Written by Gary
US stock index futures have jumped this morning (SPY +0.6%). Stocks, oil prices and the dollar are all getting a boost, with the Dow set to leap over 220 points at the opening.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
![]() | European markets are higher today as French and British shares show gains. The CAC 40 is up 0.53% while the FTSE 100 is up 0.62%. The German DAX is closed. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
![]() | Blackstone to buy LaSalle Hotel for $3.7 billion(Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP said on Monday it would buy U.S. hotel owner LaSalle Hotel Properties for $3.7 billion, topping a rival bid from Pebblebrook Hotel Trust in April for $3.5 billion. |
![]() | China relieved U.S. trade war is ‘on hold’; U.S. business ambivalentBEIJING (Reuters) – China on Monday praised a significant dialing back of trade tension with the United States, with the government saying agreement was in the interests of both countries while state media trumpeted what it saw as China’s refusal to surrender. |
![]() | EU parliament to broadcast Zuckerberg hearingBRUSSELS (Reuters) – A European Parliament meeting on Tuesday with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be broadcast live, parliamentary officials and the company said on Monday after controversy over plans for a closed-door hearing. |
![]() | Futures jump as U.S.-China trade spat put ‘on hold’(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures jumped on Monday, with manufacturers and chipmakers leading the gainers, after the United States and China put a potential trade war “on hold” while the world’s two biggest economies work on a wider agreement. |
![]() | Fifth Third Bancorp to buy MB Financial for about $4.7 billion(Reuters) – U.S. regional bank Fifth Third Bancorp on Monday said it would buy MB Financial Inc in a stock-and-cash deal valued at about $4.7 billion. |
![]() | Exclusive: BP back on its feet but CEO senses no respiteLONDON (Reuters) – After the near collapse of his company following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster and a three-year slump in oil prices, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley is hardly relaxed. |
![]() | British court dismisses charges against Barclays over 2008 capital raiseLONDON (Reuters) – A British court has dismissed charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against Barclays over its 2008 capital raising, the bank said on Monday, suspending for now the threat of regulatory sanctions on its business operations over the matter. |
![]() | GE merges transportation unit with Wabtec in $11.1 billion deal(Reuters) – General Electric Co confirmed on Monday it was unloading the bulk of its transportation business which makes train engines to Wabtec Corp , a U.S. manufacturer of equipment for the rail industry, in a deal valued at about $11.1 billion. |
![]() | U.S. underscores importance of concluding new NAFTA dealMEXICO CITY (Reuters) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan underscored the importance of concluding a new NAFTA trade deal in talks on Sunday with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray on the sidelines of the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Buenos Aires. |
![]() | Blain: “Mnuchin’s Name Is Now High On The Trump Deadpool List”Submitted by Bill Blain of Mint Partners
Queue jumpers on the train again this morning! Most folk politely line-up on the platform for the packed Southampton to London train, but not the young “lady” who brazenly barged in front of everyone and then spread her luggage over a couple of chairs, or the bald city-looking bloke who pushed through utterly oblivious to anyone else. Its moments like this when I wonder if its worth it anymore. Things are not improving… 30 plus years of paying my taxes and I’m still not allowed to shoot arrogant little s**ts off the train… Anyway.. enough about my gripes.. what about markets? Strip away the political noise and the short-term alarms, and its difficult to discern anything particularly real about direction or trend at present. What we do have are a host of conflicting cross-tides and currents – bond yields slowly edging higher, equities still range driven, and fears about weakening economic data lessening. The news flow is dominated by a host of factors ranging from Italy, US/China, Oil prices and what’s next. The fact US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said “we’re putting the trade war on hold” will be perceived as a positive – but the devil will be in the details. The real issues to solve are IP and services. Meanwhile, Mnuchin’s name is now high on the Trump deadpool list as White House staffers brief against him. Strip away the noise, and the macro numbers tell us the underlying environment remains positive. The global agenda is about trade agreements. There is an intact underlying global growth trend – although it gets buried in political noise. Analyse it carefully and the right strategy is to invest in long-term growth assets, remaining risk-on in stocks, and negative bon … |
![]() | “God Help Turkey”: FX Confiscation Rumors Launch Lira Meltdown As Yields ExplodeWhile Turkey may have repatriated all of its gold held at the NY Fed, or at least moved it from New York to the BIS tower in Basel as we reported overnight, what markets are far more concerned about is the ongoing inactivity by the central bank to arrest the record collapse in the Turkish Lira and the just as record surge in Turkish 10Y yields, which in light of Erdogan’s threats on the “independent” central bank, which is now terrified to hike rates, is perhaps understandable. It is therefore also understandable why, as Bloomberg reports this morning, one brokerage is looking for help from a higher power: “God help Turkey” Istanbul-based broker Alnus Yatirim said in the sign-off to its morning note to clients on Monday. “We’re faced with a central bank that is watching the market when it needs to lead and direct it.” Yatirim has a point: on today’s Bloomberg EM Bloodbath chart, the TRY is once again the worst performing currency against the USD… … as the Turkish Lira drops to a fresh all time low, just shy of 4.60 against the USD. |
![]() | Futures, Dollar Surge As “Trade War Put On Hold”; But Euro, Italian Bonds, EMs RoutedAll it took was 8 simple words, with little factual backing and no way of enforcement, to send global markets and US equity futures soaring overnight: “We are putting the trade war on hold,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday, refuting Trump’s prior skepticism, in which the president said the doubts China trade talks will be successful, and sending risk assets across the globe (even as most of Europe was closed due to Whit Monday) higher. For those who missed it, on Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated that US and China are putting the trade war on hold, while he added that previously announced tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium, as well as USD 150bln of tariffs on other Chinese imports, would be placed on hold as discussions with China progress. US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin also stated that President Trump is more interested in obtaining a good deal with NAFTA partners rather than quickly concluding talks in time to be voted by Congress this year. US Trade Representative Lighthizer stated that US may still resort to tariffs and other measures such as restrictions on investment and export regulations unless China makes real structural adjustments to its economy. At the same time, in a just as hollow vow, Beijing promised to “significantly” i … |
![]() | Trader: Italy On Verge Of Inducing Fresh European CrisisTired (or maybe bored) of worrying about rising interest rates, a rising dollar and higher oil prices? Then fear not, because according to Bloomberg macro strategist and former Lehman trader, Mark Cudmore, you can now start worrying about a new, or rather well-forgotten, potential risk flashpoint, namely Italy which, as he writes in his latest Macro View note overnight, is “on the verge of inducing a fresh European crisis.” Full note below.
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![]() | Small Outages Have Big Impact on Oil PricesMultiple oil supply outages at the same time helped prices hit a multi-year high and should keep the market tight into early summer. |
![]() | The Mystery of the Small-Cap RallyHot sectors are driving small stocks while a few big companies are holding back the large-cap indexes. |
![]() | Nordstrom Racked by Macy’s Good NumbersMacy’s cheery report, when it posted strong earnings, was a positive sign for retail—and a welcome rebuff of the notion that the sector is doomed. It was not so great for Nordstrom, however, which was put in the unenviable position of having to follow Macy’s act. |
![]() | The Wall Street Journal: Boeing to join Mexico in probe of deadly Cuba plane crashA team from Boeing Co. will be permitted to join the investigation of the crash of a Boeing 737 charter flight outside Havana that killed more than 100 people. |
![]() | Market Extra: Here’s what surging oil prices mean for the stock marketStock-market investors are loving the unexpected surge in oil prices—at least for now. |
![]() | Gene therapy turns people into superheroes on TV. Can it do that in real life too?Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” was inspired by a real-life genetic editing procedure, but the truth is more complicated than fiction. |
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