Written by Gary
US equities markets jumped today (SPY +1.0%). Apple hit a record high, as tepid inflation data eased worries of faster interest rate hikes this year.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Wall Street rallies and Apple reaches record high(Reuters) – Wall Street jumped on Thursday, and Apple hit a record high, as tepid inflation data eased worries of faster interest rate hikes this year. | |
Bank of America affirms gun pledge, hints at Remington loan exitWILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – Bank of America said on Thursday it was standing by its pledge to stop financing civilian assault weapons and suggested it may be preparing to exit a loan for gun maker Remington Outdoor Corp that sparked criticism of the lender. | |
Trump drug-pricing speech adds dose of uncertainty for healthcare investorsNEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors are bracing for widespread volatility in healthcare stocks on Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to give a highly anticipated speech about controlling prescription drug prices. | |
Tax cut helping turn U.S. small caps into unlikely source of safetyNEW YORK (Reuters) – The Republican-led corporate tax cut is helping turn the shares of smaller publicly-traded companies in the United States into an unexpected source of stability as the broader stock market wobbles. | |
Embraer breakup complications are delaying its deal with Boeing: sourcesSAO PAULO (Reuters) – The tricky work of divvying up the three business segments of Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA has been delaying an agreement to combine operations with Boeing Co , three people with knowledge of the matter said this week. | |
Goldman Sachs, Apple to launch joint credit card: WSJ(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs and Apple Inc are preparing to launch a joint credit card, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/goldman-sachs-apple-team-up-on-new-credit-card-1525965387 on Thursday. | |
GM sees custom designs, personal ownership for self-driving cars(Reuters) – General Motors Co , which plans a ride-sharing fleet of robotaxis for next year, is looking at further business opportunities for self-driving cars, such as custom designs that could be almost unrecognizable from those of today, a top executive said on Thursday. | |
Wells Fargo trims expected hit from regulatory cap on assetsBOSTON (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co on Thursday said a cap on the bank’s growth imposed by regulators after sales practices scandals would hurt earnings less than it thought this year, and forecast 2019 expenses below Wall Street expectations. | |
‘Humbling’ U.S. settlement clears crisis-era hangover for RBSLONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland’s shares rose as much as 6 percent on Thursday after the bank reached a $4.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, opening the way for its privatization and return of cash to taxpayers who bailed it out in the financial crisis. | |
Stocks Jump For 6th Straight Day As Dollar, Yield Curve DumpCPI’s ‘miss’ prompted another day of ‘bad is good’ as wage growth slowed and stocks (and bonds) ripped… Goldilocks is back, bitches… Buy it all… (Small Caps showed the first signs of momo lag after Europe closed)… On the week, it’s all fun and games with Nasdaq leading… | |
In Ominous Development, NHTSA Joins NTSB In Probing “Horrific” Tesla “Deathtrap” CrashNothing spoils the excitement of a new relationship quite like having to reckon with the consequences of a fatal accident that left two teenagers dead inside a piece of machinery that you helped create. And yet it appears that’s exactly what Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has already had a rather extreme week, even by Musk standards, is about to do, according to CNBC. Because barely a day after the NTSB said it would be sending a team to investigate yesterday’s “horrific” deathtrap crash, in which the two teens died after being trapped in the burning Model S, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has much wider latitude to hold Tesla accountable, has said it will launch a probe of its own. That’s bad news for Tesla, because, unlike the NTSB, which can only issue recommendations, the NHTSA has the power to fine companies and impose other penalties. | |
BofA: “January 2, 2019, Is The Day The Markets Go Back To Basics” – Here’s WhyEarlier today, when discussing the potential threat facing Italian bonds now that a “populist, anti-establishment” government consisting of the Five Star Movement and the League appears inevitable, we pointed out the elephant in the room, first highlighted by Citi last December, when the bank observed that the only net buyer of Italian bonds in recent years has been the ECB. And, in previewing the inevitable (if perhaps temporary) end of the ECB’s QE, Citi said that it is “pretty likely that there will need to be an adjustment in prices” although it left one possible loophole: an “Operation Twist” conducted by the ECB to alleviate the pressure on the long end:
In a peculiar coincidence, earlier today Bank of America’s Barnaby Martin also touched upon the issue of a potential Operation Twist being conducted by the ECB, in the context of two things: i) the fading impact/influence of Draghi’s bond purchasing programs, first shown last week by another Bank of American, Michael Hartnett, and … | |
How The World’s Oil Powers Will Seize The Iran DealAuthored by Cyril Widdershoven via OilPrice.com, Despite President Trump’s clear signals over the last month, his decision to leave the JCPOA nuclear deal has still managed to shock the market. It appears that the market, and most European politicians, didn’t believe that Washington would take the step to unilaterally leave the deal. In spite of intense European efforts to convince Washington to stay in the JCPOA deal and try to renegotiate with Iran, the U.S. president has presented the world with a clear message: The President will fulfill his electoral pledges regarding Iran. The global oil market had partially factored in a withdrawal by Washington, but the true impact of the deal remains unclear. In the coming months, Washington will reinstate all of the former sanctions on Iran, starting with the lighter ones, which are mainly meant to curtail Iranian oil exports. If all sanctions, as indicated by Washington after Trump announced the withdrawal from JCPOA on TV, are put in place then the global geopolitical landscape with change dramatically. If a complete reimposition of sanctions become a reality, which would include the threat of action against European and Asian companies dealing with Iran, the oil market could hit a brick wall. Looking at current fundamentals, demand and supply are already reaching a point where additional changes in supply could lead to supply shortages. The removal of a potential 1 million bpd of Iranian oil before the end of 2018 would surely lead in the short-to-midterm to higher prices. | |
Venezuela’s Brewing Oil Shock May Be Bigger Than Iran’sTwo threats could further disrupt Venezuelan oil exports, possibly taking as much crude off the market as the renewal of Iran sanctions. | |
Big Rewards Finally Await RBS ShareholdersRBS is—finally—investible once more. Late on Wednesday it reached a $4.9 billion settlement in principle with U.S. prosecutors over crisis-era mortgage bond sales, one of the last banks to do so. | |
Mahathir Zaps Malaysia Back to the FutureMahathir is set to be back in Malaysia and Argentina is back in crisis. Shades of the 1990s and early 2000s are spooking emerging-market investors. | |
CryptoWatch: Bitcoin slides late Thursday, but holds level at $9,000After a quiet start to Thursday, cryptocurrency prices slid shortly after midday Eastern time. | |
Walmart deserves more love for its Flipkart win over AmazonWalmart’s stock has now become a good value for investors. | |
This woman held events to empower women—and men sued for discriminationThis could be the first anti-discrimination lawsuit of the #MeToo era filed by men. |
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