Written by Gary
US equities markets climbed today after the US and China put their trade differences “on hold” (SPY +0.8%). DOW soars 300 points, Russell 2000 hits record and the gold index trending upward.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are mixed. The S&P 500 is higher by 0.76%, while the Bovespa is leading the IPC lower. They are down 1.21% and 0.14% respectively. |
Traders Corner – Health of the Market
Dow surges more than 250 points as US-China trade war is placed ‘on hold’
As hedge funds step up performance, stocks such as Microsoft and these others are helping them do it
Dow soars 300 points as China trade tensions ease
Tesla shares pare gains after Model 3 falls short of Consumer Reports recommendation
Mnuchin: ‘I’m very bullish on stocks’ and sustained economic growth over 3%
Goldman: Don’t worry about rising interest rates until the 10-year yield hits 4%
Icahn teams up with protege in Energen deal that makes for an activist trifecta
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| Wall Street jumps on trade war truce, Russell 2000 hits record(Reuters) – U.S. stocks climbed on Monday after the United States and China put their trade differences “on hold” to work on a wider agreement, while sentiment was also buoyed by the nearly $28 billion worth of merger activity. |
| LaSalle Hotel accepts Blackstone’s $3.7 billion cash offer(Reuters) – LaSalle Hotel Properties decided to sell itself to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP for $3.7 billion in cash, rejecting a cash-and-stock offer from rival Pebblebrook Hotel Trust . |
| 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. |
| Britain unlikely to investigate Comcast bid for Sky, says ministerLONDON (Reuters) – Britain said it was unlikely to refer Comcast’s bid for Sky for a lengthy investigation after an initial review found that the $30 billion offer did not raise public concerns about media ownership. |
| Carl Icahn files lawsuit against AmTrust, controlling family(Reuters) – Activist investor Carl Icahn filed a lawsuit on Monday against AmTrust Financial Services Inc and the family that controls the company, accusing them of trying to take the insurer private at the wrong time and at the wrong price. |
| China relieved, U.S. business ambivalent over easing of trade tensionsBEIJING (Reuters) – China’s government on Monday praised a significant cooling of trade tensions with the United States, saying agreement was in both nations’ interests while state media trumpeted what it saw as Beijing’s refusal to surrender to U.S. economic threats. |
| U.S. and Canadian regulators open probes into cryptocurrency scamsWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Canadian state securities regulators announced Monday they have launched dozens of investigations into cryptocurrency scams. |
| Model 3 price hype helps Tesla shares bounce(Reuters) – Shares in Tesla Inc jumped more than 4 percent on Monday as investors were encouraged by the company’s placing a $78,000 price tag on the fully-loaded version of its Model 3 sedan. |
| U.S.’s Mnuchin: ‘Significant’ issues remain over NAFTAWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said major issues remained in talks between the United States, Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA). |
| American Gridlock |
| “The Stakes Here Go Beyond Trump’s Future” WSJ Editors Demand Truth About FBI SpyingAmid all the liberal media’s meltdown over President Trump’s “interference” in the ‘investigation’ by “hereby demanding” that potential crimes by Obama’s FBI be investigated – and The Deep State’s insistence that any exposure of the already-leaked name of the Trump campaign spy would damage national security – The Wall Street Journal refuses to back off its intense pressure to get to the truth. President Trump dropped a three-tweet quote this morning…
And WSJ appears to be doing just that – trying to get to the root of all this evil, which has time and again led to Brennan. |
| US Stocks Plunge As Europe Closes, Italian Bonds Crash Most In 4 YearsNo headlines, no catalyst, just the close of the European trading session… and US equities tumble…
Did The Fed drop the buying-baton from The ECB? It seems The ECB was overwhelmed in its own markets. Italian 2Y Yields exploded higher (biggest single-day spike in 2Y Yield since Oct 2014)… And Italian 10Y Yields are at their highest since Nov 2014… so bad that they are only 70bps tighter than US bonds.
Idiosyncratic risk is blowing out. |
| FBI Informant Stefan Halper Paid Over $1 Million By Obama Admin; Spied On Trump Aide After ElectionLess than a week after Stefan Halper was outed as the FBI informant who infiltrated the Trump campaign, public records reveal that the 73-year-old Oxford University professor and former U.S. government official was paid handsomely by the Obama administration starting in 2012 for various research projects. A longtime CIA and FBI asset who once reportedly ran a spy-operation on the Jimmy Carter administration, Halper was enlisted by the FBI to spy on several Trump campaign aides during the 2016 U.S. election. Meanwhile, a search of public records reveals that between 2012 and 2018, Halper received a total of $1,058,161 from the Department of Defense. Halper’s contracts were funded through four annual awards paid directly out of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment (ONA). Established as the DoD’s “internal think tank” in 1973 by Richard Nixon (who … |
| 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. |
| Tesla stock jumps on upbeat Wall Street note, ‘performance’ Model 3 newsTesla shares rose to their highest in more than a month as one analyst said he expect them to soar more than 70%. There was another boost from Elon Musk, who gave more details about an amped-up version of the Model 3. |
| Currencies: Dollar index hits 6-month high as market sees signs of ebbing global trade conflictsThe U.S. dollar surges anew on Monday, with a key gauge of the currency at its loftiest level since late last year, as investors read the most recent development between the U.S. and China as evidence of easing trade animosities. |
| 50 million American households can’t afford basic living expensesNew data from the United Way Alice Project finds that many families are struggling to get by. |
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