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Re: EZ2 post# 90352

Thursday, 11/15/2018 9:10:53 AM

Thursday, November 15, 2018 9:10:53 AM

Post# of 90877
Today's Markets gm EZ and all :) good QUES news :)a lot of data today..

In Asia, Japan -0.2%. Hong Kong +1.8%. China +1.4%. India +0.3%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.1%. Paris -0.4%. Frankfurt -0.1%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.3%. S&P +0.3%. Nasdaq +0.6%. Crude +0.4% to $56.45. Gold +0.1% to $1211.20. Bitcoin -14% to $5365.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -2 bps to 3.1%

Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
8:30 Import/Export Prices
10:00 Fed's Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Governor Quarles: “Semi-Annual Testimony on the Federal Reserve’s Supervision and Regulation of the Financial System”
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:00 Jerome Powell Speech
1:00 PM Fed's Bostic Speech
3:00 PM Fed's Kashkari Speech
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet

Sterling plunged 1.5% against the dollar overnight, while U.K. retail banks and homebuilders slumped, after U.K. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab resigned from his post, stating he couldn't support Theresa May's Brexit deal for two reasons. "First, I believe that the regulatory regime proposed for Northern Ireland presents a very real threat to the integrity of the U.K." "Secondly," he added, "I cannot support an indefinite backstop arrangement, where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit."

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"There are difficult days ahead," Theresa May declared after she obtained enough support from her senior ministers for a draft Brexit deal to move forward. It sets the stage for a battle in parliament that could shake her government and unravel the agreement with the EU for Britain’s orderly withdrawal. With other Brexit resignations, including Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey and junior Brexit minister Suella Braverman, she might also face a challenge to her premiership.

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U.K. retail sales unexpectedly fell for the second consecutive month during October as shoppers tightened their belts after splashing out during a hot summer. Volumes fell by 0.5%, compared to the previous month, much lower than the 0.2% growth predicted by economists. A return to real wage growth was hoped to help spur consumer spending and power the economy in the final stage of the Brexit negotiations.

Chinese shares got a lift overnight amid signs that Beijing and Washington may be taking steps to de-escalate their bitter trade dispute, as well as strong earnings from tech giant Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY). For the first time since the summer, Chinese officials delivered a written response to the Trump administration of potential trade concessions, giving hopes to investors that the two sides might bring an end to the spat.

Canada and China will continue to work together towards an "eventual" free trade deal, according to Justin Trudeau. This is despite Ottawa being a signatory to USMCA, which specifies that if a member enters a free trade deal with a "non-market" country, the others can quit in six months and form their own bilateral trade pact. "There is an element of transparency. We have to keep our partners informed on how we're doing," he added.

The EU has vowed to strike back against any U.S. decision to impose tariffs on car imports, stating the retaliatory tariffs would be a "re-balancing list covering a lot of different sectors." After the U.S. imposed duties on steel and aluminum imports earlier this year, the EU retaliated with tariffs on iconic American products like bourbon and motorcycles. Since July, however, the two sides have agreed not to impose any new measures as they work toward eliminating duties altogether.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is "very happy about the state of the economy now," and gives himself some of the credit, telling a public forum in Dallas that "our policy is part of the reason why our economy is in such a good place right now." Powell also conceded that the global economy is not growing at the same pace as last year, but said overall the domestic picture looks good.

U.S. state spending topped $2T for the first time in fiscal 2018, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers, with Medicaid expenditures rising the most along with a significant increase in transportation spending. Total expenditures grew an estimated 4.8%, compared to 3.8% in fiscal 2017, representing a "slightly improved fiscal situation than the prior two years," said NASBO executive director John Hicks.

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Amid a crypto selloff that began Wednesday, Bitcoin's (BTC-USD) market capitalization fell below the $100B mark on Thursday - a level not seen since October 2017. It also shattered the $6000 hard floor that has held for much of 2018, with many attributing the 14% slide to an upcoming "fork" of Bitcoin Cash (BCH-USD), which already splintered off the currency in August 2017. As the tumble continued, the market caps of Ripple's (XRP-USD) and Ether (ETH-USD) jostled as the second-biggest among digital currencies.

Apple shares dipped into a bear market on Wednesday as the decline from its recent all-time high briefly totaled more than 20%. Investors have grown concerned about the tech giant's iPhone sales growth as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) did away with the metric and its customers reduced shipments. Despite more expensive phones buoying average selling prices, some Wall Street firms are also not so sure it'll be enough to offset lower iPhone volumes.

The SEC will hold a roundtable today on the "proxy process" by which big pension funds and other shareholders can force companies to vote on a range of environmental, social and governance matters. The agency has heard out the concerns in the past, but hasn't pursued changes. Corporate America and business groups are hoping this time is different with a "business-friendly" administration in power.

The U.S. Postal Service lost $3.9B in 2018 even as package deliveries rose 10%, potentially giving President Trump more firepower against Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which he claims pays too little for the agency's services. While USPS reported operating revenue of $70.6B for the fiscal year, its net loss more than tripled from 2017, hurt by rising pay and benefits and higher transport costs.

As it works to clear space for next-generation faster networks, the FCC has launched the agency's first high-band 5G spectrum auction. The networks are expected to be at least 100 times faster than current 4G, as well as cut latency, or delays. While millimeter-wave spectrum offers faster speeds, it cannot cover big areas and will require significant new small cell infrastructure deployments.

Did Boeing sufficiently warn of safety procedures before the crash of its 737 MAX last week? American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) is the latest to weigh into the debate, saying it was "unaware" of some functions of an anti-stall system prior to the accident. Boeing (NYSE:BA) maintains it informed airlines of the "existing flight crew procedures," though others say some of the functionality was not sufficiently explained in their manuals or during training.

Uber lost $1.07B (on a GAAP basis) in the third quarter as it continued to invest in new areas, such as bicycles, scooters and freight shipments. The company is still growing however, as revenue rose 38% Y/Y to $2.95B, although those gains are down 51% from the prior quarter. The figures come ahead of UBER's anticipated IPO next year, to which some are ascribing a value of $120B, nearly double its last reported private valuation.

More IPOs? Levi Strauss is reportedly looking to bring jeans back to Wall Street, aiming to go public in the first quarter of 2019. The company, which plans to raise about $600M-$800M, is targeting a valuation of about $5B. Levi Strauss first went public in 1971, but descendants of the creator of blue jeans took the 145-year-old company private shortly thereafter.

Wednesday's Key Earnings
Canopy Growth (OTC:CGC) -10.9% posting a major loss.
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) +5% AH avoiding tariff effects.
Macy's (NYSE:M) -7.2% despite strong earnings, guidance.

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