Written by Gary
US stock markets closed up but well below their session highs today (SPY +0.5%) as investors pulled back in the last few minutes of trading. Nasdaq logs three-day winning streak
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Wall Street ends up on trade optimism but off day’s highsU.S. stocks closed up but well below their session highs on Wednesday as investors pulled back in the last few minutes of trading despite optimism about U.S.-China trade relations and some reassuring signs in British politics. |
| China’s Tencent Music debut strikes a chord with investorsShares of China-based music streaming company Tencent Music Entertainment Group rose in their U.S. debut on Wednesday, as investors shrugged off volatile markets to grab a piece of the fast-growing music streaming industry. |
| Under Armour forecasts 2019 revenue growth below estimatesUnder Armour Inc on Wednesday forecast 2019 revenue growth and profit below analysts’ estimates, citing relatively flat results for North America, sending its share down about 11 percent. |
| With stock riding tailwind, United Airlines CEO doubles down on growth strategyWith many rival airlines scaling back plans to add travel routes and seats in a bid to protect margins, Oscar Munoz is taking United Airlines in a different direction. |
| Trade talk lifts stocks, sterling rises on May betsA gauge of global stock markets rallied along with U.S. Treasury yields on Wednesday as optimism abounded for a trade thaw between the U.S. and China while sterling bounced on bets that UK Prime Minister Theresa May would keep her job. |
| FCC considers ending merger ban among broadcast networksThe Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday voted to open a new review of U.S. media ownership rules and seek comments on whether the government should end a prohibition on mergers among the four largest broadcast networks. |
| Norfolk Southern moves headquarters to AtlantaNorfolk Southern Corp said on Wednesday it would shift its headquarters to Atlanta from Virginia, tapping a major hub for transportation. |
| Brazil court grants Nissan ex-boss Ghosn access to Rio apartmentA Brazilian court decided on Wednesday that ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn or his daughter should have the right to access a contested Rio apartment to retrieve personal belongings, according to a legal document seen by Reuters. |
| Exclusive: China makes first major buy of U.S. soybeans since Trump-Xi meetChina on Wednesday bought at least 500,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans in its first major purchase of the oilseed since U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce earlier this month, traders said. |
| May Survives No Confidence Vote With Wide Margin Of SupportUpdate: While the final results of today’s no confidence vote haven’t been officially released, it looks like somebody has already leaked a preliminary total to the Telegraph. May reportedly received 176 votes of support, which is a strong showing of support (as RanSquawk noted, that’s a stronger showing of support than she received when she was elected prime minister following the resignation of David Cameron).
If this result is confirmed, it would suggest that May did indeed strike a deal with the Brexiteer faction of her party to win their support in exchange for promising to step down before the next general election (set for 2022). Though according to a rumor reported by the BBC, May’s predecessor David Cameron and his team had agreed before the Brexit referendum that, if he did lose, and a no confidence vote was called, he would resign if he received more than 60 votes of no confidence. Of course, Cameron didn’t wait around for a vote to be called.
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| US Banks Haven’t Behaved Like This Since 2009Authored by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners, If there is one thing Ben Bernanke got right, it was this. In 2009 during the worst of the worst monetary crisis in four generations, the Federal Reserve’s Chairman was asked in front of Congress if we all should be worried about zombies. Senator Bob Corker wasn’t talking about the literal undead, rather a scenario much like Japan where the financial system entered a period of sustained agony – leading to the same in the real economy, one lost decade becoming a second and then a third. Bernanke retorted that there weren’t going to be zombies in the United States. The American people needn’t worry because the key to staving off economic apocalypse was pretty simple.
Bernanke was already busily trying to do just that, steady the banking system. Unfortunately for all of us, while he could see what needed to be done, doing it was altogether a different matter. His tenure was a total failure for this one thing. Neither he nor any of his fellow central bankers had any idea how to put this theory into practice. They really don’t know what they are doing. As I write almost every quarter at each update of the Federal Reserve’s Financial Accounts of the United States (Z1), there is a necessary debate still waiting over how much debt is the “right” amount. There are legitimate concerns about too much. What isn’t up for argument is the last ten years; Bernanke was, again, correct in that debt is a requirem … |
| “Canary In The Coal Mine”: House Flipping Returns Crash To Six-Year LowReal-estate speculation has long been a characteristic of booming housing markets, and in this current cycle of artificially suppressed rates, investors have been furiously flipping homes which peaked in the first few months of 2018. The number of companies flipping houses also hit a decade high, as HGTV programming and house flipping seminars across the country suckered in the broad base of the American people. Now the house flipping industry has gone bust, and many investors are left holding the bag. Flipping dropped for the third consecutive quarter, due to mortgage rate increases, according to Attom Data Solutions. At the same time, the average return on investment crashed to a six-year low. “A total of 45,901 single-family homes and condos were flipped in 3Q18, signaling a 12% drop from a year ago to a 3.5-year low from the first quarter of 2015. Houses flipped sold for an average of $63,000 more than what the home flipper purchased them for, down from the all-time high of $68,000 achieved in the first quarter and from $65,000 a year ago,” said Attom Data Solutions.
The gross flipping profit in 3Q18 was about 42.6% ROI, the lowest level seen since the first quar … |
| “It’s Happening Again” – Stocks & Oil Are Giving Up Gains FastWhat goes up must come down in this new normal market as one veteran trader said “it’s happening again” as early trends are almost instantly inverted and “those fucking machines” run the market the other way.
The move seems very technical in nature with the machines tagging yesterday’s high stops and fading (similar to how yesterday’s drop found Friday’s lows and quickly kneejerked higher)…
The timing of the stocks slide also coincided with the story about The N … |
| ‘Whole grain’ label on Cheez-Its misleads consumers, class-action lawsuit saysThe case was dismissed last year but a new ruling has revived it. |
| Trump Today: President signs opportunity-zone order and pushes for border wall fundingPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday cited the mass shooting in France as a reason to back a border wall and signed an executive order creating an opportunity-zone council. |
| The New York Post: National Enquirer publisher won’t be prosecuted for suppressing story to help TrumpThe feds have agreed to not prosecute the corporate owner of the National Enquirer over a $150,000 deal struck shortly before the 2016 election that silenced a former Playboy model who claims to have had a long-running affair with President Trump, legal papers revealed Wednesday. |
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