08Nov2018 Midday Update: Wall Street Mostly In The Red, DOW Flat, SP 500 Down -0.3%, WTI Crude Now Trading Lower In The 60 Handle

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are broadly lower today with shares in Mexico off the most. The IPC is down 3.00% while Brazil’s Bovespa is off 1.57% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is lower by 0.33%.

Tesla names director Denholm as chair after Musk rows

Tesla Inc director Robyn Denholm, a telecoms executive who has worked for Toyota, has been promoted to chairwoman of the electric car company, tasked with regulating billionaire Elon Musk’s regime after months of turbulence which have worried Wall Street.

Wells Fargo plans to combine private bank, ultra-high-net-worth units: Bloomberg

Wells Fargo & Co plans to combine its ultra-high-net-worth business and its private bank under one leader, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing an internal memo https://bloom.bg/2Pmb9h5.

Google hears protesters, changes sexual harassment policies

Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Thursday it would make changes to how it handles sexual harassment claims, a week after thousands of its employees around the world walked off their jobs to protest its response to such issues.

Still a ‘lot of work to do’ for VW after diesel scandal: U.S. compliance auditor

Volkswagen and an independent monitoring team still have “a lot of work to do” before the company’s compliance procedures can be certified after a $27 billion global emissions cheating scandal, Larry Thompson, an independent compliance auditor, said on Thursday.

Equities dip ahead of Fed statement, U.S. dollar

World equity markets edged lower on Thursday, with U.S. stocks opening on the defensive while the U.S. dollar strengthened ahead of a monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve.

French prosecutors call for 3.7 billion euro fine against UBS

French prosecutors argued in a Paris court on Thursday for Swiss bank UBS AG to be fined 3.7 billion euros for helping wealthy French people evade taxes.

Weak results keep S&P, Nasdaq lower ahead of Fed decision

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged lower on Thursday, as weak earnings reports and caution ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision stalled a rally from the previous session, which was spurred by the outcome for midterm elections.

Wall Street rallies on U.S. elections; tech, health stocks lead

(This Nov. 7 story corrects paragraph 8 to read “Brian Nick, chief investment strategist for Nuveen in New York,” instead of “Nuveen Asset Management”)

U.S. Senate hearing over Hyundai, Kia engine fires on hold

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said on Thursday that a hearing planned for Nov. 14 on reports of engine fires involving Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp vehicles was on hold, but could be rescheduled for a future date.

This Oil Boom Is Going Under The Radar

Authored by Irina Slav via Oilprice.com,

If anyone needed any further proof that Africa is shaping up as the next major hot spot in oil and gas, this year’s edition of Africa Oil Week will provide it. The event launched amid higher oil prices and booming exploration activity across the continent with supermajors and independents both upbeat about their prospects there.

If we ignore the waywardness of oil prices, which served as the basis for Africa’s oil and gas recovery, and which can once again plunge local oil producers into recession should they drop, prospects are bright.

A PwC report on the state of the oil industry of Africa, released on the first day of the event, noted how local oil and gas field operators had adjusted to the lower-price environment and are now in a position to reap the benefits of higher international prices for oil while their costs remain low.

“Africa’s oil & gas companies have weathered the downturns and capitalis …

Blankfein Was “Mystery” Goldman Exec Present During 1MDB Meeting Noted By DOJ

Last week, the DOJ filed the first round of criminal charges related to the massive international fraud that was the 1MDB scandal.

US prosecutors alleged that more than $4.5 billion was embezzled from the sovereign wealth fund, which was set up by the government of disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak, eventually leading the ransacked government fund to a default on nearly $2 billion of local currency bonds, briefly denting the value of the Malaysian ringgit. Holders of those bonds are still working on a restructuring deal with the fund.

Meanwhile, former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia Chief Tim Leissner has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is expected to cooperate with authorities against other more-senior officials at the bank. One of his fellow bankers, Roger Ng, was arrested by Malaysian police and is expected to be extradited to the US, although as we reported this morning, Ng is fighting said extradition (for a full breakdown of the latest events, see this post).

What was perhaps even more curious about the DOJ complaint, was the reference of a “senior Goldman official” who was instrumental and involved in Goldman’s establishing of close ties with both 1MDB and the Razak government, ties which would eventually allow Goldman to issue $6 billion in three issue in bonds underwritten by Goldman which netted $600 million in fees for the bank.

And, as we added over the weekend, all of this is happening at a terrible time for Goldman” which recently underwent a leadership transition, with longtime former CEO …

Democrats Demand “Preservation Of All Materials” Related To Mueller & Sessions

That didn’t take long…

Just 24 hours after retaking control of Congress in the Midterms, ABC News is reporting that four senior members – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD), and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein – sent letters to top Administration officials demanding the preservation of all documents and materials relevant to the work of the Office of the Special Counsel or the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

In their letters, the Members wrote:

“Committees of the United States Congress are conducting investigations parallel to those of the Special Counsel’s office, and preservation of records is critical to ensure that we are able to do our work without interference or delay.

Committees will also be investigating Attorney General Sessions’ departure. We therefore ask that you immediately provide us with all orders, notices, and guidance regarding preservation of information rel …

“It Will Be Quite Ugly” As Fed Ignores Looming $4 Trillion “Big Policy Mistake”

Last week we reported that after some $34 billion in Treasury and MBS maturities on October 31, the Fed’s balance sheet had shrunk the most ever in one month since the start of the Fed’s quantitative tightening, as the Fed’s holdings of Treasurys, MBS and other assets declined to “just” $4.14 trillion, down 7% from their all time highs of $4.5 trillion one year ago.

And it is this decline that is now spooking Wall Street, with a Bloomberg report citing Fixed-income traders who are “telling the Federal Reserve that it might end up making a big policy mistake.”

While most pundits have been concerned about the Fed ongoing rate hikes and resulting tightening in financial conditions, as the Fed’s balance sheet unwind has picked up, “unexpected knock-on effects” have emerged in overnight lending markets such as IOER, Fed Funds and, of course LIBOR -which just hit a new decade high – where demand for short-term cash has been on the rise again after a sharp spike earlier in the year.

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Outside the Box: Don’t ever lend money to family and friends — it’s not worth it

But if you do, assume you’ll never get it back.

Tinder user, 69, wants to legally change his age to 49 so he can get more dates

A Dutch man says we live in an age where gender is fluid, and age should be, too.

The Fed: Fed to remain stoic in face of market gyrations

The Federal Reserve will signal it intends to keep raising short-term rates gradually, despite the recent decline in equity prices.