Written by Gary
US stock market index futures have risen this morning (SPY +0.4%). Italy’s political crisis has subsided for now but trade wars continue to concern investors.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are broadly higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 is up 1.42% while Germany’s DAX is up 1.22% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.69%. |
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. | |
 | Stock futures gain as Italy turmoil ends; jobs data awaited(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as Italy’s political crisis subsided although prospects of a full-blown trade war between the United States and its top allies continued to loom over the markets. |
| U.S. allies hit back at Washington’s steel, aluminum tariffsWASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Canada and Mexico retaliated with levies on billions of dollars of U.S. goods from orange juice to pork, and the EU was set to tax bourbon whiskey and Harley motorcycles, after Washington risked a global trade war to impose steel and aluminum tariffs. |
| U.S. job growth seen picking up, wage growth likely moderateWASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job growth likely accelerated in May as warmer weather boosted hiring at construction sites, but wage gains are expected to have remained marginal, pointing to moderate inflation pressures in the economy. |
| China stands up for free trade on eve of U.S. commerce chief’s visitBEIJING (Reuters) – China reiterated its commitment to the global trade order on Friday, hours after Washington imposed new tariffs on imports from key allies and a day before U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was due in Beijing for talks to avert a trade war. |
| Marchionne leaves Fiat Chrysler debt free as prepares to sever tiesBALOCCO, Italy (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne laid out his final strategy as chief executive on Friday with a focus on sport utility vehicles and electric and hybrid cars as his era at the wheel nears its end. |
| Germany threatens Daimler with 3.75 billion euro fine over emissions: SpiegelBERLIN (Reuters) – German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer has threatened carmaker Daimler with a fine of 3.75 billion euros ($4.38 billion) over a diesel emissions scandal, Spiegel magazine reported on Friday. |
| Global trade skirmish puts factories, recovery at riskLONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) – Factory growth in major manufacturing hubs showed signs of cooling last month as companies braced for potential damage from rising global trade tensions while also grappling with accelerating inflation and a strong dollar. |
| Where’s the data? Angst for commods traders as China trade figures held in limboBEIJING (Reuters) – Commodities traders have been waiting more than a week for China to release overdue monthly import-export data, frustrating many market watchers and fuelling speculation about reasons for the delay. |
| Apple declines invite to EU hearing, cites appeal against EU tax orderBRUSSELS (Reuters) – IPhone maker Apple has turned down an invitation to an EU lawmakers’ hearing, saying it does not want to prejudice its challenge to an EU order to pay up to 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in back taxes to Ireland. |
| May Jobs Jump 223,000 Smashing Expectations, As Hourly Earnings BeatWhen we previewed the May payrolls last night we said that “after two consecutive and not immaterial misses, and 6 misses in the past 8 months, it’s about time for a solid payrolls “beat”, even if nobody cares anymore about the number of part-time waiter and bartender jobs created.” Things got even more interesting this morning when Trump upped the stakes with his tweet that he was “Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning”, strongly hitning that he not only had seen the number, but that it would be a major beat.
Well, moments ago the BLS reported that in May the US economy created 223K jobs, smashing expectations of 190K, and indeed confirming that Trump “may have been on to something.”
Developing |
| Google Blames Wikipedia For Listing Nazism As One Of California Republican Party’s IdeologiesAuthored by Eric Lieberman via The Daily Caller, Google reportedly identified one of the ideologies of the California Republican Party as “Nazism” on its highly popular search platform.
The piece of inaccurate information, which is hyperlinked to presumably take web browsers to more information about the hateful, fascist persuasion, is found in the “knowledge panel,” a sidebar widget that presents further, more immediate information. The feature has had problems before, specifically when an embedded fact-check feature tried to erroneously pin specious claims on articles written by The Daily Caller. Google eventually suspended the fact check project after The Daily Caller News Foundation investigated and pressed fur … |
| The Dollar, Yields And Equities Are Surging, Here’s WhyAfter tumbling yesterday, US equities are surging this morning ahead of payrolls…
Here’s why: New anti-establishment Italian government? Check. New anti-establishment, socialist Spanish government? Check. Trade war between the US and Europe, Mexico, & Canada? Check. Deutsche Bank (most systemically risky bank in the world at one point) downgraded to a B-handle? Check. So all we need now is a dismal jobs or wage growth print and bad news will be really great news. But did Trump just spoil the hopes of a bad print?
Indeed, it appears that the unusual tweet suggests there will be an outsized strong pa … |
| Frontrunning: June 1Moment of truth arrives for EU after U.S. tariffs strike (Reuters) U.S. Tariffs Raise Fear of Trade War (WSJ) Spanish Socialist Sanchez succeeds Rajoy as prime minister (Reuters) Stocks Head for a Positive End to a Tumultuous Week (BBG) May Jobs Report Expected to Show Hiring Kept Apace (WSJ) Deutsche Bank’s Credit Rating Cut by S&P (ZH) Deutsche Bank gets key investor backing as S&P doubts strategy (Reuters) Coal lobby fights black-lung tax as disease rates surge (Reuters) Trump To Grant Lifeline to Money-Losing Coal Power Plants (BBG) China’s Mighty Piggy Bank Is Shrinking (BBG) Stormy Daniels Lawyer Avenatti Dogged by His Own Legal Battles ( |
| The Italian Saga Is Far From OverAfter a week of high drama, Italy has stepped back from the brink and so have markets. But more tests loom for the country’s novice government. |
| Wacky Prices Pinch Oil Producers’ ProfitsThe differences between various types of crude are currently bigger than usual and in some cases counterintuitive. |
| The Real End Game for CBS-ViacomA little-noticed part of lawsuit says Redstone could sell a combined company and give up control. |
| HBO drama ‘Succession’ chronicles an 80-year-old business mogul who won’t retireCable drama strives to be ‘Game of Thrones’ of the business media world. |
| The Ratings Game: GM stock zooms to best gain ever after driverless-car investmentGM shares rise the most in the company’s post-bankruptcy years on the heels of a multibillion-dollar investment on the auto maker’s driverless-car unit. |
| Economic Report: U.S. gains 223,000 new jobs in May, unemployment falls to 18-year low of 3.8%The U.S. created a robust 223,000 new jobs in May to push unemployment down to an 18-year low of 3.8%, signaling that a nine-year-old economic expansion still has plenty of steam despite being one of the oldest ever. |
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