09Jul2019 Market Close: Wall Street Ended Today’s Session Mostly Up, DOW Down And Flat, Nasdaq Up Nicely At +0.5%, WTI Settles At $58.00, Gold Slips Below 1400 Again

U.S. to approve sales it deems safe to blacklisted Huawei

The U.S. government will issue licenses to companies seeking to sell goods to China’s Huawei where there is no threat to national security, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a speech on Tuesday, leaving industry observers unsure about which products will pass muster.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to go public by year-end

British billionaire Richard Branson will take Virgin Galactic public by year-end, giving it the much-needed funds to take on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in the race to space.

S&P 500 ekes out gain as earnings worries loom

The S&P 500 ended slightly higher on Tuesday as gains in tech-related shares offset fresh worries about the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute on earnings.

Serena thrills as ‘Dream Team’ turn mean machine at Wimbledon

Wimbledon’s Centre Court is the property of the All England Club, but on Tuesday it belonged to Serena Williams.

Stocks drop on cloudy earnings outlook; Mexican peso tumbles

A gauge of stock markets around the world fell on Tuesday as trade tensions weighed on the outlook for corporate earnings and hopes dwindled over a hefty U.S. interest rate cut, while Mexico’s peso tumbled after the country’s finance minister resigned.

U.S., China to relaunch talks with little changed since deal fell apart

The United States and China are set to relaunch trade talks this week after a two-month hiatus, but a year after their trade war began there is little sign their differences have narrowed.

U.S. exempts some medical, electronic devices from China tariffs

The Trump administration will exempt 110 Chinese products, from medical equipment to key capacitors, from hefty tariffs, it said on Tuesday, offering relief to some U.S. firms which have said the taxes harm their bottom lines.

Airbus confirms deliveries rose 28% in first half of 2019

Airbus confirmed on Tuesday that its deliveries rose by 28% in the first half of the year, putting it ahead of Boeing for the first time in eight years as the U.S. planemaker sees no immediate end to the grounding of its 737 MAX.

Jury finds Platinum Partners founder guilty in fraud trial

Mark Nordlicht, the founder of defunct hedge fund firm Platinum Partners, was found guilty on Tuesday of defrauding bondholders of an oil exploration company Platinum controlled, but cleared of charges that he defrauded investors in Platinum’s hedge funds.

Despite Late-Day Panic-Buying, Dow Suffers Longest Losing Streak In 4 Months

A ‘sad’ day…

We barely knew you @ericswalwell, may your campaign live on forever in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/25U8XtGjow

— Carpe Donktum🔹 (@CarpeDonktum) July 9, 2019

China went nowhere…

Italy’s 50 Year Bonds Are 6x Oversubscribed As Investors Lose Their Minds

With over $13 trillion in global notional debt trading with a negative yield, it will hardly come as a surprise that there is a line of investors stretching around the block for even the least fundamentally sound bonds which still offer a modest positive yield, such as those which for the past 2 years were only purchased by the ECB. We are of course talking bout Italian bonds, and not just any variety, but 50-year bonds issue offered by Europe’s financial problem child.

The frenzied demand for Italian bonds that won’t be repaid in most investors’ lifetimes (they mature in 2067) – or perhaps ever, if Italy defaults on its debt – was such that they attracted demand of over 17.5 billion for the 3 billion offering, making them roughly 6x oversubscribed, despite a yield of just 2.9%, almost a full percent lower than what this paper yielded in late 2018.

Twitter Blocks “More Guns Less Crime” Author John Lott Jr Over Factual New Zealand Tweet

Authored by John Crump via AmmoLand.com,

Twitter has suspended prominent gun-rights activist and researcher, John R. Lott Jr over a Tweet about the New Zealand mass murder that killed a group of Muslims as they attended Mosque.

Hedge Funds Post Best First Half In A Decade, But Quants Crippled

Six months after the worst year for hedge funds since 2011, the 2 and 20 community is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, with the hedge funds universe reporting the best first half performance since 2009, as equity managers piggybacked on surging stocks. According to Hedge Fund Research, funds rose 5.7% from January through June, with equity funds were the best-performing broad strategy, gaining almost 9% in the period, if still underperforming the S&P significantly.

Using a trite cliche, Rob Christian, head of investment research at K2 Advisors, told Bloomberg TV that “it’s a stock-picking market, definitely” even though what he really meant is that it’s a dovish central bank-picking market as the main reason for the stock surge in 2019 had everything to do with the surprise dovish reversal by the Fed, which is now expected to cut rates in three weeks, something that has “been most favorable for equity long-short managers, and particularly managers with a growth tilt.”

Courtesy of Bloomberg, this is how some of the more notable hedge funds did in the first half.

Even ‘paan ki dukaan’ is better run: Feud at IndiGo gets murkier

Even ‘paan ki dukaan’ is better run: Feud at IndiGo gets murkierGangwal in a letter to Sebi alleged “collapsing corporate governance standards” at IndiGo.

Rupee could be staring at a new threat

Rupee could be staring at a new threatThe Rupee is staring at a shaky year ahead as nearly $94 billion of NRIs deposits mature.

Access denied? Not really if you use Android

Access denied? Not really if you use AndroidUS researchers have found 1,325 Android apps that were gathering data despite people denying permission.

Mark Hulbert: These S&P 500 sectors show this bull market has more to run

Sectors that typically lag prior to market tops are holding up well, writes Mark Hulbert.

U.S. Women’s Soccer won the World Cup, and they’re about to get paid — by sponsors, anyway

While the world champs fight for equal pay, they should be scoring sponsorships and social-media campaigns, experts say.

Market Snapshot: Stocks end mostly higher as investors await more clarity on Fed rate-cut plans

Dow records third-straight losing session, while other major indexes score gains a day ahead of congressional testimony by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.