16Apr2019 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street To Open Fractionally Higher, DOW Up Triple Digits, Gold Index Lower At 1280

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 0.68% while London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.53% and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.15%.

BlackRock quarterly profit beats, assets under management top $6 trillion

BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit and garnered tens of billions of new investor cash as global financial markets rebounded from a volatile fourth quarter.

BlackRock’s Fink says he expects ‘huge’ inflows into stocks

The U.S. economy is speeding up again after a slowdown and the market is getting ready for ‘huge’ inflows into stocks, BlackRock Inc’s Chief Executive Larry Fink told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Upstart Russian oil firm, with Goldman Sachs backing, bucks industry blues

In the frozen taiga of eastern Siberia, where bears roam in spring after waking from hibernation, an independent Russian oil company is bucking the domestic industry trend by rapidly ramping up its output and expanding operations.

Stocks march to new highs as European volatility vanishes

Stock markets rose on Tuesday to new six-month highs after reassuring data about the health of China’s economy and economic sentiment in Germany helped investors brush aside disappointing bank earnings.

Bank of America’s first-quarter revenues miss market forecasts

Bank of America Corp missed revenue expectations in the first quarter but its earnings still beat forecasts as the bank chopped its expenses and grew its loan book.

UnitedHealth beats first-quarter profit estimates, raises 2019 forecast

UnitedHealth Group Inc reported a first-quarter profit above estimates and raised its 2019 earnings forecast, driven by strength in its pharmacy benefit management business and higher enrollment for its health plans.

Stock futures rise on boost from upbeat healthcare, bank results

U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday, getting a lift from a clutch of upbeat quarterly reports from Bank of America, UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson.

J&J beats estimates on pharma strength, raises sales forecast

Johnson & Johnson beat quarterly profit estimates on Tuesday and raised its adjusted sales growth forecast for the year, driven by demand for its treatment for psoriasis and Crohn’s disease and cancer drugs Darzalex and Imbruvica.

Oil slips to $71, hit by talk of higher OPEC+ production

Brent oil slipped to around $71 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by expectations of higher U.S. inventories and concern about Russia’s willingness to stick with OPEC-led supply cuts.

We’ve Seen This Happen Before The Last 3 Recessions…And Now It Is The Worst It Has Ever Been

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Since the last financial crisis, we have witnessed the greatest corporate debt binge in U.S. history.

“Nine Centuries Of History Lost” – What Front Pages Said About Notre Dame Inferno

As millions of Europeans grappled with the notion that, in the span of just five hours, a devastating fire nearly destroyed more than 850 years of history after erupting in the attic of Paris’s cathedral of Notre Dame, newspapers in the UK and France went to the presses with the tragedy as the unchallenged lead story.

Most went to print before French President Emmanuel Macron revealed that the 400 firefighters working to combat the blaze had managed to save the interior of the structure. So they led with the impression that the cathedral was a total lost, as many had suspected.

Starting with the French papers, the catholic newspaper La Croix featured the headline “Le coeur en cendres” – heart in ashes.

LA CROIX: Le coeur en cendres #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/L5AWxoT4bZ

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 15, 2019

In a city that has suffered several tragedies over the past few years, including terror attacks and civil unrest, Les Echos termed the fire “La tragédie de Paris” – the tragedy of Paris”.

LES ECHOS: La tragédie de Paris #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/4yIYjbErYn

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 15, 2019

Shocking Leak Reveals Facebook Leveraged User Data To Reward Friends, Punish Enemies

As traders focused on bank earnings and the outlook for global growth, NBC News wrested the market’s attention back toward Facebook by publishing a report on what appears to be the largest leak of internal documents since the data privacy scandal that has dogged the company for more than a year erupted with the first reports about Cambridge Analytica’s ‘improper’ leveraging of Facebook user data to influence elections.

ECB Credibility Crumbles As “Significant Minority” Of Governors Say Growth Projections “Overly Optimistic”

When the ECB slashed its growth forecast for 2019 from 1.7% to 1.1% of GDP back in March, some observers questioned the logic behind Mario Draghi’s insistence that the headwinds facing the eurozone economy would dissipate during the second half of the year, chalking it up to more of that signature European ‘magical thinking’.

Now it appears that several of Draghi’s fellow policy-setters would agree with these critics. To wit, according to Reuters, one of the ECB’s favorite trial balloon transmission mechanisms, a “significant minority” of Draghi’s fellow policymakers have thrown up all over the latest ECB forecast for 2019 – which was echoed by the IMF – claiming off the record that it was unjustifiably rosy, and seeing little chance that the second half rebound promised by Draghi would materialize.

IPO Report: IPO market faces biggest week of 2019 so far with Pinterest, Zoom and Greenlane on tap

The initial public market is bracing for its biggest week of the year so far with eight deals on tap expected to raise $2.5 billion in proceeds.

Key Words: BlackRock’s Fink says stock market at ‘risk of a melt-up, not a meltdown’

BlackRock Inc. Chief Exeuctive Larry Fink says that with stocks knocking on the door of record highs, a surge to the upside appears more likely than a market collapse

Capitol Report: Senate Democrats push bill that would get the IRS directly into offering free online tax filing

As many Americans scramble to file their taxes by Monday’s deadline, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic lawmakers are backing a bill that they say would make the process easier.