24May2019 Midday Update: Wall Street Off Session Highs, DOW Up Double Digits, Barely, DOW Heads For Fifth Straight Negative Week, Longest Losing Streak Since 2011

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The S&P 500 is higher by 0.21%, while the IPC is leading the Bovespa lower. They are down 1.03% and 0.10% respectively.

Oil steady but set for 2019’s biggest weekly loss

Oil prices were steady on Friday ahead of long U.S. and UK holiday weekends, but were on track for its biggest weekly drop of the year, pressured by rising inventories and concern over an economic slowdown.

Wall Street gains on trade reprieve ahead of long weekend

U.S. stocks gained on Friday, ahead of a long Memorial day weekend, as investors breathed a sigh of relief after President Donald Trump indicated that the protracted trade war with China could end soon.

German appeals court rules in favor of VW diesel owners

A regional appeals court in Karlsruhe on Friday ruled that German Volkswagen dealers must take back cars fitted with illegal software devices or give their customers new vehicles.

Goldman bumps up no-deal Brexit odds after May resignation

Goldman Sachs raised its probability of a no-deal Brexit to 15% from 10% on Friday as Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation potentially opened the way for a more hardline politician to lead the UK to exiting the European Union.

Factbox: Global tech companies shun Huawei after U.S. ban

Global tech firms, including chip suppliers, are cutting ties with China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd after the U.S. government put the world’s largest telecom equipment maker on a trade blacklist citing national security concerns.

China denounces U.S. ‘rumors’ and ‘lies’ about Huawei ties to Beijing

China on Friday denounced U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for fabricating rumors after he said the chief executive of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was lying about his company’s ties to the Beijing government.

China says U.S. needs to fix ‘wrong actions’ as Huawei ban rattles supply chains

China said the United States needs to correct its “wrong actions” in order for trade talks to continue after it blacklisted Huawei, a blow that has rippled through global supply chains and battered technology shares.

Huawei shipments could fall by up to a quarter this year: analysts

China’s Huawei, hit by crippling U.S. sanctions, could see shipments decline by as much as a quarter this year and faces the possibility that its smartphones will disappear from international markets, analysts said.

U.S. regulator sees approval of Boeing 737 MAX to fly as soon as late June: sources

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expects to approve Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jet to return to service as soon as late June, representatives of the U.S. air regulator informed members of the United Nations’ aviation agency in a private briefing on Thursday, sources told Reuters.

Young People Are Increasingly Blaming “Climate Change” For Not Saving For Retirement

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

An increasing number of younger Americans are blaming climate change for not putting away money for their own retirement. They say that because the world won’t exist when they retire (because of climate change) there’s no need to save any money.

What Is The Market’s “Worst Case” Scenario In All-Out Trade War: Goldman’s Take

After confidently denying for months that there is a chance of an aggressive escalation in the US-China trade war, Goldman finally moved toward joining what has now become a virtual sellside consensus call that the feud between China and the US will become worse before its get better, when on Monday the bank said that “additional trade-related actions taken over the last several days further raise the risk of additional US tariffs on imports from China and further reduce the chances of a formal agreement at the June G20 meeting”, yet even then adding that “while there is substantial uncertainty, we believe the odds are slightly greater that further US-China tariff escalation is avoided. That said, this is a close call and without additional signs of progress over the next few weeks, implementation of the next round of tariffs on $300bn of imports from China (“List 4″) could easily become the base case.”

In light of the latest developments, which have seen the bilateral trade war mutate into a global tech war targeting various key Chinese companies, with Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Japan all siding with the US in refusing to supply Huawei with critical components effectively jeopardizing the continued existence of the Chinese telecom giant, it now appears that implementation of the 4th round of tariffs is virtually certain.

This, in turn, prompted Goldman last week to warn that a burst in US inflation is likely in the near future, since the final tranche of tariffs would affect mostly consumer goods…

White House To Send Another 2,000 Troops To Counter “Credible” Iranian Threat

Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured his interviewers on Fox News that the threat from Iran is totally “real” and “credible” – though he once again refused to get into specifics. But whatever the threat might be, American troops in the region will soon be able to sleep a little easier, because the White House and Pentagon have reportedly agreed to send “roughly 2,000” additional troops to the Middle East…to help protect American forces in the region.

Other reports put the number at closer to 1,500. Trump met with Pentagon leaders Thursday evening where they decided to move ahead with the troop deployment to CENTCOM, which oversees all American troops in the Middle East.

CIA Whistleblower: Assange Is Going To Get Railroaded By “Hanging” Judge

A former CIA analyst-turned-whistleblower says that an extradited Julian Assange would have no chance of a fair trial in front of a federal judge who “reserves every national security case for herself.”

Tax cut, new GST: What to expect in first 100 days of Modi 2.0

Tax cut, new GST: What to expect in first 100 days of Modi 2.0Finance and other ministries are said to have already lined up measures for new government.

What Modi’s return means for Nirav, Mallya

What Modi’s return means for Nirav, MallyaModi’s return signals a renewed vigour in pursuing several high profile investigations.

Decoding polls: How a right PM took left turn

Decoding polls: How a right PM took left turnModi’s projection of a hopeful future caught voters’ imagination who saw opposition as tainted by corruption.

17 May 2019 ECRI’s WLI Growth Rate Now Shows No Growth

Written by Steven Hansen

ECRI’s WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward declined and now indicates no growth.ECRI also released their coincident and lagging indicators.

CryptoWatch: How a Peter Thiel crypto startup is set to deliver a more than 6,500% return

If the reports are anywhere near accurate, Peter Thiel may soon enjoy one of the financial world’s all-time richest returns.

Capitol Report: Poof! Trump investment boom is gone

The Trump investment boom is gone. Businesses are now investing at the same slow pace that prevailed at the end of the Obama presidency.

Market Extra: ‘Godfather’ of chart analysis says Wall Street shouldn’t bet on stock-market records anytime soon

Prominent market technician Ralph Acampora says Wall Street needs new highs for him to be confidently bullish about the outlook for the stock markets, after a whipsawing period for the major indexes. But it’s not entirely clear that investors will see records in the immediate term.