26Feb2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Higher, Major Averages Down Just 3 Percent From All-time Highs, Fears Of Rising Interest Rates Ebbs, WTI Settles Higher In The 64 Handle, At The Pump Prices To Be Higher

Written by Gary

The US equities main benchmarks have closed higher, DOW at 399, as a decline in Treasury yields assuaged investors’ concerns about rising interest rates.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Wall Street up sharply as fear of rising interest rates ebbs (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday as a decline in Treasury yields assuaged investors’ concerns about rising interest rates.
	Broadcom calls Qualcomm’s offer for price talks ‘engagement theater’ (Reuters) – Broadcom Ltd on Monday called a proposal by U.S. semiconductor peer Qualcomm Inc for a new meeting to negotiate an increase to Broadcom’s $117 billion acquisition offer “engagement theater” aimed at dodging a takeover battle.
	Apple plans biggest iPhone yet for 2018: Bloomberg (Reuters) – Apple Inc is preparing to release three new smartphones later this year, including the largest iPhone ever, a device that may have a bigger display than arch-rival Samsung’s flagship phone, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the products.
	Exclusive: U.S. investors seek to acquire Russia’s Rosneft lien in Citgo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of U.S. investors is seeking Washington’s approval to acquire the nearly 50 percent collateral in U.S. refiner Citgo held by Russia’s largest state-owned energy firm Rosneft, one of the investors said.
	‘Pharma bro’ Shkreli to be held responsible for $10.4 million in losses: U.S. judge NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former U.S. drug company executive Martin Shkreli will be held responsible for $10.4 million in financial losses when he is sentenced for defrauding investors, a federal judge ruled on Monday, rejecting his argument that he did not cause any losses because his investors eventually came out ahead.
	ABLV owners to liquidate bank to protect assets and clients STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The owners of Latvia’s ABLV Bank, accused by U.S. authorities of large-scale money laundering, have decided to liquidate the lender after the European Central Bank said on Saturday it would be wound up, ABLV told Reuters on Monday.
	Apple shares on verge of record high after Buffett comments SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of Apple rose 2 percent on Monday and were on the verge of a record high after billionaire Warren Buffett talked up his company’s stake in the iPhone maker.
	China’s Geely raid on Daimler reignites German know-how fears BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Automaker Geely’s purchase of a $9 billion stake in Mercedes maker Daimler rekindled fears in Germany on Monday of its highly-prized expertise falling into Chinese hands.
	California appeals court revives U.S. agency’s case against AT&T WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A full-panel of a California appeals court ruled on Monday that the Federal Trade Commission may push forward with its lawsuit alleging that AT&T Inc was deceptive in slowing internet speeds to customers with unlimited plans.
	Stocks, Bonds, Bitcoin, Dollar, & Gold Rise (As Housing Collapses) While the sales of new (and existing) homes crashed most in five years (as rates have spiked), stocks were panic-bid as the manic-month draws to a close Nasdaq managed to get back to even for February… Trannies were best on the day – rising over 2% before giving some back Trannies outperformed thanks to Warren Buffett’s comments on owning an airline…
	Morgan Stanley Says The Great Bond Selloff Is Over Buffett and Blankfein are wrong. That’s the message from Matthew Hornbach and the rates strategists at Morgan Stanley who proclaim in their latest report that “the bell has tolled for the best of the bear market in longer-duration bonds…We like the long end.” Amid record speculative short positions across the Treasury complex… Morgan Stanley begins: History has shown that consensus estimates for Treasury yields are usually wrong. Everyone understands that accurate point forecasts rarely occur. Either the consensus is wrong in terms of direction or, when it has the direction correct, the consensus is wrong in terms of timing. The wisdom of crowds has yet to grace itself on bond yield forecasters. And furthermore, Hornbach and his team note that every time the bond market moves dramatically and unexpectedly higher in yield, the consensus forecast plays catch-up as the desperate “told you so” crowd of equity market commission-takers and asset-gatherers jumps on the trend to push ‘rotation’. The chart below shows the 3-quarter-ahead consensus forecast for 10y Treasury yields over the past decade alongside 10y yields themselves.
	The ‘Resistance’ “Spectacle Of Roaring Dishonesty” Is A Disgrace Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com, And Now The Schiff Memo… The excruciating quandary President Trump presents to the nation is dragging the sad remnant of the thinking class ever-deeper into a netherworld of desperation, paranoia, and mendacity that may exceed even their own official fantasies about the enemy in the White House. Everything about the lumbering, blundering occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue drives his Dem/Prog opponents – or #Resistance, if you will – plumb batshit: his previous incarnations as a shady NYC real estate schmeikler, as a TV clown, as a business deadbeat, as a self-described pussy-grabber… his vulgar casinos, his mystifying hair-do, his baggy suits and dangling neckties, his arrant, childish, needless lying about trivialities, his intemperate tweets, his unappetizing associates, his loutish behavior in foreign lands, his fractured, tortured syntax, his obvious insincerity, his sneery facial contortions… and lots lots more — and of course that doesn’t even touch the actual policy positions he struggles to articulate. In sum, Trump represents such a monumentally grotesque embarrassment …
	Georgia Lt. Governor Threatens Delta Airlines After NRA Rejection Lowell “Casey” Cagle, Georgia’s Lt. Governor, took to Twitter this morning to express his dis-satisfaction with Delta Airlines’ decision to cut ties with the NRA after the massacre at a Florida high school last week. Cagle begain by warning that “I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA.” Then added that “Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.” I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back. — Casey Cagle (@CaseyCagle) February 26, 2018 It did not take long for an avalanche of trolls (who must be Russian bots looking to …
	The Other Risk From Rising Wages If higher labor costs don’t cause inflation, it means they probably will cut profit margins, hurting profits and share prices.
	Filling the Toys ‘R’ Us Void As Toys ‘R’ Us closes more stores, other retailers have an opportunity to seize market share.
	Who Will Be Called On to Clean Up the Anbang Mess? Now that Chinese regulators have seized cash-starved Anbang Insurance, it may be up to private companies to get behind a rescue.
	March 2018 Economic Forecast: Marginal Improvement Written by Steven Hansen Econintersect’s Economic Index (EEI) marginally improved but remains in territory associated with modest economic growth.
	In One Chart: Behold the staggering volatility of cryptocurrencies Every investor in bitcoin is well aware of the stomach-churning drops the digital currency or its rivals can see on a regular basis, but few may fully appreciate just how big the swings are compared with other widely used asset classes.
	Outside the Box: Cloud and software stocks including Salesforce.com still have a long runway of growth Companies that operate in the software as a service (SaaS) sub-sector are projecting big revenue gains. By Denny Fish.
	Trump Today: President says he would’ve entered Florida high school without a gun President Donald Trump on Monday met with most of the nation’s governors as he discussed topics including gun control, world trade and North Korea.