BO/CM
wtf was the comm in bread #6803 all about?
feel like I'm getting played.was not just me
hopped an IP to tell us to contact
NOTABLE
France holds out over start of EU trade talks with Trump
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - France expressed reservations on Friday about proposed trade negotiations with the United States, diplomats said, while other EU countries supported talks with Washington that could ward off punitive U.S. tariffs on European cars.
The European Commission has asked the EU's 28 countries to approve two negotiating mandates so that formal talks can begin, with many aware that U.S. President Donald Trump may hit EU car imports with duties if they wait too long.
Diplomats say Germany, whose exports of cars and parts to the United States are worth more than half the EU total, wants to press ahead. But France, with very few U.S. car exports, is reluctant to move before the European Parliament election in May, convinced that dealing with Trump is not a vote winner.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said it made sense to wait for a vote in the European Parliament on the issue in March, but then move quickly – a matter of weeks, not months.
"There were a few countries that needed to still have a little discussion internally, but while we are waiting for the European Parliament to vote, I think there are still two weeks to do that," she said.
French junior minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne earlier said that Friday's meeting in Bucharest of national ministers responsible for trade was merely the first political discussion, with more perhaps to come.
EU diplomats said France wanted to postpone a decision until after the European Parliament election in May, but was starting to understand that this would test Trump's patience too far.
They added that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would seek to resolve the impasse before or during an EU summit on March 21-22.
EU EYES CARS, U.S. WANTS FARM PRODUCTS
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said he was not aiming to "rush something through". His Austrian counterpart Margarete Schramboeck was more forthright.
"I expect from all the countries to give a mandate to the Commission… and not hold back because my car industry, maybe in France or one other country, is not as affected as much as in another country," she said.
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/France-holds-out-over-start-of-EU-trade-talks-with-Trump–28048458/?countview=0
One Giant Short Squeeze: S&P500 Short Interest Tumbles To 12 Year Low
One of the recurring market themes we have observed in recent weeks is that just because hedge funds have been painfully - if only from a P&L perspective - underexposed to the recent rally in the stock market, the "pain trade" is higher and that the higher the market rises, the more investors will be forced to enter the market. This thesis has been most aggressively pitched by JPM's Marko Kolanovic who believes that as VIX drops, resulting in greater leverage among the systematic community, the more buyers will emerge, creating a positive feedback loop that sends the market higher for the next three months.
And at least superficially, this take is accurate because as the following chart from Goldman Sachs Prime Services as of Feb 15 2019 shows, both gross and net hedge fund exposure is near the lowest level of the past 2 years. As noted earlier, in its latest hedge fund monitor publiations, Goldman said that hedge fund gross exposures have rebounded modestly alongside the equity market "but remain well below levels registered during most of the prior 18 months", and adds that at roughly 230%, current gross exposures are similar to levels in late November 2018.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-22/one-giant-short-squeeze-sp500-short-interest-tumbles-12-year-low
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Hedge funds are not short. Going to yank the chain and reverese the rally soon.