02Jul2019 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Futures Dip After Rally, DOW Down 25 Points, WTI Crude Slips To 58.27, Optimism Over Trade Talks Fades

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are mixed today. The FTSE 100 is up 0.50% while the CAC 40 gains 0.03%. The DAX is even.

Oil falls on demand worries even as OPEC, allies extend cuts

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as concerns that the global economy could be slowing outweighed an agreement by OPEC and allies, including Russia, to extend supply cuts until next March.

Locked out of China, U.S. pork producers sniff out new buyers

U.S. hog farmers lost hundreds of millions of dollars in export sales to China and Mexico after President Donald Trump launched his trade wars last year.

AB InBev seeks $9.8 billion for Asia stake in world’s largest 2019 IPO

Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (AB InBev) is seeking to raise up to $9.8 billion by listing its Asia-Pacific business in Hong Kong, marking what would be the world’s largest initial public offering this year.

Rich get richer, everyone else not so much in record U.S. expansion

Last month Pink Floyd frontman David Gilmour sold his guitar collection for $21.5 million, including one piece – his famed “Black Strat” Fender Stratocaster – that went for nearly $4 million to the owner of the U.S. National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts.

Credit Suisse wealth boss Khan quits in latest Thiam-era exit

Credit Suisse wealth management boss Iqbal Khan is leaving Switzerland’s second-largest bank in the latest high-level departure under its chief executive Tidjane Thiam.

Facebook fined for violating German transparency law

German authorities have fined Facebook 2 million euros ($2.26 million) for providing a distorted picture of the amount of illegal content on the social media platform, a violation of the country’s law on internet transparency.

Futures dip after rally as trade talk euphoria fades

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Tuesday, a day after the benchmark S&P 500 index hit a record high, as optimism over progress in U.S.-China trade talks subsided and a fresh threat of tariffs on Europe kept investors on edge.

OPEC and allies extend oil supply cut in bid to boost prices

OPEC and its allies led by Russia agreed to extend oil output cuts until March 2020 on Tuesday, seeking to prop up the price of crude as the global economy weakens and U.S. production soars.

USTR proposes $4 billion in potential additional tariffs over EU aircraft subsidies

Just days after reaching a truce in the U.S.-China trade war, the U.S. government on Monday ratcheted up pressure on Europe in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies, threatening tariffs on $4 billion of additional EU goods.

Tesla’s European Chief Leaves For “Rival Carmaker” Hours After Former Manufacturing Head Lands At Lucid Motors

Yet another Tesla executive has left the company, marking the third high profile departure announced over the last month.

The company’s head of European operations, Jan Oehmicke, is reportedly leaving for a rival carmaker about a year after being lured away from BMW to work at Tesla, according to The Street. Oehmicke was hired last May by Elon Musk.

The news of Oehmicke’s departure comes after recent Tesla departure Peter Hochholdinger, the company’s former head of vehicle manufacturing at Fremont, also surfaced at a rival carmaker, Lucid Motors.

Hochholdinger said in a statement published by Lucid just hours ago:

“It is with great pleasure that I join Lucid at such an exciting time in the company’s history. I look forward to working with the world-class team to deliver Lucid’s incredible luxury electric vehicles in production.”

Tariff Ping-Pong: Trump Again Threatens The EU

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

The moment Trump caved in on China tariffs, threats against the EU were a given.

Bitcoin Slumps Below $10k As CME Futures Interest Soars To Record High

Bitcoin has been battling with the $10,000 Maginot Line for the last 24 hours with aggressive pushes up and down across that level.

A sea of red today…

US Retailers With $1.5 Trillion In Sales Demand An Antitrust Probe Of Amazon And Google

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), whose members include Best Buy, Walmart and Target, demands an investigation whether Silicon Valley’s most prominent companies [Amazon and Google] are manipulating search results that disadvantage traditional retailers.

RILA is expected to present its report to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission: “It’s pretty clear to us that the FTC and different relevant regulators should be taking a much closer look at these platform companies,” said Nicholas Ahrens, vice president of innovation for RILA, told Bloomberg in an interview. “We are here to help.”

The trade group has more than 200 members, which account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of jobs, and over 100,000, manufacturing centers, and distribution hubs across the country.

RILA sent a letter to the FTC on Sunday, asserting that the digital revolution has forced “intense competition” that stifles growth in traditional retailers. They said Amazon and Google control the majority of all internet product searchers, can create an “information bottleneck” that has the ability to manipulate markets and bypass the traditional power of price competition.

7 Indians took home a fifth of the money D-St made in 6 months

7 Indians took home a fifth of the money D-St made in 6 monthsMukesh Ambani, the richest Indian who runs RIL, has added $7.41 billion to his fortunes.

How Jaitley’s budgets dealt with farm crisis

How Jaitley’s budgets dealt with farm crisisModi’s poll promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 contributed to his massive victory in 2014.

India may miss its 2022 clean energy targets

India may miss its 2022 clean energy targetsCoal may account for half of India’s power generation in 2030 despite a solar and wind energy boom, a report said.

May 2019 CoreLogic Home Prices Up 3.6% Year-over-Year

Written by Steven Hansen

CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA are up 3.6 % year-over-year (reported up 0.9 % month-over-month). CoreLogic HPI is used in the Federal Reserves’ Flow of Funds to calculate the values of residential real estate. The quote of the day was in this data release:

…. buyers feel that high prices are forcing them to spend more than they’d expect on a home ….

Student-loan servicer can’t use federal law to avoid lawsuit over alleged bad advice

The case is part of a broader fight on the boundaries of federal law in student-loan lawsuits.

Paul Brandus: Trump should talk to our adversaries, not suck up to them

Paul Brandus says U.S. presidents should talk to our adversaries, but he can’t stomach the way Donald Trump is sucking up and toadying to these murderers.

Project Syndicate: Old age doesn’t kill economic expansions — and the usual culprits are nowhere in sight

The idea that economic expansions have some kind of natural lifespan and then die of old age has neither empirical nor theoretical support, writes Anatole Kaletsky.