25Sep2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Mostly Lower, DOW Finishes Down 0.3%, S and P Off 0.2%, Nasdaq Closes Above 8,000, Up 0.1%

Apple shaves cost from displays in newest iPhones: analyst firm

Apple Inc shaved some parts from the display in its largest new iPhone, helping keep costs under control in what has become the priciest component of its phones in recent years, according to a new cost analysis of the device.

Oil jumps, then pares gains as Trump pressures OPEC again

Oil prices rose Tuesday on global supply concerns following U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, with benchmark Brent surging to a four-year high, then retraced gains to settle just slightly higher after U.S. President Donald Trump called again on OPEC to boost crude output.

Oil price above $80 lifts stocks, rate hikes expected

European shares climbed on Tuesday as oil prices above $80 a barrel lifted energy stocks, while U.S. stocks slid on losses in chipmakers and rate-sensitive shares ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

Wall Street mixed as chip stocks tumble and energy climbs

U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday as a boost from the energy sector and strong consumer confidence data helped offset losses in chipmakers and utilities ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

Michael Kors makes high-end fashion statement with $2.2 billion Versace buy

Michael Kors agreed to buy luxury designer Versace for 1.83 billion euros ($2.15 billion) including debt on Tuesday, as the U.S. fashion group positions itself to take on larger European rivals.

Versace sale turns up heat on fashion’s independent outliers

Michael Kors’ swoop on Versace leaves a shrinking universe of fashion brands determined to go it alone and fend off luxury empire builders, raising the pressure on those struggling financially to lift sales or sell out.

Qualcomm accuses Apple of stealing its secrets to help Intel

Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday accused Apple Inc of stealing its chip-making secrets and giving them to rival Intel Corp, paving the way for Apple to switch to Intel’s improved semiconductors, which may have cost Qualcomm billions of dollars in lost sales.

Dunkin’ drops ‘Donuts’ from name in shift to coffee

Dunkin’ Donuts said on Tuesday it plans to rebrand itself as “Dunkin'” as part of new CEO Dave Hoffman’s plans to bring beverages and breakfast meals to the forefront of the restaurant chain’s menu.

China says U.S. putting ‘knife to its neck’, hard to proceed on trade

A senior Chinese official said on Tuesday it is difficult to proceed with trade talks with the United States while Washington is putting “a knife to China’s neck”, a day after both sides heaped fresh tariffs on each other’s goods.

Dow Drops, Silver Pops, & Bond-Sellers Stop

At today’s close?

China was down in the early session (catching down to US markets after being closed) then flatlined in the afternoon session…

Italian stocks extended the outperformance as Spain lagged…

Futures show US equities starting to slide in the pre-market then reverse at 11amET, but Dow and S&P were unable to hold their algos bounce as Nasdaq surged… (ugly close)

Sweden Manhunt Underway After Car Accelerates Into ‘Crowd Of 100 Children And Teachers’

Police in Sweden have launched a manhunt after an assailant drove a car through a large crowd of approximately 100 children and 10 teachers, according to the Daily Express.

A spokesman for Sweden’s police service said that children “threw themselves” out of the way of the car, which “accelerated into the group of students and teachers,” injuring two.

“He drove into two of the students. One was injured on the wrist and possibly the other student was also injured,” said the spokesman.

Police are sea …

“Can You ‘Feel’ The Complacency?”

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Yesterday, the market sold off modestly over continuing concerns of “tariffs” and trade wars. At least that was the headline reason. The real reason was simply that the market is overbought in the short-term and traders were taking profits in a light-volume session. As shown in the chart below, the sell-off yesterday is now turning previous resistance, when the market broke out to new highs, into support. As long as the market holds here over the next few days, we continue to expect a further, albeit bumpy, advance to 3000 by year-end.

In this past weekend’s missive, I wrote:

“However, between now and then, the markets will likely continue to try and push higher as investor confidence continues to swell, pushing investors to take on ever increasing levels of risk, particularly as it appears as if the economy is firing on all cylinders…

With the move in portfolios back to full target allocations, there is not much for us to do …

Verizon Wireless Network Suffers Massive Outage Across US

Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile telecommunications provider in the US, has been experiencing massive outages, with the East Coast and Southern US reportedly hit the hardest, according to RT.

“We are currently experiencing an intermittent voice, text and data services interruption for customers in some markets in the south. Our engineers are aware of the issue and are working diligently to resolve it,” the telecom giant’s Support Service posted on Twitter.

We are currently experiencing an intermittent voice, text, and data service interruption for customers in some markets in the south. Our engineers are aware of the issue and are working diligently to resolve it. Please check with @VZWSupport for updates.

— Verizon Support (@VerizonSupport) September 25, 2018

Verizon Customer Service was busy answering customer complaints on twitter:

I’m sorry to hear that you are having trouble making calls, Sarena! Verizon is currently experiencing a wireless network issue. Our technicians are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it quickly. ^MH

— Verizon Wireless CS (@VZWSupport) September 25, 2018

As of 3:20 pm ET, service in large swaths of the outage area had yet to be restored.

< …

The Wall Street Journal: House panel invites woman who accused FHFA head of sexual harassment to testify

A House panel invited a woman who has accused housing-finance official Mel Watt of sexual harassment to testify at a Thursday hearing where he is slated to speak about the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s business.

In One Chart: Facebook can’t keep up with Twitter, and the Instagram news isn’t helping

Since Facebook first went public in 2012, the stock has rallied more than 300% to reign supreme as the hottest stock in the social-media landscape. At the same time, Twitter has shed a third of its value since its initial trading day while Snap, the youngest of the trio, has had an even rougher showing. But there’s clearly a change afoot in 2018,

The Fed: The Powell Fed can make history if it can slow the economy without crashing it

The Federal Reserve has a chance to pull off something that it has never done before: managing to lift the unemployment rate without causing a recession.