today’s session (SPY -0.6%). Investors spooked with Walmart’s poor report and can’t decide on market’s direction.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Walmart drags on Dow, S&P but tech lifts NasdaqNEW YORK (Reuters) – A sharp drop in Walmart shares weighed heavily on the Dow and the S&P 500 on Tuesday to put a six-session winning streak in jeopardy, but gains in Amazon and technology stocks helped lift the Nasdaq. | |
Qualcomm deals blow to Broadcom’s bid with sweetened NXP deal(Reuters) – U.S. semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday unveiled a sweetened $44 billion agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV , its most defiant move in its defense against a hostile $121 billion bid from Broadcom Ltd . | |
Walmart holiday-quarter profit drops, online struggles spook investorsNEW YORK (Reuters) – Walmart Inc , the world’s biggest retailer, on Tuesday posted a sharp drop in profit and online sales growth during the critical holiday period and forecast annual profit at the lower end of expectations. | |
AT&T loses bid for White House communications about Time Warner dealWASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by AT&T Inc to compel the U.S. Justice Department to disclose any records of communications between the White House and government lawyers that detail President Donald Trump’s views on the company’s proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner Inc . | |
Albertsons to buy Rite Aid as Amazon threat looms(Reuters) – U.S. grocer Albertsons Cos Inc said it would buy drug store chain Rite Aid Corp to create a company with $83 billion in annual revenue, giving it more clout to compete with bigger chains in an industry fearing the entry of Amazon.Com . | |
Thomson Reuters says CEO Jim Smith to make full recovery after arrhythmia incidentTORONTO (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. | |
U.S. short-term borrowing costs rise to highest since 2008NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some of the U.S. government’s short-term borrowing costs rose to their highest in more than nine years on Tuesday as it raised $179 billion in the Treasury securities market to fund spending and make debt payments. | |
VW bid to delay first U.S. diesel emissions trial rejectedFAIRFAX, Va. (Reuters) – A Virginia state court judge on Tuesday rejected a request by the U.S. unit of Volkswagen AG to delay several of the company’s trials over excess emissions because of “inflammatory” comments made by a lawyer representing car owners that it fears will prejudice the jury. | |
Audi CEO rejects speculation about his futureBERLIN (Reuters) – Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler has rejected suggestions he is about to be ousted and believes he has the support of parent company Volkswagen , a German newspaper reported on Tuesday. | |
Pelosi Pummeled As A Majority Of Americans Now Support Trump Tax CutsFor the first time since President Trump signed it into law late last year, the Republican tax-reform plan has more supporters than opponents, according to the New York Times. The law’s increasing popularity, which is likely tied to the fact that workers are beginning to see the withholding savings materialize in their paychecks, is also buoying Republicans’ chances during the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, which were previously expected to be a rout for the party, which controls both houses of Congress – but holds only a one-vote majority in the Senate. It also follows a multimillion-dollar effort to convince consumers of the law’s benefits. And, in another sentence we bet you never thought you’d read in the New York Times, the paper admits that the law’s growing popularity is eroding the Democrats’ lead in election polling for 2018. Dozens of Republican lawmakers opted to announce their retirement last year instead of face a difficult reelection campaign, but at least a few of them – including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker – are reportedly reconsidering that decision. While most of the law’s newfound supporting is coming … | |
Broke Buybacks Mounting – Spiking Debt Costs Ruin Repurchase Ramp As Vol Jumps“Stock buybacks are in effect creating low volatility,” says Christopher Cole, the well-known Artemis hedge fund manager who has been rightly warning that volatility has been artificially and dangerously depressed for a while.
Bloomberg explains the logic: Companies over the past decade or so have significantly increased buybacks to the point where they are now collectively the largest single buyer of stocks. Some have called the market self-cannibalizing. Equity shrink is the nicer way to say that. Corporations are not particularly price sensitive — buybacks tend to rise with the market — but they do try over short periods to buy at the lowest average price. So in a long bull market, like the one we are in now, corporations tend to step in to buy whenever there is a dip, which is what happened last week. | |
The Dangerous, False Logic Of “Common Sense”Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com, On the morning of May 18, 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan, a 55-year old municipal worker named Andrew Kehoe used a timed detonator to set off a bomb he had planted at the local school. Kehoe was Treasurer of the School Board, so he had unfettered access to the school. According to friends and neighbors, he was having personal issues with his wife (who he had murdered days prior) and extreme financial difficulties. He was also severely disgruntled about having lost a local election the previous autumn. Whatever his reasons, Kehoe took out his rage on the 38 schoolchildren he killed that day. It remains the deadliest attack on a school in US history. Sadly, it wasn’t the first- there were numerous reports of school shootings throughout the 1800s and before. And as we all know too well, it wouldn’t be the last. Last week’s shooting in Florida is another tragic stain in the pages of US history. And it’s completely understandable that emotions are running high now. People are demanding action. They want their government to “do someth … | |
Sex, Hot Girls, And Dating? There Is Now An ICO For ThatLong Blockchain has been delisted from the Nasdaq and the “just add blockchain”-effect appears to be softening – but the red hot ICO market rages on. As we reported yesterday, Telegram, which is about to open its token sale to the public, is hoping to raise a total of $1.8 billion total from its ICO after raising nearly half that sum from private-placement “VIP” investors. And with so much money to be made hocking the dozens of coins that continue to be launched every month, perhaps it’s unsurprising that Facebook is doing a less-than-perfect job of filtering out all the crypto-related advertising (almost all of which is paid for and allocated through an automated system that is prone to lapses, as we learned during one memorable incident last year), which the company denounced last month. Case in point: Earlier today, Ryan Mac, a tech reporter at Buzzfeed News, pointed out the following (extremely eye-catching) advertisement, which he claimed to have seen on Facebook (both it’s traditional and mobile sites) and Facebook-owned Instagram. The advertisement is soliciting buyers for an ICO called “Datecoin”.
…or whatever that means…
| |
BHP Is Still Caught Between a Rock and an Oil WellBHP 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. | |
The Tell: Why the ‘least bullish’ firm on Wall Street is feeling more confident in its tepid outlookRecent trading activity on Wall Street, which resulted in the strongest week for the major indexes in years, no doubt has some investors breathing a sigh of relief. But while stocks have recovered much of the ground they lost in a correction earlier this month, it may be too soon to get too excited about where the market will go over the rest of the year. | |
What’s driving the spike in movie documentaries about money?Is the rise in films about finance driven by the headlines or money itself? | |
Why Hollywood is more hooked on biopics than everBiopics are becoming more prevalent and precarious. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated: