07May2019 Pre-Market Commentary: What Will Happen Next?

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

China vice premier going to U.S. for trade talks despite Trump threats

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States this week for trade talks, Beijing said on Tuesday, playing down a sudden increase in tension after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose new tariffs.

Vodafone steps up fight for Liberty deal with German access offer

Vodafone stepped up its battle to gain regulatory approval for its Liberty Global deal on Tuesday by offering rival Telefonica Deutschland access to its enlarged high-speed broadband network.

EU has set July 9 deadline for decision on Vodafone purchase of Liberty assets

The European Commission has set a July 9 deadline for deciding whether to approve Vodafone’s proposed purchase of Liberty Global’s cable business in Germany and eastern Europe.

Ferrari sticks to FY targets after first quarter core profit up 14 percent

Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari confirmed its full-year targets after core earnings rose 14 in the first quarter, driven by a strong performance of its Portofino model.

Investments, legal charge put brakes on BMW

BMW’s first-quarter operating profit fell 78 percent to 589 million euros, despite higher deliveries of luxury vehicles, as the carmaker felt the effects of higher investment spending and a 1.4 billion euro ($1.6 bln) legal provision.

Samsung Electronics says no anticipated shipping date yet for Galaxy Fold

Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it cannot confirm the shipping date for its foldable device Galaxy Fold yet and apologized to its pre-order customers in the United States for the delay.

As IPO looms, Uber clings to hard-knuckled tactics in pursuit of growth

Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick used to tell investors he liked to keep his company teetering between order and chaos.

Petrobras plan to end refining monopoly in Brazil comes with caveats

Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA drew plaudits from investors last month for announcing a plan to sell off eight of its refineries in a process the company says could fetch some $15 billion.

Autism in the workplace: A spectrum of hiring choices

Like many transplants to Chicago, Chris Easton needed to adjust to winter after moving from Atlanta to take a job as a database engineer at the accounting firm EY.

DoJ Returns $200 Million Stolen From 1MDB

After seizing hundreds of millions of assets tied to the 1MDB embezzlement scandal, the DoJ is finally starting to return some of the money to the Malaysian people – though the roughly $200 million that has been handed over pales in comparison to the $4.5 billion that the DoJ believes was stolen from public development fund by associates of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

According to the Financial Times and Bloomberg, the monies were returned under the auspices of a DoJ program called the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. Malaysian AG Tommy Thomas said that the first tranche of money returned was $57 million forfeited by Red Granite Pictures, the production studio that helped produce the Martin Scorsese film “Wolf of Wall Street”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Blain: “The Next Few Days Are Going To Be Critical”

Blain’s Morning Porridge, submitted by Bill Blain

I’ve just spent a cold and blustery bank holiday weekend sailing. Almost as blustery as the threats of trade-war talk rattling stock markets. Almost as cold as the mood around them. This week’s markets are likely to be all about how China reacts and Trump twits. The next few days are going to be critical.

Will they, or will they not send, a team to the US, and if the Chinese don’t go, how conciliatory/aggressive will Trump be to keep a trade deal together? It’s going to make for fascinating soap opera! I suspect markets will remain “jittery” on China engagement/dis-engagement risks over the coming weeks.

The Trump Twitterstorm, and the subsequent down/up ructions in stocks, demonstrate 2 contradictory market forces: how reactive to immediate news markets are, and how quickly they discount news. At present, it seems impossible to wean global markets driven by boundless optimism off the opioid of insanely low interest rates. (Who has learnt the lesson of 10-years of QE nonsense? Low interest rates = low returns and do little for the real economy – they simply encourage investors to seek higher returns by buying financial risk!)

The weekend was a classic example of contradictory behaviour: markets stalled on Trump’s threat of 25% tariff hikes on $200bln of trade, and imminent trade war with China. Everyone had thought a trade agreement was a done deal. Oh dear, what a shame, never mind. Then the market quickly bought the story the trade talks will continue… The market still assumes the talks are a done deal. Maybe they are – but a small chance remains they aren’t! My worry is complacency reigns.

The tariff threats just before face-to-face meetings are just another typical page from Trump’s China Playbook – keep destabilising them, “ambushing” with new and contradic …

Market Turmoil Continues After Liu Confirms Washington Visit; Beijing “Prepared For Talks Breakdown”

Continuing the pattern of China countering belligerent American trade rhetoric with attempts to calm its domestic market, turmoil across global markets continued Tuesday even after Beijing confirmed that Vice Premier Liu He would travel to Washington for two days this week to lead trade talks, in what appeared to be an attempt to calm markets.

When Deutsche Bank’s Crisis Becomes Our Crisis

Authored by Christopher Whalen via The American Conservative blog,

Americans generally think of Europe first as a wonderful place to visit. They rarely ponder the economic and financial ties between the United States and European Union, but in fact these ties are extensive and significant to the stability of both economies. One area of particular connection involves the large banks and companies that provide services on both sides of the Atlantic. It is this area of commercial finance that risks are actually growing to the United States—in large part due to political gridlock in Europe stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.

IPO Report: Uber in driver’s seat as IPO market gears up for busiest week since 2015

The U.S. initial public offering market is facing its biggest week since 2015 with at least 15 deals expected to price, including Uber, the biggest IPO since Alibaba in 2014 and biggest U.S. company deal since Facebook in 2012.

: AMD and Cray seek to develop fastest supercomputer in the world

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cray Inc. have been awarded a $600 million contract to develop the fastest supercomputer in the world for the U.S. Department of Energy, the companies announced Tuesday morning.

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis therapy for infant muscle-wasting disease — potentially carrying a record $2 million price tag — is about to hit market

A new treatment for an infant muscle-wasting disease is about to go on sale at a potential cost of $2 million, a record price tag likely to fuel the continuing scrutiny of how companies price their drugs and how insurers pay for them.