Written by Gary
Stocks end sharply higher, DOW up by more than 280 points (SPY +1.3%). US to end subsidies for electric cars, renewables: White House.
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
World stocks soar, dollar dips, yuan up on China-U.S. trade war ceasefireA truce in the U.S.-China trade war boosted global stocks to their highest in roughly three weeks on Monday, while sending the dollar lower and the Chinese yuan and several trade-dependent currencies higher. | |
Qualcomm says has moved on from NXP despite China commentU.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc said on Monday it was not looking to revive its abandoned $44 billion acquisition of Dutch peer NXP Semiconductors NV , a day after the White House said China would reconsider clearing a deal if it was attempted again. | |
Disney amends CEO Iger’s pay packageWalt Disney Co said on Monday Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger has agreed to certain adjustments to his compensation package, which ties his paycheck to the company’s performance, as it nears the completion of its Twenty-First Century Fox acquisition. | |
GM CEO will meet with senators on job cuts WednesdayGeneral Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra will meet with Ohio’s two U.S. senators on Wednesday about the Detroit automaker’s plans to idle five North American plants and cut up to 15,000 jobs. | |
Oil surges almost 4 percent on trade truce, expected supply cutsOil prices jumped nearly four percent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in a trade dispute and Canada’s Alberta province ordered a production cut, while exporter group OPEC looked set to reduce supply. | |
U.S.-China trade truce boosts Wall StreetWall Street’s major indexes rallied on Monday following a trade truce between the United States and China, whose tensions have clouded the outlook for the stock market for much of the year. | |
U.S. top court signals it will buttress anti-fraud securities lawsU.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to further limit the scope of who can be held liable for violating laws that protect investors from securities fraud as they weighed an appeal by a New York investment banker who had been banned from the industry. | |
Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billionNexstar Media Group Inc said on Monday it agreed to buy Chicago-based peer Tribune Media Company for about $4.1 billion in cash, making it the largest regional U.S. TV station operator. | |
Ernst & Young CEO Weinberger to step downErnst & Young said on Monday that Mark Weinberger would step down on July 1, 2019 as global chairman and chief executive. | |
Gold, Yuan, & Stocks Gain On Trump-Trade-Truce But Yield Curve CrashesThe alternative ending for last night’s Trump-Xi dinner… Chinese stocks soared after the trade truce, but like US, leaked back in the afternoon session with no follow-through… But it was China’s currency that really surged – jumping around 1.1% -the biggest daily gain since August… Similar picture in Europe – big gap open and euphoria fades… | |
Ford To Announce 25,000 Job Cuts: Morgan StanleyOn a day when US and European auto stocks rallied (at the expense of shares of their Chinese competitors) following President Trump’s tweet (since complicated by comments from Kudlow and Mnuchin) that China might soon agree to reverse its tariffs on US-made cars, Morgan Stanley has published a report that further justifies the short-term bull case for autos while possibly infuriating President Trump. After Ford successfully spun its latest “restructuring” as a jobs-neutral, union-endorsed shifting of employees from one factory to another, one analyst at Morgan Stanley is calling “bulls***”, writing in a report published Monday that the Detroit automaker could soon announce an even larger round of job cuts than rival GM, which famously incurred the wrath of President Trump last week when it announced that it planned to shutter five North American factories and fire 14,700 US workers (the job cuts would affect both hourly blue- … | |
“It Feels Like 2006”: Subprime Auto Loan Issuance Soars Amid Record Investor InterestAs the market continues to show signs of topping, euphoric investors apparently now believe that it’s a great time to pile into the riskiest of subprime auto loans, according to a new Wall Street Journal article. Investors this year have been buying record amounts of subprime auto securitization deals that have single-B credit rating components to them. These are deals that are easily considered to be “junk” and are “the lowest grade offered when such bonds are sold”. According to data from Finsight, lenders have already issued $318 million in single-B rated debt in 2018, which is more than “all prior years combined”. The appeal of these deals is the high yield, which comes as a result of the additional risk that investors bear with loans to borrowers who have FICO scores below the mid 600 level. These deals are layered with different tiers, each with a different level of risk and return based on how and when they receive payments. Single B tranches are generally the last in line for bondholders, which sometimes result in these deals paying rates of more than 6%, or about twice what the 10-year pays. In ex … | |
The Best And Worst Performing Assets In A “Brutal” November And YTDAs Deutsche Bank’s Craig Nicol writes, it might not have felt like it given some of the big swings for assets intra-month, but compared to October, returns for assets during November were fairly tame by comparison. Indeed the overall picture was mixed in the end with 15 of the assets tracked by the German bank’s sample finishing with a positive total return in USD terms (out of 38) and 17 in local currency terms. That said, the YTD picture still remains fairly bleak with only 10 assets currently positing a positive total return in local currency terms, and just 5 assets in USD terms. For the month of November specifically, concerns around many of the same issues which plagued markets during the year – namely Italy, the trade war and Brexit – remained a factor however a historic plunge in the price of Oil (just as Goldman was telling its clients to buy), which saw WTI (-22.0%) and Brent (-20.8%) easily finish bottom of the pack, added to the list. This was the worst month for WTI since October 2008 and the second worst month based on data back to the start of 2001. Despite that risk assets were actually fairly resilient although the monthly return does hide sharper intra-month moves as noted earlier. For equities, Asia led the way with the Hang Seng (+6.2%) and Nikkei (+2.0%) two of the top performing markets in local currency terms. EM equities also returned a solid +4.1% while in the US the S&P 500 finished with a +2.0% return. The NASDAQ (+0.5%) did however underperform as tech stocks continue to lag. The picture in Europe was a lot more mixed with the STOXX 600 (-0.3%) and DAX (-1.7%) slightly down while the IBEX (+2.3%) and FTSE MIB (+0.9%) finished in positive territory – the latter seemingly supported by signs that the government might be softening its budget stance. It wasn’t all rosy for peripheral markets however with equity markets in Greece (-1.5%) and Portu … | |
Commodities Corner: Qatar’s OPEC exit raises the possibility of the oil cartel’s demise, experts sayQatar’s decision to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at the start of the new year isn’t expected to have a big impact on the oil market, but it does reveal cracks in the nearly 60-year old organization that could eventually lead to its demise. | |
Trump Today: Trump Today: President touts meeting with Xi and slams former lawyer Michael CohenPresident Donald Trump on Monday touted his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as he ripped his former lawyer Michael Cohen and said he was looking forward to being with the Bush family to mourn former President George H.W. Bush. | |
Market Extra: December historically is the most wonderful time of the year for stocksStocks kicked off the first trading day of December with a gusto, helping investors to usher in the month on a festive note and sparking hopes for a grand finale to the year on the back of a so-called Santa rally. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated: