18Apr2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street To Continue Rally For Third Day, Morgan Stanley Posted A Better-than-expected First-quarter Profit, WTI Crude Trends Higher, US Dollar And Gold Sink Lower

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are mixed today. The FTSE 100 is up 0.87% while the CAC 40 gains 0.27%. The DAX is off 0.16%.

Morgan Stanley profit beats estimates on trading boost

(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Wednesday, as its trading business drew strength from increased market volatility in line with other major banks.

U.S. stock futures rise as first quarter earnings off to strong start

(Reuters) – U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday after the latest batch of results including Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley added to optimism about the U.S. corporate reporting season.

Facebook says users must accept targeted ads even under new EU law

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it would continue requiring people to accept targeted ads as a condition of using its service, a stance that may help keep its business model largely intact despite a new European Union privacy law.

Shire faces criticism on CEO pay policy as crunch week looms

LONDON (Reuters) – Shire , the $47 billion rare disease drugmaker being stalked by Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical , faces fresh criticism over its executive pay policy from a leading investor advisory group as a crunch week approaches.

Exclusive: OPEC’s new price hawk Saudi Arabia seeks oil as high as $100 – sources

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia would be happy to see crude rise to $80 or even $100 a barrel, three industry sources said, a sign Riyadh will seek no changes to an OPEC supply-cutting deal even though the agreement’s original target is within sight.

Abbott Labs’ quarterly revenue rises 16.7 percent

(Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday posted a 16.7 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by strong demand for its newer devices.

Explainer: Ant Financial’s $150 billion valuation, and the big recent bump-up

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Ant Financial’s rapid climb to become the world’s biggest super unicorn valued by some investors at around $150 billion showcases investor enthusiasm for the biggest Chinese tech companies and also how quickly valuations can shift. Just two months ago, bankers and investors were tentatively talking of a figure closer to $100 billion.

Whiskey sour? China importers fret over U.S. trade battle

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – When spirits dealer Daniel Taytslin brought his first pallet of American Ragtime Rye whiskey into Shanghai in early April, the 672 bottles faced a 5 percent import tariff at China’s customs.

German prosecutors investigate Porsche board member over emissions

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German prosecutors are investigating current and former employees of Volkswagen-owned sports car maker Porsche, including a management board member, as part of their inquiries into emissions manipulations, they said on Wednesday.

Zombies And The End Of The “Global Synchronized Recovery”

Submitted by Tuomas Malinen of GnS Economics

Several economic indicators have turned to the south at the beginning of this year. They clearly indicate a slowing economic momentum (see this, this and this). This is something that was not supposed to happen. The tax cuts by president Trump and the long-awaited recovery of Eurozone should have carried us to a new phase in global growth. At least, that is how the narrative went.

In June 2017, we warned that the global economic expansion is on its final leg and that signals from China and the US indicate a slowing economic momentum. We showed that China is closing the limits of its growth model because its investments are turning increasingly unproductive and its credit has grown at unsustainable rate for several years. In the US, the credit impulse was in a clear decline which, in a mature business cycle, tends to foretell of an economic downturn. But the business-friendly policies of president Trump, the economic stimulus ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party in China and the “liquidity tsunami” launched by global central banks kept the global economy humming till the end of the 2017.

At the beginning of this year, everything changed. China started to actively curb its excessive credit creation, the quantitative tightening of the Fed started in earnest and the geopolitical risks re-surfaced. Thus, the main pillars of the “global synchronized recovery” started to falte …

Turkish Fighter Jets “Harass” Helicopter Of Greek PM Tsipras

Two Turkish fighter jets harassed the Chinook helicopter carrying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes on Tuesday afternoon, Kathimerini reported.

The Turkish fighter jets, flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet, asked the Greek helicopter pilot, which at that moment was at 1,500 feet, to provide flight details, according to defense sources.

The pilot immediately informed the prime minister and the HNDGS Chief and alerted the Greek air force which dispatched two fighter jets, which approached the area at 20,000 feet.

Speaking earlier from the southeastern Aegean island of Kastellorizo earlier in the day, Tsipras said Greece will defend its principles “in any way it can… and will not cede an inch of territory,” in an apparent dig at recent provocations from Turkey.

“Our neighbors do not always behave in a manner befitting good neighbors,” he said at the inauguration of two desalination units on the island, noting however that he was sending Ankara “a message of cooperation an …

Trump Confirms: “Mike Pompeo Met With Kim Jong Un”

Confirming reports first published late last night by the Washington Post, Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that CIA Director (and Secretary of State nominee) Mike Pompeo did, in fact, meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The visit, conducted on behalf of the Trump administration, was a clandestine mission and followed a meeting between Trump and a delegation from South Korea last month that was attended by Pompeo. Trump said the visit took place last week but it was reported earlier that the meeting took place during the first weekend in April.

Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018

Speaking at his Florida beach resort Tuesday ahead of bilateral meetings with Shinzo Abe, Trump confirmed that the two governments had held direct party-to-party talks for the first time without the South Koreans acting as intermediaries. Trump disclosed that the two countries were hoping to hold the historic meeting in early June, or possibly before.

The White House had no further comment. “The administration does not comment on the CIA director’s travel,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

North Korea said in a letter personally delivered to Trump by a South Korean delegation that it

Stock Rally Enters 3rd Day Despite Inflation Misses, As Traders Search For Next Catalyst

While the general risk-on sentiment across global markets persisted for a third day amid sliding volatility, the rally appears to have lost some steam with Dow futures lagging after last night’s disappointing IBM revenues, which in turn may have capped the S&P ramp that started on Monday.

Earlier, the pound slumped and the euro briefly dropped on disappointing inflation data, as both UK and Eurozone CPI prints missed. European stocks then turned negative driven by steep declines in the auto sector, led by tiremakers after a bellwether issuing a profit warning. The catalyst was Continental which cut its forecast for FY adjusted Ebit margin to >10% from the previous view of ~10.5%, citing negative currency impact and inventory revaluation, mainly in the tire business, sending its shares sliding 4.3%, and dragging the rest of the sector with it: Michelin down -3.2%; Pirelli -1.9%, Schaeffler -1.4%; Michelin. The broader European auto index was down 1%, the worst market sector in Europe this morning.

“The profit warning is a huge disappointment as management had previously signaled a significant reduction in raw material headwinds for the Rubber group, which fanned expectations of an improvement in profitability,” said Commerzbank in a note.

As a result, the …

Apple Faces the Music

Music is key to growing Apple’s services base, but big profits will have to come from elsewhere.

Aluminum Bulls Should Soon Return to Rare-Breed Status

Aluminum prices have skyrocketed in London following the Trump administration’s decision to impose sanctions on major Russian producer Rusal. But that kind of gain may prove too much, too soon.

Back to the Drawing Board for Tesla

Latest Model 3 shutdown should make investors nervous.

Market Extra: Here’s the big caveat as the pound hits a post-Brexit-vote high

Pound bulls shouldn’t turn too euphoric about the British currency notching a new post-Brexit-referendum peak this week. On a trade-weighted basis, there is “still some way to go to recover,” one analyst notes.

Here’s how much it may cost Starbucks to close 8,000 stores for an afternoon

When Starbucks shuts its doors for an afternoon next month for an employee training on racial bias, it will have been a decade, three months and three days since the last time Starbucks took such an action.

Many young people are missing something important about popular e-cigarette Juul

Only a minority of young people who were familiar with or had recently used the Juul knew that it contains the addictive stimulant.