Written by Gary
U.S. stocks closed lower on reports U.S.-China trade talks had stalled, with both sides upping the ante in recent days. The Dow fell 0.38%, the S&P 500 lost 0.58%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.04%. The Dollar Index is approaching a 2-year high, closing at 97.86. After a pre-market low of 2.366% the 10-year yield recovered to little change from yesterday’s close (2.39%). Most commodities saw fractional losses, but soybeans dropped more than 2%.
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The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | China’s tough rhetoric leaves trade talks with U.S. in limboChina struck a more aggressive tone in its trade war with the United States on Friday, suggesting a resumption of talks between the world’s two largest economies would be meaningless unless Washington changed course. |
| Wall Street ends lower on trade uncertainty; Dow down for fourth weekWall Street ended lower on Friday as continuing trade tensions pulled industrial and tech shares down, and the Dow capped a fourth straight week of losses in its longest weekly losing streak in three years. |
| Wynn Resorts in talks to sell $2.6-billion Encore casino to MGMWynn Resorts Ltd is in talks to sell its nearly finished $2.6 billion casino outside of Boston to rival MGM Resorts International, the two companies said on Friday. |
| U.S. stocks drop late in session on trade uncertaintyWall Street shares extended losses in late trade on Friday after CNBC reported that the next round of U.S.-China negotiations was in flux, looking set to end a seesaw week the same way they started with selling on worries about the escalating trade war. |
| Corporations, events face boycott threats over U.S. abortion lawsCompanies operating in Alabama and Georgia, ranging from Toyota to Netflix, as well as an Alabama music festival faced boycott threats on Friday after the states passed near-total bans on abortion. |
| Oil slips but ends week higher on Mideast supply disruption fearsOil prices edged lower on Friday due to demand fears amid a standoff in Sino-U.S. trade talks, but both benchmarks ended the week higher on rising concerns over supply disruptions in Middle East shipments due to U.S.-Iran political tensions. |
| Trade talks between U.S. and China have stalled: CNBCThe trade talks between the United States and China have stalled, CNBC reported on Friday, citing sources. |
| CBS made informal offer to buy Starz: The InformationCBS Corp has expressed interest in acquiring cable channel Starz from Lions Gate Entertainment, the Information on Friday, citing four people familiar with the situation. |
| Starbucks’ China challenger Luckin raises $561 million in U.S. IPOLuckin Coffee Inc, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp, on Thursday priced its U.S. initial public offering at the top end of its targeted range and sold more shares than planned in the biggest U.S. float by a Chinese firm this year. |
| Dow Suffers Worst Streak Since 2016 Despite Best Dip-Buying In A DecadeQuite a week…
China was ugly overnight after defending any dip all week – have to make sure the stock market does not reflect weakness after the trade deal fell apart!! |
| Trump To Dump Thousands Of Migrants In Broward, Palm Beach CountiesThe Trump administration is about to release hundreds of migrants caught along the southern border into Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to local officials. |
| Friday Humor: “Trump… Russia… Possible Collusion”“People are very worried” |
| Stocks Tumble After CNBC Reports “Trade Talks Have Stalled”, Scheduling “In Flux”Confirming that algos have a several millisecond memory at best, moments ago stocks slumped after CNBC reported…. what China’s press already reported some 18 hours ago. As a reminder, and as we noted first thing this morning, the reason why futures slumped overnight is because Chinese officials turned up the trade war rhetoric, warning that there are no plans for another round of talks. Additionally, front page commentary in the Communist Party’s People’s Daily evoked the patriotic spirit of past wars, saying the trade war would never bring China down, while commentary on the blog Taoran Notes, which was carried by state-run Xinhua, accused the U.S. of “playing tricks to disrupt the atmosphere.” The message was clear: no talks are scheduled, and more importantly, China has no urge to schedule talks in the immediate future or to engage the “barbarian” Trump. However, for some bizarre reason, the market levitated for much of the day even though the China deal mood had soured substantially overnight, prompted by positive sentiment over the jump in fake consumer confidence, and Trump’s decision to end steel tariffs with Mexico and Canada (which he only did so he can focus on trade war with China). And so, with exactly one hour in trading left, |
| Modi’s top aide wants states to do more for developmentModi’s top aide wants states to do more for developmentDebroy said state governments should contribute in funding for defence, national highways and rail projects. |
| Flurry of exits dim hope of Jet’s revivalFlurry of exits dim hope of Jet’s revivalKamark’s exit comes as Jet faces two regulatory probes while its lenders look for investors to save the airline. |
| Will a Cong-backed federal front trump BJP?Will a Cong-backed federal front trump BJP?As things stand, the next Lok Sabha may turn out to be even more contentious than the last one. |
| May 16, 2019 Weather Impacts On Economic Activity – Peak WetWritten by Sig Silber U.S. and World Agriculture: Plus an Expanded Weather Forecast Section This week we provide a lot of information on the last twelve months May 2018 to April 2019 as well as a longer perspective on drought in this Century. We have a new Drought Forecast through August and it looks very good exept for the Northwest and part of the South-Atlantic Coast. The crop progress reports are again bad to very bad. There is increasingly more detailed information available on what seems to be a bad crop year shaping up. In the Intermediate Term, the West is forecast to be cool and wet. 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. But more of CONUS is in the cool and wet pattern than the dry and warm pattern.
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| Two Great American Intellects: Gore Vidal and Noam ChomskyWritten by Frank Li America faces a wide variety of deficits, from the budget (U.S. deficit swells to $691 billion in first half of 2019) to trade (Trump’s Plan to Reduce Trade Deficit Falters as it Hits an All-Time High Instead). However, the worst deficit is intellectual – We can no longer think properly – America: It’s Democracy, Stupid! In this post, I will highlight two great American intellects: Gore Vidal and Noam Chomsky, focusing on their strong opposition to America’s #1 enemy at home: The Evil Military-Industrial Complex.
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| The Ratings Game: Nvidia stock falls after earnings fail to change any mindsNvidia Corp. can’t predict what will happen the rest of the year, and analysts on a whole disagree on what that means for the stock. |
| Tesla stock falls nearly 8% after reports of ‘hardcore’ plan to slash costsShares of Tesla Inc. touched another two-year low Friday after a leaked memo spoke of the Silicon Valley car maker potentially running out of cash in just months without strict cost-control measures. |
| Bond Report: Treasury yields trade off session lows as stock losses recedeTreasury prices fall Friday after Chinese state media suggest a resumption in trade negotiations may not take place as soon as anticipated. |
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