24Oct2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Trending Down Again, DOW Down Over 150 Points, WTI Crude Climbs To The Mid 67 Handle, Stocks Fall, Led By Technology, AT and T Shares

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are broadly lower today with shares in Brazil off the most. The Bovespa is down 1.45% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is off 1.18% and Mexico’s IPC is lower by 0.60%.

Boeing raises profit and sales forecast; shares jump

Boeing shares jumped on Wednesday after the world’s largest planemaker reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and cash flow, helped by soaring demand from airlines and solid defense sales and services, and raised its 2018 sales and profit estimates.

Saudi Arabia reassures boycotting banks, prince to address forum

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would not penalize foreign banks boycotting an investment forum in a message of reassurance for a gathering overshadowed by a global outcry over slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Factbox: Foreign investment in Saudi Arabia

Scandal surrounding the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has shrunk the attendance of senior executives from multinational companies at this week’s Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

Saudi crown prince expects economic growth of 2.5 percent in 2018

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday the kingdom will continue with reforms and spending on infrastructure, predicting the economy will grow by 2.5 percent this year.

CFPB chief dilutes penalty against payday lender: sources

Mick Mulvaney, the top cop for U.S. consumer finance, on Wednesday fined a payday lender $200,000 for wrongly hounding borrowers but the penalty fell short of the $3 million his predecessor was seeking, said three sources familiar with the move.

Senators question Google’s tardy disclosure of user data exposure

Two U.S. senators said Alphabet Inc’s disclosure of user data vulnerabilities at Google+ raised “serious questions” over whether it violated a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission, potentially exposing Google to penalties.

Fears over corporate, economic growth keep stocks under pressure

Stock markets around the world edged lower on Wednesday while U.S. treasuries prices rose as investors favored safer investments amid a range of uncertainties, while the U.S. dollar surged and oil prices steadied after the previous day’s session.

AT&T satellite TV numbers disappoint, shares fall

AT&T Inc’s quarterly profit for the latest quarter rose less than expected, held back by its declining satellite TV business, sending the company’s shares down more than 6 percent.

Apple boss takes aim at ‘weaponization’ of customer data

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Wednesday said customer data was being “weaponized with military efficiency” by companies to increase profit and called for a federal privacy law in the United States.

Inside The Fed’s Survey Of Economic (Un)Well-Being

Authored by Richard Rosso via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

The Federal Reserve Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017 was recently released.

The Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Consumer Affairs 5th annual Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making is designed to gain understanding of how adults in the U.S. feel about the state of their finances.

A sample of 12,000 received the survey in late 2017. What’s unique about the study in my opinion, is that it tackles subjective well-being from a financial perspective and emerging issues that may be formidable obstacles in the future. For example, this year for the first time the study included questions related to opioids.

Overall, respondents feel better about their overall financial situation as the economy has improved since the genesis of the survey. However, the continued rapid growth in wealth disparity threads throughout the analysis. Also, the disappointing state of retirement preparation and the cancerous effects of …

Saudi Crown Prince Denounces Khashoggi Murder As “Heinous Crime”

Update: Appearing alongside the Crown Prince of Bahrain and Prime Minister of Lebanon (who, ironically, the Saudis once kidnapped), MbS briefly addressed the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, calling it a “heinous crime that cannot be justified”, before focusing on his economic plans for the kingdom during his first public appearance since the diplomatic crisis sparked by Khashoggi’s killing began.

Hours after he reportedly spoke with Turkey’s Erdogan during a brief phone call (their firs since Khashoggi’s death), the Crown Prince said some had used the “painful” episode to drive a wedge between Turkey and KSA, the Financial Times reported. But he assured the crowd that this wouldn’t be possible.

Asked about the Khashoggi killing, MbS reiterated that the perpetrators would face serious legal consequences, and that all legal measures were being taken to hold them to account.

“The crime was really painful to all Saudis,” he said, according to

“Shouting Match” Breaks Out Over Migrant Caravan As Trump Admin Debates Response

The Trump administration is still deciding how it will respond if a Central American migrant caravan arrives at the sourthern US border, despite President Trump’s threats to deploy the military and declare a state of emergency, reports AP via CNBC. Trump has also threatened to retract aid from the caravan participants’ countries of origin.

Top immigration officials and close Trump advisers are still evaluating the options in closed-door meetings that have gotten increasingly heated in the past week, including one that turned into a shouting match as the caravan of about 7,000 people pushes north, according to administration officials and others with knowledge of the issue. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the topic. -CNBC

Some of Trump’s inner circle, such as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have advocated for a more diplomatic …

Investors Redeem $15BN From Hedge Funds In September As Outflows Accelerate

With hedge fund redemption pressures – as a result of what has been largely abysmal performance by the 2 and 20 crowd in both Q3 and 2018 – frequently cited as one of the potential culprits for the recent swoon in markets…

… today we got confirmation of just that, when the latest eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flow report indicated that investors had removed an estimated $14.72 billion from hedge funds in September pushing Q3 net flows into negative territory with an estimated $5.71 billion leaving the industry in Q3. As a result of September’s spike in outflows, year-to-date net flows are now flat after being stubbornly in the green for much of the year despite what has been another deplorable performance year for hedge funds. As as result, on September 30, total industry assets sit at $3.310 trillion.

And while the overall hedge fund industry is still growing, it’s not growing from new allocations. Over the last three years, investors have removed over $100 billion from the industry, but performance gains have offset these losses, at least until now: overall asset increases cannot hide the fact that over the last twelve quarters, investors have been net redeemers in eight of them. Growth is stagnant, and returns have not been making an impact on …

Goldilocks Economy Could Be a Bear for Stocks

The environment that the Federal Reserve envisions for the economy wouldn’t be all that friendly for stocks.

Don’t Bid on eBay Just Yet

PayPal results suggest eBay’s recent marketplace growth spurt may be short lived.

Eurozone Squabbles Are a Problem for Stocks, Not Bonds

News of the eurozone’s demise is exaggerated, but that may not offer much comfort to stock investors.

September 2018 Headline New Home Sales Significantly Slows

Written by John Lounsbury and Steven Hansen

The headlines say new home sales fell of a cliff. Median sales prices were little changed – but the backlog of unsold homes grew with over 7 months of supply.

The Ratings Game: McDonald’s, like Starbucks, sees opportunities in mobile-order-and-pay

McDonald’s is focusing on growing adoption of its mobile app and mobile-order-and-pay services

Market Snapshot: Stocks fall, S&P 500 on track for 6th straight losing session

Stocks lose ground in volatile session as investors parse corporate results and weigh concerns over global growth.

London Markets: Weak pound, upbeat Barclays earnings, help FTSE 100 eke out a gain

U.K. stocks manage a slight gain on Wednesday, bucking a trend in the broader European market, as the index was boosted by weakness in the British pound linked to political worries.