26May2020 Market Close: Wall Street Cheers On The Economy Reopening, JPMorgan Jumps, DOW Rallies Closing Up 530 Points, WTI Crude Up Fractionally At 34.11, US Dollar Sinks At 99.03, Gold Unchanged At 1711

Merck to buy Austrian vaccine maker as it jumps into COVID-19 race

Merck & Co Inc , which has largely kept to the sidelines of the race for COVID-19 treatments, said it was buying Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and would collaborate with research nonprofit IAVI to develop two separate vaccines.

U.S. lawmaker wants insurers and taxpayers to share payouts for future pandemic business losses

U.S. legislation introduced on Tuesday would create a taxpayer-backed insurance program to protect businesses from revenue losses during future pandemics and require insurers to pay a slice of the claims.

NYSE to reopen trading floor closed by coronavirus

The New York Stock Exchange will partially reopen the trading floors at its iconic 11 Wall Street building on Tuesday for the first time since March 20 when the bourse was forced to go all-electronic due to the coronavirus pandemic.

‘Rally of hope’: Why the S&P soared back past 3,000

Unthinkable just two months ago as the world economy shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. stock benchmark S&P 500 index broke through the psychologically-important 3,000 level on Tuesday, capping a 37% stock rally since its March low.

U.S. business borrowing for equipment falls about 7% in April: ELFA

U.S. companies’ borrowings for capital investments fell about 7% in April from a year earlier, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Tuesday.

Stocks rally, S&P 500 crosses 3,000 barrier; oil gains

Global equity and crude oil markets rose on Tuesday as investors focused on China’s promise of more stimulus and prospects of a world economic recovery, allowing them to push aside concerns that U.S.-China rhetoric could threaten a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies.

French carmaker Renault to cut 5,000 jobs by 2024: Le Figaro

French carmaker Renault is about to announce plans to cut 5,000 jobs by 2024 in its drive to save 2 billion euros ($2.20 billion) in costs, according to a report published Tuesday by Le Figaro.

Oil prices climb, bolstered by ongoing supply curbs

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, supported by signs that producers are following through on commitments to cut supplies and as fuel demand picks up with coronavirus restrictions easing.

Blackstone risks paying damages in dispute with Italy’s RCS

Milan’s Arbitral Tribunal has judged that the contracts over the sale of Italy’s RCS headquarters to Blackstone in 2013 were valid but found that the purchaser’s behaviour may entitle the Italian publisher to compensatory damages, RCS said on Tuesday.

Vaccine Vacillation Sparks Stock Surge, Dollar Purge

Vaccine Vacillation Sparks Stock Surge, Dollar Purge Tyler Durden Tue, 05/26/2020 – 16:01

US equity markets roared higher overnight on several vaccine-related headlines (but repeated China sanctions headlines – especially at the close, took the shine off the ball, especially for tech stocks)…

The High Cost Of Locking-Down America: “We’ve Seen A Year’s Worth Of Suicide Attempts In The Last Four Weeks”

The High Cost Of Locking-Down America: “We’ve Seen A Year’s Worth Of Suicide Attempts In The Last Four Weeks” Tyler Durden Tue, 05/26/2020 – 15:50

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Locking down much of the country may have helped to œflatten the curve a bit, but it has also had some very serious consequences that public health officials did not anticipate. Humans were created to be social creatures, and forcing us to isolate ourselves from one another for weeks on end has turned out to be quite problematic. This has especially been true for those that live alone. Today, the U.S. has a higher percentage of one person households than ever before, and keeping those individuals totally isolated in their own homes is not that different from putting prison inmates in solitary confinement for an extended period of time. In both cases, it can be just a matter of time before people mentally break.

S&P Drops Below 3,000 On Report US Considering “Transaction Controls, Asset Freezes” On Chinese Officials, Firms

S&P Drops Below 3,000 On Report US Considering “Transaction Controls, Asset Freezes” On Chinese Officials, Firms Tyler Durden Tue, 05/26/2020 – 15:45

In the latest rehash of the exact same headline a variation of which we have seen every single day for the past two weeks, moments ago Bloomberg reported that The Trump administration is considering “a range of sanctions on Chinese officials, businesses and financial institutions” over Beijing’s accelerating effort to crack down on Hong Kong.

While there was nothing materially new in this particular Bloomberg report that other newswires did not already report previously, it claims that the “Treasury could impose controls on transactions and freeze assets of Chinese officials and businesses for implementing a new national security law that would curtail the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong citizens.”

On the other hand, and feeding the growing speculation we discussed yesterday that the “bluffing” US has become a paper tiger and will not actually do anything besides jawbone, the report also notes that while disc …

They Are Outperforming Hedge Funds, And This Is What They Are Buying

They Are Outperforming Hedge Funds, And This Is What They Are Buying Tyler Durden Tue, 05/26/2020 – 15:38

After years of trying and failing to sucker in retail investors into the stock market to allow a long-overdue distribution from top shareholders (BofA’s high net worth clients have been patiently selling for 6 consecutive weeks for a reason) to mom and pop bagholders, as has been the trend heading into every prior recession…

Now, Fitch paints a very bleak picture of the Indian economy

Now, Fitch paints a very bleak picture of the Indian economyFitch has projected a 5% contraction of economy in current fiscal, on account of slump in economic activities.

‘Made in India’ TikTok rivals are here

‘Made in India’ TikTok rivals are here ‘Made in India’apps such as Mitron TV, Tik Kik and Bolo Indya are gaining popularity.

How India should navigate flare up with China

How India should navigate flare up with ChinaIndia clearly doesn’t want to be drawn into a united front with countries having serious problems with China.

Personal Finance Daily: The No. 1 thing Americans are spending their stimulus checks on and a staggering number of laid-off workers are receiving MORE money from unemployment benefits than when they were employed

Tuesday’s top personal finance stories

Supply-side inflation shock or demand-led deflation? ECB’s current and former chief economists weigh in

The chief economist of the European Central Bank on Tuesday said falling prices rather than rising ones are a more likely to result from the coronavirus pandemic that has been weighing on the global economy.

Bond Report: Treasury yields climb as global stock markets rally on reopening optimism

U.S. Treasury yields rise Tuesday as global stock-markets take on an upbeat tone at the start of the U.S. holiday-shortened week amid signs that more economies were on the path to easing lockdown measures and restarting growth.