12Apr2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Opened Moderately Higher, DOW Rose More Than 100 Points, Syria Attack Not Be Imminent, Bitcoin Surges 17 Percent To Above $8,000, WTI Crude Falls Below The 67 Handle

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are mixed today. The DAX is up 0.54% while the CAC 40 gains 0.21%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.05%.

Ford to ramp up Lincoln rollout in China in bid to catch rivals: sources

DETROIT/BEIJING (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co’s premium Lincoln brand plans to build as many as five new vehicles in China by 2022, according to two U.S. sources, in a move to expand sales in the world’s largest vehicle market that would also blunt the impact of trade U.S-China trade spats.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg unscathed by congressional grilling, stock rises

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg fielded 10 hours of questions over two days from nearly 100 U.S. lawmakers and emerged largely unscathed and considerably richer.

UK takeover panel rules Disney must offer to buy all of Sky

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s takeover regulator ruled on Thursday that Walt Disney must make an offer for the whole of Sky if it succeeds in buying Twenty-First Century Fox assets, including its 39 percent stake in the European pay-TV company.

Volkswagen rushed revamp triggers labor concern: sources

BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) – Labor representatives at Volkswagen are concerned by a sudden rush by the German carmaker’s board to approve sweeping changes on Thursday, sources said, while Handelsblatt reported that its finance chief could step down.

Google poised to emerge unscathed from European antitrust crackdown

BRUSSELS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The European Union’s top antitrust regulator, Margrethe Vestager, has made it her mission to stem alleged anti-competitive abuses by big American tech companies, threatening as recently as last month to break up Alphabet Inc’s Google.

Futures rise as first-quarter earnings season begins, Syria tensions ebb

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday on expectations of strong corporate earnings, looking past geopolitical risks and concerns about faster interest rate hikes.

China says it will fight back if U.S. escalates trade spat

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday trade negotiations with the United States would be impossible as Washington’s attempts at dialogue were not sincere, and vowed to retaliate should U.S. President Donald Trump escalate current tensions.

Exclusive: Tesla targets November 2019 for start of Model Y production – sources

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc is targeting November 2019 as the start of production for its Model Y sport utility vehicle, with production in China to begin two years later, two sources told Reuters this week, shedding some light on the electric vehicle maker’s next project that could tax its resources and capacity.

Takeda sounds out banks for loans as it moves towards Shire bid: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) – Takeda Pharmaceutical has sounded out its major creditors for loans, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as it moves closer to a bid for London-listed rare disease specialist Shire that could hit $50 billion.

Chemical Weapons Watchdog Can’t Identify Source Of Nerve Agent Used In Skripal Attack

Echoing findings by UK government scientist Gary Aitkenhead, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Thursday that its investigators had “confirmed the findings of the UK relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury”

Effectively the lab confirmed that the military grade nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal during an attack which reportedly took place at a public shopping center was, in fact, Novichok – a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union, even if the OPCW did not explicitly name it. But crucially, like the scientists at Porton Down, the OPCW was unable to identify the origins of the nerve agent, per the Associated Press.

The news is the latest hit to the UK government’s “official” narrative that Russia masterminded the attack on the Skripals without a shadow of a doubt. UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson was adamant that the government had incontrovertible evidence that Russia masterminded the attack – most likely with the explicit approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Johnson had even threatened to pull the UK from the World Cup in retaliation. Ultimately, the UK government’s accusations led to more than 25 countries expelling one or more Russian diplomat, with Russia retaliating in kind.

Import, Export Price Gains Accelerate Year-Over-Year

Despite a modest disappointment in import prices MoM (and beat in MoM export prices)…

Under the hood:

Import prices ex-fuels rose 0.2% after rising 0.5% in Feb.

Import prices ex-petroleum rose 0.1% after rising 0.4% in Feb.

Industrial supplies prices fell 0.1% after no change in Feb.; first decline since July

Capital goods prices rose 0.2% after rising 0.4% in Feb.

Auto prices fell 0.2% after rising 0.2% in Feb.

Consumer goods prices fell 0.1% after rising 0.6% in Feb.

But, Import and Export prices both accelerated in year-over-year gains in March (import from +3.4% to +3.6%, and exports from +3.2% to +3.4%).

Hong Kong Intervenes, Fails To Rescue Dollar From Breaking Peg

Having broken the lower limit of its currency peg band overnight, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought the local currency overnight for the first time since the current peg was imposed in 2005. However, the HK$816mm bought failed to move the needle…

An initial bounce has entirely faded and HKD is once again testing its lower band limits…

What stands behind the Hong Kong dollar? How much can they intervene until it breaks (Soros-British Pound style)?

The Hong Kong dollar is backed by the HK$4 trillion (US$513.5 billion) Exchange Fund, one of the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves. The fund, established as an asset war chest for defending the currency’s value, also makes investments, earning a record HK$252 billion in 2017 income.

However, they face an uphill battle as money flows are against them in the global carry trade.

As SCMP details, the main culprit behind the local currency’s slump is the carry trade, an arbitra …

Euro Slumps After Unexpectedly Dovish ECB Minutes: Key Highlights

The euro has slumped to session lows following the release of the latest ECB Minutes, which were unexpectedly dovish and echoed the Fed’s worries about growing trade war, noting “widespread concern” about the the potential impact of protectionism. In other words, the more aggressive Trump is with China on trade, the fewer rate hikes and less tightening to come.

More specifically, addressing the recent rise in the Euro, the ECB said that FX is a source of uncertainty, although “past appreciation has not had a marked impact on demand” and added that euro strength was not fully due to macro environment, and worse, “may have a more negative impact on inflation.” Draghi’s henchmen also toed the party line saying that “gradual communication adjustments are required.” The minutes also revealed that the inflation path close to sustained adjustment, but “majority say it is not sufficient” and as a result “Monetary support still required after the end of bond purchases.”

A detailed breakdown:

While the text was largely token, one reason for the dovish read was the following headline:

ECB SAID REMOVAL OF EASING BIAS ‘SHOULD NOT BE MISUNDERSTOOD’

… although the full context was more neutral than the initial read: “it was also remarked that the removal of the easing bias should not be misunderstood as restricting the Governing Council’s capacity to react to shocks and contingencies, if necessary.”

However, the initial reason for the slump in the Euro was the ECB’s assessment that inflation still isn’t there. Indeed, unlike the Fed which is clearly comfortable that reflationary pressures have taken hold, the ECB was nowhere near as convinced.

“The view was put forward that the Governing Council’s criteria for a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation could be assessed as close to being satisfied over a medium-term horizon. However, the broadly agreed conclusi …

Brexit Hits Bankers Where it Hurts: Their Wallets

If there is one group of people likely to be upset about Brexit, it is European bankers and fund managers who earned more than 1 million a year. There were about 10% fewer of them in 2016, the year when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union—not because of mass layoffs, but as a result of the falling pound.

Why Investors Soured on Russia

Sanctions and surging tensions over Syria have hit Russian markets hard, obscuring the relatively solid economic fundamentals that have made Russia an emerging-market favorite.

The Fed’s Inflation Target Is Getting Close—Now What?

Don’t look now, but the Federal Reserve is about to hit its inflation target.

NewsWatch: The big political brawl that’s brewing trouble for stocks

Our call of the day says top Republican money maker and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s decision not to run again spells troubles for stock investors.

Key Words: Elon Musk says he’s back to sleeping on the Tesla factory floor

Elon Musk thinks Silicon Valley needs more oversight. Meanwhile, the chief executive of Tesla Inc. is back to sleeping on the floor of his factory as the company struggles to meet production goals.

Zuora IPO: 5 things to know about the subscription-software company that helps manage subscription software

Zuora is expected to begin trading Thursday. The company helps businesses transition to a subscription business model and recognize revenue.