20Aug2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Futures Climb On U.S.-China Trade Talk Optimism, DOW Futures Up Double Digits, WTI Crude Falls Sharply To The High 64 Handle, Gold Index Trends Higher

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are broadly higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 1.08% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.68% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.40%.

T-Mobile runs behind-the-scenes PR push to support Sprint deal

T-Mobile US Inc is asking smaller wireless operators that piggyback off its network to issue public statements or even write newspaper editorials to help persuade antitrust regulators to approve its proposed $26 billion acquisition of Sprint Corp .

Cautious optimism for U.S.-China trade talks lifts shares

Shares rose worldwide on Monday on hopes of a resolution to the U.S.-China trade row at talks this week, while Turkey’s lira fell after cuts to the country’s credit ratings and shots were fired outside the U.S. embassy in Ankara.

PepsiCo puts fizz into healthy drinks with $3.2 billion SodaStream deal

PepsiCo will buy carbonated drink-machine maker SodaStream for $3.2 billion as it battles Coca-Cola for an edge in the health-conscious beverage market.

Trade war puts new strains on America Inc’s factories in China

Larry Sloven arrived in southern China three decades ago, just as the region was taking off as the low-cost manufacturing center of the world. Since then, he has exported millions of dollars of goods, ranging from power tools to LED lights, to some of America’s biggest retailers.

Futures climb on U.S.-China trade talk optimism

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday on hopes that planned trade talks between the United States and China would help resolve escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Nissan to invest $900 million on new assembly plant in China: Nikkei

Japan’s Nissan Motor Co will spend around $900 million to build a new auto assembly plant in China that will increase production capacity in the company by 30 percent, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.

China, U.S. to hold lower-level trade talks in late August

(This version of the August 16 story corrects date of talks reported by the Wall Street Journal to Aug 22 and 23, instead of Aug 21 and 22, in paragraph 4)

Exclusive: China shifts to Iranian tankers to keep oil flowing amid U.S. sanctions – sources

Chinese buyers of Iranian oil are starting to shift their cargoes to vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) for nearly all of their imports to keep supply flowing amid the re-imposition of economic sanctions by the United States.

U.S. firms warn next China tariffs to cost Americans from cradle to grave

A broad cross-section of U.S. businesses has a message for the Trump administration: new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports will force Americans to pay more for items they use throughout their daily lives, from cradles to coffins.

Apple Folds To China Censorhsip, Pulls 25,000 Apps From China AppStore

First it was Google that succumbed to Chinese censorship, when in the name of revenue growth it was revealed that the company that would “do no evil” would offer a censored version of its browser in China (even as its employees reportedly revolted over the clandestine project), and now it is Apple’s turn.

According to the WSJ, under pressure from Chinese state media, Apple said it removed illegal gambling apps from its App Store in China—a move that could help quell the latest challenge for the American tech giant in its most important market outside of the U.S.

The Apple store in Beijing

The Journal notes that Apple had been criticized by Chinese news outlets for “not doing enough to filter banned content and applications” and on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV, which last month reported that Apple’s app store allowed illegal gambling apps disguised as official lottery apps, said that 25,000 apps had been removed.

Italy Urges ECB To Extend QE To Protect From “Speculative Attack”

The chart which we first published last December, and which shows that for the past 3 years the ECB has purchased the bulk of Italian new government bond issuance appears to be making the rounds…

… because as Italian 10Y yields continue to rise and are now at the same level they hit during the May panic liquidation amid rising fears of what the end of the ECB’s QE at the end of the year will mean for demand (as a reminder, last week Goldman warned that unless a new buyer of last resort emerges, Italian debt faces a “huge structural shift”)

Tesla Tumbles After JPM Cuts Price Target By $113 To $195 In Scathing Report

Elon Musk may be about to suffer another nervous meltdown on Twitter.

Today, JP Morgan came out and finally issued a note that acknowledged what it seems that everybody has already realized: that funding for a Tesla go private bid has not, in fact, been secured. To add insult to injury, J.P. Morgan lowered its price target on the name by about 30% to $195.

After Friday’s plunge in Tesla shares following the publication of a bizarre interview in the NYT with CEO Elon Musk which revealed the state of his emotional breakdown, Tesla shares are down another 6% this morning, trading in the $280’s in the pre market…

…. after JPM published a scathing research report, in which it cut its TSLA price target by a whopping $113 from $308 to $195, after JPM analyst Ryan Brinkman said he was “reverting to valuing TSLA shares on fundamentals alone given funding appears to not have been secured.”

We are reverting to valuing Tesla shares on the basis of fundamentals alone, which entails a $113 reduction in our price target back to the $195 level where it stood prior to our August 8 note in which we newly weighted 50% in our valuation analysis a go-private scenario for which funding was at that time said to have been secured to take the company pri …

Chinese Stocks Jump After Government Intervention, Sending Global Markets Higher

Despite last Friday’s sharp risk rebound after a WSJ report that the US and China are hoping to end the ongoing trade dispute with a November summit, the overnight session started off with risk largely subdued and on the back foot with US futures unchanged ahead of Friday’s Jackson Hole meeting (and FOMC and ECB minutes) and ahead of the Aug. 23 U.S. tariff deadline on Chinese products, while Chinese stocks slumped despite a 120BN yuan net liquidity injection by the PBOC and a sharp bounce in the Yuan, prompting even more concerns about the inability of Chinese stocks to stage a rebound.

Then, out of the blue Chinese A-shares surged just before 2am ET, with the Shanghai Composite spiking into the last hour of local trading and closing up 1.1% at session highs just below 2,700, an action that was closely reminiscent to countless “national team” interventions…

… and sure enough, Bloomberg reported that it was China’s state-backed funds, or the so-called “national team”, that purchased blue-chip stocks last on Monday to support the A-share market, citing people familiar with the matter. As an amusing justification, the Bloomberg sources said that the “national team bought shares with an aim to stabilize market, not to push up stock prices” even though that’s precisely …

Indian Markets Look Headed for Further Extremes

The country’s stock market is close to all-time highs, while its currency is at all-time lows versus the dollar.

There’s an EpiPen shortage — and parents fear for their allergic kids

Parents say it’s already hard to find an EpiPen for their allergic child to take to school.

The Wall Street Journal: Australia’s Turnbull drops flagship energy policy without support, leadership future is in question

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday said he wouldn’t put a flagship energy policy to a parliamentary vote after facing disquiet from conservative lawmakers within his own party.

Europe Markets: Bayer, oil shares lead the gains for European stocks

European stocks join a global march higher for stocks as investors grow optimistic ahead of a week that includes a major U.S.-China trade meeting and appearances by U.S. Federal Reserve officials.