Rocket Attacks and airstrike retaliations in Israel and Gaza. A whole lotta dead people .. and Hamas leaders saying, "we are close to all out War" uhh.. well.. Constant rocket attacks and bombings doesn't mean you are CLOSE to war.. You are IN it (at it? or In it? AT War.. and IN a war .. anyways..) .. There are now reports of a truce after mediators from Egypt and the EU appear to have brokered a ceasefire. I'll bet that lasts until Iran gets Hamas some more rockets. What do you think? .. Of Course over here in the USA, Michigan Rep Tlaib is taking the side of the Hamas Terrorists. She doesn't care about the bad media attention, or the other Democrats telling her to stop. She is anti-Israel...and YOU Michigan voters sent her to Washington. .. A passenger plane making an emergency landing crashed in Moscow killing 13 people (The Russians say 13. Other reports say 40 dead). Russian officials say the plane experienced problems shortly after take-off. They could not dump their extra fuel because they were over a populated area. A passenger said the plane was struck by lightning. Many passengers got out the emergency exit before the plane was engulfed in flames.. Chinese/USA Trade talks have been "Close to a deal" for a few months. There are "reports" that China was balking on some previously agreed upon areas like American companies selling products inside China. President Trump announced the talks were not going quickly enough and not only would he not be removing tariffs he will INCREASE them. This has markets tumbling. . Down in the Swamp: There are reports that Robert Muller will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on May 15th. The committee is also giving Attorney General Barr "one more chance to appear" before they begin "Contempt of Congress" proceedings. Some Democrats have begun saying it time to move on from this. Dem. Rep Cunningham was asked about the Muller testimony and said, " I wasn't sent to Washington to focus on this.. I was sent to focus on Kitchen Table issues.." .. The President is "not happy and monitoring closely" the banning of Conservative voices from Social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. The Loser Media points out the Conservative "Alex Jones" because he is an obvious whack job. But, Twitter has banned people like James Woods for being Conservative. Woods used his Twitter feed during the California fires to help rescue dozens of people and animals. But, He is Conservative so he had to go. It's pretty ironic, isn't it? All of the Orwellian actions that Left Wingers Complained would happen under Trump, they are doing themselves. Denying Free Speech. Denying election results. (Happened again this weekend. Hilary claimed elections was stolen and Stacey Abrams STILL claiming she won the Georgia Governors race). I think America rises up against this stuff... at least I HOPE they do.. ..and I REALLY hope Joe Biden wins the Democratic nomination. It will make Rant Writing EASY.. Biden continues his rallies where he bashes Trump and tries to say that world leaders call him all the time "worried about America". He said, "Margaret Thatcher called.. " (For those that don't know, she was PM of the UK FIVE people ago. She left in 1990). Biden did correct himself.. then went on to say that Trump wasn't "Presidential" because he called other politicians names.. then Biden called Trump a "Clown" .AAHAHAHA.. His NEW one this weekend was that Trump was pushing us back to the "Jim Crow" days. (uhhh.. Joe? .. The Jim Crow laws were all written by Democrats.. you might want to avoid those references) ... SPORTS: I write in the Disclaimer that you should not rely on this information as real news.. but I gotta tell you.. there are SO MANY so called "reporters" out there that get the stories wrong. There are a TON of headlines that say, "Country House wins the Kentucky Derby after Maximum Security is DQ'd" or "Disqualified". They ALL have it wrong. Maximum Security was called for a foul and moved behind the last horse that was effected by his foul. Check the records. Maximum Security officially finished 17th. Can you "Finish 17th" if you were disqualified? That just doesn't sound right..right? .. or am I crazy?? Anyways.. The horse DID veer out to the right a few feet.. but it was a 3 year old horse turning for home and heard the roar of the crowd and freaked. Im not sure I make that call, but the Stewards were unanimous. .. GOLF: Max Homa wins his first PGA Tour title at the Wells Fargo by three shots. Tough field, tough course. Great playing.. Lots of great sports this weekend. NHL: Tonight is Boston at Columbus (Bruins up 3-2) and San Jose at Colorado (Sharks lead 3-2)... MLB: The Milwaukee/Mets game went to 18 innings before Ryan Braun won it with an RBI single. Braun had six hits in the game.. ..and a Judge has let stand a ruling against Caster Semenya (the Runner that won Olympics as a woman that many complained was a man). The rule states anyone with atestosterone level above 5 nmol/L will be not be able to compete as a woman. (Normal for a man is 8-30 nmol/L). There have long been "doping rules" and when female athletes had testosterone levels that were too high, they were disqualified. I guess it stinks to be Caster Semenya. You're just out there competing. You didn't cheat. But, if they do not draw the line somewhere, woman's sports would end. .. CELEBRIDIOTS: Most of the "Tabloid" news is about Game of Thrones. I have no updates for you because I am one of the twelve people in America that doesn't watch it.. The Daytime Emmy's were handed out.. and Alex Trebek won Best Host. He is battling pancreatic cancer which has a very low survival rate. ... The "Met Gala" is tonight.. many of the Guests refer to it as "torture" because the "Rules" say, No smoking, No cell phones, no pictures.. (you'll see some "Bathroom Selfies" because that is the only place the "Guards" can't give you a hard time. Ya know.. I fall back on the old Bill Murray line about being "Rich and Famous". He said, "Trust me. You just want the RICH part" .. Singer Adele turned 31this weekend and announced she'll be releasing new music. She might be a little bit of a weirdo, but SHE can SING!!! .. and Madonna was at the GLAAD Awards complaining that she is "being discriminated against because people say I am too old to be sexy" .. Uhh.. ok.. So, if she is saying "People" that means more than one, right? So, there are OTHER people out there suggesting the has-been hag should retire. ..Right?? Not just me!!
From SeekingAlpha.com
Investors are dumping risk in markets all over the world as an equity selloff takes hold following a tweet from President Trump that threatened to upend trade talks with China. With discussions moving "too slowly," tariffs on $200B worth of China-made goods will rise from 10% to 25% by the end of this week, and a similar levy on another $325B could be placed on China imports "shortly." The Shanghai Composite tumbled 5.6% on the news, Europe is down 2% at midday and Dow futures are priced for an over 500 point plungeat the open, marking the biggest single-day decline of the year for U.S. stocks.
Multiple media reports overnight suggested President Trump's tariff threats would scupper a planned visit to Washington this week by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and a 100-strong delegation of trade representatives, but the country's foreign ministry announced that the trip was still on. China also called on its "National Team" of state investors to prepare to stabilize the stock market if needed as the Shanghai Composite Index plunged the most in seven months. Meanwhile China’s offshore yuan fell sharply before regaining some ground to trade about 0.7% weaker at 6.7810 per dollar, its weakest point since February.
At an annual shareholder meeting this weekend, Warren Buffett signaled his commitment to Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) and defended his actions toward Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), two of the largest investments at his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B), despite mistakes at both that have caused many investors to sour on them. Operating income, a measure of Berkshire's business performance, rose 5%, helped by Geico and BNSF railroad, though it fell just shy of analyst forecasts. Berkshire also repurchased $1.7B of stock, reflecting Buffett's difficulty in finding better uses for the company's $114.2B cash hoard.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Theresa May told Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: "Let's do a deal." She said a cross-party compromise was not her first choice, but "we have to find a way to break the deadlock." The Conservatives are desperate to move forward after losing hundreds of positions in last week's local elections, while Labour also sustained losses as voters punished both parties for the Brexit impasse.
Avengers: Endgame officially surpassed the $2B mark in its second weekend in theaters, becoming only the fifth movie to hit that milestone. It took Avatar, the previous record-holder for quickest film to $2B, 47 days to reach that benchmark. The success is the product of Marvel's (NYSE:DIS) 11-year, 22-film franchise, which began back in 2008 with Iron Man, and has since built out its storyline and characters.
The EU will launch a formal antitrust investigation into Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the next few weeks after Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) accused the iPhone maker of "tilting the playing field to disadvantage competitors," FT reports. The complaint centers on Apple's policy of charging digital content providers a 30% fee for using its payment system for subscriptions sold in its App Store. The policy applies to Spotify and other music subscription services but not apps, such as Uber (UBER).
Boeing (NYSE:BA) did not tell U.S. regulators for more than a year that it inadvertently made an alarm alerting pilots to a mismatch of flight data optional on the 737 MAX - instead of standard as on earlier 737s - but insisted on Sunday the missing display represented no safety risk. It was only after the second MAX crash, in Ethiopia, that Boeing reportedly became more forthcoming with airlines about the problem. The planemaker also did not publicly disclose the software error behind the problem for another six weeks, leaving the flying public and apparently the FAA's acting chief unaware.
In connection with Occidental's (NYSE:OXY) proposal to acquire Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), the company has agreed to sell the latter's African assets to Total (NYSE:TOT) for $8.8B. This would go part of the way toward Occidental's promise to sell $10B-$15B of assets to help finance its near-$40B purchase. The E&P company also increased the cash component of its bid to acquire Anadarko, removing a requirement for any deal to receive the approval of its shareholders.
What else is happening...
'Should Investors Fear A Market Top?' contributor Jeff Miller discusses in his latest weekly edition.
What to know ahead of Uber's (UBER) IPO.
Tariff exemption for Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Autopilot 'brain' is rejected.
Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) shares slip on plans to sue German government over arms exports freeze.
North Macedonia consolidates push towards EU membership.
'Berkshire Got A Steal, Anadarko Got A Deal, Occidental Was The Meal,' says contributor Trapping Value.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan closed. Hong Kong -2.9%. China -5.6%. India -0.9%. In Europe, at midday, London closed. Paris -2%. Frankfurt -2%. Futures at 6:20, Dow -1.9%. S&P -1.7%. Nasdaq -2.2%. Crude -1.2% to $61.17. Gold +0.2% to $1283.40. Bitcoin -1.4% to $5630. Ten-year Treasury Yield -5 bps to 2.48%
Today's Economic Calendar
6:00 Fed's Evans Speech 9:30 Fed's Harker: Economic Outlook 12:30 PM TD Ameritrade IMX
Regards,
Roger “Raj” Searing
rajsearing@gmail.com
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