tyb
Morning Stock Report
Additional headlines
Oil claws up from two-month low, but heads for sharp weekly retreat
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-claws-up-from-two-month-low-but-heads-for-sharp-weekly-retreat-2019-05-24?siteid=rss&rss=1
Treasury yields rebounds as stocks attempt to claw back from week-long selloff
-treasury trade ends 2 hours early for the holiday weekend-
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-rebounds-as-stocks-attempt-to-claw-back-from-weeklong-selloff-2019-05-24?siteid=rss&rss=1
Futures, Global Stocks Rise-Oil disconnects from equity's…perhaps
See cap#3 for oil trade-this is good for us…not for SA though.
If yesterday global markets were a "sea of red", roiled by a wave of selling as traders digested all the latest trade war escalations (which, as Rabobank said, it was getting impossible to keep up with all of them) and latest economic headwinds, today is shaping up as a whipsaw day, as US equity futures are sharply higher.
Theresa May’s expected resignation briefly sent sterling fluctuating wildly.
Meanwhile, in the latest trade war salvo, the Commerce Department said late on Thursday it was proposing a new rule to impose anti-subsidy duties on products from countries that undervalue their currencies, in another move that could penalize Chinese products. This, too, was broadly ignored by markets.
Tightening the screws to keep the yuan manipulation issue from affecting our pricing of imports-good move and welcome.
After a poor start, following yesterday's US stock rout, Asian markets were initially torn between fears of a more protracted U.S.-China trade war and hopes the world’s two largest economies would reach a deal soon (spoiler alert: they won't). China and Hong Kong stocks climbed around 0.3% while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2% as the yen surge took the USDJPY as low as 109.46.
In a remarkable move on Thursday, US yields plunged and curves inverted as the 10-year Treasury yield hit 2.292% the lowest level since mid-October 2017. It has since rebounded modestly, and last stood at 2.3220%. Fixed income safe-haven sovereign markets are the asset of choice at the moment.
Yields still sitting on lows as the money searches for a "safe space".
On Thursday, the pound had suffered its 14th consecutive day of losses against the euro, its longest losing streak on record, although that streak "May end" today-drum hit here-kek.
In commodities, oil prices gained amid OPEC supply cuts and tensions in the Middle East. Crude futures tumbled on Thursday as trade tensions dampened the demand outlook, with the benchmarks posting their biggest daily falls in six months. U.S. crude was at $58.7 a barrel, up 1.4%, after Thursday’s 5.7% fall that took it to the lowest in two months. Brent crude futures rebounded 1.3% to $68.65 per barrel, after falling 4.6% in the previous session.
See cap#3-it's not as connected to the futures action as it has been previously-so far-things can and do change quickly.
Finally, looking at the day ahead, this morning the only data due out in Europe is the April retail sales report and May CBI survey. In the US we’ll then get preliminary April durable and capital goods orders that provide an initial glimpse into the current-quarter capex trend. Our US economists note that headline orders (-1.3% vs. +2.8%) should decline due to Boeing. Orders excluding transportation (+0.1% vs. +0.2%) might also be a bit soft given that the team are mildly cautious on non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircrafts (+0.2% vs. +1.0%), which are a good gauge of equipment spending in the GDP accounts. Away from the data the ECB’s Nowotny is due to give a briefing to an IMF delegation this morning.
good luck with that meeting-love to be a fly on the wall there.
Finally a reminder that European Parliament elections carry on until Sunday evening with results likely overnight/Monday morning. The UK and US will be on holiday so the results will be digested in a little bit of a market vacuum. For a full preview please see yesterday’s EMR.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-24/futures-global-stocks-jump-trade-deal-optimism-makes-scheduled-appearance
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmubmusd30y?countrycode=bx
https://www.dailyfx.com/crude-oil
love it
>We never operated multiple Twitter accounts in a 100% non-manipulative or misleading way.
for sure
Environment activists block entrance to Norwegian central bank
OSLO (Reuters) - Protesters from the environmental group Extinction Rebellion blocked access to Norway’s central bank on Friday, demanding that its $1 trillion (£788.6 billion) wealth fund, the world’s largest, should stop investing in companies that burn coal.
Around 10 protesters blocked the main entrance to Norges Bank and its NBIM asset management arm, carrying banners and spray-painting slogans on windows.
Seeking to draw attention to what they call “ineffective measures against climate change”, the demonstrators also plan wider actions against the government in a bid to halt Norway’s production of oil and gas, the group said in a statement.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-climate-change-norway-bank/environment-activists-block-entrance-to-norwegian-central-bank-idUKKCN1SU1FV
miss-placed on the agenda scene but bringing attention to the banks and that can't be bad in the big picture.
American Financial Group Co-Ceo/Co-Pres sold shares-$5.02m-May 22
American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG) is a holding company engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance businesses. The Company, through Great American Insurance Group, focuses on commercial products for businesses, and is engaged in the sale of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the retail, financial institutions and education markets. It has four segments: Property and casualty insurance, Annuity, Run-off long-term care and life, and Other. It reports its property and casualty insurance business in specialty sub-segments, including Property and transportation, Specialty casualty and Specialty financial. AFG sells traditional fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the retail, financial institutions and education markets through independent producers and through direct relationships with certain financial institutions. AFG also sells single premium annuities in financial institutions through direct relationships with certain banks and through independent agents and brokers.
https://www.marketscreener.com/AMERICAN-FINANCIAL-GROUP-11554/company/
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1042046.htm
U.S. core capital goods orders, shipments weak in April
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for U.S.-made capital goods fell more than expected in April, further evidence that manufacturing and the broader economy were slowing after a growth spurt in the first quarter that was driven by exports and a buildup of inventories.
The report from the Commerce Department on Friday also showed orders for these goods were not as strong as previously thought in March and shipments were weak over the last two months. Manufacturing is easing as businesses work off stockpiles of unsold goods, leading to fewer orders being placed with factories. Industrial production dropped in April and a measure of factory activity declined to a near 10-year low in May.
Activity is also being weighed down by an escalation in the trade war between the United States and China, which has sparked a sell-off on Wall Street, as well as tepid global growth. The renewed trade tensions are expected to weigh on exports, which earlier this year had benefited from increased Chinese purchases of American goods.
Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.9% last month as demand softened almost across the board.
Data for March was revised down to show these so-called core capital goods orders rising 0.3% instead of increasing 1.0% as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods orders falling 0.3% in April. Core capital goods orders increased 2.6% on a year-on-year basis.
Shipments of core capital goods were unchanged last month after a downwardly revised 0.6% decline in the prior month. Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.
They were previously reported to have slipped 0.1% in March.
The downward revision to March shipments suggests business spending was even weaker than initially estimated in the first quarter and could result in GDP growth for the quarter being trimmed when the government publishes its revision next week.
The government estimated last month that the economy expanded at a 3.2% pace in the first quarter. Second-quarter GDP growth estimates are below a 2% annualized rate.
The dollar slipped against a basket on currencies following Friday’s data. U.S. Treasury prices were little changed.
INVENTORIES RISE
In April, orders for machinery edged up 0.1% after dropping 2.0% in March. Orders for computers and electronic products fell 0.4%. There were also decreases in orders for primary metals. Orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components gained 0.9%.
Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, tumbled 2.1% in April after increasing 1.7% in the prior month. Orders for transportation equipment dropped 5.9% after rising 5.9% in March.
Orders for motor vehicles and parts decreased 3.4% last month, the most since May 2018. Orders for non-defense aircraft plunged 25.1% after rising 7.8% in March. Boeing reported on its website that it had only four aircraft orders in April, down from 44 in March.
All of the orders last month were for the troubled 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing’s fastest-selling MAX 737 jetliner was grounded in March after two fatal plane crashes in five months.
Boeing has cut back production and suspended deliveries of the aircraft, which is also contributing to the weakness in manufacturing.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/u-s-core-capital-goods-orders-shipments-weak-in-april-idUSKCN1SU1HB
the rising inventory story contributes much to these numbers, been a trend since start of the year-this is concept of globalism being shown the door.
good point, subsidies for water to the 'connected'-like the resnicks, for example, for many years. the last 5 years water bill for most municipal customers(at least in ca) have gone up something like 4-8% each year.
Amazon Japan halts direct sales of Huawei products
TOKYO (Kyodo) – Amazon Japan has suspended direct online sales of Huawei Technologies Co. products after Washington last week blacklisted the Chinese communications giant, sources close to the matter said Friday.
The e-commerce titan's move came as major Japanese mobile phone service operators such as KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. on Wednesday postponed their plan to launch Huawei's new smartphones two days before the scheduled date.
Amazon Japan stopped selling Huawei products it had procured on its own, including the latest smartphone models, personal computers and tablets, citing "concerns over the operating system."
Customers are still able to buy Huawei products sold by other venders on Amazon Japan's e-commerce site.
"We are considering a solution for our customers to safely use" Huawei products, said an Amazon Japan official in Japan. But the e-commerce giant did not disclose when it would resume selling them.
NTT Docomo Inc., the largest wireless carrier by users in Japan, also said Wednesday it stopped taking orders for Huawei's high-end model handsets previously scheduled to hit the market in the summer.
Many low-cost brand mobile phone service operators followed the major wireless carriers' moves, but electric appliance retailers Bic Camera Inc. and Yodobashi Camera Co. said they plan to sell Huawei's new smartphones as scheduled.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190524/p2g/00m/0bu/067000c
chek'd quints confirmed
F5 it…helps
Mr. "Turbo-Tax"
More than 80 years after Albert Einstein helped create the IRC, the number and intensity of humanitarian crises across the globe warrant a dose of Einstein-inspired innovation. Our strategic plan — IRC 2020 — answers that call.
https://www.rescue-uk.org/topic/better-aid
David Miliband
President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
list available here of map locations
https://www.rescue-uk.org/where-we-work