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☆ Morning Bid: August cools Wall St stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China's factory underperformance stood out once again and underlined its struggling recovery - perhaps the main driver of stalling industrial activity everywhere. With markets increasingly impatient at the patchy and underwhelming economic stimulus plans seen from Beijing so far, China stocks fell back (.CSI300), bucking Tuesday's wider Asia stocks rally. Sterling and UK stocks (.FTMC) fell back. Ride-hailing giant Uber's stock rose more than 2% before the bell and ahead of its earnings report. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Mike Dolan, underperformance, Austan Goolsbee, Goolbee, Stanley Black, Decker, Zimmer Biomet, Revvity, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Federal Reserve, U.S ., Chicago Fed, Bank of England, Sterling, AMD, Caterpillar, Big Pharma, Pfizer, Merck, Ride, HSBC, BP, Uber, Prudential Financial, AIG, Starbucks, Molson Coors, Boston Properties, Caesars Entertainment, Illinois Tool, Natural Resources, Energy, Devon Energy, Gartner, Allstate, Paycom Software, Electronic, WEC, Rockwell, Public Service Enterprise, P Global, Dallas Fed, Chicago Federal, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Thomson Locations: U.S, Wall, Beijing, China, Asia, ., Marathon, Eaton, Altria, Marriott, Illinois, Progressive

☆ Morning Bid: Bank of Japan excites, Dow unlucky, Intel jumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Specifically, the central bank said it would offer to buy 10-year JGBs at 1.0% in fixed-rate operations, instead of the previous rate of 0.5% - tolerating the wider band for bond market borrowing rates. With July core inflation in Tokyo falling back to a 10-month low, the need for tightening may be ebbing anyway. Friday's data is expected to show another drop in the Fed's favoured core PCE inflation gauge in June. For markets more broadly, Friday seems a little scattergun so far after a heavy week of macro policy and corporate news. U.S. Treasury yields fell back from two-week highs hit after the punchy U.S. economy readouts and central bank moves, with the 2-to-10 year yield curve steepening as recession fears abate.

Persons: Mike Dolan, Dow Jones bluechips, T Rowe Price, Nick Macfie Organizations: Bank of Japan, Dow, Nikkei, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Treasury, ECB, Intel, U.S, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Proctor, Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, Franklin Resources, Newell Brands, Church, Dwight, Charter Communications, Dallas Fed, University of Michigan, Reuters, Thomson Locations: U.S, Wall St, Tokyo, Wall, Asia, Centene, Franklin

☆ Morning Bid: ECB to follow Fed hike, Meta surges
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Fed Chair Jerome Powell remained equivocal about whether there was one more policy rate rise left this year and said Fed staff were no longer forecasting a recession - but futures markets continue to see a less than 50% chance of another move. Global stocks (.MIWD00000PUS) hit their highest since April last year on Thursday, with European stocks up more than 1% ahead of the ECB decision. The euro pushed higher against a softer dollar ahead of the announcement and press conference from ECB chief Christine Lagarde. The yen also firmed as the Bank of Japan is expected to keep its easy policy unchanged on Friday. The euro zone's biggest bank BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), by contrast, beat Q2 estimates and the stock jumped 4%.

Persons: Mike Dolan, Meta, Jerome Powell, Dow Jones, Christine Lagarde, Willis Towers Watson, Giorgia Meloni, Joe Biden, Toby Chopra Organizations: Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Fed, Treasury, Boeing, Dow, Wall, ECB, Bank of, Shell, Barclays, BNP, Central Bank, Intel, Ford, Boston Scientific, Myers Squibb, Honeywell, Xcel, Eastman Chemical, Pentair, Mastercard, P Global, Hershey, Digital Realty, Northrop Grumman, Weyerhaeuser, Cincinatti, Verisign, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, HCA, . Federal Reserve Board, Washington Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Exxon, Chevron, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bank of Japan, Asia, Hong Kong, China, Abbvie, Bristol, Edison, Kansas, Basel III, Washington

☆ Morning Bid: Euro biz ebbs, China property and rate peaks?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Arguments for calling a halt to the credit tightening were strengthened on Monday as early July business surveys for the euro area came in well below forecasts, showing a deepening contraction in overall activity this month. The euro dropped more than half a percent against the dollar as euro government debt yields fell back, with an indecisive weekend election result in Spain adding pressure. With the ongoing slide in manufacturing still the biggest drag and due in large part to China's spluttering post-Covid recovery, further turbulence in China's property markets will only increase the anxiety. For Wall St, the looming Fed decision dominates this week - with a check on U.S. July business surveys topping the data on Monday's calendar in another huge corporate earnings week. U.S. Treasury yields fell back, but the dollar (.DXY) climbed against the euro, yuan and sterling - also hit by disappointing UK business readings for July.

Persons: Mike Dolan, China's, readouts, Dow Jones, Brown Organizations: Futures, Bank of, Dalian, Japan's Nikkei, Tech, Microsoft, Dow, Nasdaq, Treasury, Chicago Fed, Whirlpool, Packaging Corp of America, Cadence, Trade Organization, Reuters, Thomson Locations: U.S, China, Bank of Japan, Spain, United States, Alexandria, Geneva

☆ Elon Musk wanted to build a bathroom next to his office at Twitter so he didn't have to wake up his bodyguards when he needed to pee in the night, lawsuit says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk requested a bathroom be built next to his office at Twitter's headquarters, a lawsuit says. That's allegedly because he didn't want to have to wake up his security team in the middle of the night. Elon Musk wanted to have a bathroom built next to his office in Twitter's headquarters so he didn't have to wake up his bodyguards in the middle of the night to go pee, a new lawsuit claims. A Twitter engineer told the BBC in March that at least two bodyguards follow Musk around its San Francisco headquarters, including to the restroom. Last month, the billionaire told the BBC that he sometimes sleeps on a couch in the library at Twitter's headquarters.

☆ Elon Musk told a Twitter advisor at 4 a.m. that the company would only pay rent over his 'dead body,' lawsuit says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It alleges Musk told an advisor at 4 a.m. that "he would only pay rent over his dead body." In a 4 a.m. conversation, Elon Musk allegedly told one of this his investors that the company would only pay rent on its offices "over his dead body," per a new lawsuit. Over the last few months, Twitter's landlords in London, New York, and San Francisco have all sued the company for failing to pay rent. Mendoza allegedly responded: "Elon told me he would only pay rent over his dead body." Musk told CNBC on Tuesday that he sleeps around six hours a night, and previously told the BBC he's "shot myself in the foot" by tweeting after 3 a.m.

☆ Morning Bid: Inflation cloud obscures Fed peak
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With markets edgy about the U.S. debt ceiling standoff and ongoing ripples from the March regional banking blow out, the running assumption is the Fed's campaign is over and disinflation underway. New York Fed chief John Williams said yesterday it's too soon to say the central bank is done and dusted. If consensus forecasts are correct, the April inflation readout later on Wednesday may well force the Fed to keep that equivocal line up for a bit longer. Futures markets show only a 15% chance of another Fed hike next month, with quarter point rate cut almost fully priced by September. Visibility is low in the fixed income market, however, due to the debt ceiling impasse.

☆ U.S. government posts smaller $176 bln April surplus as revenues shrink
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Revenues for April totaled $639 billion, the second-highest level since the April 2022 record of $864 billion, but a decrease of 26%. A U.S. Treasury official said the bulk of the decline was due to lower non-withheld individual tax receipts, reflecting lower stock market capital gains in 2022. Individual withheld tax receipts for April grew 3% from a year earlier to $252 billion, while non-withheld taxes fell 34% to $358 billion. Corporate tax receipts also fell 11% to $85 billion and the Federal Reserve again had no earnings in April, after contributing $10 billion to April 2022 receipts. But the official declined to comment on the outlook for current and future revenues, including whether higher refund levels would continue.

☆ Morning Bid: Showdown on the ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

With world markets still at an impasse on the extent of the economic slowdown and chance of recession, the U.S. debt ceiling impasse remains unresolved - and Tuesday's showdown at the White House is one of the few opportunities left to resolve it. Biden meets Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy for the first time since February. There are only six days this month when the House and the Senate are in session when Biden is in Washington. Longer-term Treasury yields remain under wraps, however, with 2-year yields hovering just under 4%. DEBT CEILINGBeyond the debt ceiling row, the picture of the wider economy remains equivocal.

☆ Morning Bid: Apple comforts as payrolls loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Apple upped its dividend and authorized another $90 billion share repurchase program, same as a year ago. Apple's stock has outperformed most of Wall Street in 2023, up 28% year-to-date. After a torrid 2022, that narrow index is up 35% so far this year - far outstripping the Nasdaq 100's (.NDX) 18% gain and accounting for the bulk of the more modest 6% rise in the S&P500 <.S&P500>. And after three hefty daily retreats in a row for the S&P500 this week, futures are up 0.4% ahead of Friday's open. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Morning Bid: Hike and hold, bank angst and Apple
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As the Fed delivered what markets assume will be the last rate hike of a brutal 13-month, 500-basis-point tightening cycle, further aftershocks from the March bank blowups reverberated in the background. And given they had advance knowledge of next week's quarterly loan survey before Wednesday's rate decision, it suggests the bigger picture they see remains somewhat equivocal. Norway's central bank raised interest rates as expected and signalled more to come. Events to watch for on Thursday:* European Central Bank policy decision, statement and news conference* U.S. first quarter unit labor costs and productivity, April layoffs, March trade balance, weekly jobless claims. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Morning Bid: Bank reverb frames Fed decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

While there was some minor repricing of Fed probabilities in the futures market, the latest bout of bank stock nerves is unlikely to change the Fed's course on its own. A White House economist on Tuesday said Fed rate hikes were having a negative impact on the banking sector. Signs of some loosening of a very tight labor market may also encourage the Fed that its rate hiking job is done after this week. Private sector job readings for April are due later today along with service sector surveys for the month. With the Fed in view alongside the debt ceiling crunch and bank stock retreat, longer-term Treasury bonds rallied.

☆ Morning Bid: Volatile news, not markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

While the Federal Reserve is almost certain to raise interest rates again on Wednesday, the move could be its last. So in a holiday-strewn month around the world, the VIX (.VIX) - Wall St's so-called 'fear gauge' of the implied stock market volatility for the month ahead - hit its lowest level on Monday since November 2021. Even though it ticked back up a bit above 16 overnight, it remains three full points below its 33-year historical average. For macro markets, the Fed decision is complicated by the debt ceiling and banking backdrop. March job openings numbers later on Tuesday will give an indication of just how tight the labor market remains.

☆ Employee Monitoring and Surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +50 min

Ensuring Employee Safety and Systems SecurityEmployers may use electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance to protect their:Worksites. Potential Liability for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceEmployers that engage in electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance must comply with various federal and state laws, including:The Wiretap Act. Best Practices for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTo avoid violating relevant state and federal laws, before conducting workplace monitoring and surveillance, employers should:Consider the purpose and appropriate scope of their monitoring and surveillance activities and what methods will help them achieve their objectives. Determine the Purpose of Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceBefore conducting any workplace monitoring or surveillance, best practice is for employers to identify the purpose and goals of these activities to:Ensure that there is a legitimate business purpose for the planned monitoring and surveillance activities. Determine the scope of monitoring and surveillance necessary to accomplish the business purpose, and conduct only the minimum monitoring and surveillance necessary to meet that business need.

☆ Morning Bid: Amazon cools, Intel warms, Japan hesitates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed Intel logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. But the dramatic re-acceleration of Big Tech stocks this week - where the NYFANG+TM (.NYFANG) index of the top 10 Big Tech stocks is now up 37% so far this year - is competing with multiple macro narratives that are increasingly hard to read. With the Fed meeting in view, the release of March PCE price inflation data later on Friday tops the diary. Wall St stock futures fell back 0.4% after a wild ride in Amazon.com shares overnight. With much of Europe and Asia closed on Monday for the May Day bank holiday, Asia bourses advanced in Wall St's slipstream but Europe retreated sharply on some jarring corporate updates.

☆ Morning Bid: Fresh spur from Meta and Europe's banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Perhaps even more surprising, Europe's big banks are wowing the gallery too - showing limited, if any, fallout from the failure of ailing Credit Suisse at the end of the quarter. And so the glass appears half full again despite background tensions around regional U.S. banks and as wider markets brace for several weeks of a U.S. debt ceiling standoff. With Amazon reporting later, its stock rose another 2% ahead of the bell too. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling that includes sweeping spending cuts over the next decade. The dollar was marginally weaker, with crude oil prices struggling to recover from their latest lunge lower this week.

☆ Morning Bid: Cloud control - tech trumps banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Alphabet (GOOGL.O) also gained 1% as it too trumpeted gains in cloud services and AI, alongside plans for a $70 billion buyback. With Meta (META.O) results out later, its stock was up 2% and Amazon (AMZN.O) raced ahead 4%. PacWest Bancorp's (PACW.O) shares jumped 15% in extended trading after the regional lender said deposits have been building recently. And in Europe, Standard Chartered (STAN.L) shares bucked otherwise dour markets on a forecast-beating 21% jump in first-quarter profits. U.S. Treasury markets continued to rally, with yields on 2-year notes dropping below 4% Tuesday and testing 3.9% early today.

☆ Morning Bid: Tech tally in focus, China alarms Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Otherwise, a packed earnings season dominates this week's investment radar as more than a third of S&P500 companies report. Including Intel (INTC.O), those five tech stocks have accounted for two-thirds of the S&P500's gains this year - with the Artificial Intelligence craze sparked by the emergence of ChatGPT adding a new non-cyclical attraction to the sector. But before markets get a taste of Q1 tech profits, the reverberations from last month's banking blow-up are still being absorbed. European stocks were slightly negative and U.S. stock futures also marginally in the red ahead of Wall Street's open. The dollar was mixed - up against Asian currencies but off against European currencies amid hawkish European Central Bank soundings on interest rates.

☆ Morning Bid: Crowded bonds unnerved
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

This has some wondering if the recent dash for cash and top-rated bonds has become a bit crowded and how much more tightening central banks have to do. As we move into the weeds of the first-quarter U.S. earnings season, it's been a mixed bag so far. That clearly unnerved UK government bonds - where 10 year yields jumped 10bps - but it also jarred sovereign bonds around the world. Elsewhere, further signs of healing were evident in the global bank funding market. Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) sold $1 billion of additional tier-1 debt, the first major global bank to sell the risky securities since similar bonds issued by Credit Suisse were wiped out last month.

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden attends the groundbreaking of the new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio, U.S., September 9, 2022. But all that new construction has a real estate problem. That would be a problem for the Biden administration, which has pushed through legislation to fuel the developments. A White House official said it was a "high-class problem" to have, adding: "Folks are finding places to build. The governors of South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina have each proposed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on readying industrial sites in the coming years.

☆ Fox News will be investigated for withholding evidence in the Dominion lawsuit, could face sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The judge overseeing the Fox-Dominion defamation case sanctioned the network for withholding evidence. This happened the day after a disclosure that Fox lawyers withheld information about Rupert Murdoch's role at the media company. (AP) — The judge presiding over a defamation case against Fox News said Wednesday he likely will order an independent review to determine whether the network improperly withheld evidence, a step that could lead to sanctions. That came after the disclosure a day earlier that Fox lawyers had withheld critical information about the role company founder Rupert Murdoch, who is chairman of Fox. Dominion alleges that Fox damaged the company by repeatedly airing false allegations that its machines and the software they used rigged the 2020 presidential election to prevent Trump's re-election.

Signage is displayed outside the new McDonald's Corp. headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Monday, June 4, 2018. McDonald's is closing its U.S. corporate offices Monday through Wednesday as the company lays off workers, according to an internal email viewed by CNBC. CEO Chris Kempczinski announced in January that the company would be cutting jobs as part of a broader corporate restructuring. At the time, McDonald's said the layoffs weren't a cost-cutting measure, but instead are meant to help the company innovate faster and work more efficiently. At the end of 2022, McDonald's employed more than 150,000 people in its corporate offices and company-owned restaurations.

Meanwhile, Republicans, many from energy-producing states, have raised a growing chorus of challenges on ESG. This can be a problem for fund participants who do not share ESG goals, the Republicans wrote. Asset managers have argued that such memberships align with their fiduciary obligations, and some are giving clients more control over proxy votes. "Asset managers voting for the exclusion of one of their competitors has clear antitrust implications," the letter states. The resolutions were filed by activist shareholder group As You Sow, which the Republicans suggested had targeted Vanguard over its withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Republicans, many from energy-producing states, have raised a growing chorus of challenges on ESG. The latest letter built on concerns many of the same attorneys general brought to BlackRock last August. This can be a problem for fund participants who do not share ESG goals, the Republicans wrote. Another section of the Republicans' letter cites several pending shareholder resolutions that ask corporations to dial back the use of Vanguard Group retirement plan funds because of Vanguard's fossil fuel holdings. "Asset managers voting for the exclusion of one of their competitors has clear antitrust implications," the letter states.

☆ Premarket stocks: The return of the Reddit investor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

What’s happening: Retail investors are pouring a record $1.5 billion per day into the stock market, according to data from Vanda Research. Brunswick has conducted its annual survey on the digital habits of institutional investors for over a decade. This year, it polled 257 institutional investors across North America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Retail investors amass funds, and power: Retail investors now account for half of all wealth globally, according to a recent report by Bain & Company. Fed officials have expressed concern that a tight labor market could keep upward pressure on wages and, in turn, inflation.

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