Good morning. Happy Thursday.
The Asian/Pacific markets did well today. China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Australia and Singapore led while New Zealand and the Philippines closed down. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly up. The UK, Poland, Turkey, Germany, the UAE, Finland, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Israel, Austria and the Czech Republic are up; Denmark and Norway are down. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: A Dividing Line in History
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The dollar is down. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
Things are pretty tense in the oil markets ahead of a virtual meeting of the alliance of OPEC and non-OPEC producers today at 4:00 p.m. Vienna time (10 a.m. ET). The spotlight will be on whether Russia, Saudi Arabia and non-participant U.S. will agree to cut crude production amid plunging prices and a lack of storage capacity. “Stalemate is not an option for any of the parties involved,” warns Nansen Saleri, CEO of Quantum Reservoir Impact and Saudi Aramco’s former head of reservoir management. Even an OPEC+ combined cut of 10M to 15M barrels per day of output won’t match the estimated drop in Q2 demand of 16.4M barrels a day. Crude oil is seen swinging to as low as $20 per barrel or as high as $40 per barrel based on how the meeting goes. In today’s early action, WTI crude oil futures (CL1:COM) +4.9% to $26.32/bbl and Brent crude +3.8% to $34.08/bbl on indications that the Russians will play ball.
Jobless claims
The Department of Labor is due to report jobless claims for the week ending April 4. The report follows on the heels of the last two weeks that saw almost 10M Americans file for unemployment benefits. For this week’s report, economists expect on average about 5.2M claims to have been filed, with JPMorgan at the high end with a forecast for 7M filings. There is at least some risk of a blowout shock number due to the increased eligibility through the CARES Act for the self-employed and gig workers to file. While today’s jobless claims print could be the peak, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Chief Economist Michelle Meyer warns that the weekly mark could be in the millions for several more weeks.
Global markets push higher
Global stocks continue to gain on hopes that the pandemic is nearing a peak and that a crude oil output deal will be struck. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 1.4%, South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.6% and Australia’s ASX rallied 3.5%. Japan’s Nikkei ended flat on the day after a dour appraisal from Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on the economy. Meanwhile, European stocks are breaking higher, led by Germany’s DAX up 1% and U.K.’s FTSE 100 1.6% higher. U.S. stock futures are all pointing to modest gains at the moment.
Swiss banks bow to pressure
UBS and Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) gave in to pressure from Finma, Switzerland’s financial market regulator, and elected to split annual dividend payments into two parts this year. Each company had intended to pursue its full dividend plan but endured criticism for doing so amid the viral pandemic. Now the banks will issue half the annual dividend at this point, and seek separate approval in the fall for another half.
Diageo pulls guidance
Diageo (NYSE:DEO) said it will halt its buyback program due to the pandemic but will go ahead with an interim dividend due to be paid this month. “Widespread containment actions put in place by governments across the globe in March, including the closure of bars and restaurants, are having a significant impact on the performance of our business,” notes the company. In mainland China, Diageo said it’s beginning to see a very slow return of on-trade consumption. Diageo pulled its sales and profit guidance due to the uncertainty created by the pandemic.
Kuroda warns on Japanese economy
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in a speech today that COVID-19 is having a serious impact on the Japanese economy. Kuroda pointed to declines in exports, output, demand from overseas tourists and private consumption. The Bank of Japan is expected to make a rare projection later this month that the world’s third-largest economy will fall in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic. The development would be the first time the BOJ has forecast a full-year contraction since 2014. Some economists see Japan’s GDP falling by more than 5% this year. The BOJ will post its new forecast at its next rate review on April 27-28.
The pandemic fight goes on
There was a more optimistic tone at the coronavirus briefing yesterday even after New York City reported its deadliest day so far. White House officials said they see “real evidence” that lockdowns and stay-at-home efforts are working in states like California and Washington to slow the pandemic. White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx noted cities like New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago and Boston are still seeing a high percentage of positive tests, while Vice President Mike Pence said the short-term objective is to test as many Americans as possible. Global COVID-19 cases now number over 1.5M, with over 430K reported in the U.S.
Volkswagen hits higher gear in China
Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) said the restart of production in China is starting to gain traction. Hope is returning to the Chinese market as business levels start to normalize with all 2K dealerships open, states VW China chief Stephan Wollenstein. The German automaker reiterated a plan to add two new electric vehicle sites in China during the second half of the year with a combined capacity of 600K vehicles annually and start local manufacturing of the Audi e-tron SUV. Shares of Volkswagen are up 2.05% in Frankfurt trading.
Nissan looks to raise cash
Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY) is pursuing a credit line of ¥500B (about $4.58B), a move to boost liquidity amid the still-growing COVID-19 pandemic, Nikkei reports. That line would come from a consortium of banks led by Mizuho, according to the report. The news follows announcements by Nikkei that it would be temporarily laying off nearly 20,000 workers, including 10,000 in the U.S. and nearly that many in Europe.
Disney Plus is a hit
Disney (NYSE:DIS) says its streaming service has surpassed the 50M subscriber mark on a global basis, just five months after it launched in the United States. The service has since rolled out to more than a dozen countries – notably India, which added about 8M of the 50M to Disney’s pile. Over the past two weeks, the streaming service became available in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
Relief for airlines still up in the air
Airlines looking for federal assistance are being asked to provide detailed info on capital structure, liquidity, loyalty programs and unencumbered assets to the Treasury Department. Most carriers have their hands out as they burn through cash at a fast clip, but are also looking for ways to avoid giving away equity. The timing of when the government funds might arrive and at what terms is still up in the air for American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ:HA), Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK), Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT), Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE), Mesa Airlines (NASDAQ:MESA) and SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW).
Healthcare companies step up in pandemic fight
Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) announced that the production of malaria med hydroxychloroquine sulfate for COVID-19 patients out of the company’s plant in West Virginia has advanced ahead of schedule. The company is donating 10M doses to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for possible use in clinical studies or under emergency use authorization and making shipments to wholesalers. Meanwhile, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) stated that its Puritan Bennett 560 ventilator will be available next month in the U.S. under emergency use authorization from the FDA. The company expects to be producing 1,000 ventilators per week by the end of June and projects that it will produce 25K ventilators across all platforms over the next six months.
What else is happening…
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) pulls full-year guidance.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) sees March sales pop.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) seen tapping credit facility.
Wednesday’s Key Earnings
PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) +1.6% AH on mixed Q2 earnings.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Producer Price Index
10:00 Jerome Powell Speech
10:00 Consumer Sentiment
10:00 Wholesale Trade
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
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Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets were mostly weak. Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan did well, but Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines did well. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly down. Hungary and Isreael are up while the UK, Denmark, Poland, France, the UAE, South Africa, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and Austria are down. Futures in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: Bear Market Sequences
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The dollar is up. Oil is up; copper is down. Gold is flat; silver is down. Bonds are down.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
“There must be some kind of way outta here,” said the economist to the task force, as governments around the world develop strategies to get their economies back on track. In the U.S., the effort appears to be dependent on testing far more Americans than has been possible to date, though planning is still in the early stages. The economy would likely be reopened in phases, beginning in smaller cities and towns in states that haven’t yet been heavily hit by the virus. Until then, “there’s too much confusion… I can’t get no relief.”
U.S. coronavirus cases top 400K
A big rally yesterday saw the Dow climb more than 900 points, only to lose steam later in the session as traders track coronavirus death and infection rates in the absence of real-time economic data. On Tuesday, New York reported its largest single-day COVID-19 death toll at 713 fatalities, while the number of U.S. cases surpassed 400,000. Nationwide coronavirus infections reached 200,000 on April 1, meaning the country has doubled its confirmed case count in just one week. Next moves? Stock futures inched between slight gains and losses overnight, and as of 6:30 a.m. ET, they were hugging the flatline.
More aid for small business
The Trump administration has asked Congress for an additional $250B in emergency economic aid for small U.S. businesses reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. That’s in addition to the $349B that’s already part of the CARES Act signed into law on March 27. More than $70B of the PPP loans have already been processed, which encourage small enterprises to keep their employees on staff and to help them pay overhead costs.
V-shaped recovery less likely
“I don’t think it’s going to be a rapid” bounceback, former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke told a virtual discussion hosted by the Brookings Institution. While the economy could contract at a 30% annualized rate or more in Q2, he brushed aside comparisons to the 12-year-long Great Depression, saying, “if all goes well in a year or two we should be in a substantially better position.” Bernanke also sees interest rates at zero for a long time and said a case can be made to stop bank dividend payouts.
‘Nine months of economic pain’
“Companies are running out of cash,” said John Chambers, the legendary tech CEO who turned Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) into a powerhouse, expecting the worst over the next nine months to a year. He sees the pandemic as a three-axis disrupter to the economy, healthcare system, and global supply chain, with the travel and airline industries recovering much more slowly than retail and financial institutions. “Companies will either be destroyed or break away if they follow their North Star,” he cautions, adding that “for many, it will be like a second chance to do an IPO.”
Note for earnings season
First quarter earnings season kicks off in under a week, starting with the financial sector, with reports expected from JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) on April 14. This time around, “beats or “misses” will largely be irrelevant, because the results will be lowered by a tremendous increase in provisions for loan loss reserves, as well as considerations for a difficult economic cycle through 2021. Some analysts haven’t even updated their estimates since before Feb. 19, when the S&P 500 hit its last closing record, meaning consensus estimates are dulled by “stragglers.”
EU fails to reach recovery plan
“We came close to a deal but we are not there yet,” tweeted Eurogroup head Mario Centeno, following 16 hours of discussions over additional stimulus to help the bloc weather the coronavirus pandemic. “I suspended the #Eurogroup & continue tomorrow, thu.” Reasons for the breakdown? A dispute reportedly took place between the Netherlands and Italy over the conditions attached to the potential use of credit lines from the European Stability Mechanism. Ministers also sparred over the wording of a joint statement.
Historic recessions
The French economy shrank the most since World War II in the first quarter, according to the Bank of France, and the outlook for the rest of the year is souring significantly. The central bank estimates a 6% slump, hurt by a coronavirus-induced collapse in supply and demand. Things are also looking grim in Germany. According to a joint forecast from 5 leading German institutes, Europe’s largest economy probably shrank by 9.8% in the second quarter, its biggest decline since records began in 1970.
Risk to ‘AAA’ credit ratings
Australia has become the first of 11 nations rated “AAA” by S&P to have been put on negative outlook since the coronavirus outbreak. The decision came after the country’s parliament returned to pass the emergency A$130B ($80B) JobKeeper bill, taking its total tally of fiscal support to A$320B ($197B). “We expect the Australian economy to plunge into recession for the first time in almost 30 years,” wrote the S&P, “causing a substantial deterioration of the government’s fiscal headroom at the ‘AAA’ rating level.”
Crude supply data amid price war
The American Petroleum Institute reportedly showed a build of 11.9M barrels of oil for the week ended April 3, its second consecutive increase after two straight declines. Gasoline inventories increased by 9.45M barrels, distillate inventories showed a draw of 177K barrels and Cushing inventories displayed a build of 6.8M barrels. Data from the Energy Information Administration to be released this morning is expected to show that crude inventories rose by 8.4M barrels last week, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
What else is happening…
Geico (BRK.A, BRK.B) giving back $2.5B amid driving shutdown.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) cuts pay, furloughs hourly workers until May.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) suspends delivery service competing with UPS (NYSE:UPS), FedEx (NYSE:FDX).
Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) expands drive-thru coronavirus testing sites.
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) will speed payments to doctors, hospitals.
Jack Dorsey pledges $1B for COVID-19 relief efforts.
Apple Music (NASDAQ:AAPL) starts $50M advance fund for indie labels.
Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) G Suite has 6M paying businesses.
CFO exit puts Macy’s (NYSE:M) under pressure.
Tuesday’s Key Earnings
Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) +2% on earnings topper, update on China.
Today’s Economic Calendarv
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $17B, 30-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM FOMC minutes
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Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets posted solid gains. Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines all did great. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently posting big gains. The UK, Poland, France, Turkey, Germany, the UAE, Greece, South Africa, Finland, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Austria and Sweden are leading. Futures in the States point towards a big gap up open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: Bear Market Sequences
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The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
Stock futures are pointing to another opening jump in early morning trade, up about 4%, following a steep rebound in the previous session that saw major U.S. indexes rally more than 7%. In a press conference Monday, President Trump said there’s “tremendous light at the end of the tunnel” with ten different therapeutic agents in active trials amid a slew of coronavirus headlines pointed to a potential stabilization in the U.S. The Federal Reserve also moved to bolster a new small business lending program by allowing financial institutions to turn those loans over to the U.S. central bank for cash.
DAX exits bear market; S&P 500 to follow
Building on recent gains, Germany’s benchmark DAX Index soared another 4.6% overnight to technically leave a bear market it entered in March. A bounce for the export-heavy gauge, which fell as much as 40% during the recent selloff, comes amid signs that infection rates in parts of Europe may be nearing a peak. “It makes sense to see the DAX gauge to do better,” said Frederik Hildner, a portfolio manager at Salm-Salm & Partner. “However, not retesting the lows in the absence of major medical progress would simply be astonishing to me.”
Brexit trade deal is getting harder
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received oxygen support overnight, but was not put on a ventilator, after being moved to intensive care as his coronavirus symptoms worsened. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, another supporter of the “Vote Leave” campaign, is taking the helm for the time being, in the latest turn in Brexit developments. Many are now questioning whether the U.K. will be able to meet that deadline of end 2020 to set a free-trade deal with the EU, after which Britain said it would leave the single market with no deal or revert to WTO rules.
Mega stimulus
Japan is finalizing plans for a massive stimulus package worth ¥108T ($990B) – equal to 20% of its economic output – to counter the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. That exceeds 11% of output for the U.S. stimulus package laid out by President Trump and 5% for that of Germany. “I think the coronavirus has given a final blow to Japan’s economy,” said Jun Saito of the Japan Center for Economic Research. GDP already started to slow down since late 2018, and the impact of Sino-U.S. trade tensions was further exacerbated by a consumption tax rate hike in Oct. 2019 (the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics also didn’t help the situation).
Slashing crude production
Plunging oil demand and dwindling storage options not a coordinated supply cut with the Saudis and Russia, will force U.S. producers to voluntarily cut production 30%-35%, Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) Executive Chairman Harold Hamm told S&P Global Platts. President Trump suggested last week that American producers might agree to curtailments to help break the oil price war between Riyadh and Moscow, but “U.S. producers don’t need to coordinate between themselves,” Hamm said. “That’s unnecessary. Each one of them will have his own situation to deal with.”
Easing listing rules
While the SEC rejected its initial proposal, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:ICE) is again in talks with the regulator to temporarily ease its listing requirements. That would take the strain off companies that may have fallen out of compliance due to the recent market rout. The last time the exchange temporarily suspended the ongoing listings standards – which stipulate a share price of more than $1 and an average global market cap above $50M for 30 consecutive trading days – was during the financial crisis in 2009.
Luckin scandal
Banks stand to lose more than $100M from a loan they made to the chairman of Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ:LK), whose share price plunged more than 80% last week after the Chinese coffee chain said much of its 2019 sales were fabricated. A margin call earlier against Chairman Charles Zhengyao Lu and Chief Executive Jenny Zhiya Qian led to the loss of control of 515,355,752 class B shares and 95,445,000 class A shares. “In hindsight, Wall Street probably shouldn’t have let Luckin Coffee’s chairman have more or less unfettered access to half a billion dollars with now-plunging Luckin shares as collateral,” tweeted WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng.
Forwarding limits
“We are now introducing a limit so that messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time,” WhatsApp (NASDAQ:FB) said in a new blog post. “We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation” and curb the “spread of misinformation.” Since last year, users have been able to forward a message to only five individuals or groups at once, down from an earlier limit of 20. The app also labeled any messages that had been forwarded more than five times.
Social distance tracking
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will issue a written warning to warehouse workers violating social distancing guidelines, according to a document viewed by CNBC. The second violation could result in the employee being fired. In addition to the new rules, Amazon said it has instituted temperature checks at its facilities, taken steps to increase cleaning at its warehouses and has supplied workers with face masks, sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.
Trump reaches “amicable” agreement with 3M
“So the 3M saga ends very happily,” President Trump concluded at a White House press briefing on the coronavirus. Under the terms of the new deal, 3M (NYSE:MMM) will import 166.5M respirator masks to the U.S. over the next quarter, supplementing the 35M masks 3M produces domestically each month. “I want to thank President Trump and the Administration for their leadership and collaboration,” 3M CEO Mike Roman said in the statement.
What else is happening…
Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) forecast indicates limited coronavirus impact.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) hires former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) VP for hardware efforts.
Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) sees “very strong consumer demand.”
BP (NYSE:BP) offers gas discount for healthcare workers.
UPS (NYSE:UPS) employee dies of COVID-19 infection.
Airbnb (AIRB) raising $1B amid fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) suspends 787 production; will retest Starliner flight.
Today’s Economic Calendar
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
3:00 PM Consumer Credit
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Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets posted solid gains. Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Austria, Indonesia, Singapore and the Phillipines all did very well. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently posting solid gains. The UK, France, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Russia, South Africa, Finland, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Israel and Italy are up big. Futures in the States point towards a big gap up open for the cash market.
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VIDEO: Bear Market Sequences
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The dollar is up. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.
Stories/News from Seeking Alpha…
In the latest bout of volatility, U.S. stock futures were nearly ‘limit-up’ at one point overnight after indexes slipped lower on Friday following the end of a record U.S. job growth streak. The latest? President Trump expressed hope the country was seeing a “leveling off” of the crisis, while VP Mike Pence said the coronavirus task force was seeing signs of virus cases “stabilizing.” Equities aren’t the only asset class experiencing wild swings. The energy sector has seen a chaotic last few days on reports of an oil production cut deal (more on that below).
Hope of rate peak
Italy posted its lowest daily coronavirus death toll in two and a half weeks, Spain’s number fell for a third straight day, while fatalities dropped in the U.K. and France. In the U.S., New York reported its first decline in daily deaths, though Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was too early to tell if it’s a plateau or just a blip. “Case growth deceleration in that group can help put further downward pressure on implied equity volatility and blunt the nature of a retest of the March equity price low,” according to JPMorgan. “We suspected that markets could anchor to those statistics given the enormous uncertainties associated with a pandemic. So far, that has proved to be the case.”
On the economy
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard does not believe the U.S. economy or job market is in “free fall” despite a 32% unemployment projection made in late March. “In some ways, the uptake on the unemployment insurance program is a good thing because it means you’re getting the transfers to the people that are being disrupted by this health-ordered shutdown,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation. “There’s nothing wrong with the economy itself.”
Oil news
Crude futures opened the session Sunday night by falling 9.2% to $25.72 per barrel after a delayed OPEC+ meeting signaled that a production agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia may not be as imminent as President Trump suggested last week. Moscow and Riyadh are still “very, very close” to a deal on production cuts, according to Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF. The meeting is now likely to be held on Thursday, while Trump has suggested he could put crude import tariffs in place to “protect our tens of thousands of energy workers.”
Majors seek to preserve dividends
Some of the world’s biggest oil companies have raised more than $32B in recent weeks to ensure they have the cash to deal with the economic effects of the coronavirus, FT reports. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Equinor (NYSE:EQNR), Total (NYSE:TOT) and BP (NYSE:BP) have sold debt to raise dollars or euros since mid-March, while some have obtained new multibillion-dollar credit facilities. They’re also paring capex, reducing costs, pausing stock buybacks and delaying project approvals.
Security first
“If we mess up again, it’s done,” Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) CEO Eric Yuan said in an interview with WSJ. “I really messed up as CEO, and we need to win their trust back. This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened.” He’s referring to the practice of “Zoombombing” – where people gain unauthorized access to a meeting – while user data has also been vulnerable to outsiders’ exploitation. “I feel an obligation to win the users’ trust back,” Yuan added. “We need to slow down and think about privacy and security first. That’s our new culture.”
Turmoil in the mortgage market
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) will reportedly only refinance jumbo mortgages with clients who hold at least $250K in liquid assets at the bank. In other words, a customer who already has a jumbo loan – which are too big to be sold to Fannie or Freddie etc. – can’t refinance to take advantage of lower rates unless they keep their funds at the bank. Since 2018, the Fed imposed a cap on Wells Fargo’s total assets in the wake of the fake-accounts scandal.
Diverging takes on monetary financing
The Bank of England won’t resort to printing money to help fund government spending to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. “Using monetary financing would damage credibility on controlling inflation,” according to BOE Governor Andrew Bailey. He said the creation of central bank reserves to purchase £200B of bonds aren’t being created to pay the government’s deficit, but are the “consequence of independent central bank policy actions to deliver monetary and financial stability.
Big Tobacco joins hunt for vaccine
British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) is developing a potential vaccine grown in tobacco plants, while Medicago, a biotech firm partly owned by Philip Morris (NYSE:PM), is pursuing a similar effort, WSJ reports. The success of BAT’s approach will depend on whether its product elicits the appropriate immune response to protect against future infection with the new coronavirus, said Beate Kampmann, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Vaccine Centre. “What’s promising is the scalability,” she added.
End to sports hiatus
Speaking by telephone with league commissioners on Saturday, President Trump pushed for live sports to end their coronavirus interruption “soon, very soon.” He wants to see fans back in the stadiums by August and September and for live sports to start without fans much sooner than that, according to a White House official. A few of the commissioners even suggested mid-to-late May as a starting point for live events without spectators. Related: DIS, T, CMCSA, VIAC, NKE, UA, LULU, FL, COLM, TSG, CHDN, SBGI, MSG, WWE
What else is happening…
Advertising is drying up everywhere – Barron’s.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) building ventilators with Model 3 parts.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) producing 1M face shields per week; GM shares processes.
Honeywell (NYSE:HON) pressures suppliers to cut prices 30%.
United (NASDAQ:UAL) and American Air (NASDAQ:AAL) slash flights to NYC-area.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) extends Washington state production shutdown.
Today’s Economic Calendar
12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX
One thought on “Before the Open (Apr 6-10)”
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4/9/2020
I have my own set of formulas. In the history of the NASDAQ there have been only 12 times that the market has shown such strength as today. All have been after significant drops. All followed big pullbacks, all were after major bottoms. Many were the end of bear markets all were followed by at least a month of continued bull run. Nov 4, 2002 was the least effective and the market peaked on Dec 2. The last one was March 26, 2009, The NASDAQ went on one heck of run after that one. I cannot sell right now.
The VXN is dropping and the PC ratio is still high.