Written by Gary
US equity futures have added to yesterday’s gains on no specific news catalyst (SPY +0.2%). Lingering trade optimism may be helping investor sentiment.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
European markets are broadly higher today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 1.16% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.79% and Germany’s DAX is up 0.54%. |
First-time claims for unemployment benefits rise
U.S. second-quarter economic growth rate of 2% reaffirmed
Four-week jobless claims average dips by 750 to 212,000
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Samsung to offer financing to help to boost India smartphone salesSamsung Electronics is to provide finance to potential smartphone buyers, a company executive said on Thursday, in a bid to boost smartphone sales in India where it faces fierce competition from rivals such as China’s Xiaomi. | |
U.S. weekly jobless claims rise marginallyThe number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits rose moderately last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength. | |
Jaguar Land Rover to stop output at UK factories for a week due to BrexitBritain’s biggest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, will halt production at its British factories for a week in November, its boss said on Thursday, joining BMW and Toyota in plans to help mitigate any immediate disruption from a no-deal Brexit. | |
U.S.-China trade optimism lifts stocks, dollar shrugsPositive noises from China on U.S. trade talks lifted European stocks and Wall Street futures on Thursday and snuffed out a modest rally in safe-haven assets that had dominated in Asia. | |
ECB’s Lautenschlaeger says resigning was best course of action: emailSabine Lautenschlaeger, who said on Wednesday she would quit as a European Central Bank board member, told staff she regretted leaving her post early but thought this was the best course of action given her situation. | |
UK to repatriate 16,000 people on fourth day of Thomas Cook collapseBritain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said over 70 flights are scheduled for Thursday to bring back 16,000 people to the country following the collapse of Thomas Cook. | |
German court begins protection proceedings for Thomas Cook’s CondorGermany’s Condor, which is owned by British travel operator Thomas Cook, said on Thursday that a Frankfurt court had begun investor protection proceedings that should allow the airline to be restructured. | |
Ryanair not interested in buying Thomas Cook airlinesRyanair is not interested in taking over any of the airlines of travel firm Thomas Cook , which has gone into liquidation, its chief executive said on Thursday. | |
Scottish council approves $185 million Trump housing planA Scottish council has approved a 150 million pound ($185 million) plan by U.S. President Donald Trump’s family business to build 550 houses at his golf resort north of Aberdeen, despite some local opposition. | |
Second Term Repo Oversubscribed As Funding Shortage Keeps Getting Worse And Nobody Knows WhySecond Term Repo Oversubscribed As Funding Shortage Keeps Getting Worse And Nobody Knows Why Overnight, we cited two icons in rates/repo business, both of whom confirmed that contrary to what so-called self-professed twitter “experts” claimed, what is going on in the repo market is bad and getting worse, and more problematic is that nobody knows what is causing it. The first one was BMO’s rates guru, Ian Lyngen who had this to say:
The second one was from Curvature securities repo wizard, Scott Skyrm, who was even more laconic:
Which in turn brought us to this morning’s commentary from ICAP’s Lou Crandall. As a reminder, ICAP is the world’s biggest interdealer broker, and as such the plumbing in the … | |
Confirmation Of The Collapse In Consumer ConfidenceConfirmation Of The Collapse In Consumer Confidence Authored by Steven Vannelli via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog, In our mid-quarter update, we highlighted the plunge in the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence indicator, suggesting that œgood feelings among consumers were starting to fade. Often surveys offer a leading glimpse into economic activity. A more confident consumer is more likely to make those big-ticket purchases, like homes and cars, as well as consuming more services. | |
Beyond Meat Fries Short Sellers, Soaring 20% After McDonald Launches Its Burgers In CanadaBeyond Meat Fries Short Sellers, Soaring 20% After McDonald Launches Its Burgers In Canada On Thursday morning Beyond Meat punished short-sellers, again, this time with a press release, stating that it has signed an exclusive agreement with McDonald’s to test new plant-based burgers in Canada. McDonald’s will be conducting a 12-week test of a new plant-based burger called the P.L.T. (Plant. Lettuce. Tomato). The new P.L.T. will be available in 28 restaurants across Southwestern Ontario, starting next Monday [September. 30].
The P.L.T. has no artificial colors, artificial flavors, or artificial preservatives, it’s a great-tasting “open wide and sink your teeth into it” sandwich, said, Wahlgren, adding that it’ll be priced around $5. Shares of Beyond Meat were up nearly 20% on light volume at 7:37 am est., while McDonald’s was flat. | |
Futures Reverse Drop, Rise On Renewed “Trade Optimism”Futures Reverse Drop, Rise On Renewed “Trade Optimism” Yesterday we predicted that looking to today’s overnight market wrap headline, it would be one of two choices:
A few hours later, that’s exactly what happened because after an initial modest dip in S&P futures during a mixed Asian session where Trump’s impeachment process sparked some concerns, risk swiftly rebounded once Europe opened for trading, with Reuters chiming in this morning right on cue: “U.S.-China trade optimism lifts stocks”… | |
RBI eases withdrawal limit for crisis-hit PMC customers after outcryRBI eases withdrawal limit for crisis-hit PMC customers after outcryThe central bank has hiked withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 from Rs 1,000. | |
Fitch sees fiscal deficit jump to 8-year highFitch sees fiscal deficit jump to 8-year highThe government will miss its budget gap goal by about 0.4 percentage points, Fitch said. | |
The auto slump hasn’t hit LamborghiniThe auto slump hasn’t hit LamborghiniLamborghini will be the 1st super luxury carmaker in India to sell more than 50 vehicles in a year. | |
Economic Report: U.S. trade deficit in goods widens slightly in AugustThe advanced trade deficit in goods widened 0.5% to $72.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said Thursday. | |
Economic Report: Second-quarter U.S. GDP left at 2%, downshifting economy unlikely to rev up soonThe U.S. economy grew more slowly in the second quarter, updated figures show, reflecting a downshifting in growth that’s expected to persist through the end of the year largely because of the festering trade fight with China. GDP expanded at a 2% annual pace, unchanged from the prior estimate. | |
Economic Report: U.S. jobless claims rise slightly to 213,000 in mid-September amid GM auto strikeThe number of people who applied for jobless benefits in mid-September rose slightly ” largely reflecting a General Motors worker strike in Michigan ” but the level of new œclaims nationwide remained near a 50-year low. Initial jobless claims increased by 3,000 to 213,000. |
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