17May2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Set To Open Fractionally Lower, DOW Futures Flat, WTI Has Moved Up Into The 72 Handle Once Again, Treasury Yields Climb To Its Highest Level Since July 2011

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 is up 0.48% while Germany’s DAX is up 0.31% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.24%.

Stock futures drop as Cisco disappoints; trade talks eyed

(Reuters) – U.S. stock futures dipped on Thursday after Cisco’s disappointing forecast, while investors fretted about rising U.S. Treasury yields and looming trade talks between the United States and China.

U.S. weekly jobless claims rise; unemployment rolls smallest in 45 years

(Reuters) – New applications for U.S. jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, but the number of Americans on unemployment rolls fell to its lowest level since 1973, pointing to diminishing labor market slack.

Blood but not much treasure: Vivendi’s European media crusade

MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) – French tycoon Vincent Bollore’s stated goal to create a southern European media empire faces defeat in Italy, despite pumping 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) into his biggest foreign conquest, raising questions over whether the strategy ever existed.

In Silicon Valley, Chinese ‘accelerators’ aim to bring startups home

NEW YORK/ SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Beijing’s unslakeable thirst for the latest technology has spurred a proliferation of “accelerators” in Silicon Valley that aim to identify promising startups and bring them to China.

Asia oil thirst tab $1 trillion a year as crude rises to $80

By Henning Gloystein, Rajendra Jadhav and Neil Jerome Morales

Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce growth rebounds, shares rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Walmart Inc, the world’s biggest retailer, posted a rebound in its U.S. e-commerce business on Thursday and beat profit and revenue expectations, lifting its shares in premarket trade.

Takeda CEO prescribes surgical R&D cuts after $62 billion Shire deal

LONDON (Reuters) – For Christophe Weber, the boss of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical , securing a $62 billion deal last week to buy drugmaker Shire at the fifth time of asking was the easy bit.

At Germany’s SAP, employee mindfulness leads to higher profits

BERLIN – Peter Bostelmann, an industrial engineer at Europe’s technology giant SAP, discovered meditation during a personal crisis a decade ago.

Volkswagen’s biggest brand to by-pass Paris auto show

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen will not display its core brand at the Paris motor show this year, the latest and most prominent carmaker to swerve the biennial industry gathering.

Cohen Leaker Steps Forward: “To Say That I Am Terrified Right Now Would Be An Understatement”

Journalist Ronin Farrow is back with another bombshell report – this time from the person who leaked Michael Cohen’s banking records, detailing “pay for play” type payments from the likes of Novartis and AT&T.

In short: The leaker, law enforcement official, became alarmed after two “suspicious-activity reports” (SARs) filed by Cohen’s bank, First Republic, went missing from a the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) that he leaked the rest.

And instead of going to the Treasury’s Inspector General, or special counsel Robert Mueller, the leaker chose porn star lawyer Michael Avenatti, who published the remaining SARs on Cohen (along with two other men named “Michael Cohen” wrongly included in the disclosure).

The official, who has spent a career in law enforcement, told me, “I have never seen something pulled off the system. . . . That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official added, “That’s why I came f …

Blain: “The Bond Spike Confirms The End Of Experimental Monetary-Policy Rally”

Submitted by Bill Blain of Mint Partners

“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Geniuses remove it.”

What we got in markets this fine and dandy morning? The clue might be in the weather. Blue skies over London, and the forecast is for a great weekend. Compare and contrast with the snow and storms of just 2 months ago. The outlook is fine – so why is everyone so bleak about market prospects?

Perhaps it’s the sheer complexity of all the awful bad news in geopolitics, rates, flows and all the other what-evers that drive market sentiment? Treasury yields (the 10-year US bond rate) have decisively breached 3%, spiking all the way up to 3.11% this morning – triggering terror across global stocks according to the news wires, although a glance out the window suggests stock jobbers ain’t hurling themselves lemming-like from the 19th floor… yet. Still… we live in hope.

The problem is bad news sells. When did you last read a headline about everything being just peachy? You didn’t. Sure there are worries out there. Recent economic data has been disappointing – which is hardly surprising when you consider just how much economies were disrupted by the miserable winter. It feels the global growth macro engine has stalled – but hey-ho, the sun is literally shinning this morning. We’ve seen divergence and dissonance in the synchronicity global growth vibe, but a few bum notes shouldn’t stop the concert!

The bottom line is we’re in a period of correction. Negative sentiment has been fanned because so many investors are out their comfort zones, for instance: if you bought into EM debt in search of the stellar returns that dried up in investment grade, you are probably nursing severe bruises – meaning you are bound to be negative. Meanwhile, you might miss that distressed sovereign specialist Michael Hasenstab of Franklin Templeton just took a massive $2.25 …

Italy’s Five Star, League Reach Agreement On Coalition Government, But Confusion Remains

Italy’s two-and-a-half month stalemate is finally coming to an end, and according to unnamed Bloomberg and Reuters sources, the leaders of Italy’s populist Five Star movement and Northern League have agreed on a final government program, one which to the market’s relief does not include a request to write down 250BN in debt held by the ECB.

… or maybe not: shortly after the flashing read headlines hit, the League said the government deal is not final, and nor is there a deal on premiership. Meanwhile, Italy’s Ansa newswire reported that according to its sources, a final government plan has not been sealed yet, and that negotiations are still ongoing on govt program and on the name of candidate prime minister.

In any case, here’s a summary of what we know so far courtesy of Bloomberg:

Populist parties Five Star and the League have a deal on a program to form a coalition government, according to a party official, while news agency ANSA says the plan is not final

Still no word on who will be nominated as prime minister

The parties want to canvas their voters before presenting it to Italy’s president for approval

The program calls for increased fiscal spending, tax cuts and reviewing international agreements

It does not include a proposal to write off billions of government debt held by the ECB, as per an earlier draft

Investors are wary of a radical shake-up in an EU founding member, with the yield premium to German bonds the widest since January

In a meeting in the Palazzo Montecitorio, Matteo Salvini and Luigi di Maio, the leaders of the League and M5S, respectively, are trying to decide who will be the next prime minister of Italy.

Meanwhile, the leaks about the government’s policy program appeared to dull concerns about a possible Italeave.

And while initial reports of a deal raised hopes, Five Star officials later denied that an agre …

European Leaders Revolt Against US Sanctions In Bid To Preserve Iran Deal

European leaders gathered in Sofia on Thursday to hash out a plan for shielding Iran from the brunt of US economic sanctions as they try to convince Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to continue abiding by the terms of the deal, while proposing levying tariffs on US goods in response to Trump decision to impose sanctionson Iran.

Shortly after President Trump announced that the US would pull out of the deal, Rouhani promised that his country would continue abiding by its terms only if Iranian businesses could continue operating normally.

In an interview with Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio, European Union budget commissioner, Guenther Oettinger discussed several options for preserving the deal, including using the European Investment Bank to offset the impact of sanctions by extending loans to firms with financing problems. In an example of one more-extreme measure under discussion, the EU has also considered “imposing its own tariffs” on the US that would make it much harder for US firms to sell their goods and services in the trade bloc.

Of course, the US has important goods and services in the industrial sector that it would like to offload in Europe, Oettinger said.

While sanctions weren’t the EU’s first choice for preserving the deal, few other actions would be strident enough to get President Trump’s attention, as Oettinger made clear:

“We want to resist that. We have limited possibilities,” he said.

“Trump despises weaklings. If we back down step by step, if we acquiesce, if we become a kind of junior partner of the US then we are lost.”

And while the EU would like to protect its largest companies from US sanctions, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that companies would be responsible for deciding whether they will still do business with Iran.

Tencent Is Ready Again for Its Battle Royale

Chinese tech giant’s shares have tumbled in recent months, but first-quarter results should allay investor concerns.

In Emerging Turmoil, What Links Argentina and Turkey?

Who’s next? The fear of contagion is stalking emerging markets again, but Argentina and Turkey have put themselves in the firing line while others have distanced themselves from it.

Investors, Brace Yourselves for More Drug-Price Drama

The next leg of the Trump administration’s plan to lower the cost of drug prices could get ugly for investors.

Economic Report: Jobless claims climb to one-month high of 222,000

The rate of layoffs in the U.S. rose in early May to the highest level in a month, but so-called initial jobless claims are still near the lowest levels in half a century. Initial jobless claims rose by 11,000 to 222,000 in the week ended May 12.

From Spotify to Instagram, the entire internet is now a dating site

Disenchanted or just plain turned off by online dating, people are finding love and romance in other corners of the internet.

Your guide to the Trump drug price plan: who it affects and how

President Trump has said drug companies are ‘getting away with murder.’ That may continue under his new drug plan.