16Jul2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Is Mixed In Choppy Trading, WTI Crude Trading Lower In The 67 Handle, Big Rally Expected In The Banking Sector

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are lower today with shares in Brazil off the most. The Bovespa is down 0.34% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is off 0.14% and Mexico’s IPC is lower by 0.10%.

Uber faces investigation over alleged gender discrimination: WSJ

Uber Technologies Inc is being investigated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stemming from a complaint about gender inequity, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

BofA profit beats on consumer loan growth, lower expenses

Bank of America Corp reported quarterly profit above expectations as the second-largest U.S. lender cut expenses and benefited from growth in loans and deposits on the back of a strengthening economy.

Moment of truth for Google as record EU antitrust fine looms

Google is set to face a record-busting EU antitrust fine this week over its Android mobile operating system but rivals hoping that an order to halt unfair business practices will help them may be disappointed.

Jetmakers see brisk start to air show as UK tries to soothe Brexit worries

Planemakers racked up more than $20 billion of deals on the opening day of the Farnborough Airshow on Monday, suggesting demand for new passenger jets remains in rude health despite worries over trade tensions and Brexit.

UK to invest two billion pounds in new fighter programme through 2025

Britain will invest 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) to 2025 to develop a fighter jet called Tempest that could be used with pilots or as a drone, its defence minister said on Monday, unveiling a life-sized model of the new stealthy warplane.

UK looking to Sweden, Japan in search for partners on new fighter jet

Britain is talking to a number of potential partners for its new fighter jet project, Tempest, which it launched on Monday, a senior official in the UK’s Royal Air Force told Reuters.

Boeing says Goshawk Aviation Limited orders 20 737 max 8 jetliners

Boeing Co said on Monday that leasing company Goshawk Aviation Limited placed an order for 20 737 MAX 8 single-aisle jetliners.

Air France-KLM creates single joint venture with Chinese partners

Air France, KLM , China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines will merge their existing joint venture agreements, the Franco-Dutch airline group said on Monday.

Fox shares drop as prospects of new Comcast bid fade

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc shares dropped more than 2 percent on Monday, as investors viewed the absence of a new bid by Comcast Corp for most of Fox’s assets as meaning its bidding war with Walt Disney Co for them is likely over.

Larry Fink: Next Round Of China Trade War Could Send Stocks “10%-15% Lower”

US stocks have continued to outperform the rest of the world as US markets appear to have more or less come to terms with President Trump’s aggressive trade agenda. But the head of the largest investment firm in the US doesn’t expect this aura of invincibility to last much longer if Trump launches the next round of trade war with China.

During an interview with Bloomberg published shortly after the company released its Q2 earnings, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said US stocks could drop between 10% and 15% if the Trump administration moves ahead with tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports. While US investors have eagerly bought every trade related dip so far, Fink said the fallout from a worsening trade war could harm the US economy, which has outperformed its biggest rivals as the “global synchronous recovery” narrative has all but collapsed.

Still, while conditions in the market have certainly grown “more uncertain,” Fink said, it’s also possible that concerns about growth are overblown and that US stocks could continue powering higher.

FINK: “The question I’m raising is ‘is this 1994?’ when the markets were very concerned about growth and the Fed eased when it should have tightened and then we had a five year bull market. The market might be wrong right now, the economy could continue to grow, the trade problem isn’t that difficult…if that’s the case we’ll wake up a year from now and markets will be up,” Fink said.

At the same time, there’s the possibility that the burgeoning US-China trade war could sink stocks and growth.

FINK: “The market’s having a hard time digesting the whole change in globalization and trade…the foundations of international trade are being raised and being questioned.”

Stocks Slide After US Launches WTO Challenge Against 5 Nations

The United States has launched five separate complaints at the World Trade Organization against Canada, China, the European Union, Mexico and Turkey, in response to retaliatory tariffs those countries and groups have launched against American products.

The potential escalation of tensions appears to be weighing on stocks…

Trannies are underperforming…

As CBC reports, the United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement Monday that recent tariffs implemented by the U.S …

US Housing Bubble Enters Stage Two: Suddenly-Motivated Sellers

Authored by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com,

Housing bubbles proceed in fairly predictable stages.

Stage One is long and (initially) slow, fueled by excess central bank money creation or foreign demand or some other source of liquidity that encourages large numbers of people to buy houses. At first, sellers remember the peak prices from the previous bubble and aren’t willing to sell at anything less than that (in finance-speak, they’re “anchored” at the highest price they could have gotten last time around). So demand initially outstrips supply, causing home prices to rise, slowly at first and then explosively as increasingly-desperate buyers become willing to pay any price while mortgage lenders, seduced by fat fees and confident that they can securitize and offload any kind of dicey mortgage, lower their standards to include pretty much the whole of society.

Stage One usually ends with price spikes in the hottest markets so extreme that they generate headlines. Like these:

EU’s Tusk Warns Trump Trade Wars “Often” Turn Into Real Wars

Just before President Trump was set to hold his first ever official summit with Russian president Putin, the EU and China sat down for their own “pro-trade” meeting, during which European Council President Donald Tusk urged Trump, Putin – and China – to work with Europe to avoid trade wars and prevent conflict and chaos.

Speaking before Trump and Putin were due to meet in Helsinki, Tusk appealed for leaders to avoid wrecking a political and “economic order that nurtured a peaceful Europe and developing China”, according to AP.

European Council President Donald Tusk

Tusk held a news conference with China’s Premier Li Keqiang, following an annual EU-Chinese economic summit also attended by the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. They met amid mounting acrimony over Trump’s tariff hikes on goods from China, Europe and other trading partners.

And in a startling warning, the former Polish prime minister went on to make the clearest warning yet that trade wars can turn into hot wars: “It is the common duty of Europe and China, America and Russia, not to destroy this order but to improve it, not to start trade wars …

Growth Still Trumps Politics for Markets

For fans of high political drama, recent months have been packed with excitement. For markets, not so much. In the battle between economics and politics, faith in growth still has the upper hand for now.

The Real Growth Numbers to Watch in China

A sharp slowdown in investment and contracting shadow-banking credit are reliable signs of difficulties ahead for China.

The Netflix Squeeze

Netflix has had an astonishing year. Its shares surpassed $400, up 110% since January, and it was nominated for 112 Emmy Awards, more than any other television network, including HBO, which had held that distinction for 17 years.

May 2018 Headline Business Sales Improved

Written by Steven Hansen

Econintersect’s analysis of final business sales data (retail plus wholesale plus manufacturing) shows an improvement in the rate of growth. Inventory levels are high relative to times of economic expansion.

Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks trade flat, but hold near multimonth high as early earnings roll out

U.S. stocks are little changed on Monday, as the latest earnings and consumer data pointed to ongoing strength in the economy, though this was offset by ongoing geopolitical question marks, in particular a highly anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Futures Movers: Oil price drops on talk of possible release of global crude reserves, slowdown in economic growth

Oil prices drop on Monday, with talk of a possible release from global crude reserves and data from the International Monetary Fund showing a slowdown in global economic growth pushing prices for global benchmark Brent crude toward their lowest finish in about three months.

London Markets: FTSE 100 heads toward first fall in 3 sessions as miners, oil stocks decline

U.K. stocks dropped Monday, as oil shares were knocked down and as mining shares struggled after data showed modestly slowing economic growth in China, putting the London benchmark at risk for its first loss in three sessions.