30Apr2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Can’t Keep It Up, Nasdaq Turns Negative, Microsoft Falls 1.5%, DOW Flat, But Trending Down Steeply

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The IPC is higher by 0.29%, while the S&P 500 is leading the Bovespa lower. They are down 0.37% and 0.29% respectively.

Wall Street rises on strong earnings, M&A boost

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Monday as strong earnings reports from McDonald’s and a slate of merger announcements lifted sentiment, while inflation worries were kept in check after tepid data on U.S. income and spending.

Global sales, U.S. spending serve McDonald’s results beat

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp blew past analysts’ forecasts for profit and sales on Monday, helped by strength in overseas markets and U.S. consumers on average spending more in its restaurants.

Exclusive: U.S. EPA grants biofuels waiver to billionaire Icahn’s oil refinery – sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter.

U.S. treasury chief: ‘Cautiously optimistic’ on China trade talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Chinese officials will hold highly anticipated trade talks in China on Thursday and Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business Network, saying he was “cautiously optimistic” about the meeting.

T-Mobile, Sprint say $26 billion deal would give U.S. tech lead over China

(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp said on Sunday they had agreed to a $26 billion all-stock deal and believed they could win over skeptical regulators because the merger would create thousands of jobs and help the United States beat China to creating the next generation mobile network.

OPEC April oil output hits year low on Venezuela slide: Reuters survey

LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC oil output fell in April to a one-year low due to declining production in Venezuela and lower shipments from African producers, a Reuters survey found, sending compliance with a supply-cutting deal to another record.

Exclusive: U.S. Treasury meets business groups on Chinese investment bill – sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury officials are meeting with about 10 industry groups on Monday to discuss the latest draft of legislation that would tighten scrutiny of foreign investment in order to limit Chinese efforts to acquire sophisticated U.S. technology, three sources familiar with the meeting said.

Marathon to become top U.S. refiner with $23 billion Andeavor buy

(Reuters) – Marathon Petroleum Corp agreed to buy rival Andeavor for more than $23 billion in the largest-ever tie-up between U.S. refiners, giving the combined company a nationwide presence and increased access to growing export markets.

Exclusive: Volkswagen in talks to manage Didi fleet, co-develop self-driving cars

BEIJING (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG , the world’s biggest automaker, is in talks to form a joint venture with China’s Didi Chuxing to manage part of the ride-hailing company’s fleet of cars and help develop “purpose-built” vehicles for Didi’s services.

Bull Markets Actually Do Die Of “Old Age”

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

David Ranson recently endeavored in a long research report to simply declare that “bull markets do not die of old age.”

“The life expectancy of bull markets can be inferred from history. Fourteen bull markets in U.S. stocks have come and gone since 1927, and their mean lifetime is 55 months. But this calculation can be taken further. From the age of one year to the age of eight years, there’s no overall tendency for life expectancy to decline as a market advance gets older. The present stock market advance, which began 105 months ago, is no more likely to end within the next twelve months than it was when it was only twelve months old. Bull markets do not die of old age.”

Think about this for a moment.

This is the equivalent of suggesting that since the average male dies at 88-years of age if he lives to be 100, he has no more chance of dying in the next 12-months than he did when he was 40-years old.

While a 100-year old male will likely expire within a relatively short time frame, it will not just “being old” that leads to death. It is the onset of some outside influence such as pneumonia, infection, organ failure, etc. that leads to the eventual death as the body is simply to weak to defend itself. While we attribute the death to “old age,” it was not just “old age” that killed the host.

This was a point that my friend David Rosenberg made in 2015 before the first rate hike:

“Equity bull markets never die simply of old age. They die of excessive Fed monetary restraint.”

First, averages and medians are great for general analysis but obfusca …

“Avalanche Beginning?”: Foreign Central Banks Dump Most Treasuries In Over 2 Years

Over the weekend, in its attempt to explain the sharp Treasury selloff in the second half of April which sent the 10Y briefly above 3.00%, JPMorgan cast the blame almost exclusively on momentum-chasing funds, i.e. CTAs, whose sharp momentum reversal from net long to net short…

… took place at a time when investors were already record short the TSY futures complex as we first showed on Saturday morning.

The Cosby Status Quo: A Facade Of Wholesomeness Masks Feudal Exploitation

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

In America’s feudal society/economy, there are two systems of “justice”.

The conviction of Bill Cosby for sexual exploitation/assault serves as a useful metaphor for our entire status quo, which projects a wholesome PR facade (free market capitalism, win-win, democracy, meritocracy, anyone can grow up to win American Idol, etc.) which masks a predatory culture of exploitation.

The most important aspect of the Cosby case is that dozens of reports of his drugging and assaulting women were routinely ignored for decades. The facade of wholesomeness, generated to protect the profit-generating machinery of the Cosby brand, buried accusations with a blizzard of legal and PR maneuvers.

The only difference between the predations of Cosby and those of Harvey Weinstein is that Weinstein had no need for a facade of wholesomeness because his brand/core business did not generate profit from a pretense of wholesomeness like Cosby’s. Weinstein’s predations were an open secret because he reckoned his power and connections rendered him invulnerable. In other words, he was nobility in a feudal society/economy.

Deranged Man With Metal Pipe Reportedly Targeted Jared Kushner

A deranged man armed with a metal pole was apprehended by police after being caught trespassing in New York City’s Trump Tower with a note in his pocket saying he intended to attack President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and then hurl himself off the top of the building.

TMZ reported, citing law enforcement sources in NYC, that Matthew Pilling, 30, was found trespassing through the hotel early Sunday and was escorted out by security.

But he reportedly came back a few hours later, armed with a metal pole and trying to break into the hotel’s kitchen area, which is when security immediately called the NYPD.

Piling was arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

Of course, incidents like these must be treated with extreme caution given other acts of violence perpetrated against Trump and his political allies – including the shooting at a practice for the Republican Congressional baseball team that badly wounded Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Apple’s Big Payday Will Only Go So Far

The U.S. tax overhaul freed up plenty of cash held overseas by the tech firm, but the latest iPhone cycle seems to have cooled early. Does this set up a potentially difficult report for the company’s fiscal second quarter?

With Future Murky, Auto Investors Focus on Change Now

Hopes of structural change are driving auto stocks, not financial results.

The News Is Good for Baidu

China’s search-engine giant has found a way to make its users stick around: tailored news content generated by artificial intelligence.

May 2018 Economic Forecast: Improves Again

Written by Steven Hansen

Econintersect’s Economic Index (EEI) again improved and remains in territory associated with economic growth normally associated with expansions.

NewsWatch: Fast-growing T-Mobile picked a real laggard to take on Verizon and AT&T

Investors sour on a proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint.

Trump Today: President suggests he’s open to meeting North Korea’s Kim in DMZ

President Donald Trump suggested Monday he’s willing to meet Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, as he prepared to host Nigeria’s president and took a shot at an annual dinner for journalists who cover the White House.

In corporate America, a shockingly low number of women make it to the C-suite

The percentage of non-CEO high-level women executives varies wildly by industry.