Baltic Dry Index. 1055 Fri. Brent Crude 67.82
“The broker said the stock was "poised to move." Silly
me, I thought he meant up.”
Randy Thurman
Via a front page commentary in the official
People’s Daily, China appears to be calling for a truce in President Trump’s
Great Global Trade War. But can President Trump really be seen to blink first,
and withdraw his threatened round two of 50 billion of new Chinese tariffs
later this week? What would that do to Republican chances in November’s mid
term elections? My guess is that Trump will spurn China’s olive branch. If so,
global stocks still have further to fall.
Below, while Asian stocks nervously head
lower, stock bulls play the same old record.
Tech shares pull down Asian markets
Published: Apr 2, 2018 11:51 p.m. ET
Asian stock markets headed lower Tuesday as a selloff of tech shares
deepened in the U.S. and escalating trade tensions with China dampened investor
confidence.Traders took cues from Wall Street after the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7% Monday, leading a 2.2% decline for the S&P 500 and marking a damp start to the month after U.S. stocks logged the worst quarterly performance since mid-2015.
The Nikkei Stock Average NIK, -0.63% fell as much as 1.6% early and was down 0.9% at the end of morning trading, with tech exporters leading the declines. Electronics company TDK Corporation 6762, -2.46% and Fanuc Corp 6954, -3.09% , a maker of industrial robots, were both down around 3%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.60% fell 0.7%, wiping out the index’s gains for the year, as market bellwether Tencent Holdings 0700, -0.68% fell 1.1%.
The prospect of a trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as presidential tweets hinting at regulatory changes which could affect Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -5.21% , weighed on tech stocks, which tend to be more sensitive to economic growth.
China’s imposition of import duties on $3 billion worth of U.S. products had raised fears among investors, said Eric Robertsen, global head of foreign exchange, rates and credit research at Standard Chartered.
“Clients in China take little comfort so far from their government’s
measured response,” he wrote. “They fear a full-blown escalation of trade
tensions.”
Investors are awaiting a response from the U.S. later this week, and
some speculate it may include fresh trade measures targeting products in the
tech sector, said Jane Fu, sales trader at CMC Markets.
“China is still quite reserved on their retaliation measures, so it
depends how the U.S. responds,” she said. “If the U.S. response is more
hawkish, we’ll see the trade war escalate to an even bigger scale.”
More
April 3, 2018 / 3:07 AM / Updated
2 hours ago
China imposed tariffs on U.S. products to 'balance losses': state media
BEIJING (Reuters) - China imposed tariffs
on 128 U.S. products ranging from wine to oranges in order to “balance the
losses” caused by U.S. duties and to protect China’s national interests,
according to a commentary on the front page of the official People’s Daily.
Beijing on Monday slapped additional
tariffs of up to 25 percent on about $3 billion worth of U.S. products in
response to new U.S. duties on aluminum and steel imports.
U.S. producers, Canada and South Korea have been granted exemptions from
the aluminum and steel duties, but not China, a relatively small supplier to
the United States.
The Chinese tariffs are widely regarded as modest in size. They are seen
as a warning shot to the U.S. administration, which will this week unveil a
list of Chinese high-tech imports targeted for U.S. duties.
U.S. industry has expressed concerns that China could further retaliate
with punitive levies on major products such as aircraft, soybeans and autos.
“China does not like trade wars, but being on the side of justice, China
has no choice but to enter a war to end a war,” Wang Hailou, a researcher at
the Chinese commerce ministry’s research center, wrote in the commentary.
Beijing has repeatedly said it does not fear a trade war with the United
States, but it has also urged Washington to come to the table and resolve their
trade differences.
“It would be beneficial for all if (China’s) friendly overtures were
accepted by Washington. However, at the moment it seems intent on turning a
deaf ear to any suggestion that they each make concessions to reach an amicable
agreement,” according to an editorial in China Daily.
Rattled Stock Bulls Cling to Predicted Earnings Surge
By Elena PopinaAt least that’s the mantra shaken bulls are repeating after renewed selling in once high-flying technology shares and angst over a trade war sent the S&P 500 tumbling to the lowest level since early February.
They point to the cornerstone of the nine-year bull market as the reason for confidence: rising corporate earnings. In fact, amid the recent turmoil, analysts have grown more confident that economic strength will show up on the bottom line. They now anticipate first-quarter profit growth of 17 percent, up from 13 percent at the start of January.
“Yes, you have trade war issues, you have
uncertainty around the tech sector, but if things stay where they are and the
first-quarter earnings show solid growth, stocks will have a good reason to
rise,” Don Selkin, a 75-year-old chief strategist at Newbridge Securities
Corp., said by phone. “It’s ironic that the markets are going down ahead of the
earnings season as the earnings growth estimates are going up.”
There were few signs of such optimism
Monday, as overnight weakness quickly turned into a rout. Tweets from President
Donald Trump attacking Amazon.com Inc. sent big tech shares careening lower,
while a report that Apple Inc. might ditch Intel Corp. rattled high-flying
chipmakers. In the background was news that China issued retaliatory tariffs on
$3 billion of American goods, stoking trade anxiety.
More
In other news, is NAFTA headed into the
dustbin of history?
April 3, 2018 / 2:47 AM / Updated
21 minutes ago
Migrant caravan heading to U.S. border puts Mexico in tough spot with Trump
IXTEPEC, Mexico/EDINBURG, Texas (Reuters)
- In some of the Mexican towns playing host to a “caravan” of more than 1,200
Central American migrants heading to the U.S. border, the welcome mat has been
rolled out despite President Donald Trump’s call for Mexican authorities to stop
them.
Local officials have offered lodging in town squares and empty
warehouses or arranged transport for the migrants, participants in a journey
organised by the immigrant advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras. The officials
have conscripted buses, cars, ambulances and police trucks. But the help may
not be entirely altruistic.
“The authorities want us to leave their cities,” said Rodrigo Abeja, an
organizer from Pueblo Sin Fronteras. “They’ve been helping us, in part to speed
the massive group out of their jurisdictions.”
At some point this spring, the caravan’s 2,000-mile (3,200-km) journey
that began at Tapachula near the Guatemalan border on March 25 will end at the
U.S. border, where some of its members will apply for asylum, while others will
attempt to sneak into the United States.
Abeja said there was a lot of pressure from authorities to stop the
caravan “because of Donald Trump’s reaction.” The Mexican government issued a
statement late on Monday saying it was committed to “legal and orderly”
migration.
The government said the caravan had been taking place since 2010 and was
largely made up of Central Americans entering Mexico who had not met the
necessary legal requirements.
“For this reason, participants in this (caravan) are subject to an
administrative migratory procedure, while 400 have already been repatriated to
their countries of origin, in strict accordance with the law and respecting
their human rights,” it said.
Those without permission to stay in Mexico or who had failed to request
it through the proper channels could expect to be returned to their homelands,
a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump railed on Twitter against the caravan on
Monday, accusing Mexico of “doing very little, if not NOTHING” to stop the flow
of immigrants crossing the U.S. border illegally. “They must stop the big drug
and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA,” he concluded.
More
The only function of economic
forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Today, Facebook takes
on Apple and vice versa. When “Silly Con” friends fall out. Trump takes on
Amazon, according to Vanity Fair.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg says Apple CEO’s criticism ‘extremely glib’ not ‘aligned with truth’
Published: Apr 2, 2018 2:30 p.m. ET
Mark Zuckerberg is reacting to Tim Cook saying that Apple ‘could make a ton of money if we monetized our consumer, if our consumer was our product’
Mark is unfriending Tim.Facebook Inc. FB, -2.75% CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t appreciate how Apple’s AAPL, -0.66% CEO Tim Cook has criticized the social network’s business strategy of monetizing user information.
During a recent interview with Vox Media’s Ezra Klein, Zuckerberg described Cook’s published comments as “glib.”
“The reality here is that if you want to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of people can’t afford to pay,” Zuckerberg added.
Check out: Why the Facebook controversy could be good for Apple
The Facebook founder’s remarks follow those from Cook that emerged from a coming interview with Recode and MSNBC where the head of the iPhone manufacturer suggested that monetizing user information wasn’t an unpalatable business model for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple:
“The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our consumer, if our consumer was our product,” Cook said, according to Recode. “We’ve elected not to do that.”
Read: Facebook will become MySpace, says FANG-focused fund manager
The testy exchange between the billionaire titans of tech come amid mounting concerns about digital privacy, which have intensified after Facebook FB, -2.75% admitted last March that user data were improperly obtained by data-analytics firm Cambridge Analytica for President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
In the aftermath of the that disclosure, Facebook has endured one of its roughest stretches of trading since it went public in 2012. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company lost 9.5% in the first quarter of 2018, a decline that badly underperformed the market and is attributed with helping to fuel a wider selloff in technology focused equities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.90% lost 2.5% in the first three months of the year, the S&P 500 index SPX, -2.23% shed 1.2%, while the technology-centered Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.74% gained 2.3% in the first quarter of 2018, by comparison. The tech-heavy fund PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ, -2.89% where Facebook is a major component, also gained 2.8% over the same period.
For Cook’s part, his company’s stock has also underperformed the broader tech market, Apple’s stock has fallen 0.9% year to date.
‘It’s war’: Trump reportedly seeking ways to hurt Amazon
Published: Apr 2, 2018 8:46 p.m. ET
Vanity Fair report says president ‘obsessed’ with Jeff Bezos
President Donald Trump is “obsessed” with Amazon.com Inc.
Chief Executive Jeff Bezos and is seeking ways to damage the company, according
to a report late Monday by Vanity Fair.
That’s what one anonymous source told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman. Another source said: “[Trump] gets obsessed with something, and now he’s obsessed with Bezos. . . Trump is like, how can I f--- with him?”
Amazon AMZN, -5.21% has been the target of harsh tweets by Trump in recent days, and its stock slid more than 5% Monday. The president has especially railed against the tech giant for skirting state sales taxes and its deal with the U.S. Post Office, which Trump claims loses money for the USPS, although independent analysts say the Post Office makes a profit on the deal. Amazon also pays sales taxes in 45 states.
“He really wants the Post Office deal renegotiated. He thinks Amazon’s getting a huge f---ing deal on shipping,” a Republican source told Vanity Fair.
Read: Trump’s attacks on Amazon break with tradition of presidents keeping hands off companies
According to the Vanity Fair report, in addition to making Amazon pay more for shipping, Trump’s advisers are suggesting that he not allow Amazon Web Services to get a $10 billion Pentagon contract that’s up for bid, and encourage Republican state attorneys general to investigate the company’s business practices.
And what’s the reason for all this? Trump allies told Vanity Fair it all comes down to Bezos also owning the Washington Post, which has been critical of Trump. “Trump doesn’t like The New York Times, but he reveres it because it’s his hometown paper,” one source said. “The Washington Post, he has zero respect for.”
Another source said Trump believes that despite his denials, Bezos has influence over the Post newsroom, much like the owner of the National Enquirer: “When Bezos says he has no involvement, Trump doesn’t believe him. His experience is with the David Peckers of the world. Whether it’s right or wrong, he knows it can be done.”
More
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as
they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC energy
mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards?
30 ways graphene is about to change your life
It's strong, it's flexible, and it's here. After a long time cooking in
the labs, the first graphene-based products are beginning to trickle out into the
world of smartphones, wearables, batteries, virtual reality, sports equipment,
super-capacitors and supercars.
Graphene is a material that some believe has been coerced from abandoned
space ships, left on Earth by extraterrestrials years ago. While that's a
little unlikely, the power of this super-thin, strong, conductive and all-round
amazing material is deserving of such a conspiracy.
It's been over 60 years coming as scientists and manufacturers alike
have struggled to harness the power of this awesome material, but it's closing
in on revolutionizing so many things we're using day to day.
We've
recently updated this page with 10 more ways that graphene is about to change
your life, as seen on display at MWC 2018 in
Barcelona
More
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished March.
DJIA: 24,103 +272 Down
10. NASDAQ: 7,063 +300 Down 13. SP500: 2,641 +202 Down 10.
All
three slow indicators moved down. For some a new bear signal, for others a take
profits and get back to cash signal.
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