Written by Gary
US stock market indexes edged higher today (SPY +0.4%) as banks stocks lifted the S&P 500 and the Dow. Gains for Amazon and Tesla helped the Nasdaq notch another day of record gains.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
North and South American markets are mixed today. The S&P 500 is up 0.39% while the IPC gains 0.09%. The Bovespa is off 1.05%. |
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. | |
Banks lift S&P; Tesla drives Nasdaq to record high(Reuters) – Wall Street edged higher on Wednesday as banks stocks lifted the S&P 500 and the Dow, while gains for Amazon and Tesla helped the Nasdaq notch another day of record gains. | |
Tesla shares rise as Musk says Model 3 set to hit target(Reuters) – Tesla Inc shares rose 3.5 percent on Wednesday morning after Chief Executive Elon Musk said the car maker was now churning out 500 of its Model 3 sedans a day and should achieve its 5,000 per week target by the end of June. | |
Rising exports push U.S. trade deficit to seven-month lowWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit fell to a seven-month low in April as exports rose to a record high, lifted by an increase in shipments of industrial materials and soybeans. | |
Farmer pressure forces Trump biofuel policy suspension; credit prices jump(Reuters) – Under pressure from U.S. lawmakers in farming states, President Donald Trump has abandoned an overhaul of biofuels policy aimed at reducing costs for the oil industry, sending U.S. renewable fuel credit prices soaring more than 40 percent on Wednesday. | |
Lawmakers press Facebook over Chinese data sharingWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two key U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday rebuked Facebook Inc for not being more transparent over its data sharing after the social media giant said it had collaborated with at least four Chinese companies, including a smartphone maker that has raised U.S. security concerns. | |
Twitter to offer $1 billion convertible note as shares rally(Reuters) – Twitter is preparing a $1 billion convertible note offering, the social media hub said on Wednesday, one day after news that it would be included in the S&P 500 Index sent its shares up 5 percent to the highest price in more than three years. | |
Exclusive: China’s ZTE signed preliminary agreement to lift U.S. ban: sources(Reuters) – ZTE Corp has signed an agreement in principle that would lift a U.S. Commerce Department ban on buying from U.S. suppliers, allowing China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker to get back into business, according to sources familiar with the matter. | |
Athenahealth CEO steps down; company considers sale(Reuters) – Athenahealth Inc’s Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Bush stepped down on Wednesday and the healthcare software maker said it was exploring options, including selling itself, following pressure from activist investor Elliott Management. | |
Whiskey maker Brown-Forman steps up overseas shipment as trade war looms(Reuters) – Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman Corp said it has been trying to mitigate risk of potential retaliatory tariffs from top U.S. trade allies by increasing shipments to some markets overseas in the last few months. | |
$1.25 Trillion – That’s The Cost Of Trump’s Trade Wars So Far: KolanovicThree months ago, in the aftermath of the February VIXplosion and when the shape of Trump’s protectionist agenda was only just starting to take shape, JPM’s head quant, Marko Kolanovic made a simple prediction: despite all his posturing, Trump would never dare to pursue an aggressive trade war that destabilizes markets for one simple reason – if stocks crash, it would make a Democratic victory more likely in the midterms, which in turn raises the threat of Trump getting impeached. The JPM quant also laid out the various possible outcomes between trade war and Fed policy error in terms of a game theoretical “prisoners’ dilemma” matrix, as follows:
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Brazil Battered: This Is What Happens When The Dollar Double Whammy Lands On You (Again)Authored by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners, A recent poll in Brazil showed that one-third of Brazilians favor “military intervention.” The country had been gripped by a crippling trucker’s strike, the results of which have been almost complete economic shutdown. Intervention, as it is softly termed, would be nothing less than a coup. The direct cause of the strike is quite simple. Under former President Dilma Rousseff, the state used national oil company Petrobras to subsidize the price of diesel. Monthly adjustments were made, but by and large any oil price fluctuations on global markets made little difference to the country’s vast fleet of trucks snaking their way over highways. It nearly bankrupted the company. After Rousseff was impeached, her replacement Michel Temer removed the subsidy. Petrobras may be healthier for it, but the price of fuel has skyrocketed for anyone using diesel. Adjustments are often difficult. But they have been made nearly impossible by what’s going on beyond the cost of keeping Brazil’s trucks, and truckers, moving. Like everywhere else on the planet, Temer’s government claims to have ended the recession and fostered recovery. | |
For The First Time Since 1975, The Entire Swedish National Guard Was Just MobilizedAuthored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog, A few weeks back, the government of Sweden sent out a booklet to every household in the country urging citizens to prepare for war or other crises. A few months back, they told citizens that they should be prepared to last for at least a week without any help from the government. Last night, in the most unsettling move yet, they mobilized the entire Swedish Home Guard for an “unannounced preparedness exercise.” All 40 battalions have been activated, effective immediately. The report is on the Försvarsmakten website, which is the official website of the Swedish Armed Forces. Here’s the English translation:
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Cambridge Analytica Director Met With Assange To “Discuss US Election”Just ahead of what would be Alexander Nix’s second appearance before the the Commons digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee, The Guardian reports that a senior executive at Cambridge Analytica had visited Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in person, raising new questions about the connection between the two firms. Brittany Kaiser, who had served as a director at Cambridge until earlier this year, said she had been in close contact with Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange, even traveling to see him inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London and funneling money to Wikileaks’ bank accounts using cryptocurrency. Brittany Kaiser Both Cambridge and Wikileaks are already part of Robert Mueller’s investigation. The connection between the two firms wasn’t publicly known until October last year, when it was revealed that Cambridge had “reached out” to Assange and Wikileaks and offered to help them index the missing 33,000 Hillary Clinton emails. Assange said in a statement that he had turned down Cambridge’s offer. Kaiser had been a director at the firm until earlier this year. … | |
China Inc. Arms Up in Tech With Latest SoftBank DealThe sale of chip designer Arm Holdings’ China unit to a Chinese-led consortium illustrates the challenge the U.S. faces in pushing back against Beijing’s appetite for intellectual property. | |
The Battle of German Yields: Bill Gross vs. Eurozone PoliticsHigher inflation and less central-bank stimulus should equal higher bond yields, right? The answer has been yes in the U.S., but not in Germany. | |
One Surprising Reason Why Companies Struggle to Fill JobsThe churn rate in the jobs market is less than you’d think with unemployment at multi-decade lows, and one reason is an aging workforce. | |
1Q2018 (Final): Headline Productivity Unchanged From PreliminaryWritten by Steven Hansen A simple summary of the headlines for this release is that productivity improved while the labor costs grew faster. However, year-over-year analysis shows both productivity and labor costs rising at the same rate. | |
‘So remarkably inefficient’: Venture capital takes on the housing marketFamed venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz finds opportunity in what it sees as the inefficient, unequal housing market, where there’s trillions of dollars at stake. | |
Europe Markets: European stocks wobble as ECB officials signal QE’s end is up for discussionEuropean stocks ended a choppy day almost flat on Wednesday, as European Central Bank officials indicated policy makers will begin to focus on ending the central bank’s bond-buying program. | |
Capitol Report: Social Security to tap into trust fund for first time in 36 yearsMedicare’s finances were downgraded in a new report from the program’s trustees on Tuesday, while the projection for Social Security’s stayed the same as last year. |
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