10May2019 Market Close: Down Week For Stocks Closes On Up Note. Commodities, Dollar And Interest Rates Fairly Quiet.

Wall St. snaps losing streak after Trump’s upbeat trade comments

U.S. stocks rebounded from early losses on Friday to snap a four-day losing streak after U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said trade talks between the United States and China were “constructive.”

Trade-sensitive stocks on ropes as uncertainty weighs

A week of worsening fears on Wall Street leading up to Washington’s increase on tariffs on Chinese goods has taken a toll on stocks that rely heavily on global trade.

Goldman Sachs nears deal to buy United Capital

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is nearing a deal to buy boutique wealth management firm United Capital Financial Partners Inc for several hundred million dollars, a source told Reuters.

Uber’s market debut sours most anticipated IPO since Facebook

Uber Technologies Inc’s conservative initial public offering could not keep its shares from sinking in their trading debut on Friday, fueling debate on Wall Street over whether the outcome of the most anticipated listing since Facebook Inc would weigh on other Silicon Valley unicorns.

Trump says talks with China to continue as trade war escalates

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that trade talks with China would continue even after Washington moved to hike tariffs on Chinese goods, avoiding the worst-case scenario of a complete breakdown in negotiations between the world’s two largest economies.

U.S. plans more aid for farmers amid China trade spat

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Friday that President Donald Trump had asked him to create a plan to help American farmers cope with the heavy impact of the U.S.-China trade war on agriculture.

Factbox: Here are nine categories of consumer products impacted by Trump’s new tariffs

A range of consumer products made in China and sold in the United States are affected by Friday’s new set of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, including in categories such as vacuum cleaners, handbags and lighting fixtures.

Wells Fargo CEO search hobbled by pay limitations: sources

Wells Fargo & Co’s hunt for a new CEO is being impeded by limits on how much the bank can pay its next leader, a person close to the search and several industry insiders told Reuters.

Instant view: U.S.-China trade talks end with deal uncertain

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was in no hurry to sign a trade deal with China as Washington imposed a new set of tariffs on Chinese goods and negotiators ended two days of talks to try to salvage an agreement.

Microsoft Rolls Out ‘Politically Correct’ AI To Avoid Misgendering And Other ‘Problematic’ Faux Pas

Still calling cops policemen and making “gentlemen’s agreements”?

Sorry – it’s “police officer” and “unspoken agreements” now, and Microsoft is going to make sure everyone knows it with the rollout of its new ‘political correctness check.’ The system uses AI to recommend writing in a way that doesn’t discriminate against a particular gender or disability, according to The Telegraph. The software will also recommend synonyms and ways to shorten sentences for the sake of brevity.

Unrealistically Great Expectations

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Our expectations have continued ever higher even as the pie is shrinking..

Let’s see if we can tie together four social dynamics: the elite college admissions scandal, the decline in social mobility, the rising sense of entitlement and the unrealistically ‘great expectations’ of many Americans.

As many have noted, the nation’s financial and status rewards are increasingly flowing to the top 5%, what many call a winner-take-all or winner-take-most economy.

This is the primary source of widening wealth and income inequality: wealth and income are disproportionately accruing to the top slice of earners and owners of productive capital.

This concentration manifests in a broad-based decline in social mobility: it’s getting harder and harder to break into the narrow band (top 5%) who collects the lion’s share of the economy’s gains.

Historian Peter Turchin has identified the increasing burden of parasitic elites as one core cause of social and economic collapse. In Turchin’s reading, economies that can support a modest-sized class of parasitic elites buckle when the class of elites expecting a free pass to wealth and power expands faster than what the economy can support.

The same dynamic applies to productive elites: as I have often mentioned, graduating 1 millions STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) PhDs doesn’t magically guarantee 1 million jobs will be created for the graduates.

Such a costly and specialized education was once scarce, but now it’s relatively common, and this manifests in the tens of thousands of what I call academic ronin, i.e. PhDs without academic tenure or stable jobs in industry.

This glut is …

China Adds Gold For 5th Month, Demand Surges During Important Indian Holiday

China’s central bank added gold to its reserves for the fifth month in a row in April, the latest emerging market central bank to stock up on the yellow metal.

Warren Buffett Would Not Locate A Business In Illinois: Here’s Why

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Warren Buffett would not locate a business in Illinois. His reason? Unfunded liabilities.

Why retailers love Mother’s Day almost as much as moms

Why retailers love Mother’s Day almost as much as momsIndia is adapting to the money-spinning American celebration which has been adopted around the world.

Etihad bids for Jet, but conditions apply

Etihad bids for Jet, but conditions applyEtihad said it is interested in reinvesting but warned that it cannot be expected to be the sole investor.

No kidding: Donkey’s milk is the new elixir

No kidding: Donkey’s milk is the new elixirDonkey’s milk is similar to a human mother’s milk, and rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids.

May 9, 2019 Weather Impacts On Economic Activity – Is Drought Shifting East?

Written by Sig Silber

U.S. and World Agriculture: Plus an Expanded Weather Forecast Section

This week we provide a lot of information on the condition of reservoirs and explain how the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) streamflow and reservoir level forecasts work. The crop progress reports are again bad to very bad. The West is forecast to be cool and wet in the near term. The East is forecast to be mostly warm and dry so we might see some signs of mild drought in the East over the next couple of weeks. For now, we have a record (since formal reporting started in 2000) absence of drought and little abnormally dry conditions.

Second Quarter 2019 Survey of Professional Forecasters See Lower Near-Term Growth

from the Philadelphia Fed

The outlook for growth in the U.S. economy over the next four quarters is slightly weaker than that in the last survey, according to 40 forecasters surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The forecasters predict real GDP will grow at an annual rate of 1.9 percent this quarter and 2.1 percent next quarter, down from the previous estimates of 2.4 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. On an annual-average over annual-average basis, the panel predicts real GDP will grow between 1.9 percent and 2.6 percent from 2019 to 2022.

Earnings Watch: Cannabis companies failed their first big test, now they have a second chance

After the first nearly full quarter of recreational cannabis sales, the world’s largest pot producers had a shot to prove they belong among blue-chip stocks. They mostly failed.

Uber stock slides in trading debut after IPO prices near the low end of range

Uber Technologies Inc.’s shares skid after the ride-hailing giant makes its public debut.

Key Words: Bill Gates’s surprise for wife Melinda Gates: a message from Barack Obama

The former president helped introduce Melinda Gates on the last stop of her book tour.