Written by Gary
All three main equity benchmarks book sharp weekly gains (SPY +0.05% flat), while a gloomy outlook from Amazon helped drag a gauge of global equity markets lower.
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Wall Street torn between weak Amazon outlook, strong jobsWall Street indexes were mixed on Friday, as optimism from a surge in January U.S. job growth was offset by a weaker-than-expected outlook from Amazon.com Inc that battered retail stocks. | |
U.S. appeals court hears challenge to FCC net neutrality repealA federal appeals court was hearing arguments on Friday over whether the Trump administration acted legally when it repealed landmark net neutrality rules governing internet providers in December 2017. | |
Exclusive: Delta trying to unload East Coast refinery – sourcesDelta Air Lines wants to sell its oil refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, after attempts to offer a partial stake in the plant late last year failed, according to two people familiar with the matter. | |
GM meets with lawmakers over racism allegations at Ohio plantSenior General Motors Co executives met this week with Ohio’s two senators and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill after African American employees sued the automaker accusing it of allowing a racially hostile work atmosphere. | |
Stock rally flags after strong U.S. data, bond yields riseBond yields rose on Friday after U.S. employment and manufacturing data underscored a strong economy with little wage inflation, while a gloomy outlook from Amazon.com helped drag a gauge of global equity markets lower | |
Foxconn vows to build Wisconsin plant after talk with TrumpFoxconn Technology said on Friday it will build a factory in Wisconsin after the company’s chairman spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump, following a Reuters report earlier this week that the Taiwanese company was reconsidering its plans. | |
Potential Fed pick Cain says deflation bigger worry: Fox BusinessFormer pizza chain executive Herman Cain, who is under consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, said on Friday the U.S. central bank should be more concerned about deflation than inflation. | |
Exclusive: China buys U.S. soybeans a day after trade talks – tradersChinese state-owned firms bought at least 1 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans on Friday, a day after high-level bilateral talks yielded progress toward a trade deal and a Chinese commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans. | |
Tesla begins sales of cheaper Model 3 car variant in ChinaU.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc said it will start taking orders in China on Friday for a lower-priced version of its Model 3 car, as it seeks to accelerate China sales hit by trade friction between Washington and Beijing. | |
Powell-Pivot Sends Gold To 8-Month Highs, Dow Up Sixth Straight WeekWhat made The Fed stomp on the brakes and slam the monetary trajectory into reverse so fast? Probably nothing!! China’s stock markets were levitated late Thursday, early Friday (after The Fed) back into the green for Shanghai Composite (tech heavy indices underperformed)… A Mixed week too in Europe with UK’s FTSE outperforming and Spain and Italy underperforming… | |
World’s Largest Asset Manager Compares Market To A Horror Movie, Warns Complacency Is BackWhen the portfolio manager for the world’s largest asset manager warns that, following a torrid market surge which saw virtually every major asset in January post positive returns, something which Deutsche Bank said had never before been seen, the market resembles a horror movie, it’s probably a good idea to listen. Because that’s just what BlackRock’s Russ Koesterich has done in his latest blog post, asking “Have investors shifted market sentiment too quickly”, and giving three specific reasons why that is indeed the case. Here is Koesterich’s take on why markets have gone from despair to euphoria in the blink of an eye, and why this signals that complacency is once again back. * * * Have investors shifted market sentiment too quickly? As every fan of horror movies knows, the best way to elicit screams is to lull the audience into a false sense of security. It’s when everyone has relaxed, thinking the worst has past that the real fright occurs. Since bottoming in late December, global equity markets have rallied more than 10% in dollar terms and market volatility has been cut in half. This raises the question: Have investors gone from panic to complacency too quickly? A few observations: 1. The economic data has not stabilized. If part of what induced the unprecedented December selloff was the fear of an economic slowdown, it’s not clear why everyone has become more optimistic. While the global economy is not falling off a cliff, forward looking measures of growth continue to soften. China has been agg … | |
Crypto Exchange Seeks Bankruptcy Protection After Founder’s Mysterious DeathMore than ten years after the birth of bitcoin, the crypto industry remains riddle will con artists, scammers and fraud. And sometimes, businesses that for years appeared to be legitimate enterprises will suddenly be outed as long-running frauds – a la Bernie Madoff – when they hit a speed bump. For Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, that moment of truth apparently arrived earlier this month when its CEO Gerry Cotten died suddenly from complications related to Crohn’s disease . According to a statement from the company, he died while traveling in India where “he was opening an orphanage to provide a home and safe refuge for children in need.”
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Maduro Abandons Plan To Ship 20 Tons Of Venezuelan Gold AbroadUpdate: Marco Rubio’s scare tactics have apparently succeeded. Due to fears of being targeted by the US for helping Venezuela ship its dwindling gold reserves out of the country, the financial firm that was supposed to help the Maduro regime ship 20 tonnes of gold out of Venezuela has backed away from the deal, forcing Maduro to cancel his plans to unload the gold.
Juan Guaido, the opposition leader and US-recognized President of Venezuela, has been struggling to defend Venezuela’s public assets to leave them available to be used to pay for humanitarian aide for the country’s long suffering population.
To sum up: Marco Rubio managed to browbeat a foreign firm into withholding some $850 million in badly needed cash from the Maduro regime. Meanwhile, Guaido has refused to rule out accepting military assistance from the US, once again underscoring the fact that Latin America’s favorite socialist paradise is about two steps away from all-out civil war. Somewhere in Caracas, a furious Maduro is cursing the day he first heard the name … | |
Capitol Report: Booker says he’d keep private health care even as he backs ‘Medicare for all’Newly announced Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker said Friday he wouldn’t do away with private insurance, even as he supports “Medicare for all,” wading into one of the hot-button issues of the 2020 presidential campaign. | |
Weekend Sip: The perfect sip for a polar vortexIcewine is made from grapes left to freeze on the vine. | |
Economic Report: Mortgage rates rise for first time in 2019 but are expected to fall from hereRates for home loans tick up in the most recent week, but all signs point to softening borrowing costs for homeowners in the coming weeks. |
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