Written by Gary
US stock index futures fell on the first trading day of the new quarter (SPY -0.2%) as China raises import tariffs on 128 US products. Data, earnings set to wrest stock market’s attention from Facebook and trade.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets finished broadly higher on Thursday with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 1.31% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.72% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.17%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | China hammers U.S. goods with tariffs as ‘sparks’ of trade war flyBEIJING (Reuters) – China has increased tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, from frozen pork and wine to certain fruits and nuts, escalating a spat between the world’s biggest economies in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminum and steel. |
| U.S. stock futures slip as trade concerns, tech worries persist(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on the first trading day of the new quarter as China’s decision to raise import tariffs on U.S. products rekindled global trade war fears and technology stocks showed little signs of recovery. |
| Philippines, Malaysia put Uber-Grab deal under anti-competition scrutinyMANILA/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Philippines and Malaysia said on Monday they will look into whether Uber Technologies’ [UBER.UL] move to sell its Southeast Asian business to ride-hailing rival Grab hinders competition, days after Singapore began a probe into the deal on similar concerns. |
| Saks, Lord & Taylor hit by payment card data breachTORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Retailer Hudson’s Bay Co on Sunday disclosed that it was the victim of a security breach that compromised data on payment cards used at Saks and Lord & Taylor stores in North America. |
| Latin American nations compete for capital in surge of oil auctionsHOUSTON (Reuters) – For decades, many Latin America’s oil-producing nations have often shunned investment from foreign firms, instead keeping their vast reserves under the tight control of governments and state-run oil companies. |
| Trump, Abe to discuss trade after U.S. aluminum, steel tariffs-White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss “reciprocal trade and investment ties” with Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe during a visit later this month, the White House said on Monday. |
| Ukraine’s Privatbank files $3 billion lawsuit against PwC subsidiariesKIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s largest bank, PrivatBank, said on Monday it had filed a $3 billion lawsuit against the Ukrainian and Cypriot subsidiaries of international accounting firm PwC for alleged breaches during audits of the lender in 2013-2015. |
| Alibaba to buy remaining shares in food delivery app Ele.me(Reuters) – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Monday it would buy the remaining shares of Ele.me, a major platform in China’s food delivery market, as it competes with Tencent Holdings Ltd services for offline consumers. |
| Rare Japanese unicorn Mercari to targets rapid U.S. expansionTOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese flea market app operator Mercari Inc targets rapid expansion in the United States, its founder and chief executive told Reuters on Monday, after a recent funding round boosted its value beyond $2 billion. |
| Q1 2018 Was A Disaster For AmericaAuthored by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog, In the first quarter of 2018, the financial and investing industry went into overdrive detailing the upside of the 2018 tax cuts and the positive impacts of a “business friendly” executive and congressional branch on business in America. The stock market hit record highs and the Federal Reserve proclaimed such good times as to raise their economic outlook and increase the likelihood for interest rate hikes. From January 1, 2018 through March 28, 2018 (Q1), real GDP likely grew $110 billion (a 2.5% rise on an annualized basis). However, the fly in the ointment…according to the Treasury, from Jan 1, 2018 through March 28, 2018 (Q1), federal debt rose by an astounding $621 billion dollars (a 13.1% increase on an annualized basis). The chart below shows the quarterly change in federal debt versus the quarterly change in real GDP since 2000. Q1 2018 was the second largest quarterly growth in federal debt, only surpassed by the massive free spending of Q4, 2008.
Or, if we just subtract the quarterly growth in federal debt from the growth in real GDP…chart below. Unfortunately, Q1 2018 is one of the wor … |
| Tesla Tumbles After Elon Musk Jokes About BankruptcyOne day after Elon Musk amused his 20 million twitter followers with a Tesla bankruptcy April Fool’s joke…
… this morning shareholders of Tesla are hardly laughing, with Tesla stock tumbling as much as 5%, down to $254, the lowest level since March 2017, and down 15% YTD.
And while we doubt that Musk’s “joke” prompted the selloff – even if it does cut too close to comfort for the company that burned $3.5 billion in cash last year… < … |
| Trump Rages: “Use Nuclear Option To Stop Massive Inflow Of Drugs And People”For the second time in two days, Trump took to twitter to warn about the caravan of migrants headed through Mexico to the the US border, and bashed the Mexican government for allowing migrants untrammeled access to its northern border and Democrats for passing laws that “don’t do their job.” In doing, the president demonstrated that he’s not only listening to his right-wing critics – of which Anne Coulter the most prominent example – who chastised him as a “lazy ignoramous” and levied charges that “all he wants is for Goldman to like him” – but is clearly worried about the midterms and a potential impeachment should Dems win the House and Senate. It also seems that the recently emboldened President is at least try … |
| Futures Slide With Most Markets On Holiday As China Strikes Back In Trade WarsGlobal markets started the new week and quarter with very muted trading in Asia as most key markets including Australia, New Zealand , Hong Kong, Canada, UK and most parts of Europe remain closed for Easter holidays. US stock futures are lower…
…and equities in Asia have given up the gains seen early in the session amid fears of escalating trade wars, while European markets remain offline.
As a reminder, overnight China announced that that starting Monday it would impose tariffs on U.S. products including frozen pork, wine and certain fr … |
| Spotify’s Unspoken Promise: A Different BusinessThe streaming giant’s path to tech stardom involves developing a new business model in conflict with its current one. |
| The Rising Barriers to Global DealmakingAn activist investor wants grocery group Ahold-Delhaize to cough up the poison pill that protects it from takeovers. The world is moving the other way. |
| Fuel Economy Rollback Is a Chance to Do BetterBy now the cycle is familiar: The Trump administration proposes rolling back hard-fought environmental regulations and hand-wringing ensues about the potentially disastrous long-term consequences. |
| Cash-out mortgage refis are back — will homes become ATMs again?As interest rates rise, fewer households refinance their mortgages. And the refinances that do get done are often very different than those initiated during low-rate periods. |
| Everything you need to know about 401(k) feesMost people don’t know they have fees lurking in their retirement accounts, or how many. |
| Retire Better: What would a trade war mean for my retirement investments?Things can seem more confusing in uncertain times. |
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