Written by Gary
US stock index futures are treaded water this morning (SPY -0.1%), as strong earnings failed to excite investors who instead fretted about inflation, rising costs and protectionist policies.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
Shares in London are higher today as the FTSE 100 gains 0.44%. The German and French stock markets are closed at this time. |
What Is Moving the Markets
US stocks are set for a weak open as earnings and the Fed meeting take center stage
US extends tariff exemptions for European Union and other allies
Report reveals list of questions Mueller has for Trump: Everything from Russia to Jeff Sessions
Under Armour picks up momentum overseas, sending shares higher
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: MRK, PFE, AAPL, UAA, FB, BA & more
Buy Roku shares because it’s the dominant leader in streaming video players: KeyBanc
A $14,000 cholesterol drug gets a price cut as Regeneron, Sanofi strike deal with Express Scripts
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Futures little changed as trade, inflation worries persist(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures treaded water on Tuesday, as strong earnings failed to excite investors who instead fretted about inflation, rising costs and protectionist policies. | |
Fed likely to keep rates steady; investors bet on June hikeWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to hold interest rates steady this week but will likely further encourage expectations that it will lift borrowing costs in June on the back of rising inflation and low unemployment. | |
Dollar goes positive for year before Fed meetingLONDON (Reuters) – The dollar broke into positive territory for the year on Tuesday and bond yields were creeping higher again, as rising oil prices fueled bets that the Federal Reserve will flag more U.S. rate hikes this week. | |
Investors look to Apple’s cash, services as iPhone sales seen stalling(Reuters) – Apple Inc’s multi-hundred billion cash stockpile and stalling growth in services such as iCloud present an opportunity and a concern that some investors hope will be addressed in the company’s quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. | |
Pfizer tops profit estimates, driven by Prevnar sales(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc’s quarterly profit topped Wall Street forecasts, driven by stronger-than-expected sales of pneumonia vaccine Prevnar. | |
RBS to cut 792 jobs, close 162 branches in Williams & Glyn cullLONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland is to cut around 792 jobs and close 162 branches following a review of its branch network in England and Wales, the bank said on Tuesday. | |
Exclusive: Hasbro to acquire Power Rangers, other franchises from Saban: sources(Reuters) – Toy maker Hasbro Inc has agreed to acquire children’s entertainment and merchandising franchises, including the characters of the superhero TV show Power Rangers, from Saban Entertainment for around $520 million in cash and stock, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. | |
Keytruda sales power Merck to quarterly beat(Reuters) – Drugmaker Merck & Co reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by a more than 150 percent rise in sales of cancer drug Keytruda. | |
Trump delays metal tariffs on Canada, EU, Mexico, exempts some othersWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed the imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, the European Union and Mexico until June 1, and has reached agreements for permanent exemptions for Argentina, Australia and Brazil, the White House said on Monday. | |
New Analysis By The Forensicator Examines ‘Russian Fingerprints’ Left By Guccifer 2.0Authored by Elizabeth Vos via Disobedient Media, Last year, Disobedient Media broke coverage of the groundbreaking findings published by the Forensicator, which suggested that the files published by the Guccifer 2.0 persona had not been hacked from Eastern Europe, but were instead accessed locally. Recently, the Forensicator published a new analysis, the first of three articles which will comprise a series centered once again on the work of Guccifer 2.0. The Forensicator’s article, Did Guccifer 2 Plant his Russian Fingerprints?, analyzes the first five Word documents that Guccifer 2.0 published on his WordPress.com blog the day after the DNC | |
Iran Blasts “Child Killer” Netanyahu After Nuclear Program AccusationsIn a predictably furious response to a presentation delivered Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounced allegations that the Islamic Republic had been carrying on its nuclear program in secret, calling Netanyahu “an infamous liar” and accusing him of being the head of a “child-killing Zionist regime,” according to a statement published in English on Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. The statement was attributed to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi.
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“It’s A Historic Day”: The US Economic Expansion Is Now The Second Longest On RecordIn addition to bringing May Day which, as Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid describes as “the day people danced around a maypole in funny outfits and generally partake in outdoor celebratory activities but if yesterday was anything to go by in London anyone going outside was likely to need to dance just to prevent frost bite”, the start of the new month marks a far more “historic” occasion: as we previewed three weeks ago, with the ticking over of the monthly calendar, this US economic expansion now becomes the outright second longest in history with data going back over 164 years and 34 business cycles. According to Deutsche Bank’s calculations, at 107 months the current expansion just nudged ahead of the long 1960s expansion, and will beat the 1990s expansion for the title of longest expansion in history if it extends past July next year. What is notable is that as discussed before, the last four expansions (since the early 1980s) have all been long ones and are all in the top 6 lon … | |
Dollar Surges Above 200DMA, Futures Flat As Most Markets Closed For Labor DayWith most of the world’s markets closed, celebrating Labor Day in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, China and Hong Kong, overnight markets have been especially thin, with virtually no newsflow, even as the dollar surge continues keeping a lid on S&P futures. What markets were open moved little: Japan’s Topix index fell 0.2%; Aussie stocks were up 0.6%; S&P 500 futures faded an overnight gain of 0.1% and were trading flat. Treasury 10-year yields steady in a tight range of 2.95%-2.96%; Australia 10-year yield falls 1bp to 2.76%. WTI crude rises 0.3%; Dalian iron ore closed Ahead of today’s much anticipated launch of US metal tariffs against Euro … | |
Slippery Way to Grab a Slice of the Next GoogleEveryone can be a venture capitalist. It is a seductive idea, conjuring up a rarefied world of Silicon Valley billionaires seeding the next Amazon or Airbnb. But “equity crowdfunding” opportunities have yet to prove their value to investors. | |
Companies Cry the Transportation BluesCompany after company is complaining that the tight labor market is making it harder and more expensive for them to get their products to customers, creating a potential drag on profits | |
SoftBank Chairman Makes Costly Flip-Flop in Sprint-T-Mobile DealA tie-up of Sprint and T-Mobile has long made strategic sense. SoftBank could have got better terms if the deal had been done earlier. | |
Market Snapshot: Stock market struggles for direction amid earnings barrage, ahead of Fed meetingU.S. stock-index futures see muted action Tuesday, though a stream of earnings reports could provide a cue for a shift, with Wall Street also focused on the start of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy convention later in the day and fresh developments in global trade. | |
Mark Hulbert: The powerful investment lesson you can learn from an anniversary you probably forgotBP’s disastrous oil spill happened 8 years ago. Earnings per share still aren’t back to where they were before the spill — but the stock’s recovery makes it one of the best-performing stocks in the sector. | |
Market Extra: Bonds aren’t a haven for all seasons, but deliver when they matter most, says PimcoInvestors may no longer depend on bonds to guard against short-term market volatility as price pressures erode the negative correlation between stock and bond values |
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