13Feb2020 Midday Update: Nasdaq Records New Historic High, S and P Surges Back Into Green – Shrug Off Massive Surge In Virus Deaths, All Done Before Noon, DOW Up 82 Points, US Dollar Moves Up To 99.04

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The Bovespa is higher by 0.38%, while the IPC is leading the S&P 500 lower. They are down 1.19% and 0.08% respectively.

Investment bank loss mars Thiam’s final act at Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse posted its highest annual profit in nearly a decade on Thursday, but volatile earnings at its investment bank and trading divisions muted outgoing Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam’s swan song.

Activists in dinghy urge Credit Suisse off climate ‘collision course’

Climate activists clad in Titanic-era costumes gathered in a rubber dinghy outside Credit Suisse’s headquarters on Thursday, to urge incoming chief executive Thomas Gottstein to steer the bank off a climate “collision course”.

AIG profit beats on stronger underwriting in general insurance unit

Insurer American International Group Inc on Thursday reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates, as the company booked underwriting income in its general insurance business.

Tesla seeks to tap into stock surge with $2 billion share sale

Tesla Inc on Thursday announced plans to raise $2 billion in a stock offering, tapping into an astronomical jump in its share price over the past few months and reversing the electric-car maker’s often-stated policy of avoiding sales of new stock.

Oil prices climb on hopes of deeper OPEC+ production cuts

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as investors focused on the possibility of deeper supply cuts from the world’s biggest producers, whilst largely shrugging off reports which cut demand forecasts after the coronavirus outbreak in China, the biggest oil importer.

Rents lift U.S. core inflation; weekly jobless claims rise slightly

U.S. underlying consumer prices picked up in January, while the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, suggesting the economy was stable enough for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold this year.

Alibaba warns of drop in e-commerce revenues due to coronavirus

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd warned of a drop in revenues at its key e-commerce businesses this quarter as the coronavirus sweeping China hits supply chains and deliveries.

Prosecutors challenge antitrust approval of Boeing-Embraer tie-up

Brazilian prosecutors have filed an appeal with antitrust agency Cade asking the regulator to reconsider its approval of a deal selling control of Embraer SA’s commercial aviation division to Boeing Co , according to public filings.

Kraft Heinz takes $666 million charge, misses sales expectations

Kraft Heinz Co on Thursday missed quarterly sales estimates, forecast lower full-year core earnings, and wrote down the value of some businesses – including coffee brand Maxwell House – by $666 million.

White House Doubts China’s Numbers: 100,000 Coronavirus Cases Unreported

White House Doubts China’s Numbers: 100,000 Coronavirus Cases Unreported

Summary:

Japan reports first virus death

President Xi says China will minimize impact from virus

Chinese leadership scapegoats local officials

Death toll and case count soared last night: There are more than 60k cases worldwide, and more than 1300 deaths

EIA joins OPEC in warning about upcoming drop in oil use, the first in a decade.

HHS Secretary says CDC will announce another confirmed COVID-19 case in US on Thursday

21 people in Spain released from quarantine

US admin reportedly questioning China’s reporting

White House reportedly “doubts” China’s coronavirus numbers

* * *

Update (1150ET): Citing a senior White House official, CNBC reports that the White House doesn’t have “high confidence” in the coronavirus numbers coming out of China.

The U.S. does “not have high confidence in the information coming out of China” regarding the count of coronavirus cases, a senior administration official told CNBC.

The official also noted that China “continues to rebuff American offers of assistance.”

The current thinking is there must be a reason why they won’t allow the CDC to send over personnel to help with the virus response.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Zeng tweeted out video of migrant workers being forced to sleep outside because of the draconian lockdown.

…

Nasdaq, S&P Surge Back Into Green – Shrug Off Massive Surge In Virus Deaths, Cases

Nasdaq, S&P Surge Back Into Green – Shrug Off Massive Surge In Virus Deaths, Cases

What’s another 15,000 deadly virus cases when we have central banks at our back?

Black NYT Columnist Slams Bloomberg’s “Racist” Stop & Frisk Expansion That Saved Minority Lives

Black NYT Columnist Slams Bloomberg’s “Racist” Stop & Frisk Expansion That Saved Minority Lives

Across the entire American media edifice, is there a single institution more deserving of ridicule and irrelevance than the New York Times editorial board? Despite efforts to shake up a stale cast of writers who have aged largely in place since the Clinton Administration – the Opinion section has added some new progressive and conservative voices in recent years – most of the writings are little more than ridiculous, poorly fact-checked clickbait.

This is the same editorial board that endorsed Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar following a televised competition that had the air of an extremely boring reality show.

Barely a month goes by without an NYT column going viral for making some inane claim or another.

And on Thursday, the paper once again hit it out of the park with a column by Charles Blow, the liberal black columnist who has been one of the paper’s fiercest defenders of “Black Lives Matter” and one of the biggest opponents of the aggressive police tactics that are largely responsible for reducing crime across the US.

Falling Oil Prices An Economic Warning Sign

Falling Oil Prices An Economic Warning Sign

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

On Tuesday morning, I got engaged in a debate on the recent decline in oil prices following my report on COT Positioning in the space. To wit:

œThe inherent problem with this is that if crude oil breaks below $48/bbl, those long contracts will start to get liquidated which will likely push oil back into the low 40’s very quickly. The decline in oil is both deflationary and increases the risk of an economic recession.

It didn’t take long before the debate started.

œAren’t low oil prices good for the economy? They are a tax cut for the consumer?

There is an old axiom which states that if you repeat a falsehood long enough, it will eventually be accepted as fact.

Low oil prices equating to stronger economic growth is one of those falsehoods.

Oil prices are indeed crucial to the overall economic equation, and there is a correlation between the oil prices, inflation, and interest rates.

Given that oil is consumed in virtually every aspect of our lives, from the food we eat to the products and services we buy, the demand side of the equation is a tell-tale sign of economic strength or weakness. We can see this clearly in the chart below which combines rates, inflation, and GDP in …

There’s a silver lining in India’s rising rural inflation numbers

There’s a silver lining in India’s rising rural inflation numbersEconomists say the inflation numbers could also signal some momentum returning to rural growth.

Amazon, Flipkart may catch deadly China flu

Amazon, Flipkart may catch deadly China fluThe two largest web retailers are likely to see an impact on overall sales due to closure of factories in China.

Family businesses: Do they perform better?

Family businesses: Do they perform better?Family businesses have earned 14% annualised returns between January 2017-2020 on the stock exchanges.

January 2020 CPI: Year-over-Year Inflation Rate Increases to 2.5%

Written by Steven Hansen

According to the BLS, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) year-over-year inflation rate was 2.5 % year-over-year (up from the reported 2.3 % last month). The year-over-year core inflation (excludes energy and food) rate was unchanged at 2.3 % and remains above the target set by the Federal Reserve.

Your grocery store may not be doing enough to notify you about potentially dangerous food recalls

‘Consumers have a right to know about food recalls to protect their health from dangerous pathogens, chunks of metal, and unlabeled allergens.’

Need to Know: Get ready for a stock peak this summer, then a U.S. recession, warns fund manager

On a day when the headlines are gloomy, our call of the day may not cheer you up. Pictet fund manager is warning of a stock market peak by summer, and recession by the end of the year.

Market Snapshot: Stocks trim early losses triggered by rise in number of coronavirus cases

U.S. stocks on Thursday erased early losses attributed to a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths in China.