26Nov2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Futures Are Pointing To Major Gains At The Open, DOW Up 300 Points, Bitcoin Drops To 3863

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are broadly higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 1.09% while London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.67% and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.58%.

GM to cut car production in North America, halt some models: source

General Motors Co plans to announce as early as Monday it will significantly cut car production in North America and stop building some low-selling car models, a source briefed on the matter said.

Airbus delivers first A330neo in Boeing 787 dogfight

Airbus delivered its first A330neo jet to TAP Portugal on Monday as it seeks to trump U.S. rival Boeing in the fiercely competitive battle at the lower end of the market for long-haul jets.

Oil creeps back above $60, but growth doubts curb gains

Oil prices rose above $60 a barrel on Monday, recovering some of the previous session’s near-7 percent fall, although uncertainty over global economic growth limited the gains.

Kering takes e-commerce in-house in online luxury battle

Kering said on Monday it would develop its own online shopping sites by 2020, ending an outsourcing joint-venture for brands like Balenciaga and showing how major luxury companies are speeding up e-commerce plans.

Mitsubishi Motors ousts Ghosn as chairman, days after Nissan firing

Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Monday its board removed Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman, following his arrest and ouster from alliance partner Nissan Motor Co last week for alleged financial misconduct.

Futures higher on Cyber Monday optimism, oil gains

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, bouncing back from a steep sell-off in the previous session, buoyed by easing oil prices and hopes of a robust sales in the holiday season.

Exclusive: Russia plans stiffer fines for tech firms that break rules – sources

Russia plans to impose stiffer fines on technology firms that fail to comply with Russian laws, sources familiar with the plans said, raising the stakes in the Kremlin’s fight with global tech giants such as Facebook and Google.

Airbus to resume deliveries to HNA Group after payments row

Airbus is poised to resume stalled deliveries of jets to China’s debt-laden HNA Group, an Airbus schedule showed on Monday, but deliveries of over $1 billion of large jets remain behind schedule after months of wrangling over late payments.

Cyber Monday to test limits of retailers’ websites as shoppers scour deals

U.S. shoppers who missed out on deals this past Black Friday are expected to flock to online sites Cyber Monday, testing the limits for some retailers that have been investing heavily on their e-commerce operations to stay relevant in a brutal space.

Ohio Set To Be First US State To Accept Bitcoin For Taxes, WSJ Report

Authored by Olivia Capozzalo via CoinTelegraph.com,

The U.S. state of Ohio is poised to become the first state to accept Bitcoin (BTC) as tax payment, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports today, Nov. 25.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

As the WSJ writes, the move initially applies only to businesses, with plans to extend the offering to individual taxpayers in future. Starting this week, Ohio-based businesses will be able register to pay all of their taxes in the leading cryptocurrency. The payments are reportedly set to be processed via crypto payments service BitPay.

As the WSJ reports, the crypto-friendly move was initiated by state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who told reporters he is looking to “plan[t] a …

Saudis Confuse Traders By Pumping A Record Amount Of Oil As Goldman Top Trade Says “Buy”

After crashing by a dramatic 8% on Friday, and tumbling to one year lows, crude is attempting a feeble rebound this morning on hopes the OPEC meeting next week will result in new production curbs by OPEC+. However, trader optimism has been dented by overnight news that Saudi Arabia raised oil production to an all-time high in November, boosting its output well beyond the quota that had been agreed upon in the Vienna 2016 OPEC summit, and prompting fresh doubts if Riyadh is sincere about cutting output.

Reuters cited an industry source, who said Saudi crude oil production hit 11.1-11.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, an all time high. That levels is up around 0.5 million bpd – equal to 0.5% of global demand – from October and more than 1 million bpd higher than in early 2018, when Riyadh was curtailing production together with other OPEC members.

Saudi Arabia agreed to raise supply steeply in June, in response to calls from consumers, including the United States and India, to help cool oil prices and address a supply shortage after Washington imposed sanctions on Iran. However, the move backfired on Riyadh after Washington imposed softer than expected sanctions on Tehran. That promptly triggered worries of a supply glut and Brent collapsed to below $60 per barrel on Friday from as high as $85 per barrel in October.

GM To Close 100-Year-Old Oshawa Plant, Affecting Thousands Of Jobs

With car sales in the US and China locked in a precipitous slowdown that is only expected to worsen, GM on Monday is expected to announce the closure of one of its Canadian plants as the company hopes to move more production to Mexico and (hopefully) bolster its lagging shares, Reuters reported. The company’s plant in Oshawa, Ontario – the plant in question – produces slow-selling Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS sedans, while also completing final assembly of the better-selling Chevy Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, which are shipped from Indiana.

The outcry from the union and local officials is already causing political pressure on GM to mount after the carmaker accepted billions of dollars in subsidies from the Canadian and US governments after filing for bankruptcy nearly a decade ago. But the company must weigh these considerations against the demands of Wall Street analysts, who believe that GM has too many plants in North America. Signaling the start of the carmaker’s latest cost-cutting initiative, the company said on Oct. 31 that about 18,000 of its 50,000 salaried employees in North America would soon be eligible for buyouts.

Two source …

Musk Admits Tesla Was “Bleeding Money Like Crazy” And “Faced Severe Threat Of Death”

While Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the rest of the company’s board of directors were posturing as though everything was fine earlier this year – even as the company struggled with ramping its Model 3 production and its CEO became the target of both the SEC and the Department of Justice – the reality of the situation below the surface was far closer to what most skeptics had suggested, according to a bizarre new Axios interview with Musk that aired on HBO Sunday night.

Speaking to Axios, Musk admitted that Tesla “faced a severe threat of death” earlier this year and that it was “bleeding money like crazy” as it worked through its crucial Model 3 production ramp. In the interview, Musk admitted that the company “came within single-digit” weeks of death before it was able to meet its production goals.

“Tesla really faced a severe threat of death due to the Model 3 production ramp. Essentially, the company was bleeding money like crazy, and if we didn’t solve these problems in a very short period of time, we would die. And it was extremely difficult to solve them.”

Echoing sentiments he made to the New York Times …

October 2018 CFNAI Super Index Moving Average Marginally Improved

Written by Steven Hansen

The economy’s rate of growth marginally improved based on the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) 3 month moving (3MA) average – and economic growth remained above the historical trend rate of growth.

Cryptos: Bitcoin makes 14-month low and is now down nearly 40% this month

The crypto crisis deepened over the weekend when major digital currencies crashed to fresh lows.

A tax break to hasten gentrification? Housing market’s Opportunity Zones may miss their target

A new tax program wants to help investors find needy communities where their capital can be put to use, but some critics think it will have little effect on the nation’s distressed housing markets, and may simply accelerate what some feel are the negative impacts of gentrification.

Need to Know: Here’s how the S&P 500 can avoid the next ‘Big Red Wave’ of selling

Our call of the day looks at another critical moment coming up for stocks, and one that may be avoided if the stars align for these big five things.