Written by Gary
US stock futures at record high as trade optimism lingers (SPY +0.2%). Third-quarter GDP left at 2.1% – stronger consumer spending offset by weaker business investment.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 is up 0.57% while Germany’s DAX is up 0.56% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.22%. |
United States GDP Growth Rate
The US economy grew by an annualized 2.1% in Q3, unchanged from the second estimate and following a 2% expansion in the previous three-month period. The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from PCE, federal government spending, residential investment, exports, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by negative contributions from nonresidential fixed investment and private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. GDP Growth Rate in the United States averaged 3.21 percent from 1947 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 16.70 percent in the first quarter of 1950 and a record low of -10 percent in the first quarter of 1958. source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Veteran watchdog Bailey to guide Bank of England through BrexitBritain’s new government named Andrew Bailey as the Bank of England’s next boss on Friday, entrusting a veteran regulator and technocrat with steering the economy and its vast finance industry through Brexit. |
| Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems to suspend production of 737 MAX partsBoeing Co’s biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems Inc , said on Friday it would temporarily halt production of 737 MAX parts beginning Jan. 1. |
| Shell writes down up to $2.3 billion on weaker economic outlookRoyal Dutch Shell said on Friday it expected to write down up to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, the latest major energy company forced to shrink estimates for sector values due to a weaker economic outlook. |
| Stock futures at record high as trade optimism lingersU.S. stock index futures ticked to fresh record highs on Friday as investors stayed optimistic that Washington and Beijing would sign a long-awaited trade treaty early in the new year. |
| Novartis wins Medicaid approval for new sickle cell drug in key U.S. statesNovartis AG has secured Medicaid coverage for a pricey new sickle cell disease therapy in two U.S. states just weeks after winning U.S. approval, following an early campaign to convince local officials of its value, according to a company executive and a Reuters review of public filings. |
| Aramco, Alibaba rescue sluggish 2019 global ECM marketGiant listings by Saudi Aramco and Alibaba rescued a sluggish year for equity capital markets (ECM) in 2019 after a string of shelved initial public offerings (IPOs) and share price slumps. |
| French telco Orange found guilty over workers’ suicides in landmark rulingFrench telecoms group Orange and its former CEO Didier Lombard were guilty of “moral harassment” that prompted a spate of suicides during a restructuring at the company in the late 2000s, a Paris court ruled on Friday. |
| Just Eat backs Takeaway.com’s final offer in bidding warJust Eat backed a final all-share offer from Takeaway.com and rejected a rival cash bid from Prosus on Friday, saying a tie-up with Takeaway to create one of the leading online food delivery companies was compelling. |
| J&J to buy remaining stake in Verb Surgical to strengthen digital surgery portfolioJohnson & Johnson said on Friday it would acquire the remaining stake in Verb Surgical Inc, from Verily, Alphabet Inc’s life sciences division. |
| Democrat Debate Post-Mortem: Billionaires, Buttigieg, & Blue-Collar JobsDemocrat Debate Post-Mortem: Billionaires, Buttigieg, & Blue-Collar Jobs Authored by Joe Schaeffer via Liberty Nation, Two and a half hours of rope and the Democrats hanged themselves yet again. In the sixth installment of the televised sleeping pill known as the 2020 Dem presidential primary debates, the American people learned little new about any of the seven aspirants on stage in Los Angeles on Dec. 19. |
| Merry Quad Witchmas: Global Meltup Sends Stocks To All Time HighMerry Quad Witchmas: Global Meltup Sends Stocks To All Time High Christmas has come early on Wall Street and across global market, as world stocks melted up to new record highs on Friday, amid subdued trading as desks wound down before the year-end holidays, while the British pound was heading for its biggest weekly loss in more than two years amid renewed worries over how Britain will leave the European Union (and just as every sellside analyst turned bullish on cable). As a reminder, today’s Quadruple Witching may prompt significant volatility around expiry times, especially with market liquidity near all time lows. The schedule for today’s options expirations is below: 5:15EST: FTSE 100 Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 6:00EST: Euro Stoxx 50 Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 7:00EST: DAX 30 Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 9:30EST: E-mini S&P Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 9:30EST: NASDAQ (Inc. E-mini) Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 9:30EST: DJIA Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry 10:00EST: CAC 40 Dec’19 Futures and Options Expiry The MSCI world equity index gained to 561.31, beating the record set on Thursday and while there was no catalyst, traders ascribed the usual trade deal “optimism” for the ramp even though it increasingly appears that both sides have agreed to their own version of a deal. |
| Boeing And NASA Report Issues With Starliner After LaunchÂBoeing And NASA Report Issues With Starliner After Launch On Friday morning, Boeing’s Starliner spaceship was launched via an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The Starliner spaceship is designed to shuttle astronauts back and forth from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS). The test flight has no one on board and is being used to check out the flight systems.
Shortly after launch, CNBC’s Jodi Gralnick has just tweeted that Boeing’s Starliner spaceship “is assessing an “off-nominal insertion,” meaning the crew capsule did not achieve the proper orbit.”
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| “We Could At Most Hope For Stagnation:” German Economy To Contract In Q4“We Could At Most Hope For Stagnation:” German Economy To Contract In Q4 Global stocks have priced in a massive economic rebound from the US, Europe, and China for early 2020, with the latest Fund Manager Survey indicating the biggest jump in optimism on record. But is this optimism justified? Is it possible that after a brief push higher, deceleration resume as the world’s manufacturing complex remains mired in a deep recession. The German Institute for Economic Research, also known as DIW Berlin, warned Friday that Q4 export-oriented manufacturing continued to decelerate, according to Reuters. It’s expected that Europe’s largest economy will contract by 0.1% in the October-December period. “We could at most hope for stagnation,” DIW economist Claus Michelsen said. DIW’s forecast for Q4 is much different than Ifo institute’s forecast that predicts the quarter will expand by 0.2%. Germany’s export-dependent industry groups slashed production this year, citing a global synchronized slowdown that stared before the trade war. German manufacturers fell into a recession this year on the heels of economic deceleration in the US and China. |
| Why states need to step up to revive economic growthWhy states need to step up to revive economic growthLegalities aside, chief ministers know ground realities much better than the Union government. |
| IndiGo may get more time to fix its enginesIndiGo may get more time to fix its enginesThe DGCA had asked the airline early November to replace older PW engines in all aircraft by the Jan end. |
| Fitch lowers India’s growth to 4.6% in FY20Fitch lowers India’s growth to 4.6% in FY20Fitch said growth will gradually recover to 5.6 per cent in FY21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year. |
| Where Should I Retire?: I’ll retire with $10,000 a month and want a culturally rich city like Chicago, only warmer and cheaper ” so where should I live?She’s also wants beautiful outdoors. |
| Economic Report: Third-quarter GDP left at 2.1% ” stronger consumer spending offset by weaker business investmentThe pace of growth in the U.S. economy was left at 2.1% in the third quarter, as strong consumer spending was offset by weaker business investment in inventories. |
| ETF Investing: Those ‘actively-managed’ ETFs you’ve heard so much about? They’re almost all bond fundsManagers of fixed-income funds may be able to add more value than many stock-pickers do – or at least that may be the perception of investors. |
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