Written by Gary
The three major US benchmark indexes struggled for direction today (SPY +0.1%) as inflation jitters and sagging technology and energy stocks offset an advance in the consumer discretionary sector led by Amazon.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
Stocks stuck in correction mode for longest stretch in 10 years
Intel’s Latest Manufacturing Delay Is Taking the Shine Off Its Strong Earnings
Wall Street’s Biggest Players Clearly Betting on Much Higher Oil Prices
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Exclusive: U.S. considers tightening grip on China ties to corporate AmericaNEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. government may start scrutinizing informal partnerships between American and Chinese companies in the field of artificial intelligence, threatening practices that have long been considered garden variety development work for technology companies, sources familiar with the discussions said. |
| T-Mobile, Sprint finalizing merger terms: sources(Reuters) – U.S. wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp are finalizing terms as they seek to sign a merger deal in the next three days, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. |
| Deutsche Bank likely to axe 1,000 U.S. investment bank jobs: sourceFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank is expected to cut around 1,000 jobs or 10 percent of its workforce in the United States, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, as the German lender scales back its global investment banking ambitions. |
| Wall Street mixed up as inflation worries counter earnings boost(Reuters) – Wall Street struggled for direction on Friday as inflation jitters and sagging technology and energy stocks offset an advance in the consumer discretionary sector led by Amazon. |
| U.S. economy slows in first quarter, but wage growth acceleratesWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy slowed in the first quarter as consumer spending grew at its weakest pace in nearly five years, but a surge in wages amid tightening labor market conditions and lower tax rates suggested the setback is likely temporary. |
| U.S. keeps China, puts Canada on IP priority watch listWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday labeled 36 countries as inadequately protecting U.S. intellectual property rights, keeping China on a priority watch list and adding Canada over concerns about its border controls and pharmaceutical practices. |
| Refining margins hurt Exxon, Chevron quarterly resultsHOUSTON (Reuters) – Weak refining margins hurt Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp’s first-quarter profit, cutting into overall gains from rising oil prices. |
| Better battery packaging on planes overlooks other safety concerns: airlinesMONTREAL/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – New global packaging standards expected in late 2018 will allow lithium-ion batteries back into passenger plane cargo holds, pending design and regulatory approval, but some airlines say the new rule overlooks other safety concerns. |
| WPP digital boss Read prepares to step into Sorrell’s shoes for first quarter resultsLONDON (Reuters) – WPP’s digital boss Mark Read will get the chance to stake his claim to the top job at the world’s biggest advertising company when he helps to present its first set of results without founder Martin Sorrell on Monday. |
| And… Yet Another Wells Fargo Banking ScandalSubmitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man
Is it Friday again? Must be time for another banking scandal! Seriously- these banking scandals are happening with such regularity and predictability it would be almost comical. . . were it not for the millions of people who have had their lives turned upside down. The latest transgression involves, once again, our old friends at Wells Fargo. Bear in mind that the ink isn’t even dry yet on the $1 billion check that Wells Fargo wrote last week as a penalty to settle its previous scandal, where they defrauded 570,000 clients in a car insurance scam. By the bank’s own estimates, as many as 20,000 of those clients may have had their vehicles repossessed as a result of their inability to pay for the car insurance that Wells Fargo illegally stuck them with. And speaking of vehicle repossession, in November of last year Wells Fargo … |
| Norway’s $1 Trillion Wealth Fund Suffers First Loss In 2 Years, Bets On Rising TSY YieldsNorway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, had two notable announcements today: the mega-fund reported its first quarterly loss in two years as it suffered from a global selloff in equities in the three first months of the year that it had no means of avoiding as more than two-thirds of its holdings are in stocks; it also shifted its bond portfolio to bet on further US Treasury yield increases.
Commenting on the results, the chief executive of the fund, Yngve Slyngstad said, “The most important expression of risk in the fund is that the strategic equity share is set to 70 percent. This means that fluctuations in the fund’s value are predominantly determined by the development in global stock markets.” The Norway Government Pension Fund Global booked negative returns of 1.5 percent for the first quarter of the year, or a loss of US$15.1 billion (171 billion kroner). In stocks, the return was -2.2 percent, but in unlisted real estate investments there was a positive return of 2.5 percent. The real estate holdings of the fund, however, are just 2.7 percent, so that positive result had n … |
| The Oil Curse Comes To WashingtonAuthored by MN Gordan via Economic Prism Prices rise and prices fall. So, too, they fall and rise. This is how the supply and demand sweet spot is continually discovered – and rediscovered. When supply exceeds demand for a good or service, prices fall. Conversely, when demand exceeds supply, prices rise. Producers use the information communicated by changing prices to make business decisions. High demand and rising prices inform them to increase output. Excess supply and falling prices inform them to taper back production. This, in basic terms, is how markets work to efficiently bring products and services to market. Five year plans, command and control pricing systems, and government price edicts cannot hold a candle to open market pricing. But not all markets are created equal. The market for gumballs or garbage bags, for instance, is much simpler than the market for solar panels or jet engines.
What we mean is some markets are subject to more government intervention than others; especially, if there’s a large mone … |
| “TMX Market Incident”: All Toronto Stock Exchange, TMX Systems Down, Will Not Reopen FridayUPDATE: The Toronto Exchange will not be opening for the rest of the day as per the latest exchange update:
* * * The TMX Group, operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange, says technical problems have affected the Toronto Stock Exchange, Montreal Exchange and other markets. Trading on the exchange reportedly stopped at 1:39pm local time, after which point no users were able to connect to exchanges. TMX says it’s investigating, providing updates.
According to subsequent updates by TMX, which classifies today’s anomaly as a “Markets Incident”, the event continues: UPDATE 2 – Please be aware that TMX continues to experience issues on all markets. We apologize for the inconvenience. Further updates will be provided. UPDATE 3 – Please be aware that all TMX markets continue to experience issues. We apologize for the inconvenience. Further updates will be provided. The S&P/TSX Index was up 31 points or 0.2 per cent at 1:39 … |
| The News Is Good for BaiduChina’s search-engine giant has found a way to make its users stick around: tailored news content generated by artificial intelligence. |
| The U.S.-China Policy Divergence Is—Again—Key to MarketsThe People’s Bank of China and the Federal Reserve are moving in opposite directions. The last time that happened, it created substantial stress for China’s financial system. Will things be different this time around? |
| Norwegian Air’s Disruptive Days Look NumberedThe latest company to champion low-cost trans-Atlantic flights either needs to rein in its ambition or sell out. |
| The Moneyist: My husband cashed out his retirement and, after 36 years, filed for divorceThis soon-to-be divorced couple also has $30,000 in credit-card debt and no 401(k). |
| Is Amazon Prime worth its new $119 price tag?Some members only use a fraction of the Prime services on offer. |
| Earnings Outlook: Tesla earnings to shine the spotlight on Model 3 productionTesla is slated to report first-quarter results on Wednesday, with Model 3 updates bound to overshadow pretty much everything else. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated:
