How the stock market performs when bulls rush inWhile many sentiment polls last week showed evaporating optimism among stock traders, the latest American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) poll suggests many bulls are rushing back from the sidelines. In fact, AAII respondents that identified as bullish jumped by the biggest one-week margin since September, according to Schaeffer's Quantita...Read More
Alphabet reports earnings after the close on MondayAfter Netflix (NFLX) reported earlier this week, the next FAANG name to take its turn in the earnings confessional will be Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings after the close Monday. Ahead of the event, Credit Suisse tempered expectations for GOOGL shares, issuing a price-target cut to $1...Read More
(Reuters) - Continued gradual rate increases are the “right forecast” for the Federal Reserve for the next couple years amid stronger U.S. and global economic growth, fiscal stimulus, a strong labor market, better wage growth and stable inflation, a U.S. central banker said on Friday.San Francisco Fed President John Williams, who will take over the New York Fed in June, also said he is...Read More
Falling oil prices could also be creating headwindsThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is set for a third straight loss, as Apple (AAPL) stock continues to pull back. Sliding oil prices could also be adding to the bearish backdrop, after President Donald Trump tweeted about the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this morning. May-dated crude futures were last seen down 48...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic Party filed suit against Russia, President Donald Trump’s campaign and WikiLeaks on Friday, charging that they conspired to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, a court filing showed.The party alleges in the federal lawsuit in Manhattan that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to...Read More
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian inquiry into financial sector misconduct claimed its first scalp on Friday as the CEO of the country’s largest wealth manager stepped down over revelations of board-level deception and misappropriation of funds.The departure of AMP Ltd’s (AMP.AX) Craig Meller came as the government vowed to double prison terms for financial crimes, dramatically increase...Read More
AMARILLO, Texas (Reuters) - In a sprawling plant near Amarillo, Texas, rows of workers perform by hand one of the most dangerous jobs in American industry. Contract workers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pantex facility gingerly remove the plutonium cores from retired nuclear warheads.Although many safety rules are in place, a slip of the hand could mean disaster.In Energy Department fac...Read More
(Kitco News) - Main Streetremains bullish while Wall Street is split on the short-term direction of goldprices, according to the Kitco News weekly gold survey. Sixteen marketprofessionals took part in the survey. Seven respondents, or 44%, called forgold prices to rise over the next week. Another six voters, or 38%, looked forgold to fall, while three, or 19%, called for a sideways market.Meanwhil...Read More
Gold remains largely forgotten, off the radars of most investors. But that's likely to change soon as this leading alternative investment is nearing a major bull breakout. Once gold climbs to decisive new bull-market highs, sentiment will turn and investors' interest will surge. Their resulting buying will rapidly drive gold higher, attracting in more capital inflows. Gold is only a couple...Read More
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two months after the death of 17 people at a school shooting in Florida sparked the strongest push for gun control in years, gun makers’ stocks and firearm sales have surged.Uproar over the murders continued to stoke debate about regulation ahead of November’s elections, with students across the United States planning a walk-out on Friday, the 19th anniversary...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump criticized OPEC on Friday for output curbs that have helped raise global oil prices and said “artificially” high prices would not be accepted, drawing rebukes from oil-producing countries as prices dipped following his remarks.“Looks like OPEC is at it again. With record amounts of Oil all over the place, including the fully load...Read More
There's heavy put open interest at out-of-the-money AAPL putsAfter falling nearly 3% on Thursday, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock is down another 3.1% today to trade at $167.40. The latest pullback was sparked by a round of bearish analyst attention, with one firm calling for the end of the iPhone X. Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, trimmed its price target to $200 from $203, saying it expects iPhone shi...Read More
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has long pushed the development of top-end semiconductors as a key strategic objective.Now, as a trade war with the United States looms, a government decision to accelerate the development of the domestic chip industry underlines how far those goals have fallen short.Senior Chinese officials are increasingly concerned about stalling efforts to improve domestic chip design...Read More
The fear trade that drove capital short term into precious metal relative securities is over.Momentum energy on technical and fundamental noise is tiring.Longer-term drivers of capital to risky assets remain in place and are a drag against gold.Time to take profits and remove excess hedges in gold and silver and relative securities.Bad case scenarios did not play out relative to the strike on Syri...Read More
LONDON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble’s $4.2 billion deal for Merck’s vitamin and supplements business demonstrates that major consumer companies remain hungry for health-related products.The fragmented nature of the sector and its appeal to younger consumers makes further M&A activity a likely prospect even after a spate of recent acquisitions.The U.S.-based maker of Tid...Read More
(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co has agreed to pay $1 billion in penalties to federal regulators to settle a probe into abuses at its auto and mortgage businesses, the bank and regulators said on Friday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.The settlement is the most aggressive move by regulators during the Trump administration to punish a major bank and follows revelations that the United States'...Read More
Twitter is set to report its quarterly earnings this WednesdayShares of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) are higher in today's trading, after MKM Partners upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral," and initiated a $40 price target -- a roughly 27% premium to last night's close, and territory not charted since April 2015. Analyst Rob Sanderson said it thinks the company is removed from Facebook's (FB) data...Read More
P&G shares are just off their worst day in nearly five yearsProcter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) stock is down 1% to trade at $74.21, and just touched a two-year low of $74.16, as analysts continue to react to the company's subpar earnings report yesterday. Deutsche Bank and BofA-Merrill Lynch both downgraded the blue-chip stock to "hold" from "buy," while issuing price-target cuts to $80 and $82, respec...Read More
Wedbush cut its rating and slashed its price target for SKX stockSkechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX) reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit of 75 cents per share on in-line revenue of $1.25 billion. However, the shoemaker gave a weak forecast for the current quarter, sending SKX stock down 26.1% to trade at $31.09 -- its lowest point since November.A round of bearish brokerage notes is only ad...Read More
MAZOWE, Zimbabwe, April 20 (Reuters) - A farm owned by Robert Mugabe's wife Grace is at the centre of a legal dispute after hundreds of illegal gold miners invaded parts of the property and started mining gold.A Reuters photographer saw hundreds of illegal miners digging for gold at the Smithfield citrus farm using picks and shovels, the tools of choice for most illegal miners in Zimbabwe.Once gua...Read More