09Aug2019 Market Close: Wall Street Unsuccessfully Tried To Reach The Unchanged Line, DOW Closed Down 91 Points, WTI Crude Settled In The 54 Handle, Gold Index Stable At 1498, BTFD’s Sell At The Closing

S&P 500 dips as Trump comments fan trade fears; Dow flat

The S&P 500 was down slightly while the Dow was flat in late Friday trading as renewed jitters over the U.S.-China trade war were offset by bargain-hunting investors.

Oil rises on European stock draw despite demand slowdown forecast

Oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel on Friday, supported by a drop in European inventories and OPEC output cuts despite the International Energy Agency reporting demand growth at its lowest since the financial crisis of 2008.

Beyond Meat shelves plans for Japan push, Mitsui says

Beyond Meat Inc has shelved plans to enter Japan, according to a Japan-based investor, focusing more on the U.S. market where it recently bolstered funding to fuel an expansion and beat out emerging faux-meat rivals.

Walmart tells staff to pull violent video game signage from stores

Walmart Inc said on Friday it has asked employees at its stores in the United States to take down signs and playable demos of violent video games but made no changes to its policy on selling firearms.

Farm equipment maker Deere’s dealers reel from trade war, bad weather

When China announced this week that it had stopped buying U.S. agricultural products and might impose additional tariffs on farm shipments from America, Dave Schmidt braced for another blow to his business.

Ryanair Irish pilots back industrial action as unrest spreads

Ryanair’s directly employed pilots in Ireland on Friday voted in favor of industrial action unless pay demands are met swiftly, with Spanish pilots also threatening to join growing unrest at the airline.

Investors embrace ESG investing but don’t target gun stocks

Two new BlackRock Inc funds that exclude gun makers are off to slow starts as socially-minded investors embrace other products addressing a wide range of issues like environmental and governance concerns, according to flow data at the world’s largest asset manager.

Exclusive: PSA, Dongfeng to drop two China auto plants, halve workforce – document

Peugeot maker PSA Group and partner Dongfeng Group have agreed to cut thousands of jobs in China and drop two of their four shared assembly plants, according to a document seen by Reuters, in a last-ditch bid to curb mounting losses as the world’s largest auto market loses steam.

Adidas celebrates 70 years with star-studded building opening

Adidas celebrated its 70th anniversary on Friday with appearances at its Bavaria campus by sponsored athletes such as tennis veteran Stan Smith and German soccer legend Philipp Lahm, as well as celebrity partners like Pharrell Williams.

Beyond Leather: Your Shoes, Your Wallet, & (Of Course) Your Tesla Are All Going Vegan

Nowadays, vegans aren’t just concerned with what they eat, but also with the consumer products that they use, according to a new report from Bloomberg. This means that vegans aren’t just snobs environmentally conscious about their food, but also about their clothing, accessories and consumer products now.

For instance, many are choosing to use vegan leather, which is a synthetic product generally made out of polyurethane chloride (PVC) and polyurethane. These blends are being used to avoid traditional leather, which is made from processed cowhides or sheepskin. There are also now synthetic leather products that are being made from corn, bark, pineapple leaves or apple peels. And while it may look the same, vegan leather doesn’t improve with age the way animal leather can.

Purchasing these types of alternatives, instead of products that involve suffering for animals, has become more appealing, especially for younger people in the United States and the United Kingdom. This has been no more evident than in the sales of meat alternatives, helped along by investors like Bill Gates who have put their money into developing these products.

Worse Than 2001 And 2008: One Bank’s Recession Odds Just Hit An All Time HIgh

Earlier this week, with bond yields plunging and the yield curve inverting to a level last seen just days before the 2008 financial crisis, we brought out one take on the odds of the coming recession, that of JPMorgan, which was somewhat complacent because, as the bank said, “while the economic data highlight elevated recession risk, the likelihood of a downturn in the coming 12 months was still below 50%” And while JPM admitted that recognizing economic data can be too backward-looking during times of rapid change, the bank stuck with its macro indicators which see the odds of US (and global) recession in the coming 12 months closer to 40%.

Dad Sued For Slander Because He Criticized The Education System

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Welcome to our Friday roll up, where we highlight the most absurd and concerning stories we are following this week.

Dad sued for slander because he criticized the education system

Careful what you say about your kid’s public school curriculum.

Chase Bank Forgives “All Outstanding Credit Card Debt” For Canadian Customers

In a shocking move, Chase Bank announced on Thursday that it was going to be forgiving all outstanding credit card debt from its Canadian customers, according to Yahoo Finance. The bank closed all of its credit card accounts in Canada back in March of 2018.

When the accounts were initially closed, customers were told to continue paying down their debt. Now, they’re being told by the company that their debt is cancelled. CBC talked to some customers who got letters from the bank this week.

Douglas Turner of Coe Hill, Ontario, who still owed about $4,500, said:

“I was sort of over the moon all last night, with a smile on my face. I couldn’t believe it. It’s crazy. This stuff doesn’t happen with credit cards. Credit cards are horror stories.”

Turner also said his last payment to the account was also going to be reimbursed.

3 things India can do to beat the economic slowdown blues

3 things India can do to beat the economic slowdown bluesA country looking to trade more with others should not simultaneously raise its own trade barrier.

What SFIO probe into Jet has found so far

What SFIO probe into Jet has found so farProbe agencies have quizzed a former auditor and financial adviser to the carrier’s founder.

A trade war that no one is talking about

A trade war that no one is talking aboutThe feud over palm oil between Indonesia and the European Union escalated earlier this year.

This woman paid off $10,000 in credit-card debt with a personal loan, but her first attempt landed her in the red again

Emily Rogers, 30, said she resorted to hiding credit cards in a drawer to keep herself from spending.

Bankruptcy-related job losses are grimly reminiscent of the Great Recession

In the first seven months of the year, U.S.-based companies announced 42,937 job cuts due to bankruptcy, up 40% on the same period last year.

This teenager was making $4,000 a month reposting memes on Instagram — until he got purged

‘I don’t have another job as Instagram paid in one week what I would get in one month of an actual job.’