Written by Gary
Disappointing consumer confidence data today (SPY -0.1%) helped send US stocks down.
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Amgen quarterly profit tops Street view, 2019 forecast falls shortAmgen Inc on Tuesday reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as sales rose and tax expense fell, but competition for older medicines is growing and the drugmaker forecast 2019 earnings below Wall Street estimates. | |
S&P falls with technology drag; 3M boosts DowWall Street was mixed on Tuesday, with technology shares dipping ahead of Apple’s quarterly report while a rebound in 3M and other industrials elevated the Dow Jones Industrial Average. | |
Gold hits eight-month high, stocks mixed amid trade caution, resultsGold hit an eight-month high while world stock markets were mixed ahead of further U.S.-Sino trade talks, a raft of technology company results starting with Apple later on Tuesday and an impending Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. | |
Huawei executive Meng attends bail hearing at Canadian courtChinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou appeared in a Canadian court on Tuesday for a hearing concerning her bail in a case that has strained Beijing’s ties with Canada and the United States. | |
PG&E files for bankruptcy as California wildfire liabilities loomPG&E Corp, owner of the largest U.S. power utility, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in anticipation of liabilities in excess of $30 billion from the deadliest wildfires in California’s history. | |
GE falls after JP Morgan’s Tusa brings back focus on free cash flowShares of General Electric Co fell 3 percent on Tuesday after a top-rated JP Morgan analyst raised concerns about the company’s divestiture plans and its impact on free cash flow. | |
U.S. senator asks J&J for documents on talc, baby powder safetyU.S. Democratic Senator Patty Murray sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday seeking information related to allegations in a Reuters Special Report that the healthcare company knew about the presence of asbestos in its talc-based baby powder. | |
U.S. FTC approves Staples’ acquisition of Essendant with conditionsThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it had approved with conditions the proposed $482.7 million merger of office supply distributors Staples Inc and Essendant Inc. | |
Factbox: U.S. energy companies respond to sanctions on Venezuela’s oil firmU.S. oil refiners said they would comply with the Trump administration’s new sanctions announced on Monday on dealings with Venezuelan state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and take steps to lessen any impacts on consumers. | |
Cali Board Of Trustees Scraps ‘Pledge Of Allegiance’ Over “White Nationalism” HistoryAuthored by Adam Sabes via Campus Reform, The Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees President says the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag is “steeped in expressions of nativism and white nationalism.” In emails obtained exclusively by Campus Reform, the president of the SBCC Board of Trustees, Robert Miller, stated that he decided to “discontinue use of the Pledge of Allegiance” at board meetings because of its history. Live stream videos of the board’s past several meetings show that the last time members recited the Pledge of Allegiance during a board meeting was Dec. 13. During the Jan. 10 live-streamed meeting, Miller noted at the beginning that it was his first meeting as president of the board. It was also the first meeting since a similar circumstance in summer 2018 that members did not recite the pledge.
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In Major Win For May, MPs Approve Amendment To Eliminate Irish BackstopUpdate 2: In a major win for May, the Commons has voted 317-301 in favor of the Brady amendment seeking to remove the most controversial part of the Brexit deal with the EU: The infamous ‘Irish Backstop.’ The amendment calls for replacing the backstop with a TBD alternative arrangement. May now has the mandate from Parliament she’s been seeking to try and convince the EU to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. However, according to Capital Economics, while the win for Graham Brady’s amendment is “a good result for Theresa May,” it’s not a great outcome for the pound because, according to CE analysts, it increases the chances of a ‘no deal’ exit. The EU has repeatedly said it will under no circumstances reopen negotiations, per the FT. * * * Update: The Spelman amendment has been accepted 318-310 – an eight vote margin. The amendment (which is non-binding) calls for adding language to the end of May’s withdrawal agreement stating that Parliament rejects leaving the EU without a withdrawal deal in place. We’re now waiting for one last vote – on the government-backed Brady amendment. That will be an important vote, given reports that members of the ERG have reluctantly agreed to back the amendment. * * * The pound sunk Tuesday afternoon as MPs voted down two amendments, proposed by Labour MPs Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves, respectively, to raise the possibility of delaying Brexit. | |
Golden Crosses, Tech Wrecks, & Confidence CrumblesInvestors clung to the positivity of The Dow today, ignoring the recessionary indications from sentiment indicators, tumble in earnings expectations, Nasdaq slump, and bod for safe-haven bonds and bullion… remember again “The Dow was green… Don’t forget the FOMC ‘Drift'”… China tech stocks tumbled overnight as Huawei headlines rippled through Asian suppliers… European stocks rebounded with UK’s FTSE leading (closed before all the amendments were voted on) | |
The Fed Will “Massively Disappoint” Markets Tomorrow: Here’s WhyWith activist central banks once again backstopping markets during the recent bear market scare, which prompted Fed Chair Powell to turn from a hawk to a “patient” dove in just a few weeks, markets, traders and economists have turned their attention to the biggest driver of risk, namely the Fed’s balance sheet, which after expanding for the better part of the past decade has been shrinking at an “autopilot” pace of roughly $36 billion per month ever since it hit its “peak shrinkage” in Q4 of 2018… … and prompted a barrage of media coverage in recent days including the following: from Reuters: Powell faces early reckoning on Fed’s $4-trillion question from the WSJ: A $4 Trillion Scapegoat for Market Volatility: the F … | |
Currencies: British pound drops after lawmakers vote on Brexit amendmentsThe British pound was front and center in Tuesday’s currency trading as the U.K. Parliament debated amendments to a proposed Brexit deal. | |
Economic Report: Consumer confidence falls to 18-month low due to government shutdownThe 35-day partial government shutdown helped triggered a sharp drop in consumer confidence in January and signaled growing worries about the future, a fresh survey shows, though optimism has typically rebounded after similar episodes in the past. | |
The Tell: Bond king Gundlach says Wall Street should heed this reading as ‘most recessionary signal at present’DoubleLine Capital founder Jeffrey Gundlach says there is further reason to be pessimistic about the outlook for the economy. |
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