20Jun2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Investors See US Equities Struggling For Direction, DOW Threatens 7-day Losing Streak, Tech Rally Sends Nasdaq To A Record, WTI Slides Precipitously From The 65 Handle

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are higher today with shares in Mexico leading the region. The IPC is up 0.41% while Brazil’s Bovespa is up 0.38% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.28%.

Walt Disney raises bid for Fox assets to $71.3 billion, tops Comcast

(Reuters) – Walt Disney Co raised its bid for the bulk of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc’s coveted media assets to $71.3 billion on Wednesday, sweetening its deal with cash as it looks to upend Comcast Corp’s $65 billion offer.

Media stocks, techs boost S&P; Nasdaq hits record high

(Reuters) – A jump in technology and media stocks lifted the S&P 500 on Wednesday and pushed the Nasdaq to a record high, but the Dow remained under pressure from an escalation in the U.S.-China trade spat that has slammed global markets.

Trump to meet lawmakers about ‘problematic’ ZTE amendment: spokeswoman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and a group of lawmakers from the Senate and House of Representatives will meet at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their disagreement over how to penalize Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp, a White House spokeswoman said.

For OPEC, oil tariff spat is short-term gain, long-term pain

VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC, which has lost Chinese market share to U.S. oil producers, should in theory view a tariff spat between Beijing and Washington as a boon.

Iran signals compromise for modest rise in OPEC oil output

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran signaled on Wednesday it could compromise on a small increase in OPEC oil output when the group meets this week, as Saudi Arabia scrambled to convince fellow members of the need for a larger rise in production.

Audi’s detained CEO questioned by prosecutors over emissions scandal: source

MUNICH (Reuters) – Munich prosecutors questioned Audi’s arrested Chief Executive Rupert Stadler about a global diesel-cheating scandal on Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Looking for another Nasdaq? Try Europe’s aerospace and defense stocks

MILAN (Reuters) – Fat order books covering several years of sales have made European aerospace and defense firms a winning bet as a slowing economy and political instability have clouded prospects for the region’s equity market.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma cuts remaining sales force

(Reuters) – OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, facing a wave of lawsuits blaming it for helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, said on Wednesday it had laid off about 350 employees this week including the remainder of its already-downsized sales force.

Boeing sees 2025 for potential new jet but won’t rush decision: executive

PARIS (Reuters) – The head of Boeing jetliner sales said on Wednesday he was confident a new mid-market jet could enter service in 2025 if Boeing took the decision to launch the new plane but stressed the U.S. planemaker would not be rushed into a decision.

Trump Will Sign Executive Order On Family Separation Today

Update 2: President Trump appears to have confirmed his path forward with regard immigration. Per a White House pool spray, Trump says he is postponing the Congressional picnic and instead will be signing something “preemptive” on immigration later today “to keep families together,” adding that he needs Democrat support.

“I’ll be doing something that’s somewhat preemptive and ultimately will be matched by legislation I’m sure.”

And of course, he couldn’t resist a tweet-shot across the Left’s bow by retweeting this…

Once the mid terms are over, liberals won’t talk about detained or separated illegal immigrant children until 2020. #itsallpolitics

— Dr.Darrell Scott (@PastorDScott) June 19, 2018

* * *

Update 1: AP confirms, reporting that Homeland Security secretary is drafting order to end family separation at border; however it is unclear if Trump will sign it. The executive action would follow days of escalating calls from both sides of the political divide for Trump, or Congress, to end the controversial family separation policy.

As Fox adds, the action under consideration would allow children to stay in detention with parents for an extended period of time. This comes as congressional Republicans scramble to draft legislation to address the same issue, but face challenges mustering t …

Tesla Sues Former Disgruntled Employee For Sabotage And Espionage

Two days after Elon Musk accused an unknown employee of “extensive and damaging” sabotage, on Wednesday morning the company filed a lawsuit in Nevada against a Martin Tripp, a Sparks, Nevada-based disgruntled former employee for allegedly exporting gigabytes of confidential data.

While the car maker said it is only beginning to understand all of former process technician Martin Tripp’s allegedly illegal activity, in the suit Tesla said that Tripp “has thus far admitted to writing software that hacked Tesla’s manufacturing operating system (“MOS”) and to transferring several gigabytes of Tesla data to outside entities.”

The data supposedly also includes “dozens of confidential photographs and a video of Tesla’s manufacturing systems.” In addition to that, CNBC notes that Tesla alleges Tripp wrote computer code to periodically export Tesla’s data to outside parties, who are so far “unknown.”

According to Tesla, shortly after Tripp joined Tesla, he was identified as having job performance problems, and as being disruptive and combative with his colleagues. Then, on or about May 17, 2018, Tripp was assigned to a new role. Tripp expressed anger that he was reassigned. Tripp then allegedly retaliated against Tesla by stealing confidential and trade secret information and disclosing it to third parties, “and by making false statements intended to harm the company.”

The situation came to a head on Thursday and Friday of last week, or June 14 and 15, 2018, when Tesla investigators interviewed Tripp regarding his misconduct. After Tripp initially stated that no misconduct had occurred, Tesla investigators confronted him with evidence to the contrary. At that point, Tripp admitted to writing software that hacked Tesla’s MOS and to transferring several gigabytes of confidential and proprietary Te …

Dimon-Bezos-Buffett Name Harvard Surgeon To Head Their Health Venture

And we almost bet it all that they would pick Elizabeth Holmes.

The holy billionaire trinity – Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and Jeff Bezos – have finally selected the individual who is going to be in charge of setting up and running their new health-care venture, which is intended to provide health care to employees of Berkshire Hawthaway, Amazon and JP Morgan Chase.

Their pick is Atul Gawande, a surgeon and professor at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School who is also a popular contributor to the New Yorker, where he frequently writes about the rising cost of health care in the US. The company will be based in Boston, and Gawande will start on July 9. So far, all three of the companies teaming up to launch the venture – which will be focused on improving care for employees at a lower cost – have insisted it will be totally independent.

Rising health-care costs have been a hobbyhorse for Buffett, who famously compared them with a “tapeworm” afflicting the US economy. Buffett and Berkshire President Charlie Munger have been aware of Gawande since he published a popular 2009 article in the New Yorker about the factors driving uneven health-care costs across the US. Munger was reportedly so impressed with the article, he reportedly mailed Gawande a $20,000 check, which he donated to a nonprofit that provides surgical equipment to developing countries.

This Is The Greatest Short-Squeeze In History

A quick glance at the stock market – particularly big-tech – and once can quickly discern that “something’s up.” Every dip is met by a wall of buying, ramping the market ever higher, and ever more ignorant of the increasingly uncertain world around it.

Why? Simple… it’s a massive, unprecedented short-squeeze…

The “most shorted” stocks in America are up 20% in the last two months, almost incessantly.

The Other Yield Curve Investors Should Watch as Trouble Mounts

Escalating trade tensions have helped push the U.S. Treasury yield curve to its flattest in more than a decade. But another curve deserves attention—and it is getting steeper.

Xiaomi Will Have to Dial Down Valuation Hopes

The tech company has postponed plans for a mainland Chinese listing—a blow to its hopes of a high valuation.

Can’t Anyone Here Cook Anymore?

Delivery apps like Grubhub, meal kits and takeout are a rising threat to supermarkets like Kroger and Walmart and packaged food companies like Kraft Heinz

May 2018 Headline Existing Home Sales In Contraction Year-over-Year

Written by Steven Hansen

The headline existing home sales growth “slowed” with the authors saying “a solid economy and job market should be generating a much stronger sales pace than what has been seen so far this year”. Our analysis shows home sales are in contraction year-over-year.

CryptoWatch: Cryptos bounce after being sent lower by another exchange hack

Security issues continue to dog the cryptocurrency industry after yet another hack of a prominent South Korean exchange.

Market Snapshot: Dow threatens 7-day losing streak; tech rally sends Nasdaq to a record

U.S. stocks struggled for direction on Wednesday, with the Dow threatening to extend its recent losing streak to a seventh straight day, while gains in technology stocks lifted the Nasdaq to a record.

Europe Markets: European stocks stage recovery, but U.S.-China trade tensions remain

European stocks on Wednesday bounced off their lowest levels in nearly three weeks, staging a recovery after further deterioration in the trade relationship between the U.S. and China sent equities world-wide tumbling in the prior session.