Written by Gary
The three major US benchmark indexes were higher today (SPY +0.5%) as U.S. crude hit $70 per barrel for the first time since late 2014. Shares of technology companies have been lifted by Apple’s sixth day of gains.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are mixed today. The S&P 500 is up 0.48% while the Bovespa gains 0.23%. The IPC is off 0.33%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| In Omaha, preparing for change at Berkshire HathawayOMAHA, Neb. (Reuters) – The first question Warren Buffett was asked at Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s annual meeting on Saturday was whether he was “semi-retired,” having given four lieutenants oversight over the company’s operating businesses and some investments. |
| Wall Street lifted by gains in oil, technology shares(Reuters) – Wall Street was higher on Monday as U.S. crude hit $70 per barrel for the first time since late 2014, while shares of technology companies were lifted by Apple’s sixth day of gains. |
| Nestle to pay Starbucks $7.15 billion in global coffee allianceLONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss-based food giant Nestle will pay Starbucks $7.15 billion in cash for the rights to sell the U.S. coffee chain’s products around the world, tying a premium brand to Nestle’s global distribution muscle. |
| Cognizant cuts profit forecast due to tax hit(Reuters) – IT services firm Cognizant lowered its forecast for annual earnings on Monday saying that it now expected to pay higher taxes than previously thought, driving its shares down 6 percent. |
| Fasten your seatbelts: WTO prepares to land Airbus rulingGENEVA (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization’s appeals judges will rule next week on whether the United States has grounds to slap trade sanctions on European Union for subsidizing planemaker Airbus , they said on Monday. |
| Blackstone to buy Gramercy Property in $7.6 billion deal(Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP will buy commercial real estate manager Gramercy Property Trust in a $7.6 billion all-cash deal, the companies said on Monday. |
| Oil surges on threat to Venezuela’s PDVSA, Iran worriesNEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices rose to their highest levels since late 2014 on Monday, boosted by the latest troubles for Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and a looming decision on whether the United States will re-impose sanctions on Iran. |
| Carl Icahn sells stake in AIG: Forbes(Reuters) – Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold his stake in AIG , Forbes reported on Monday, ending a more than two-year association with one of the largest U.S. property and casualty insurers. |
| Nissan to gradually withdraw from diesel vehicle market in EuropePARIS (Reuters) – Japanese carmaker Nissan will gradually stop selling diesel cars in Europe, in a further sign of weakening demand for those cars as customers worry about tax rises and looming bans and restrictions related to diesel in many countries. |
| Is The Taxpayer About To Rescue Elon Musk Again?It is no longer a secret that Elon Musk’s car-making company is a cash-burning monster that now admittedly needs to raise more cash. And while the bond market remains extremely skeptical of Musk’s visions, his threats of a “short burn of the century” this weekend…
Seems to have spooked a few weak shorts out of the stock (but not the bonds)…
So the question everyone is asking is simple – is this the last desperate ‘vinegar strokes’ of the new millennium’s ‘Enron’? Or does Musk have yet another rabbit up his sleeve (mixing metaphors wildly)? Today we may have got the answer. As The Daily Caller’s … |
| The Worst Trades In HistoryAuthored by Alex Kimani via SafeHaven.com, To err is human–it’s a fact of life that people make mistakes, all the time. Fortunately for the majority of us, our biggest mistakes on the job end up being quite tolerable and good learning experiences. But in the much bigger corporate arena where multi-billion-dollar deals are par for the course, blunders can be exceedingly costly whether they involve striking regrettable deals or passing up great opportunities. A recurring theme of hubris tends to underline many corporate gaffes though some are plainly due to poor judgement.
Without further ado, the brass tucks. Here are the top 5 corporate blunders in history: #1 Excite Fails to Buy a Young Google They say never to despise small beginnings. Well, that’s exactly what former search giant Excite is guilty of. Back in 1999, Excite was the second-largest search engine behind only Yahoo, while Google was a little-known upstart. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then offered to sell the startup to Excite for $1 million at first, an offer that … |
| Short-Squeeze Lifts S&P To Critical Technical Level; Bonds, Dollar ShrugThe Dollar is practically unchanged (amid some volatility) and Treasury yields are officially unchanged across the entire curve… but that doesn’t stop the short-squeeze continuing to lift Nasdaq stocks 1% higher and the S&P back to its 50DMA… The Dow is up 190 points, and the entire yield curve is unchanged…
But its Breakevens that are snapping higher…
So buy stocks… |
| Munger Massacres “Scumbag, Immoral” Bitcoin Traders, Gates “Would Short It” If He CouldFollowing the weekend’s Buffett and Munger bitcoin-bashing (“Someone else is trading turds and you decide I can’t be left out”), the 181-year-old pair were joined by Bill Gates in a lengthy CNBC interview this morning… and Munger went rogue once again on cryptos…
Bill Gates then added that he was given some for a birthday and decided a few years later to sell it. He does not own any Bitcoin now.
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| Glencore’s Wild West—And East—Is Getting RiskierPart of Glencore’s success has been its willingness to take risks others wouldn’t in unstable places. The strategy has paid off, but makes it vulnerable to changing political attitudes in the U.S. and China. |
| Videogame’s Big Shooters Need to Aim HighIt takes more than a Fortnite to shoot down Call of Duty. But what happens when even more bullets start flying |
| Why It’s Not Crazy to Buy a Mall Giant in the Age of AmazonThe company betting billions to create a trans-Atlantic shopping-mall giant is playing a riskier game than its investors are used to. But in a riskier retail world, that may be no bad thing. |
| Commodities Corner: Oil prices have surged above $70—here are 4 key reasons behind the rallySupply concerns surrounding the possible reinstatement of sanctions on Iran aren’t the only reason for the climb in U.S. benchmark oil prices above $70 a barrel to their highest levels since late 2014. |
| Outside the Box: How this pharma executive retired to help people around the worldTaking a lifelong ‘What if?’ and making it a reality |
| Key Words: Former U.S. ambassador to Russia on his relationship with Putin: It’s complicatedStanford political scientist Michael McFaul says he’s known Russian President Vladimir Putin from decades, but they’re hardly Facebook friends. Or, he quips, are they? |
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