13Jun2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Edges Higher As Fed Decision Looms, DOW Trading At The Unchanged Line, WTI Climbs Almost 1 Dollar, Gold Index In The 1300 Range Again

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed today. The IPC is up 0.89% while the S&P 500 gains 0.06%. The Bovespa is off 0.52%.

Wall Street edges higher as Fed decision looms

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks inched higher on Wednesday, as investors awaited a widely expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve and its guidance on the monetary policy.

VW fined one billion euro by German prosecutors over dieselgate

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen has been fined 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) by public prosecutors in Germany over diesel emissions cheating and said it will accept the fine, therefore admitting responsibility for the scandal.

White House seeks to block Congress from killing ZTE deal: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will try to derail an effort in the U.S. Congress to block the Trump administration’s deal to allow ZTE Corp, China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker, to resume doing business with American suppliers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

M&A gates open with judge’s blessing on AT&T-Time Warner merger

(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday gave a ringing endorsement to AT&T Inc’s planned acquisition of Time Warner Inc without any conditions, opening the door for companies such as Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc to pursue deals to buy creators of media content.

Fox, media firms rise after AT&T-Time Warner approval

(Reuters) – Twenty First Century Fox Inc’s shares rose 8 percent to a record-high on Wednesday as approval for AT&T’s buyout of Time Warner Inc spurred speculation that Comcast Corp would proceed with an offer for most of the media company’s assets.

U.S. accuses Fiat Chrysler, union of conspiring to break labor laws

DETROIT (Reuters) – Top officials of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union conspired to violate U.S. labor laws, federal prosecutors alleged in a court document, saying a former executive at the automaker knew bribes paid to union leaders were designed to “grease the skids” in labor negotiations.

Trump, Iran spar over oil prices ahead of OPEC meeting

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran exchanged sharp words over oil prices on Wednesday, with Trump blaming OPEC for high oil prices and Tehran accusing him of stoking volatility after he withdrew last month from a global nuclear arms deal with Iran.

Facebook releases new privacy safeguards after ceding to pressure from advertisers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facebook is installing new controls it says will better inform its members about the way companies are targeting them with advertising, the latest step to quell a public outcry over the company’s mishandling of user data.

Linde-Praxair deal gets Brazil antitrust nod

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s antitrust regulator on Wednesday approved the $80 billion merger of gas group Linde AG and Praxair Inc, as long as the companies go ahead with an undisclosed asset sale plan.

This Is What The Fed Will Most Likely Say Today

While we previously did a full preview of the key issues to be covered in today’s FOMC meeting, which include changes to the dot plot (1 net dot increase will push the number of rate hikes in 2018 from 3 to 4) as well as the Fed’s 2019 rate trajectory outlook, the change to the IOER rate, the discussion of the Neutral Rate, flipping to an “every meeting is live” mode, and how the Fed plans to deal with a generally overheating economy, the biggest interest – at least until Powell sits down at 2:30pm – is what the Fed statement will say.

To recap, with a number of Fed officials, notably Williams (voter) and Brainard (voter), arguing that forward guidance may need to be changed as the neutral rate approaches, the FOMC will likely review its language around ‘accommodative policy’. The line in the statement in focus will be that rates will remain “for some time, below the levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run.” It is therefore likely that this phrase will be taken out entirely.

Elsewhere, most Fed watchers expect the statement to retain an upbeat tone, with a constructive view on household spending, an acknowledgement of lower unemployment, and a hawkish rewording of the forward guidance. On the negative side, Goldman believes that with Italian sovereign spreads returning to levels last seen in the European debt crisis, the statement may include a subtle reference to heightened uncertainty abroad, echoing recent comments from Governor Brainard.

In terms of other key changes, look for the following:

In response to upward pressure on the effective fed funds rate, n we expect a policy directive in the statement’s implementation note that will adjust the interest on excess reserves rate (IOER). Such a change (for example, “to a level 5 basis points below the to …

“It Looks Like An Ascending Missile,” Unidentified Object Photographed Over Washington State, Navy Denies

It’s time to get out that tinfoil hat.

Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather, a local weather website that runs camera enabled weather stations on the northern Kitsap Peninsula; Kitsap County, Washington, recorded a mysterious object early Sunday morning that has social media buzzing.

One of Johnson’s weather stations has a camera monitoring the Puget Sound at Whidbey Island from Skunk Bay, and at 3:56 a.m. Sunday by a high-resolution, 20-second exposure camera, snapped what looks like the impossible — a missile blasting off from what seems to be the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

My good night cam picked up what appears to be a large missile launch on Whidbey Island Sunday AM. I sat on it for a while. After sharing with Cliff Mass he did a blog on it. https://t.co/jBPXRtRGFP @NWSSeattle @WunderCave @WeatherNation

The G7 Summit Highlights Western Leaders’ Hypocrisy

Authored by Daniel Lacalle via The Epoch Times,

Other countries pretend to be interested in free trade; in reality they only care about their own advantage…

The G7 failure to come to terms on trade highlights the problem of governments trying to macromanage trade. And no, the failure to even agree to disagree cannot be blamed on President Trump and his new-found economic nationalism.

The list of countries with the largest trade surplus with the United States is led by China, which exports $375 billion more than it imports. It is followed, very far away, by Mexico ($71 billion), Japan (69 billion), Germany (65 billion), Vietnam (38 billion), Ireland (38 billion) and Italy ($31 billion).

Not surprisingly, the markets with most protectionist measures against the United States are China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, and India.

These facts explain much more about the failure of the G7 summit than any Manichean analysis on Trump, Trudeau, Macron, or any of …

Capital Flight To Germany In Full Swing

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Capital flight to Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland is in full swing. These sums cannot be paid back.

I have commented on Target2 liabilities before.

Perhaps a Mish-modified translation from the Welt article Imbalance in the Euro System Reaches a New Record will ring a bell.

The central banks of Germany’s euro partners Italy, Spain and France owe the Bundesbank almost a trillion euros . This is a new high. – more than ever before. Tendency continues to rise. There is no security for this money.

Read that last line again and again until it sinks in. Italy is 464.7 billion in the hole. Spain is 376.6 billion in the hole.

Creditors owe Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland over 1.1 …

AT&T-Time Warner Judge Fires Starting Gun in the Battle Against Tech

Approval of the deal pushes government to the sidelines and encourages media, tech and telecom companies to find partners to compete against Silicon Valley.

U.S. Politics Is the ABC for ZTE

China’s ZTE has narrowly escaped death, only to become living proof of the way political risk can dominate a stock’s fortunes. The Hong Kong-listed shares of the Chinese telecom-equipment maker dropped about 40% Wednesday.

Grocery Chains Are Being Squeezed From All Sides

Pressure from rapidly changing consumer tastes, European discounters and Whole Foods will hurt smaller grocery chains most but the big players like Kroger will struggle to grow.

The Tell: Grantham says capitalism is making this one big global risk to humanity worse

Legendary investor Jeremy Grantham sees this the biggest risk out there—and he says capitalism may only make it worse.

The Tell: The ECB, not the Fed, is the match that will spark bond market volatility: analyst

Rising real interest rates have struggled to perk up volatility in Treasurys, leaving some investors to ask when placid trading will be overtaken by more hectic and turbulent markets.

North Face taps into growing market for used clothes with ‘Renewed’ site

North Face Renewed is a pilot program that joins other brands and retailers catering to the growing market for secondhand and refurbished clothing.