21Feb2019 Market Close: Wall Street Closes Fractionally Lower, DOW Falls 104 Points, Nasdaq Snaps 8-day Winning Streak On Weak Economic Data, WTI Settles Lower At 56.83

Puma goes up-market with joint collection with Porsche

Sportswear firm Puma is launching a joint collection with Porsche Design, the fashion and accessories brand owned by the German car company, tapping into demand for premium products just as luxury labels are moving into the market for sportswear.

Consumer Reports yanks recommendation for Tesla’s Model 3, citing reliability

Consumer Reports on Thursday pulled a recommendation for Tesla Inc’s Model 3, citing reliability problems, and the influential U.S. magazine turned up the pressure on other automakers to include crash-avoiding automatic braking as standard equipment.

Wall Street on track to snap recent run of gains after weak data

Weak economic data pressured U.S. stocks on Thursday after a recent run of gains, while a drop in healthcare shares added to the bearish momentum.

AT&T pulls ads from YouTube over videos exploiting children

AT&T Inc pulled all its advertising from Alphabet Inc’s YouTube for the second time in two years after a magazine reported the platform displayed ads next to videos that showed the exploitation of children.

U.S., China resume trade talks to thrash out structural agreements

The top U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators resumed high-level talks on Thursday to hash out a deal that could end their trade war, just over a week before a U.S.-imposed deadline to reach agreement expires and triggers a new round of tariffs.

Ford’s Brazil shutdown highlights automakers’ woes with excess capacity

Ford Motor Co’s oldest factory in Brazil, slated for closure later this year, was a giant among auto plants, occupying a sprawling 12 million square feet (111.5 hectares), bigger than many of the automaker’s U.S. facilities.

Philadelphia sues seven big banks, alleges municipal bond collusion

The city of Philadelphia has filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing seven major banks of conspiring to inflate interest rates for a type of bond used by cities, towns and other public entities, costing them potentially billions of dollars.

U.S. banks record $59.1 billion in profits in fourth-quarter of 2018

The U.S. banking sector recorded $59.1 billion in profits in the fourth quarter of 2018, down slightly from the third quarter’s record level but still up significantly from the prior year, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Airbus pencils in orders for new A321XLR jet: sources

Airbus has begun lining up tentative orders for a longer-range version of its A321 jetliner, seeking to exploit signs of hesitation at arch-rival Boeing over whether to develop a new model in a hotly contested niche of the airplane market.

Stocks Slide As “Bad News Is Bad News” Again

After a seemingly endless series of trading days in which the market would spike higher as either the US or China would release some “trade deal optimism”, today was a stark disappointment for the bulls because while the latest round of trade talks started in DC between the US and Chinese delegations, there were no “optimistic” leaks or Trump tweets. Instead, overnight in a surprising twist, reports hit that China had “indefinitely” banned Australian coal imports, a report which send AUD traders in for a rollercoaster of a day, stopping out both longs and short, with the currency first jumping on good economic data, then sliding on a bank’s forecast for an RBA rate cut, then tumbling on the China export halt, and sliding for the rest of the day.

The news also hit the Chinese Yuan, which first jumped to a seven month high against the dollar, only to sink subsequently, ending the day at the lows, while the Bloomberg dollar index predictably rose for much of the day, reversing all of yesterday’s losses.

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Billionaire Investor’s Take On America’s Socialist Fever

Submitted by Simon Black of SovereignMan

Howard Marks is one of the smartest, wealthiest investors in the world.

As founder of Oaktree Capital, Marks manages around $120 billion. And his track record ranks him among the greatest investors in history.

So it’s probably no surprise that Marks is deeply concerned about “the rising tide of anti-capitalism,” and dedicated one of his famous memos to this new political trend.

In the eyes of anti-capitalists, wealthy people, big businesses, and investment funds are all evil. Period.

Just look at how New York City pushed Amazon to walk away from its multi-billion dollar expansion there: these anti-capitalists aren’t rational. This is no longer a political agenda. They’re waging a holy war… it’s a bizarre jihad against prosperity.

As Howard Marks writes in his latest memo, the anti-capitalist fever is spreading quickly today b …

The Last Time This Divergence Emerged, Was Just Before The 2008 Crash

We discussed the collapse in the VIX earlier, when we pointed out that at least according to the world’s largest bond manager, this artificial market calm foreshadows another surge in volatility just around the corner, which is also why Pimco’s CIO had one recommendation: start selling now.

However, while Pimco may be accused of merely talking their book, there is another empirical indicator which suggests that a violent market reversal may be imminent.

According to Wells Fargo’s recession model, which similarly to JPMorgan’s and Goldman’s uses various market signals such as the 3M10Y treasury spread and various economic inputs, the chances of a recession in the US over the next 12 months spiked in December and hit 40% in January (while high, this is still well below JPMorgan’s 60% odds of a recession in the next coming year).

However, as Wells Fargo’s in house derivative strategist Pravit Chintawongvanich observes, this surge in the probability of a recession is at odds with …

AT&T Joins ‘Soft-Core Pedo Ring’ YouTube Boycott; Blogger Under Attack For “Adpocalypse”

AT&T has joined Disney and Nestle SA in pulling advertisements from YouTube over a “soft-core pedophilia ring” which allowed pedophiles to identify videos of young girls engaging in sexually suggestive activities.

“Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube,” said AT&T in a statement emailed to Bloomberg.

Originally discovered in 2016 by YouTuber “reallygraceful” in a now-unavailable video – for which she was subject to MSM hit pieces (such as this one by the BBC’s Mike Wendling), blogger Matt Wilson revived the controversy in a 20-minute video published Sunday, which has received over 2 million views.

Wilson describes how comments on YouTube were being used to identify certain videos in which young girls can be seen participating in sexually suggestive behavior – such as posing in front of mirrors and doing gymnastics and “yoga stretching.” If a user clicked on one of the videos, YouTube algo …

New Jersey is dedicating a ‘food trail’ to Anthony Bourdain

Food fans can visit 10 of the late ‘Parts Unknown’ star’s favorite New Jersey restaurants.

You can finally download the first Spanish-language Harry Potter digital audiobook

Audible launches its new Latino platform by offering “Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal,” the first Harry Potter book available as a digital audiobook in Spanish.

Harry Boxer’s stocks to watch include Aphria and Freeport-McMoRan

Aphria has bounced back from questions about an acquisition.