14Aug2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Higher As Earnings Beat, Dow Rises 112 Points, S and P 500 Logs A 0.6% Gain, Oil Bounce Fizzles As Dollar Regains Footing, Turkish Lira Rebounds

Sprint partners with LG to launch 5G smartphone in 2019

Sprint Corp said Tuesday it has partnered with phone manufacturer LG Electronics Inc to launch a 5G smartphone in the first half of next year, marking the first 5G device deal for the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier.

Shares rebound as Turkish lira pulls out of dive

World share markets rebounded on Tuesday as Turkey’s lira pulled out of a recent nosedive and reassuring data from Germany helped offset the latest wobbles in China’s giant economy.

The Chinese street’s view of the trade war: some say they won’t buy U.S. products

Chinese officials have been mostly measured and moderate in their response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ratcheting up of a trade war with Beijing in recent weeks through his announcement of a series of punitive tariffs. They have generally avoided adding to tensions, allowing the Communist Party’s official media to make the most bellicose comments.

Nasdaq, FINRA to boost reporting fees for dark pool trades

Nasdaq Inc and a Wall Street watchdog will raise fees for private stock trading platforms, such as “dark pools,” that report trade executions to a Nasdaq-run entity, in response to higher operational costs and off-exchange trading volumes, according to a recent regulatory filing.

Tesla forms three-member panel to decide on any Musk proposal

Tesla Inc’s board named a special committee of three directors on Tuesday to evaluate possibly taking the electric carmaker private, although it said it had yet to see a firm offer from the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk.

IATA still pursuing complaint against Honeywell after CFM deal

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pursuing its complaint against Honeywell to EU antitrust regulators, it said on Tuesday, even as the air transport group struck a deal over a similar grievance with engine maker CFM.

Royal Bank of Scotland pays $4.9 billion for financial crisis-era misconduct: U.S. Justice Department

Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $4.9 billion to settle U.S. claims that it misled investors on residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2008, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday, adding this was the largest penalty imposed on a bank for misconduct during the financial crisis.

Wall St. gains as earnings beat; Turkish lira rebounds

Wall Street stocks advanced and the S&P 500 was on track for its best day in three weeks on Tuesday as a rebound in the Turkish lira eased contagion fears and a string of healthy earnings boosted investor optimism.

Kroger to sell private label products in China through Alibaba

Kroger Co has partnered with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to sell its private label products on the e-commerce giant’s Tmall platform in China, making its first venture outside the United States.

Dead. Cat. Bounce..?

This…

Emerging Market FX rallied broadly on the day (after the biggest 4 day drawdown since Lehman) – its best day in three weeks…

The Argentine Peso slipped lower in the late day…

Of course, all eyes were on the Lira as it rallied back up to unchanged from Friday’s close… After its biggest single-day loss ever, the lira rebounded most since 2001…

US Household Debt Hits Record $13.3 Trillion

Total household debt hit a new record high, rising by $82 billion to $13.29 trillion in Q2 of 2018, 3.5% higher than a year earlier according to the NY Fed’s latest household debt report. It was the 16th consecutive quarter with an increase in household debt, and the total is now $618 billion higher than the previous peak of $12.68 trillion, from the third quarter of 2008. Overall household debt is now 19.2% above the post-financial-crisis trough reached during the second quarter of 2013.

Mortgage balances—the largest component of household debt—rose by $60 billion during the second quarter, to $9.00 trillion. Credit card debt rose by $14 billion to $829 billion; auto loan debt increased by $9 billion in the quarter to $1.24 trillion and student loan debt hit a record high of $1.41 trillion, an increase of $2 billion in Q2.

Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) continued their downward trend, declining by $4 billion, to $432 billion. The median credit score of newly originating mortgage borrowers was roughly unchanged, at 760.

Colorado School District Cancels Monday Classes In Effort To Boost Teacher Morale

Authored by Andrew Kerr via The Daily Caller,

A Colorado school district announced Monday it will move to a four-day school week for the upcoming calendar year.

Colorado School District 27J, which serves 18,000 students in the Denver metropolitan area, hopes that nixing Monday classes will save the district around $1 million in transportation, utilities and substitute teacher costs, as well as providing a boost to student and teacher morale.

“We’re confident it’s going to attract teachers and keep them,” District Superintendent Chris Fielder told KUSA.

“I haven’t had teachers say that this is a horrible idea.”

The schedule change means that students will only be in class for 149 days, according to the district’s

Traders Have Never Paid So Much For Crash Protection

Until very recently, tech stocks were soaring to record highs and a slump in volatility suggested investors brushing aside market risks, trade war concerns, and Central Bank tightening.

However, amid all this calm, there is at least one gauge of investor sentiment that is at full panic ’11’ levels. The CBOE Skew Index, which tracks the cost of tail-risk equity protection, has jumped to its highest level ever. The rise signals options traders are growing wary of wild swings, just weeks after the International Monetary Fund warned financial markets seem complacent to mounting risks in the global economy.

Generally, a rise in skew indicates that ‘crash protection’ is in demand among institutional investors (institutional/professional investors are the biggest traders in SPX options).

But an unusual move in the skew index (which historically has tended to oscillate approximately between a value of 100 and 150) is especially interesting when it diverges strongly from the VIX, which measures at the money and close to the money front month …

Why Turkey’s Trials Are Rippling Into Europe

Emerging-market currencies aren’t the only ones affected by Turkey’s crisis, the euro is too.

Royal Caribbean bans emotional support animals from all cruises

The cruise line is the latest company in the travel industry to take a stand against emotional support animals.

Bond Report: Treasury yields rise as Turkey worries fade

Treasury prices pull back Tuesday, pushing up yields, as haven flows surrounding Turkey’s currency crisis slow

Futures Movers: Oil bounce fizzles as dollar regains footing

Oil futures end slightly lower, cutting short a modest bounce after the dollar found its footing.