Written by Gary
US stock futures are higher this morning (SPY +0.3%) after stocks gave up early gains in the previous session. Morgan Stanley Says Sell Rallies.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
European markets are mixed today. The FTSE 100 is up 0.19% while the DAX gains 0.01%. The CAC 40 is off 0.10%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Higher consumer spending spurs Mastercard’s profit beatMastercard on Tuesday joined bigger rival Visa in reporting stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, as it benefited from more Americans swiping their credit cards for everything from gasoline to groceries. | |
Pfizer cuts revenue forecast as supply snags, dollar strength weighPfizer Inc cut the top end of its yearly sales forecast, blaming a stronger dollar and lower revenue from its sterile-injections business, sending shares of the largest U.S. drugmaker down 3 percent on Tuesday. | |
Uber defends its business model over UK worker rightsUber defended its business model at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday in the latest stage of a long-running battle over the classification of its drivers as self-employed, a designation that entitles them to few workplace rights in Britain. | |
Coca-Cola tops estimates on demand for sugar-free sodasCoca-Cola Co reported quarterly sales and profit that beat Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, as more consumers reached for its sugar-free sodas, premium waters and sports drinks. | |
Oil prices fall on rising supply, trade tensionsOil prices fell on Tuesday, depressed by concerns that the U.S.-China trade dispute will dent economic growth and by signs of rising global supply despite upcoming sanctions against Iran. | |
General Electric cuts dividend, splits loss-making power unitGeneral Electric Co slashed its quarterly dividend to just 1 cent per share and said it would split its power unit into two businesses as new Chief Executive Larry Culp took his first steps to revive the struggling conglomerate. | |
Exclusive: Wells Fargo says auto insurance remediation will not wrap up until 2020Wells Fargo & Co will not finish paying back the estimated 600,000 customers it wrongly charged for auto insurance until at least 2020, the bank said in a letter to U.S. lawmakers seen by Reuters. | |
Chesapeake to buy oil producer WildHorse in $4 billion dealChesapeake Energy Corp is buying oil producer WildHorse Resource Development Corp in a nearly $4 billion deal, it said on Tuesday, as it looks to increase oil production capacity during a period of rising crude prices. | |
Under Armour results beat quarterly estimates, lifts profit outlookUnder Armour Inc raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday after reporting third-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, as the sportswear maker benefited from higher overseas sales and lower expenses. | |
Inside The Pentagon’s Plan For Stopping The “Migrant Invasion”The White House’s latest “troop surge” to the border will ensure that more than 7,000 National Guard and active duty troops are waiting at 26 crossing points in Texas, Arizona and California to intercept members of the migrant caravan that’s slowly making its way from Honduras to the US’s southern border with Mexico. While most of the thousands of migrants who have been traveling with the caravan are expected to either turn back or seek asylum in Mexico, hundreds, if not thousands, could still try to cross into the US and either petition for asylum or try their luck with an illegal crossing as part of “Operation Faithful Patriot.” But as a second caravan has formed and is making its way through southern Mexico behind the first caravan that formed on Oct. 13 in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, the latest wave of soldiers will likely be staying at the hardened border for some time, armed with weapons and tools to help provide “logistical support” for the more than 2,000 National Guard troops that have been deployed since April, and the border patrol agents whose responsibility it is to apprehend migrants, per RT. About 3,500 migrants are being monitored in southern Mexico near the border between the s … | |
The Mother Of All Support Levels?Via Dana Lyons’ Tumblr, U.S. stocks are testing potentially important support stemming back several decades. When it comes to technical charting levels, there is support…and there is SUPPORT. The former represents minor levels that may be sufficient in a raging B.T.D. bull market. However, in a swift decline like we are witnessing now, the market will make a mockery of such levels, slicing through them as if they have no relevancy at all. In such a decline, it may take the latter type of SUPPORT to halt or at least slow down the descent. The genesis of these SUPPORT levels likely stem back several years, at least. Currently, one market index is testing such key SUPPORT, with several decades of history behind it. We are talking about the Value Line Geometric Composite (VLG), an index that tracks the median U.S. stock performance among a universe of roughly 1800 stocks. As we have said many times, this is one of our favorite measures of the health and direction of the overall market. And, as we have also said many times, it is helpful to track it because r … | |
Eurozone GDP Hits 4 Year Low As Italian Economy Flatlines; Euro SlidesCasting doubt on the ECB’s hopes to end QE this year, and certainly hike rates some time in 2019, the euro-area economy unexpectedly grew at the slowest pace in more than four years while a reading of consumer confidence hinted at a more protracted slowdown. Euro area GDP increased only 0.2% in Q3, half the pace of the previous three months and half the 0.4% consensus forecast; it was the slowest growth rate since Q2 2014. Commenting on the latest Eurozone disappointment, Bloomberg economists Jamie Murray and David Powell said that “growth of at least 0.3% a quarter is needed to keep the labor market ticking along and for wage pressure to keep firming. A lasting dip below that rate would call for a delay to the ECB’s tightening cycle.” Worse, growth in two of the bloc’s four largest economies – Germany and Italy – both missed, and ground to a halt, while confidence among consumers and businesses in the region fell in October to the lowest in 17 months. It was unclear how this sharp economic slowdown will impact the decisions of the ECB whose president Mario Draghi last week acknowledged last week that the euro area lost some momentum but insisted it isn’t headed for a downturn. As Bloomberg notes, after a stellar 2017, this year’s far weaker perform … | |
GE Cuts Dividend To 1 Cent Amid Huge Earnings Miss, $22 Billion WritedownGeneral Electric cut its dividend for the second time in less than 12 months – slashing the quarterly dividend from 12 cents a share to a penny – only the third reduction since the Great Depression which will save GE about $3.9 billion a year, as it reported earnings that missed analyst expectations and unveiled a radical restructuring of its troubled power equipment division. GE’s earnings, which also included the company’s plans to reorganize its ailing power division, were the first to be reported under new CEO Larry Culp who was appointed suddenly last month after the exit of John Flannery, also included a $22bn non-cash charge for the writedown for goodwill in the power division, which was left on the balance sheet following the 2015 acquisition of the energy businesses of Alstom and other deals. GE’s Q3 EPS, excluding that writedown and other one-off items, were 14 cents, down 33% year over year, and a big miss to the consensus analysts’ forecast of 20 cents. Including the writedown, GE reported a net loss of $22.8 billion. Culp said in a statement that “after my first few weeks on the job, it’s clear to me that GE is a fundamentally strong company with a talented team and great technology. However, our results are far from our full potential. We will heighten our sense of urgency and increase accountability across the organisation to deliver better results.” He added that his priorities in his first 100 days were “positioning our businesses to win,” starting with the power division and cutting GE’s debts. The announcements mark Culp’s first moves to restructure the ailing company: Culp has yet to address shareholders since the board’s surprise Oct. 1 decision to oust CEO John Flannery. Culp also said that in his first strategic move since taking the job, he will break up the power division into two units: a unified business combining GE’s gas product and services groups; and a second operati … | |
Key Words: Fox News’ Shepard Smith debunks Trump’s migrant caravan rhetoric: ‘There is no invasion’Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on Monday repudiated claims by President Donald Trump and his own network of the risks posed by a so-called “caravan” of migrants making its way toward the U.S. border. | |
Market Snapshot: Dow poised for slight bounce after Monday’s gut-wrenching reversalStock-index futures on Monday are set to open slightly higher on Tuesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average staged an ugly reversal to end the session with a triple-digit loss, partly on the back of tariff worries. | |
‘If you can’t beat the market, how did Warren Buffett do it?’ and 7 other questions to ask during a volatile stock market‘The U.S. accounts for less than a third of the global economy, so why should I have most of my portfolio in U.S. stocks?’ |
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