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☆ Investors await crucial US debt ceiling vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Caroline Valetkevitch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The S&P 500 closed down 0.6% on Wednesday in a decline some analysts pinned partly on remaining uncertainty over the vote. Debt ceiling concerns periodically weighed on stock markets over the last week, although most investors expected an 11th-hour agreement. Investors have viewed the possibility of a U.S. default as an unlikely but potentially catastrophic event for global markets. "Investors do think it's going to pass. McCarthy predicted that the vote, expected around 8:30 p.m. (0030 GMT), would succeed, telling reporters, "It's going to become law."

Persons: Alan B, ”, Brad McMillan, Kevin McCarthy's, Joe Biden's, Quincy Krosby, it's, McCarthy, Caroline Valetkevitch, Ira Iosebashvili, David Gregorio Our Organizations: U.S . House, Lancz, Associates Inc, Commonwealth Financial Network, Treasury, White, House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy's Republicans, Investors, Senate, LPL, Thomson Locations: U.S, “

May 28 (Reuters) - Global investors are gaming out how a tentative deal to raise the United States debt ceiling could ripple through markets, as lawmakers strive to pass the agreement through Congress before a June 5 deadline. U.S. five-year credit default swaps narrowed, meaning that the cost of insuring against exposure to a U.S. debt default fell. “The debt ceiling agreement is only the first step in saving the government from the brink of illiquidity.”The deal suspends the debt ceiling until January 2025 in exchange for caps on spending and cuts in government programs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday set a deadline for raising the federal debt limit, saying the government would default if Congress does not increase the debt ceiling by June 5. Optimism that a debt ceiling deal was near and hefty gains in AI-related stocks helped the S&P 500 (.SPX) close at its highest level since August 2022 on Friday.

“The debt ceiling agreement is only the first step in saving the government from the brink of illiquidity.”The deal suspends the debt ceiling until January 2025 in exchange for caps on spending and cuts in government programs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday set a deadline for raising the federal debt limit, saying the government would default if Congress does not increase the debt ceiling by June 5. Optimism that a debt ceiling deal was near and hefty gains in AI-related stocks helped the S&P 500 (.SPX) close at its highest level since August 2022 on Friday. S&P Global Ratings stripped the United States of its coveted top rating over a debt ceiling showdown in 2011, a few days after a last-minute agreement the agency at the time said did not stabilize "medium-term debt dynamics." S&P Global Ratings, Fitch and Moody's did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

☆ A telco billionaire gave $1,000 each to 2,500 Boston college graduates and encouraged them to donate half of it, calling it a 'gift of giving'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Robert Hale, the founder, and CEO of Granite Telecommunications, gave 2,500 graduating students $1,000 each. But he called on the graduates to donate half of the gift, or $500, calling it the "gift of giving." He isn't the only billionaire donating to college students. He then urged them to donate half of the gift, or $500, calling it the "gift of giving," according to media reports, including NBC Boston. In May 2022, Hale gifted $1,000 each to 150 graduates at the Roxbury Community College in Boston, per NBC Boston.

☆ Wall St slips on debt ceiling uncertainty
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Chuck Mikolajczak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Stocks had rallied over the past two sessions on growing confidence a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit could be reached in coming days, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) climbing more than 2%. For the week, the Dow gained 0.38%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.65% and the Nasdaq advanced 3.04%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their biggest weekly percentage gains since the final week of March. [1/2] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 14, 2023. The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 79 new highs and 87 new lows.

A White House official confirmed the talks were resuming. "We've got to get movement from the White House and we don't have any movement yet," McCarthy told reporters during the pause in talks. A White House official said: "There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. Biden and McCarthy spent most of the year in an impasse with the White House insisting on a "clean" increase in the debt ceiling without conditions. A White House official said a deal remained possible.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans and President Joe Biden's Democratic administration on Friday paused talks on raising the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, rattling financial markets as the deadline to avoid default ticked closer. Talks at the Capitol broke up around midday, and there was no immediate word on when they would resume. A White House official said: "There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. Biden and McCarthy spent most of the year in an impasse with the White House insisting on a "clean" increase in the debt ceiling without conditions. Young and Ricchetti told reporters they were going to play it "by ear" as they departed the negotiating sessions, according to reporters for NBC News and ABC News.

☆ Flight attendants and pilots are anxiously gearing up for a potentially record-breaking summer of travel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"It's just a really precarious time of year for airline employees," Anthony Cataldo, a flight attendant for American Airlines with 33 years' experience, told Insider. Such predictions have left some airline workers anxious about carrying the industry through what could be a record-breaking travel season, four mainline pilots and flight attendants told Insider. Compared to last summer, airline staffing levels have largely improved, with Delta and United hiring thousands of new employees this year. The Southwest and American Airlines pilot unions both voted to authorize a strike this month. Air traffic control remains understaffedAs of April, the crowded airspace around New York City had 129 certified air traffic controllers — just over half of the staffing target of 226 — with 67 air traffic controllers in training, according to aviation firm Rinaldi Consultants.

Some Chinatown residents benefited from the development boom, selling properties to developers or drawing more customers from increased foot traffic. Some residents have shown tentative support for the luxury buildings, saying they might make the neighborhood safer or bring in wealthier Asian residents who could boost Chinatown's economy. Manhattan Chinatown's housing stock is "really aged," which has led to costly fires, according to Thomas Yu, executive director of Asian Americans for Equality. Chinatowns and the pandemicMany debates surrounding luxury development and affordable housing were accelerated by the pandemic, which shuttered hundreds of businesses across Chinatowns. However, business owners who spoke with CNBC said Chinatown's businesses, though still recovering, are keeping the city's culture alive.

☆ Why Mother’s Day is the most hated day in the restaurant industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Alexandra Peers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Mother’s Day is one of the busiest days for the American restaurant industry, presenting a massive operational challenge to restaurants. In fact, if I die and go to hell, I completely expect it to be Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day presents “an operational challenge,” said Shawn Walchef, owner of five Cali BBQ eateries in the San Diego area. “Your Mother’s Day meal can’t be obnoxiously expensive,” said Derek Axelrod, co-owner of Manhattan’s Upper East Side T bar restaurant. Their Mother’s Day menu will likely be upwards of $100 person, but won’t turn much of a profit, he said.

☆ Wholesale prices rose just 0.2% in April, less than estimate as inflation pressures ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Wholesale prices rose less than expected in April, according to a Labor Department report Thursday that provides more hope that inflation is at least trending lower. The producer price index, a measure of prices for final demand goods and services, increased 0.2%, against the Dow Jones estimate for 0.3% and after declining 0.4% in March. On an annual basis, the headline PPI increased just 2.3%, down from 2.7% in March and the lowest reading since January 2021. Though the PPI rise was less than expected, the services index increased 0.3%, the biggest move since November 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics report stated. Gasoline prices rose 8.4%, pushing the goods index higher by 0.2%.

Persons: Dow Jones, Quincy Krosby Organizations: Labor Department, Dow, PPI, of Labor, LPL, Federal Reserve, CPI Locations: Washington

☆ Instant View: US April CPI rise gives Fed little room for pivot soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% last month after gaining 0.1% in March, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. In the 12 months through April, the CPI increased 4.9% after advancing 5.0% on a year-on-year basis in March. Ahead of this reading Fed President John Williams warned that they were not done raising rates. I think the Fed will raise rates again in June and then pause. "There will be another CPI report before the Fed meets, and expectations are you will start to see the effect of rents easing."

☆ US April CPI rise gives Fed little room for pivot soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% last month after gaining 0.1% in March, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. In the 12 months through April, the CPI increased 4.9% after advancing 5.0% on a year-on-year basis in March. Ahead of this reading Fed President John Williams warned that they were not done raising rates. "There will be another CPI report before the Fed meets, and expectations are you will start to see the effect of rents easing." The other thing is shelter, a huge component of CPI and it came in a little bit weaker."

☆ Inflation rose 4.9% in April from a year ago, less than expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Excluding volatile food and energy categories, core CPI rose 0.4% monthly and 5.5% from a year ago both in line with expectations. A widely followed measure of inflation rose in April, though the pace of the increase provided some hope that the cost of living will head lower later this year. Food prices, though, were flat while the energy index rose 0.6%, boosted by a 3% gain in gasoline. Of the six grocery store indexes the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compute food prices, four showed declines. For workers, real average hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, rose 0.1% for the month but were still down 0.5% from a year ago, the BLS said in a separate report.

☆ The $31 trillion debt-ceiling fiasco could punish markets and it's complicating an already complex economic outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In any case, one outcome that many hold with a high degree of certainty is that financial markets are going to feel pain if the "x-date" bell tolls. This $31 trillion debt ceiling argument "comes at the worst possible time," according to Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. "Many past instances of debt limit standoffs have been resolved without significant market fallout," the strategists wrote in a recent note. That's according to LPL chief global strategist Quincy Krosby — she says it boils down to these three reasons. With recession risks climbing, Bank of America analysts slashed their 2023 outlook for oil prices.

☆ Stock futures are flat to start the week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during morning trading on February 01, 2023 in New York City. U.S. stock futures were flat on Sunday evening. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were flat. Stocks are coming off a volatile week that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 notch their worst weekly stretches since March. The Dow on Friday added more than 546 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite popped 1.85% and 2.25% respectively.

☆ Wall St Week Ahead US. consumer price data to test feared stagflation scenario
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Randall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Some also believe the recent banking sector tumult will hurt lending and further constrain growth, forcing the Fed to cut rates before inflation is tamed. April’s survey of global fund managers from BoFA Global Research showed stagflation expectations near historical highs, with 86% saying it will be part of the macroeconomic backdrop in 2024. Next week’s consumer price data for April, due on Wednesday, May 10, could offer a clearer picture of whether the Fed’s interest rate increases are cooling inflation. Charlie McElligott, managing director of cross-asset macro strategy at Nomura Securities, pointed to the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow estimate, which is projecting a 2.7% growth rate in the second quarter, up from 1.8% on May 1. At the same time, expectations that the Fed is unlikely to raise rates much higher has created a better backdrop for investors, he said.

☆ Regional bank stocks could be a market afterthought in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Scott Schnipper | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

For the immediate economic and earnings and growth outlook, it almost seems irrelevant whether regional bank stocks rally, steady or sell off more next week. Regional banks were top of mind for investors this past week, as First Republic failed , the SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF tumbled more than 10% — twice the five-day loss in the S & P 500 Energy Index, the hardest hit S & P sector — and lenders such as PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp lost billions in market value. And, for all that, the S & P 500 only fell about 0.75% this week. Now the conventional wisdom on Wall Street is that regardless of how the regional bank stocks trade, it's a given that bank lending officers are going to pull in their horns and risk management desks will grow more risk averse. But stocks still face a host of issues, none of which are going away next week.

☆ Here's what to expect from today's Federal Reserve announcement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. None of those figures are satisfactory for Fed officials. "Most Fed officials don't seem comfortable that the rate hike cycle is over," Citigroup economist Andrew Hollenhorst said in a note. The next Fed policy meeting comes in six weeks, on June 13-14, and April's consumer price report is due in one week, on May 10. This Fed meeting is crucial."

☆ CNBC Daily Open: JPMorgan takes over First Republic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A branch of First Republic Bank in New York City, U.S.Markets were remarkably quiet following the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Markets were remarkably quiet following the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: JPMorgan rides to the rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A posted announcement from the FDIC about the seizure of First Republic Bank and sale to JPMorgan Chase is displayed on a window at a First Republic Bank office on May 01, 2023 in San Francisco, California. This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. In sum: First Republic's failure and takeover by JPMorgan is a big deal (and good one for the biggest bank in the U.S.!) Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ Instant View: US March PCE price index shows high, but cooling, inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index gained 0.1% in March after rising 0.3% in February. In the 12 months through March, the PCE price index increased 4.2% after climbing 5.1% in February. "Will the Fed raise rates at the May meeting. I don't think it'll influence them one way or another but we expect them to raise rates again. I don’t think it’s going to impact the Fed much if at all.

☆ Markets next week have to contend with how aggressive the Fed drumbeat sounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Scott Schnipper | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"Is Chairman Powell going to say, 'It is likely that we pause now and assess what the economy is going to do?' "The tone on that balance is going to be very critical to how the market is going to move next week." "What is [Powell] going to do? June Fed meeting The betting on Wall Street right now is that, after next week, the Fed will standpat at its next meeting six weeks later, on June 13-14. Beyond Apple, some 161 other companies in the S & P 500 index are scheduled to report latest-quarter results next week.

☆ Brazil’s Lula pitches ‘peace coalition’ for Ukraine, but he treads a thin line
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Julia Jones | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

He says he aims to form a coalition of countries willing to intervene and lead efforts for peace in Ukraine, though in the process is finding himself treading a thin line with the world’s biggest powers. When he launched his political comeback in 2022, Lula told Time magazine that he thought both Russia and Ukraine were responsible for the conflict. Lula condemned Russia’s decision to invade its neighbor, but controversially claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could have done more to avoid the conflict. Lula could not contemplate sending weapons – a step that would go far beyond Brazil’s traditional foreign policy, suggested the analyst. But he couldn’t do nothing, either – after all, Lula had promised to bring Brazil “back” to the world stage.

☆ The Saudi crown prince wants to build a trillion-dollar utopia in the desert. His deals with China reveal a darker vision.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's modernizing vision of the country. But behind the outlandish plan, developed by Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a much darker reality. Crown Prince Mohammed appears keen to replicate those projects on a grander scale. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announces a zero-carbon city called "The Line" to be built at NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia, January 10, 2021. It appeared to be the beginning of a fruitful partnership for Crown Prince Mohammed.

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