Written by Gary
US stock market major index’s futures are poised to open higher ahead of the start of earnings season (SPY +0.6%) as U.S.-China trade war fears ease. WTI crude price increases are translating into more expensive gasoline.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
European markets are mixed today. The DAX is up 0.27% while the CAC 40 gains 0.07%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.18%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Viacom asks CBS to raise its bid by $2.8 billion: sources(Reuters) – Viacom Inc has asked CBS Corp to sweeten its merger bid by about $2.8 billion or almost a quarter more than CBS’s offer, people familiar with the matter said, indicating the wide gap in the U.S. media firms’ price expectations. | |
U.S. Stock futures higher as U.S.-China trade war fears ease(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday ahead of the start of earnings season, pointing to an easing of last week’s selloff after officials of the Trump administration stressed the trade dispute with China could be resolved through talks. | |
China blames U.S for trade frictions, says negotiations currently impossibleBOAO/BEIJING, China (Reuters) – China stepped up its attacks on the Trump administration on Monday over billions of dollars worth of threatened tariffs, saying Washington is to blame for trade frictions and repeating it was impossible to negotiate under “current circumstances”. | |
Novartis bets big on gene therapy with $8.7 billion AveXis dealZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis is moving further into gene therapy by buying AveXis for $8.7 billion, adding a rare-disease treatment that could reap billions in sales. | |
As GM union faces big job losses, South Koreans turn cold shoulder(This April 8 story has been refiled to say “employs”, not “employees”, in 13th paragraph; and add dropped word “is” in 10th paragraph) | |
SandRidge says will evaluate buyout offers, including Icahn’s(Reuters) – SandRidge Energy Inc , which is in the middle of a proxy fight with top shareholder Carl Icahn, said on Monday it would evaluate buyout offers, including one from Icahn. | |
Deutsche Bank’s new CEO faces familiar questions over strategyFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Christian Sewing must quickly come up with a coherent strategy for Deutsche Bank after the retail banking veteran was promoted to chief executive of Germany’s largest lender. | |
China’s HNA to sell Hilton stake in secondary offering(Reuters) – Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc’s main shareholder HNA Tourism Group will sell about 63 million shares of Hilton common stock in a secondary offering, making good on signals it would exit its stake in the U.S. hotel operator. | |
Tesla to recall 8,898 vehicles in China from June 28: China quality watchdogBEIJING (Reuters) – China’s quality watchdog said on Monday that Tesla Inc will recall a total of 8,898 Model S vehicles in the country from June 28. | |
“Toxic Assets”: Ruble Crashes, Russian Stocks Plunge Most In 4 Years After US SanctionsLast Friday’s sanctions imposed by the US on Putin-allied Russian oligarchs and billionaires – including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska – as well as associated companies, have had an adverse impact on both the Russian currency and local equities, with the ruble crashing 2.3% to a fresh YTD low of 60 to the USD, the biggest drop since November 2016 and bringing the 3-day drop to 3.5%… … while Russian stocks as tracked by the benchmark MOEX Russia Index dropped as much as 7.2%, the biggest one day drop since March 2014, when the Russia-Ukraine proxy war spiraled out of control following the Russian anex of Crimea in response to the CIA-backed presidential coup in Ukraine. | |
Israel Launched Deadly Airstrike Against Syrian Airbase: RussiaDespite President Trump adopting his harshest rhetoric yet to condemn Russia and the government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for an alleged chemical attack in rebel-held eastern Ghouta, a missile strike carried out overnight on a Syrian airfield was not the US’s doing. Instead, Russia and Syria have accused Israel of carrying out the strike on Syria’s T-4 airfield, situated about halfway between Homs (Syria’s third-largest city) and Palmyra (famously the site of ancient ruins). RT reports that two Israeli F-15 jets fired eight guided missiles at the airfield from Lebanese airspace. The jets never entered Syria. | |
Global Markets Jump On Hope Trade Tensions Fading, Despite Trump Slamming “STUPID TRADE”It’s another “glass is half full” moment for global markets as Asian and European markets as well as S&P futures, are heading into the new week well in the green, at least for now, on renewed hopes a deal can be reached between the U.S. and China to avoid a full-blown trade war, following Trump statements over the weekend which have been described as conciliatory, although that may change quickly. As a result, the Euro Stoxx 600 is up 0.6%, tracking a rise of 0.7% on S&P 500 futures, which is now back above the 200DMA and also the secondary support level of 2610… … while the MSCI Asia Pac and Nikkei both closed 0.5% higher, leading to a general sea of green in this morning’s market snapshot. | |
China Studying Yuan Devaluation As Retaliation To Trade War; CNH SlidesLast week, with the tit-for-tat Chinese trade war escalating following Trump’s threat to raise Chinese imports tariffs by another $100BN, we said that it is time to buy some Yuan puts, ahead of a potential Chinese devaluation.
Overnight we got a clear lesson why this highly convex trade would be prudent in the current trade war environment, when Bloomberg reported at 3am EDT that China is “evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation” citing people familiar with the matter said, as the country’s leaders are weighing their possible responses in the escalating trade war with President Trump. As a reminder, a devaluation was one of the “nuclear” retaliation options listed here on Friday, and is certain to provoke an even harsher response by the US. Still, this appears not to have spooked senior Chinese officials who are reportedly studying a “two-pronged analysis of the yuan that was prepared by the government”: one part looks at the effect of using the currency as a tool in trade negotiations with the U.S., while a second part examines what would happen if China depreciates the yuan to offset the impact of any trade deal that curbs exports. Still, the analysis doesn’t mean officials will carry out a devaluation, which would require approval from top leaders. In kneejerk response, both the onshore and offshore yuan weakened as much as 0.2% to 6.3186 per dollar in onshore trading and 6.3211 for the offshore pair. | |
Why Trade Feud May Have Hurt Jobs GrowthThere are good reasons to brush off the weak March jobs number, but it’s notable that the shortfall occurred the same month that the president began his trade tirade. | |
Why Nike Should Be Scared of WomenNews about the company’s culture could turn off female customers who have been key to the company’s growth. Investors are ignoring the risk. | |
Could China Scuttle Qualcomm’s $44 Billion NXP Deal?NXP Semiconductors is trading roughly 10% below Qualcomm’s offer, reflecting investors’ concerns about the deal going through, but the discount ignores NXP’s leading market position. | |
Market Snapshot: Stock market on track to bounce back from plunge amid softened trade rhetoricHopeful noise from the Trump administration over trade this weekend has markets off to a brighter start for Monday, with Dow futures up over 100 points. | |
Key Words: Trey Gowdy: ‘I don’t have a lot to show for the last seven years’Famous for chairing the House probe into the Obama administration’s handling of the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the matter, the South Carolinian, elected in 2010’s tea-party wave, now finds his partisan attack-dog reputation is not enough for Trump loyalists. | |
Metals Stocks: Rangebound gold weaker as stocks perk up on hopes for trade resolutionGold prices pulled back Monday on signs of easing U.S.-China tensions over trade, although a situation still rife with tension, lured investors back into riskier assets and away from haven gold. |
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