28Sep2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Futures Point To A Lower Opening As Budget Fear Sparks Italian Rout, DOW Futures Fall 100 Points As Trade Worries Linger, Italy Fears Weigh, Gold At 6-week Lows

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are broadly lower today with shares in Germany off the most. The DAX is down 1.89% while France’s CAC 40 is off 1.45% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 0.80%.

Italy budget worries hit European markets

Italy’s government bonds, European stock markets and the euro were hit hard on Friday after Rome agreed to set a higher than expected budget deficit target that could put it on a collision course with Brussels.

Exclusive: Insider favored as Airbus speeds up CEO search – sources

Airbus is moving swiftly toward appointing planemaking head Guillaume Faury as its next chief executive after accelerating the search for a successor to outgoing Tom Enders to address a growing leadership vacuum, people familiar with the matter said.

Novo Nordisk to cut 250 jobs in the United States

Denmark’s Novo Nordisk will cut around 250 jobs in the United States, a spokesman told Reuters on Friday, adding the drugmaker would also hire an as-yet undetermined number of staff to new positions.

Ryanair strikes disrupt 40,000 passengers across Europe

A staff walkout at low-cost carrier Ryanair grounded planes in six European countries on Friday, disrupting the plans of more than 40,000 passengers.

U.S.-China trade war triggers seafood supply chain shake-up

The U.S.-China trade war has triggered a seafood supply chain shake-up, with U.S. importers scrambling to stockpile frozen Chinese squid and tilapia ahead of looming price increases while Canada exports more lobsters to China.

Global funds raise U.S. stock holdings to three-and-a-half-year high

Global investors increased holdings of U.S. equities to their highest since May 2015 in September while reducing their exposure to emerging-market assets, where a majority believe the shake-out still has some way to go.

Healthcare momentum rides on defensive appeal, earnings, election

Healthcare company shares have taken the lead in the record-setting U.S. stock market, and a desire for investors to become more defensive combined with potentially strong upcoming earnings could drive them even higher.

SEC lawsuit sends Tesla shares tumbling

Shares of Tesla Inc dived 11 percent in early trading on Friday after U.S. regulators accused Chief Executive Elon Musk of fraud and sought to remove him from his role in charge of the electric car company.

Belgium to sue Google for not blurring images of defense sites

The Belgian defense ministry will sue Google for not complying with its requests to blur satellite images of sensitive military sites, a ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.

A Tesla Without Musk? Barclays Calculates Elon Is Worth $130 To The Stock Price

Tesla shares have continued their plunge this morning, down nearly 13% from the Thursday close in the aftermath of the SEC securities fraud lawsuit aimed at Elon Musk directly, as investors realize that in addition to seeking unspecified monetary penalties, the regulator will ask a judge to bar Musk from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

Predictably, the Tesla Board doubled down in its defense of the embattled CEO, saying that it is “fully confident in Elon, his integrity, and his leadership of the company”, however doubt is creeping that Musk may soon no longer be part of the company that made him a household name, and with it come estimates of just what Musk’s value is to Tesla.

In a note titled “Lawsuit Secured”, Barclays tries to calculate precisely what the Musk “premium” is, which it calculates at $130, and writes that “should the SEC be successful in barring Mr. Musk from serving as an officer or director, investors would focus back on the value of Tesla as a niche automaker, rather than a founder-led likely disrupter of multiple industries.”

House Committee Subpoenas ‘McCabe Memos’ Reportedly Detailing Rosenstein’s Attempted ‘Palace Coup’

Despite the staggering revelations regarding his pre-Mueller probe conduct that came to light a week ago, Rod Rosenstein looks set to keep his job – for now, at least. But while President Trump has insisted that he doesn’t believe the report – which alleges that Rosenstein tried to recruit cabinet members for a palace coup and even suggested surreptitiously taping Trump in the Oval Office – the truth of the matter may soon be exposed thanks to House Oversight Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, who on Thursday formally subpoenaed the DOJ to obtain copies of the incriminating memos, and other related materials, purportedly penned by former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. The NYT and other news outlets cited the memos as the original source for their story, though none of them actually obtained physical copies of the document – instead, they relied on “descriptions” of the memos’ content conveyed by third parties who had reportedly seen them.

According to Fox News, Goodlatte sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions Thursday notifying him of the subpoena, which was issued as part of a joint investigation with House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy. Goodlatte is giving the DOJ – which has been notoriously reluctant to comply with Congressional subpoenas during the Trump era – a deadline of Oct. 4 to comply. The initial Times report claimed that McCabe had left copies of his memos at the FBI after he was fired earlier this year.

“Given the Department’s ongoing delays and/or refusal to produce these documents, I am left with no choice but to issue the enclosed subpoena to compel their production,” Goodlatte wrote to Sessions.

In addition to requesting all documents and communications pertaining to the m …

Gold-Based Monetary System To Bring Price Stability To Crypto

Authored by Maria Yavuz via CoinTelegraph.com,

Gold-based monetary system Kinesis aims to bring price stability to the world of cryptocurrency and to prevent the decrease of its value. The company says it has already attracted interest from key players in the gold industry, which is estimated at $6.8 trillion only on London’s gold market (70 percent of the global trading volume).

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

After the gold …

Kavanaugh Confirmation Odds Soar As Key Vote Looms

Brett Kavanaugh’s impassioned testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee transfixed a nation on Thursday as Wall Street traders turned away from their terminals to tune in, causing trading volumes to plummet.

The SCOTUS nominee’s staunch rebuttal of the allegations levied by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her 36 years ago when they were both teenagers apparently convinced the handful of wavering moderate Republicans to throw their support behind Kavanaugh, as reports emerged last night that the Senate has the votes to confirm Kavanaugh, and that Senate Judiciary Committee leaders intend to hold a vote to recommend Kavanaugh first thing Friday morning, with the Senate confirmation following “in the coming days” (according to Mitch McConnell) – just in time for lawmakers to embark on an October campaigning blitz ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm vote.

According to Bloomberg, all eyes are three senators who have been undecided: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona. Flake told reporters he was undecided and the other two have declined to say where they stand. Meanwhile, Bob Corker of Tennessee said yesterday that he has decided how to vote – though he has yet to reveal his intentions. Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has been meeting with Republicans about possibly voting for Kavanaugh. “We’re still talking,” Manchin said.

So, with Republicans reportedly on the cusp of confirming the long-awaited fifth vote that would cement a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court for the next generation, and with Presid …

Need to Know: Panicked over Tesla? Here’s the first thing you shouldn’t do

Tesla is in for a bumpy ride on Friday, and our call of the day has some sage advice for rattled investors.

Market Snapshot: Stock futures fall, Dow set for worst week in three months

U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday, setting major indexes up for a week of solid losses, although they were poised to end both the month of September and the third quarter of 2018 with gains.

Metals Stocks: Gold at 6-week lows, heads for September loss at hands of resurgent dollar

Gold futures prices drop Friday, leaving the metal languishing at six-week lows and headed for a roughly 1.7% loss for September.