Written by Gary
US equities markets generally closed higher due to BTFDers closing in during the morning trading only to jump ship towards the close (SPY +0.6%). Morning decline stopped at a weak 03-13-18 support and may not inhibit more losses.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
Several injuries reported in shooting at newspaper office in Maryland
Amazon swooped in to buy PillPack for around $1 billion after lead buyer Walmart dragged its feet
Amazon is buying companies at an unprecedented rate — and why it matters
Global stocks see biggest loss of investor cash since the financial crisis
Here’s a list of products affected by tariffs so far, including nails and whiskey
The Red Hen restaurant that refused to serve Sarah Sanders was hit by a cyberattack
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall Street advances with help from technology, financialsNEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, as losses in shares of healthcare companies, battered by Amazon’s foray into drug retailing, were offset by gains in the technology and financial sectors. |
| Amazon to buy PillPack in potentially disruptive drug retail push(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday it would buy small online pharmacy PillPack, a move that will put the world’s biggest online retailer in direct competition with drugstore chains, drug distributors and pharmacy benefit managers. |
| U.S. manufacturers, steel makers battle over tariff relief(Reuters) – The flood of requests from U.S. manufacturers with the Commerce Department to exempt them from the Trump administration’s hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports is exposing competitive information to rivals, customers and U.S. metal producers. |
| Fox shareholder urges Murdoch to give Comcast time to beat Disney bid(Reuters) – TCI Fund Management Ltd, a large Twenty-First Century Fox Inc shareholder, has urged Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch to give Comcast Corp a chance to top Walt Disney Co’s $71 billion offer to buy most of Fox’s assets, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters. |
| Tesla lagging on Model 3 production, workers saySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc is not producing enough Model 3s per shift to reach the 5,000 per week target that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said it would reach by Saturday, three line workers at the company’s Fremont, California, assembly plant told Reuters this week. |
| Canada to offer aid to steel, aluminum industries: sourceOTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will offer an aid package worth between C$500 million ($376.87 million) and C$800 million to help steel and aluminum industries and workers who have been hit by U.S. tariffs, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. |
| U.S. first-quarter GDP growth trimmed; labor market strongWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy slowed more than previously estimated in the first quarter amid the weakest consumer spending in nearly five years, but growth appears to have since regained momentum on the back of a robust labor market and tax cuts. |
| Twitter, Facebook launch tools to track advertising(Reuters) – Twitter Inc on Thursday made it easier for users to identify political campaign ads and know who paid for them, as social media platforms faced the threat of U.S. regulation over the lack of disclosure on such spending. |
| Visa, Mastercard close to settling issues over card-swipe fees: WSJ(Reuters) – Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc are close to settling a long-running antitrust lawsuit with merchants over the fees they pay when they accept card payments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. |
| Bank Bounce Breaks Longest Losing Streak Ever But Yuan Collapse ContinuesHow many more lives does this dead cat have? China had another ugly session overnight…
And while UK’s FTSE managed to scramble back to unchanged… most of Europe ended deep red…
Futures show the scale of today’s rebound that started as we headed into the cash open… |
| Multiple Fatalities Reported In Mass Shooting At Annapolis Newsroom: Live FeedUpdate: according to CBS, four people have been reported dead after the shooting:
Governor Larry Hogan has issued a response:
* * * Police in Baltimore responded to an active shooter incident at the Capital Gazette newspaper offices in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The building is being evacuated while offciers continue to search for more shooters, while one suspect has been reportedly apprehended according to Annapolis Police Lt. Timothy Seipp. |
| Wells Fargo: “Someone Or Someones Are Really Scared”With just one trading day left in the month and the (very volatile) quarter, which has recently seen the stock of Deutsche Bank plunge to new all time lows dragging down European banks, in which trade war fears have sent Chinese tech stocks and European automotive names tumbling, which has seen the Shanghai Composite enter a bear market and the yield on the 10Y flash crash, in which Emerging Market bonds, currencies and stocks have been pulverized alongside the soaring dollar and oil forcing central bank interventions by the likes of China, India, and Brazil, Wells Fargo’s head of equity strategy Chris Harvey summarized the recent action rather simply: “Someone or someones are really scared.” While that’s the most likely explanation, Harvey offers three more: Someone or something is unwinding a very large macro trade/book Pension funds and asset allocaters are aggressively rebalancing Investors are rushing to cut Momentum exposure To be sure, recent price action certainly confirms this: whether it is momentum strategies, which have been slammed this month following a sharp drop this Monday when Trump double down on his trade war threats with China…
… or trend-followers who have had an abysmal year, after the February VIX explosion first and then the more recent violent moves … |
| John Kelly Expected To Leave White House This Summer: WSJChief of Staff John Kelly is reportedly preparing to leave the West Wing this summer after serving one year as President Trump’s chief of staff after enduring a handful of scandals that strained his relationship with the president. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has been consulting on possible replacements for Kelly, and that he’s already settled on two frontrunners: Nick Ayers, who servers as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Mick Mulvaney, who leads the Office of Management and Budget and is also the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
WSJ’s sources said Kelly’s resignation could come as soon as this week, or it could follow Trump’s mid-July trip to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. Kelly survived Trump’s spring housecleaning that swept away former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former National Security Advisor HR McMaster. Kelly also faced down calls for his dismissal |
| Tariff Talk Has Slammed the IPO Window Shut for Car MakersLuxury car makers are in the eye of the trade storm unleashed by President Trump. One consequence: Hoped-for IPOs of Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and possibly Jaguar Land Rover are looking unlikely, even though most brands are reporting record sales. |
| Why Hot Money Is a Problem for Britain at Just the Wrong TimeBritain seems to be developing a hot-money problem just as its economic future is becoming more uncertain. That’s a big risk for local business and foreign investors alike. |
| The Good Times Are Over for China’s Property StocksThe yuan’s decline is the latest blow for the sector’s heavily indebted companies, which have loaded up on dollar debt. |
| We’re probably at peak housing. Here’s what that means.It’s 10 years after the housing crisis, and economists think the housing market is likely running out of steam. Sales will probably start to flatline soon, and prices may start rising at a slower pace. |
| Outside the Box: Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court legacy: Support for both flag-burners and Citizens UnitedIn the culture wars, “sometimes we must make decisions we do not like,” Kennedy wrote. |
| Futures Movers: Oil prices climb, with U.S. benchmark holding at highest since 2014Oil prices end higher Thursday, with the U.S. benchmark again marking its highest level since 2014 in the wake of the biggest weekly decline of the year for domestic crude supplies and ongoing global output risks. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
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