19Jul2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Off Session Lows, Dollar Hits Year High, Copper Pulls Back, WTI Crude Fractionally Higher In High 67 Handle

Written by Gary

US stock market main indexes down but trending towards the unchanged line (SPY -0.2%).

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

Traders Corner – Health of the Market

Comcast drops pursuit of 21st Century Fox assets, ending bidding war with Disney
Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro: ‘Zero-sum game’ between China and the rest of the world
Trump touts his summit with Putin as a ‘great success’ — but most Americans disagree, new polls show
Copper — a metal with a history of predicting economic trouble — hits 1-year low, nears bear market
There will be a trade war ‘ceasefire’ by election day, says JPM’s David Kelly
Amazon is hot on Apple’s trail in the race to $1 trillion

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Dollar hits year high; stocks, copper pull back The U.S. dollar hit a year high on Thursday against a basket of major currencies, but copper prices tumbled and major world stock markets pulled back amid concerns over China’s economy and continued global trade tensions.
	Wells Fargo in process of refunding customers for add-on products: WSJ Wells Fargo & Co is in the process of refunding millions of dollars to customers for adding services to their accounts without their full understanding, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing sources.
	Exclusive: Britain pulls back on security endorsement of China’s Huawei – sources Senior British security officials say they can give only limited assurances that Chinese firm Huawei’s UK operations pose no threat to national security, downgrading their previous position, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
	Comcast concedes to Disney in bidding war for Fox assets Comcast Corp dropped its $66 billion bid for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc’s entertainment assets on Thursday but said it would still try to buy European broadcaster Sky Plc to increase its international footprint.
	Trump slams EU over $5 billion fine on Google U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized the European Union and said the bloc was taking advantage of the United States, pointing to the record $5 billion fine European antitrust regulators imposed on Google.
	Boeing wins air show overshadowed by incognito jet orders Boeing claimed victory on Thursday after outselling rival Airbus at this week’s Farnborough Airshow, where the world’s largest planemakers repeated last year’s comparable tally of around 900 firm and draft orders with the help of leasing industry demand.
	Aviation industry urged to hire more women as staff shortages loom Executives from top aerospace and aviation companies called on Thursday for stepped-up efforts to attract more women, saying this could help solve looming shortages of pilots, mechanics and top managers in the traditionally male-dominated sector.
	Domino’s international same-store sales fail to deliver, shares slip Domino’s Pizza Inc missed analysts’ estimates for international same-store sales growth on Thursday, prompting concerns of slowing growth at the business and pushing shares down 3 percent in morning trading.
	SoftBank’s Son says Japan is ‘stupid’ to disallow ride-sharing SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son blasted Japan on Thursday for not allowing ride-sharing services, calling it “stupid” and saying the country was lagging overseas rivals in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI).
	EU Ready To Retaliate If US Slaps Tariffs On Autos, Trade Commissioner Says Update: We wish Malmstrom well but suspect, given President Trump’s most recent tweet, that she will receive anything but a warm welcome… I told you so! The European Union just slapped a Five Billion Dollar fine on one of our great companies, Google. They truly have taken advantage of the U.S., but not for long! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018 * * * European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom will travel to Washington later this month alongside European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to try and hash out a new trade agreement with the Trump administration and ease the transatlantic trade dispute. But just in case the talks fall apart and the US moves ahead with Section 301 tariffs on European cars – President Trump has threatened a 20% tariff) – Malmstrom said the EU is preparing a list of US imports to hit with tariffs in response, per Reuters. The retaliatory “rebalancing” would target the US car sector, which she said is “healthy” and that no one involved in the sector had called for tariffs. “We are preparing together with our member states a list of rebalancing measures there as well. And this we have made that clear to our American partners,” Malmstrom told a conference hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Brussels. Those tariffs would be in addition to the 2.8 billion euros ($3.25 billion) worth of US products ranging from whiskey to motorcycles that were designed to hit “distinct …
	Wells Fargo Caught In Yet Another Scandal Given the seemingly unceasing stream of scandal that has flowed out of Warren Buffett’s favorite bank, Wells Fargo, it’s hardly surprising that after doing everything from illegally repossessing the cars of American soldiers to fraudulently “cross-selling” credit cards and other products to millions of customers, the bank is now being called out for adding opaque products to the accounts of hundreds of thousands of customers – for services like pet insurance and legal services – without first explaining how to use them. Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan And in the latest sign that Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney is keeping the pressure on, the CFPB is investigating how Wells collected fees for these so-called “add-on products”, and recently prompted it to refund millions of dollars to customers. News of the bank’s latest scandal comes just days after Wells took a $619 million charge in the second quarter to refund customers for overcharging in its foreign-exchange, wealth management …
	Skripal Poisoning Suspects ‘Identified’: “[We’re] Sure They’re Russians” Four months after Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were allegedly poisoned by the ‘deadly’ nerve agent Novichok by what would appear to be the worst assassination squad ever, The Guardian reports that the British-based news agency Press Association claims UK police have identified the suspects. A source with knowledge of the investigation told PA: “Investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators of the novichok attack through CCTV and have cross-checked this with records of people who entered the country around that time. They (the investigators) are sure they (the suspects) are Russian.” So there you have it… case closed, right? You may be able to notice our skepticism – it is shared by many, including Tory MP and UK Security Minister Ben Wallace, who tweeted: “I think this story belongs in the “ill informed and wild speculation folder” I think this story belongs in the “ill informed and wild speculation folder” — …
	Global Population Growth Ceased In 1988…Population Has Only Grown Older Since Then Authored by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog, The world stopped growing about 1988… and has only grown older since. Global births, per five year periods, according to the UN. Births and UN medium and low variant estimates through 2040…plus my best estimate of the most likely births. Despite the significantly larger (older) total population, births continue to languish and appear set to decline. Since 2000, total births are declining everywhere except Africa. Assuming …
	Tariffs Threaten Retailers’ Inventory Discipline Proposed tariffs on Chinese goods are forcing retailers to buy early for the holidays to beat the tax but that could leave them with bloated inventories.
	Biotech IPO Boom Comes With Side Effects Biotech stocks are hot tickets once again on Wall Street and that is bringing a wave of initial public offerings. The risk is the high demand for these companies is offset by a wave of new supply.
	June 2018 Leading Economic Index Continues to Point To Solid Growth Written by Steven Hansen The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S improved this month – and the authors say “The widespread growth in leading indicators, with the exception of housing permits which declined once again, does not suggest any considerable growth slowdown in the short-term”.
	July 2018 Philly Fed Manufacturing Survey Improved Written by Steven Hansen The Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey improved and remains in expansion. Key elements significantly improved.
	In One Chart: Business is booming in this ‘socialist hellhole’ — just look at the skyline For the third year in a row, Seattle has ridden the explosive growth of Amazon and the rest of its tech scene to beat out all others with 65 towering construction cranes dotting the skyline.
	Outside the Box: This is the single best way to save for retirement, spend less and lighten your tax load Don’t want to think about saving for retirement? Just do this
	Retire Better: Changes may be coming to your 401(k) plan — is this a good thing? The retirement crisis is real and this could be promising — or not