03Aug2018 Market Close: Good Earnings Beat Back Trade Worries, Dow And SP500 Advance; Gold Advances While Dollar And Oil Close Lower

Strong earnings lift stocks but trade fears cap gains and pressure dollar

Stocks around the world edged higher on Friday on robust earnings, with consumer staples results boosting Wall Street, though a trade spat between the United States and China along with tepid U.S. jobs numbers capped gains and weighed on the dollar.

Wall Street eyes more gains from Apple, its $1 trillion stock

Shares in Apple Inc edged higher on Friday but stayed close to the $1 trillion valuation milestone the iPhone maker reached a day earlier, even as Wall Street predicted more gains.

China plans tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods in latest trade salvo

China proposed retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to some aircraft on Friday, as a senior Chinese diplomat cast doubt on prospects of talks with Washington to solve their bitter trade conflict.

U.S. tax cuts prompt rethink by some ‘inverted’ companies

A few U.S. companies that moved offshore in a wave of inversion deals are considering returning to the United States now that domestic tax rates are lower and tax policing is tougher abroad, attorneys and consultants said.

GM seeks to exclude China-made Buick SUV from tariff

General Motors Co is seeking an exemption to a 25 percent U.S. tariff on its Chinese-made Buick Envision sport utility, the automaker said on Thursday, in a move to prevent the key model in the brand’s U.S. lineup from becoming a victim of the U.S.-China trade war.

Chinese tariffs on LNG, oil aim at U.S. energy dominance agenda

China’s targeting of U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil exports opens a new front in the trade war between the two countries, at a time when the White House is trumpeting growing U.S. energy export prowess.

White House: Open to further talks with China on trade

The White House said on Friday the United States is open to further talks with China on how to resolve a tit-for-tat trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.

S&P, Dow advance as investors shrug off trade jitters

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained ground and the Nasdaq was essentially flat on Friday as positive earnings helped investors overlook heightened trade tensions and weaker than expected July jobs growth.

Dish results beat estimates, shares jump 12 percent

Dish Network Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Friday, as the company lost fewer satellite TV subscribers than expected and said it was on track to build the first phase of its wireless network.

Stocks, Bonds, Dollar Gain As US Macro Plunges To 11-Month Lows

Everything was going so great – Apple etc… – and then China ruined the party and payrolls disappointed…

An ugly week for US macro data (tumbling to its most disappointing in 11 months) did nothing to stall hopes for economic growth…

Or faith in the US plunge protection team…

And, despite today’s spike, yuan ended lower for the 8th week in a row (and 14th of the last 16 weeks) as China-US tra …

Kushner Family Sells 666 Fifth Avenue Office Tower To Brookfield

Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to purchase the lease the office portion of 666 Fifth Ave. in midtown Manhattan from the Kushner family, the WSJ reported.

“Given Brookfield’s experience in successfully redeveloping and repositioning major office assets in New York and other cities around the world, we are well placed to capitalize on that opportunity,” Ric Clark, Brookfield Property Group’s chairman, said in a statement.

The infamous “devil” tower with the “666” sign on the entrance, has been under scrutiny because Jared Kushner is married to Ivanka Trump, and is a senior adviser to the president. When the Kushner Cos acquired the building in 2007 for $1.8 billion, it represented a New York commercial real estate record and was made when Kushner was taking a leadership role in the business. It remained precarious for years, and potential deals became complicated after Mr. Kushner took the senior White House job.

While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed in a statement Friday, the WSJ notes that the proceeds would give the family enough to pay off the mo …

China Blinks: Why Beijing’s Currency Intervention Is Doomed To Failure

The People’s Bank of China today announced a re-introduction of reserve requirements on FX forwards trading which it had eliminated last September just after the Yuan soared against the dollar – a move aimed at taking pressure off the renminbi as the USDCNY rapidly closed in on 7.00. However, as ING’s Chris Turner writes, this looks only a temporary reprieve for the renminbi as all prior PBoC attempts to stem CNY weakness haven’t been all that successful in reversing a trend.

Reserve requirements back in play

Since 2015 the PBOC has used reserve requirements on FX forward transactions as a tool to control ‘macro-financial risks’. The measure puts a 20% required reserve ratio for financial institutions when conducting onshore CNY forwards business on behalf of customers. The move makes it effectively costlier for the market to fund short CNY positions through the forwards market.

This measure was first used for domestic financial institutio …

“Get The Champagne Out”: In 14 Trading Days This Becomes The Longest Bull Market Of All Time

In many perplexing ways, the market’s performance since the Global Financial Crisis has been unprecedented: starting with the deepest recession since the Great Depression, the subsequent bull market has been on an unprecedented run for the past decade, aided and abetted by trillions in central bank liquidity that have pushed global interest rates to historic lows, suppressed volatility and supported the S&P since its March 2009 lows so that there has not been a single 20% drop in the past 10 years, resulting in a 325% cumulative return and 17.7% annualized.

Last September, the S&P’s run became the second longest bull market in history.

Then, during this year’s January melt up, the S&P500 bull market became the 2nd largest of all time on Friday Jan 26th, when the index hit an all time high of 2873.

And now, Bank of America’s Chief Investment Officer Michael Hartnett writes to “Get the champagne out For US stocks”, because we are now just 14 trading days to go until the S&P 500 bull market becomes the longest of all-time, at 3,543 days, on August 22, 2018.

There w …

Tesla Profits: Be Careful What You Wish For

Tesla’s guidance has investors cheering, but the good news comes with strings attached.

August 2, 2018 Drought and Agriculture Report – More Areas Impacted

Written by Sig Silber

The report this week shows some rearranging of areas rated as having Exceptional Drought or Severe Drought and an expansion of the D1 or Moderate Drought area. The forecast for the week following this coming week is beneficial but hardly a sure thing as discussed in this report. We might soon start reading about drought in Australia and also in India.

27 July 2018: ECRI’s WLI Growth Rate Index Improved Insignificantly

ECRI’s WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward remains in expansion. ECRI released their inflation index this week also.

Capitol Report: Rubio’s proposal: Get paid family leave in exchange for reducing Social Security benefits

A new bill from a key Republican senator would provide paid family leave — in return for giving up Social Security benefits.

From U.S. Steel’s $1 billion market cap to Apple’s $1 trillion: a brief history of valuation milestones

As Apple becomes the first $1 trillion U.S. company, what were the first companies to reach the $100 billion and $500 billion milestones?

The Moneyist: The executor of my wife’s family estate is waiting for all the beneficiaries to die

This man says his wife’s aunt refuses to give people their inheritance.