16Apr2019 Midday Update: Wall Street Off Session Highs, DOW Slips From Triple To Double Digits, Treasuries Slump, Earnings Diverge

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are broadly higher today with shares in Brazil leading the region. The Bovespa is up 1.47% while Mexico’s IPC is up 0.79% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.11%.

White House talking to other possible Fed candidates: Kudlow

The White House is considering other possible candidates for the board of the Federal Reserve although President Donald Trump still backs his two potential nominees, Herman Cain and Stephen Moore, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday.

UnitedHealth sees minimal impact from rebate system overhaul

UnitedHealth Group Inc said on Tuesday it expects minimal impact to its margins if the rebate system is overhauled but investors remained concerned about the impact of the Trump administration’s proposal to end discounts from drugmakers.

China eyes U.S. poultry, pork imports in trade talks: sources

China would likely lift a ban on U.S. poultry as part of a trade deal and may buy more pork to meet a growing supply deficit, but it is not willing to allow a prohibited growth drug used in roughly half the U.S. hog herd, two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said.

Amazon to crunch data for Chilean stargazers amid Latam push

Amazon Web Services, a unit of Amazon.com Inc, said it will help astronomers in Chile crunch huge troves of data using its cloud computing services, a symbolically important step for the retail-to-entertainment giant as it looks to expand in Latin America.

Daimler suspends Mercedes franchise in China after customer complaint goes viral

Germany’s Daimler has suspended a local sales franchise for its Mercedes-Benz brand in China after a customer complaint about service from the dealership went viral on social media.

Wall Street inches higher on tech boost, Johnson & Johnson earnings

U.S. stocks edged higher on Tuesday, as an advance in technology shares and a jump in Johnson & Johnson following strong results countered losses in UnitedHealth and Bank of America.

Bank of America revenue misses forecasts, shares fall

Bank of America Corp on Tuesday reported first-quarter revenue that fell short of expectations and predicted that net interest income would rise half as fast this year, sending its shares down.

Pharmaceuticals drive J&J to better-than-expected quarterly profit

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported a first-quarter profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations on higher sales of its prescription medicines, including a double-digit increase for its psoriasis treatment Stelara, even as the company faces fierce competition for some of its other important drugs.

Stocks approach new highs on positive earnings, economic data

Stocks around the globe rose on Tuesday to six-month highs after U.S. healthcare companies posted strong earnings and data provided reassurance about economic sentiment in Germany.

The Pentagon’s Bookkeeping Is Atrocious: The Books Are Wrong On Everything

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

The Department of Defense is the world’s worst bookkeeper. The books are so atrocious that they are wrong about everything and it’s impossible to detect just how bad the fraud and corruption that runs rampant through the Pentagon has become.

Apple Joins Growing List Of Companies Helping To Rebuild Notre Dame

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday announced that the company would join two French billionaires and the energy company Total in donating money to help rebuild the cathedral of Notre Dame after Monday’s devastating fire.

How China Is Driving US Interest Rates

Authored by Mark Orsley, Head of Macro Strategy at PrismFP

Friday turned out to be an interesting day in yield space as US 10yr yields, for example, broke down sharply (hey 1/2 point is a lot in this low vol regime). This may be somewhat confusing as the data in the US has really been lackluster with US economic surprise indices remaining at local lows.

However, the story is the cyclical upturn in China something commodities, as shown a couple weeks back, were foreshadowing. The slew of better data out of China is turning yields back higher along with it.

China CPI, M2, Exports, and Aggregate Financing all turning higher off the lows

Panic Erupts At 5th Ave Apple Store After Bedbug Sighting

The iconic Apple store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue has long been one of the most heavily trafficked in the world. But a group of disgruntled. employees recently complained to the New York Post that the store’s management exposed staff and customers to bed bug infestation without warning.

The bed bug sightings, which began about a month ago, culminated in a furor on Friday when a bed bug was spotted inside a manager’s office. Employees described a “mass exodus” of employees who fled the store. Frustrated employees said management had been giving. them “the runaround” about the bed bug risk until they finally caved on Friday and brought in a bed bug sniffing dog, which confirmed that bed bugs had been present in a staff locker room.

March 2019 Headline Industrial Production Long Term Downtrend Continues

Written by Steven Hansen

The headlines say seasonally adjusted Industrial Production (IP) declined month-over-month. Our analysis shows the three-month rolling average declined.

The Fed: Here’s where the market is, and isn’t, pricing in a loss of Fed independence

For all the stated concern about Fed independence, it’s not easy to find signs financial market participants are losing confidence in the central bank.

Upgrade: The quiet desperation of Generation X workers across America

Reality bites: Gen Xers are more stressed at work than any other generation, new research finds.

NewsWatch: Stock market at ‘risk of a melt-up, not a meltdown’, warns BlackRock’s Larry Fink

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