Written by Gary
US equities markets are down sharply (SPY -0.6%), as US factory activity slowed also weighed down by shortages of skilled workers.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
North and South American markets are mixed. The IPC is higher by 0.15%, while the S&P 500 is leading the Bovespa lower. They are down 0.58% and 0.38% respectively. |
Traders Corner – Health of the Market
Looking at the last three columns (below), the first one (Actual), is what was reported this morning. The second column (Forecast) is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.
Dow drops nearly 300 points, Boeing falls 1.5%
Stocks moving lower after tariff delay
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
U.S. factory activity slows; construction spending tumblesWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. factory activity slowed for a second straight month in April, weighed down by shortages of skilled workers and rising capacity constraints, but strengthening global demand continues to support manufacturing. | |
Instead of spring bounce, a thud for U.S. April auto salesDETROIT (Reuters) – Major automakers on Tuesday posted lower U.S. new vehicle sales in April as consumer demand continued to weaken and competition intensified following a lengthy boom for the industry. | |
Wall Street drops as cost pressures rise, oil prices retreat(Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, dragged down by Pfizer results, tumbling oil prices and growing fears that tariffs and inflation would weigh on corporate profits. | |
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. | |
U.S. extended EU tariff exemption because of good trade discussion: RossWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday said the one-month extension of the exemption from new steel and aluminum tariffs granted to the European Union was the result of promising discussions to reduce trade tensions, and he does not anticipate granting exemptions to become a continuing practice. | |
Dollar turns positive for 2018, U.S. stocks fallNEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar broke into positive territory for the year and U.S. bond yields inched higher again on Tuesday as the recent rise in oil prices fueled expectations the Federal Reserve could flag more interest rate hikes at its policy meeting 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. | |
U.S. agency to probe Nintendo systems after rival’s complaintWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday it will investigate certain gaming console systems from Nintendo Co Ltd after California-based Gamevice Inc filed a complaint alleging that their importation infringed on its patents. | |
Pfizer first-quarter results miss estimates as key drug sales fall shortNEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc on Tuesday reported lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue as demand for some key drugs and international sales fell short of estimates, sparking a 5.1 percent drop in shares of the largest U.S. drugmaker. | |
Goldman Fined $110 Million For “Improperly” Rigging The FX MarketFirst Deutsche, then BNP, and now it’s Goldman’s turn to pay the Fed a token fee for making billions in manipulating the FX market from 2008 to 2013. The Department of Financial Service announced on Tuesday that Goldman had agreed to pay the Federal Reserve $54.75 million, and an identical fine to the New York financial regulator, to settle claims that the bank allowed its foreign exchange traders to wrongly share customer information with traders from other global banks and engage in questionable conduct. Furthermore, it appears that Goldman was the latest bank to participate in infamous FX rigging “chatoorms” which its traders used to discuss their positions on currency trades away from regulatory scrutiny.
Oddly enough, these years roughly coincide with Tom Stolper’s reign as Goldman’s undisputed “FX Gartman” when it comes to trading recommendations as regular readers will recall. “The firm failed to detect and address its traders’ use of electronic chatrooms to communicate with competitors about trading positions,” the Fed said in a statement. The Fed said it was takin … | |
Facebook Stumbles After Announcing “Clear History” Feature, Developers AngryFacebook is sliding lower today, back to earnings night levels, after announcing the implementation of a ‘Clear History’ feature will allow users to delete information from their accounts and to turn off Facebook’s ability to store information associated with accounts going forward. Via By Erin Egan, VP and Chief Privacy Officer
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Nomura: Dollar Is Soaring As Markets Capitulate To “Synchronized Global Growth” NarrativeOne week ago we warned that a major USD short squeeze is taking place, and that it has the potential to get much worse for dollar bears. Today, Nomura’s X-asset guru Charlie Mcelligott explains that, in his view, the reason why the dollar has so dramatically reversed direction in the past two weeks, in the process recoupling with rate differentials, is because the “fake narrative” of “synchronized global growth” is finally over, and with it, the “hawkish central bank pivot” thesis is breaking-down as well More, as excerpted in his latest note below: DOLLAR BREAKS-OUT, AS RECOUPLING WITH RATE DIFFS BLEEDING LEGACY MACRO POSITIONING Heard this one before? DXY through 200DMA overnight is escalating the “performance bleed” from consensual macro positioning with implicit “short USD” components With the “synchronized global growth” narrative now being capitulated against, the Dollar has recoupled with rates differentials, as US is again viewed as the world’s leading growth-story In conjunction with R.O.W.’s “slower growth” trend, we have seen the “hawkish central bank pivot” thesis break-down as well—BoC, BoE, BoJ are collectively “regressing” with increasingly “dovish” rhetoric, while PBoC takes outright “easing”- / stimulus- actions Nomura Quant Strategies CTA model showing the “Dollar reversal” phenomenon in “real-time,” as WoW we see “short USD” positioning expressions beginning to reverse / pivot in not just FX but Equities and Commodities as well EM equities longs then in a dangerous position, as TFF data shows the Asset Manager “net long” position @ +2.5 z-scores, while Leveraged funds too remain high @ +0.8 z-scores Despit … | |
Mueller’s Former Assistant Alleges Trump Team Leaked Questions To Kill InterviewMere minutes after we published a post speculating that President Trump’s latest denunciation of the Mueller probe could be part of a ploy to push him to spurn Mueller’s request for an interview, a CNN analyst named Michael Zeldin – who once worked as Mueller’s assistant – put forth a strikingly similar theory. Zeldin pointed to the rash of typos in the document that was reportedly leaked to the New York Times as evidence that, instead of coming from the Mueller campaign like the Times insinuated, the leak might’ve come from inside Trump’s legal team. Zeldin said the questions were likely culled from notes being taken by the Trump team during the course of a discussion with Mueller and his team. The reason? By leaking the questions, Trump’s team is trying to gently convince the president that he shouldn’t agree to an interview with Mueller – something he’s reportedly been feeling more apprehensive about
Zeldin worked as special counsel to Mueller in … | |
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. | |
April 2018 Manufacturing Survey Growth Little ChangedWritten by Steven Hansen The ISM Manufacturing survey declined and remained in expansion. The key internals are in expansion. The Markit PMI manufacturing Index is in positive territory and insignificantly improved. | |
Key Words: White House says assertion that Iran has a robust nuclear-weapons program resulted from clerical errorThe “has,” the White House later said, was errant. It meant “had.” The statement was revised, with the verb tense changed, within a couple of hours. | |
In One Chart: The stock market has no leader right now—here’s why that might be bad newsThe U.S. stock market has been stuck in a tight trading range for weeks, and a key reason for that may be simple: it has no leader to follow. | |
Earnings Outlook: Apple earnings to show how much of its overseas cash will be funneled to investorsApple reports results on Tuesday, May 1 and is expected to increase its capital-return program as part of its plans to reduce its net-cash balance. |
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