18Sep2019 Midday Update: Wall Street Mostly Lower, Trending Sideways, DOW Down 65 Points, WTI Crude Slips Into The 57 Handle, Gold Remains Above 1500

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are lower today with shares in Mexico off the most. The IPC is down 0.77% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is off 0.29% and Brazil’s Bovespa is lower by 0.24%.

German carbon pricing plan may cost DAX companies billions: report

Germany’s blue-chip companies could face billions of euros in costs to cut carbon emissions under a climate protection plan due to be unveiled by the government on Friday, according to a study by asset manager Union Investment.

Exclusive: London Metal Exchange to delay ban on tainted metal until 2025 – sources

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will postpone plans to ban metal tainted by human rights abuses until 2025, giving producers three more years to comply with guidelines and the exchange time to rethink its approach, industry sources said.

Exclusive: Italy cuts 2019, 2020 GDP growth forecasts – sources

Italy’s new government expects the economy to expand by only about 0.4% next year after eking out 0.1% growth this year, three sources close to the matter told Reuters, underscoring the need for an expansionary 2020 budget.

Fed’s job gets more complex as fed funds rate moves out of bounds

Stress in U.S. money markets loomed over a Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday with new data showing that the central bank’s target interest rate had drifted outside the level set by the central bank for the first time since the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Instant view: U.S. fed funds rate breaks above Fed’s target range

A key interest rates the Federal Reserve aims to influence to control monetary policy broke above the top-end of the central bank’s target range for the first time since the global credit crisis more than a decade ago.

Fed keeps cash spigot open as key rate punches above its target

The Federal Reserve injected more cash into the U.S. banking system on Wednesday as the key interest rate pierced above the central bank’s targeted range for the first time since the height of the global financial crisis over a decade ago.

JPMorgan’s Dimon says Federal Reserve did ‘right thing’ in supporting repo market

Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Wednesday the U.S. Federal Reserve did the “right thing” in injecting funds to support overnight funding needs for banks.

FedEx tumbles 13% on weak 2020 outlook, brokers cut price targets

Shares of FedEx Corp fell about 13% on Wednesday after the package delivery company slashed its 2020 profit outlook, blaming trade tensions and its split with client-turned-competitor Amazon.com .

Southwest passengers get no damages for flights canceled by de-icer shortage: U.S. judge

Southwest Airlines Co won the dismissal of a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking damages for stranded passengers on hundreds of winter flights it was forced to cancel because it ran out of de-icer fluid.

The New Ghost Ships

The New Ghost Ships

Authored by Danielle DiMartino Booth via QuillIntelligence.com,

California Mega-Port volumes are negative thus far this year, the longest stretch since the Industrial and Great Recessions; echoing the weakness, Cass Freight Shipment Volumes are down 4.5% versus last year

While the Bloomberg consensus calls for a modest export expansion in the third and fourth quarters of this year, freight volumes suggest otherwise; in August, ISM and IHS Markit export indices fell to levels not seen since 2009, corroborating the freight data

U.S. trade contracting by year-end is increasingly likely; the GM strike will exacerbate the pressure on transportation as the fallout pushes down the supply chain

We’d venture that the first thing that comes to mind when you hear œghost ship is the œFlying Dutchman, the phantasmal ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the seas forever. But not all ghost ships are products of fiction. Real-life derelicts sprinkle history’s annals. One famous example was the Mary Celeste, an American merchant brigantine, discovered off the Azores Islands in the Atlantic on December 5, 1872, adrift and crewless. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia happened upon the abandoned and disheveled, but seaworthy ship, still under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The Mary Celeste had departed New York City for Genoa, Italy on November 7. With her last log entry dated ten days before her discovery, she was still amply provisioned, her cargo of denatured …

This Week’s Oil Futures Spike Is About To Hit Consumers At The Gas Pump

This Week’s Oil Futures Spike Is About To Hit Consumers At The Gas Pump

The attack on a Saudi Arabia oil facility, now being blamed on Iran, that caused crude oil futures to spike more than 10% to start the week is likely going to start hitting consumers at the pump over the next couple of days, according to Bloomberg.

Despite retail gasoline futures jumping as much as 20 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange early in the week, the average US retail gasoline gallon rose just 1 cent since Sunday. But the impact of futures rising will become more pronounced over the next day or two, according to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.

The shift in prices at the pump will come after gasoline distributors adjust their prices to match gains in futures and regional spot markets, he says.

An increase of about 15 cents to 30 cents per gallon in the United States is going to be likely over the next several days while Saudi Arabia works to get production back up to speed.

More Money Pumping Won’t Make Us Richer

More Money Pumping Won’t Make Us Richer

Authored by Frank Shostak via The Mises Institute,

Whenever a central bank introduces easy monetary policy, as a rule this leads to an economic boom – or economic prosperity. At least this is what most commentators hold. If this is however the case then it means that an easy monetary policy can grow an economy.

Trump Revokes California’s Ability To Set Fuel Emissions Standards

Trump Revokes California’s Ability To Set Fuel Emissions Standards

Update: California has predictably challenged the move, and has vowed to file a lawsuit, according to Bloomberg. Governor Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, said that the White House’s action was motivated by oil companies.Â

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The Trump administration on Wednesday revoked an Obama-era waiver allowing California to set its own standards for automobile emissions, a move which President Trump claims will lead to “significantly more jobs” and safer, less costly vehicles.Â

Structuring loan rates of NBFCs, HFCs could be next on RBI’s cards

Structuring loan rates of NBFCs, HFCs could be next on RBI’s cardsThe issue was discussed when the RBI was looking at external benchmarks for banks, Sources said.

NCLAT orders review of McDonald’s-Vikram Bakshi settlement

NCLAT orders review of McDonald’s-Vikram Bakshi settlementThe tribunal said the settlement reached between McDonald’s and Bakshi was violation of DRT order.

Why Bernstein thinks BMW should buy JLR

Why Bernstein thinks BMW should buy JLRBuying JLR for $11.2 billion could add 20% to BMW’s earnings, according to Bernstein.

August 2019 Residential Building Growth Again Improved

Written by Steven Hansen

The headline residential building permits and construction completions improved relative to last month. The three-month rolling averages improved.

The Ratings Game: FedEx stock plunges as outlook prompts four analyst downgrades

FedEx stock tanks as several analysts downgrade it following a quarterly miss and a steep outlook cut for the logistics company.

Outside the Box: You’re fooling yourself if you think you can retire early with kids

You can’t mix FIRE with kids and city living.

Market Extra: Repo market ruction throws off some measures of probability of Fed rate cut

Even as investors say the chance of a Fed interest rate cut on Wednesday’s meeting is close to a 100%, the CME’s FedWatch tool says otherwise.