Written by Gary
The US stock markets took a dive this morning after President Trump calls off North Korean summit, but is in the process of recovering (SPY -0.2%) in late afternoon trading.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
Traders Corner – Health of the Market
Looking at the last three columns (below), the first one (Actual), is what was reported this morning. The second column (Forecast) is what analysts had forecast and the third column is the previous report. Full calendar HERE.
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Wall Street slips as Trump cancels North Korea summit, targets car imports(Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump canceled a planned historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and threatened tariffs on auto imports while trade tensions with China simmered. | |
U.S. auto import probe fans tariff fears, riles Asia, Europe carmakers(Reuters) – A Trump administration investigation of car and truck imports raised the threat on Thursday of renewed conflict over trade policy for an industry that thrives on stability and sent stocks in Asian and European automakers down. | |
Tesla’s Musk bashes media, proposes credibility check(Reuters) – Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk gained the support on Thursday of more than half a million people on Twitter for plans to create a website evaluating journalists’ credibility, spurred by his frustration at media reports about the electric car maker. | |
Deutsche Bank axes at least 7,000 jobs in trading retreatFRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank is slashing more than 7,000 jobs to cut costs and restore profitability, while keeping its international reach as its new CEO seeks to reassure investors and clients. | |
Car imports probe gives GM, Ford shares tiny lift(Reuters) – Shares of General Motors and Ford inched only marginally higher before the bell on Thursday after the Trump administration launched a national security probe into car imports which could lead to new tariffs on foreign competitors while also stirring trade tensions. | |
Sanctions-hit tycoon Deripaska asks Kremlin to buy some of his aluminium: sourceST PETERSBURG, Russia/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian aluminium producer Rusal has asked the Russian government to purchase some of its output, a government source said on Thursday, in an effort to alleviate the pain inflicted by U.S. sanctions. | |
UAW accuses Musk of threatening Tesla workers over unionization(Reuters) – The United Auto Workers union (UAW) has filed a complaint accusing Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk of illegally threatening to take away benefits from workers who join the union. | |
About $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen since 2017: cybercrime groupNEW YORK (Reuters) – Criminals have stolen about $1.2 billion in cryptocurrencies since the beginning of 2017, as bitcoin’s popularity and the emergence of more than 1,500 digital tokens have put the spotlight on the unregulated sector, according to estimates from the Anti-Phishing Working Group released on Thursday. | |
U.S. could seek American compliance officers at ZTE: RossWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has not made a final decision on changes to its ban on ZTE Corp , but any alternative remedy could include installing U.S. compliance officers at the Chinese telecoms company, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday. | |
“It’s Now Cool To Be Bearish Bonds…”Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog, It’s now cool to be bearish bonds. A couple of years ago you were labeled a pariah for even suggesting inflation might pick up. The few of us that argued locking in 10-year money at 1.4% wasn’t a good risk reward supposedly didn’t understand the overwhelming three Ds – debt, demographics and deflation. Yeah, ok… However, given the recent bond bear market, nowadays the tide has turned to the point where anyone suggesting we might see a bounce in bonds is equally chastised for not fully grasping the atrocious fundamentals surrounding the US debt market. Here is a great chart I lifted from a Bloomberg article titled “Corporate Bonds Sink Fast in One of Worst Tumbles Since 2000 by Cecile Gutscher that shows the rolling 100-day return of the JPMorgan bond index. | |
What Is The Italian “Contagion” Trigger? Here Is The AnswerTwo days ago, when looking at the ongoing turmoil gripping the Italian market, where the imminent formation of a populist, Euroskeptic government with a penchant for spending and threatening to impose a “parallel currency”, the “Mini-BoT” has sent Italian yields soaring to the highest level in years, we noted something more troubling not just for Italy, but for all of Europe: Italy’s redenomination risk was soaring, and was starting to spread to the other key PIIGS: Portugal and Spain (Greece, having recently concluded its 4th bailout will probably not implode soon). Still so far the contagion has been quite limited, with “redenomination risk” barely rising to levels seen at the start of the year. Furthermore, today the (long-overdue) hurricane that hit Italy’s market over the past two weeks seemed to abate in early trading, pushing BTPs modestly higher and bunds lower, after local press reported that 5-Star was considering Luidi Zingales for Finance Minister, a far more mainstream candidate than the euroskeptic Paolo Savona who is currently the top candidate for the post. However, the early bund weakness and peripheral gains were quickly … | |
Bitcoin Forks ExplainedAuthored by Amity blog via Safehaven.com, In early November, while Bitcoin enthusiasts and investors were waiting for a long-anticipated update to the software that supports the famous digital currency, a mass email from the group behind the project informed everyone that they were canceling the update. For months, Segwit2x, as the update was called, was at the center of a heated debate between different stakeholders in the Bitcoin community on how to address Bitcoin’s struggles in increasing the speed at which it handles transactions. In their announcement, the Segwit2x leaders stated the update had not won sufficient consensus in the community, hence their decision to call it off. The debate surrounding Segwit2x and the eventual withdrawal of the update proposal demonstrates how updating cryptocurrency software (called “forks” in the crypto-jargon) can be complicated. Here’s what you need to know about forks and how they affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. | |
“My Days As A Dollar Bull Are Over…”Having been a dollar bull for several months, Bloomberg’s Mark Cudmore now thinks it’s about time for the long-term dollar downtrend to resume. All the key drivers of strength have run their course and it’s more likely that the marginal developments from here will weigh on the dollar… Via Bloomberg, After rising more than 4% in the last five weeks, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has bounced far enough. The climb has been entirely justified by fundamentals but now the key drivers are beginning to turn the other way. U.S. two- … | |
Ralph Lauren Refreshes Its Faded JeansRalph Lauren shares jumped as the company beat analyst expectations and showed investors evidence that its turnaround efforts may finally take hold. | |
Why the Property Industry Isn’t Buying WeWorkWeWork has convinced tech investors that short-term office rentals are the next big thing, and well worth a high price. Savvy real-estate investors also like that business, but not at WeWork’s valuation. | |
Turning GE’s Sacred Cows Into HamburgerGeneral Electric boss John Flannery sent shares tumbling with revelations about profitability and the dividend. | |
The New York Post: Pompeo says U.S. wants ‘complete dismantlement’ of North Korea’s nuclear arsenalSecretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday defended President Trump’s decision to bail on the much-ballyhooed summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. But he also told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US remained committed to ensuring that the rogue regime dismantle its nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile program as part of any potential future deal. | |
The Tell: Should bond-market investors sell in April and go away?Bonds yields tend to see a seasonal lift from April to July, but show a downward bias for the remaining months | |
Trump Today: Trump Today: President warns U.S. has ‘massive’ nuclear capabilities as he calls off summit with North KoreaPresident Donald Trump called off a planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on Thursday, and also warned Kim about the U.S.’s “massive” nuclear capabilities, saying he prayed they won’t have to be used. |
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