BAD MOMS!!! Collectively, Mothers must have been BAAADDD this year. At least in the NY area. WOW, was it terrible yesterday. Cold, Windy, and Rained ALL DAY on Mother's Day. Your gonna have to UP YOUR GAME for 2019-2020, MOMS!!! (You can start by subscribing 10 friends to the RANT. That is ALWAYS Good Karma!!)...
Things are heating up in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is claiming two of its oil tankers were "Sabotaged" (they won't say exactly how). Iran's Leader said that the US Ships in the Gulf are "Targets". (Wow) .. Iran's leader also told Men NOT to LOOK AT women for the rest of the month (Its Ramadan) as hardliners gather more power... Swedish prosecutors say they will re-open the rape case against Wikileaks Julian Assange. While no one would ever WELCOME rape charges, I think Assange might rather go to jail in Sweden than be extradited to the USA .. Back here in the USA, I find it hard to watch any of the "Washington DC News" shows anymore. The Loser media has self-destructed and it's painful to watch them flail around and try to be relevant. They just line up politicians to argue and no one has anything to say. Can ANYONE name ONE piece of Legislation that has been passed that has ANY shot of moving forward? The last one I can remember was the Opioid regulations but that was LAST Congress. The Green New Deal was the only memorable one but that was because it was a joke. If you haven't seen, this dimwit Alexandria Cortez from NY is saying that her "warning that we will all be dead in 12 years due to climate change" was "Dry humor". One of the other loser Freshman Congressmen, the Rashida Tlaib woman, doubled down on her commentary siding with terrorists against Israel. Look Michigan, if she fooled you, fine. If you Re-Elect her then its ON YOU.. I tell you what, if the Democrats don't start embracing Bloomberg or Schultz they will be stuck with Biden and that will NOT end well. Speaking of Biden, Rudy Giuliani cancelled his trip to the Ukraine. Giuliani planned to lobby the Ukraine to open an investigation into how Joe Biden got a prosecutor in the Ukraine fired while Biden was Vice-President. The prosecutor was investigating a company that Biden's son was a Director of and VP Biden threatened to withhold $1 Billion in US Aid if the prosecutor was not removed. (It worked. They fired the guy and Joe's kid got rich). Biden's claim is that the prosecutors office was corrupt and it was not just him that wanted the prosecutor out.. it was a large part of the US Government that decided he should go. Now, with Trump calling for ex-Senator Kerry to be charged under the Logan Act for negotiating with foreign governments as a private citizen he can't have Rudy going over to the Ukraine, now can he? If he appoints Giuliani as some kind of "official delegate" and gets dirt on Biden then it looks like "Foreign Powers effecting our elections", again. If you're not following all this, the "Announcement that Im going.. then the cancellation of the Trip" did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do: Got People Talking about what Biden did and making the PRESS tell the story. The Swamp is just one giant TROLL factory.. All Day.. Everyday.. ..... SPORTS: Manchester City wins the Premier League by ONE POINT after a 4-1 victory over Brighton Hove on the LAST day. .. Lots of NBA News: Portland over Denver 100-96 and Toronto over the 76ers 92-90 in GAME 7's. 76er's and Nuggets TO THE GOLF COURSE!! .. Tomorrow is the "Drawing of the Ping Pong Balls" to set the order of the NBA Draft next month. Duke Phenom, Zion Williamson, is widely expected to be #1 .. and Dallas Star Kristaps Porzingis was jumped in a bar in his native Latvia. Videos were all over the internet of Porzingis outside the bar with his shirt ripped screaming at cops and bleeding from the face. There are no official reports of what happened or the extent of his injuries... GOLF: The PGA is at Bethpage this week. If you're in a pool, pick a Big hitter. It's a LONG course. This weekend was the Byron Nelson in Dallas. Sung Kang wins, setting the course record in a very rainy event. Golfer Tyler Duncan had a pretty good week on the course finishing tied for 5th. But, he probably didn't have much fun at Sunday dinner. Duncan hit a shot wide of a green because there was mud on the ball. His ball hit a spectator IN THE HEAD!!! .. Now, when this happens, usually the golfer signs a glove or gives the spectator some kind of souvenir. What do you do when the person you hit is YOUR WIFE!!!???. His wife ended up being fine and Tyler made bogey. C'mon Maria!!! If you're gonna "Stand by your Man" at least you could have headed the ball onto the green. If he made par he would have been 4th. The difference is like $75,000!!! ... ... CELEBRIDIOTS: Happy 68th birthday to Stevland Morris, Better known as Stevie Wonder .. The Loser media continues their garbage sale by posting stories from has-been B-List actresses who say they will be "Withholding Sex to protest the Heartbeat Bill". (That's the Law that says you cannot abort a baby with a detectable heartbeat). I laugh at the"Those Men want to control our bodies" comments. Really? Control your body? How about you go live in IRAN for a few months and see what having your body controlled looks like.. And for the dopes masking this discussion with the "putting the Government in charge of 'women's health" you need to GIVE IT UP. If you are going to have the discussion, HAVE THE DISCUSSION. The Discussion is not about "women's health" .. its about whether it is MURDER to end the life of a baby with a heartbeat or whether Baby is not a BABY until it's born. That's the argument. So, Have it.. or don't have it.. But stop pretending it's something else... I know, not the most pleasant topic... but Let's stop hiding behind bullcrap rhetoric and FAKE words. ...By the way, I don't think its gonna be too hard for most of these has-been actresses to avoid men that want to have sex with them. Most social media posts were along the lines of "Don't worry, I wasn't gonna try" and "Not have sex with HER? Uhh. Ok, no problem.. " .. .. Enough of that .. We are gonna finish on Paige VanZant of the UFC. As you all know, I am ALL FOR Equality. Women should have all the same opportunities that men do and I believe ALL Americans should be able to CHOOSE the direction of their lives. Having said that, I don't like Female UFC. I don't like watching women beat each other up. (This is not to say I don't enjoy the occasional "Cat Fight". You know, when celebrities pull each others hair and take a few swings at a bar or a club..or one of those housewives shows.. . THAT can be funny to watch). But, I don't like seeing women pound each other until they are all bloody and their faces are all beat up. Is that sexist? Probably. Do I end up watching it sometimes, Anyway? YUP. .. Why? ...Because Paige HERE says she will beat me up if I don't !! I have it DVR'd Honey!! I PROMISE!!
From SeekingAlpha.com
It's looking like another tough week for Wall Street, with DJIA futures off more than 300 points as investors await countermeasures from China after trade talks with the U.S. appeared to end in a stalemate. On Saturday, President Trump said China should "act now" to make an agreement, predicting that "far worse" terms would be on offer after what he forecast would be his certain re-election in 2020. Adding to the tensions, China's foreign ministry said Beijing would never surrender to foreign pressure, sending the Shanghai Composite down 1.2%.
The year's most anticipated and largest IPO slumped on Friday and put a stop to those analysts attempting to add a 'U' to FAANG. Uber (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was defiant and said investors in it for the long term won't regret it as shares closed their first day down 7.6%. There doesn't seem to be any more love today with the stock off 2.6% premarket - to $40.51/share - with traders noting that Uber has lost more money than any other company to ever go public.
Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY) is opposing renewed efforts by alliance partner Renault (OTCPK:RNLSY) to merge under a holding company because such a structure won’t help turn the Japanese carmaker around, Bloomberg reports. Talks have been ongoing since Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard first made an informal proposal to Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa in April. Nissan rebuffed the idea then and has continued to oppose it.
Hollywood's first serious attempt to unseat Avengers: Endgame (NYSE:DIS) atop the box office made a strong effort over the weekend, but the film still kept the No.1 spot with a third-week haul of $63.1M. Warner Bros' (NYSE:T) Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the first big-budget studio release since Endgame's record setting, collected a respectable $58M in second place. The Marvel Studios release has now so far brought in sales of $2.49B worldwide, putting it about $300M behind the top-grossing movie of all time, 2009's Avatar.
Forty-four U.S. states have filed a lawsuit accusing Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TEVA) of orchestrating a sweeping scheme with 19 other drugmakers to inflate drug prices - sometimes by more than 1,000% - and stifle competition for generic medicines. "We take these accusations seriously and we are going to defend ourselves," CFO Mike McClellan declared. Soaring drug prices from both branded and generic manufacturers have sparked outrage across the political spectrum, from Republicans and Democrats alike. TEVA -7.5%premarket.
A dozen states and more than 450 local governments have already increased the minimum smoking age to 21 from 18, and Congress will soon consider a federal ban. Altria (NYSE:MO), Juul and British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) are supporting the effort as pressure builds to fix a teen vaping "epidemic." If the minimum age was increased to 21 in all 50 states, cigarette sales would fall 4.6% annually (from 4% currently), according to Cowen analyst Vivien Azer, but some see Big Tobacco's endorsement as a public relations maneuver.
Euronext (OTCPK:EUXTF) has won approval from Norway's finance ministry to buy up to 100% of the Oslo stock exchange, clearing the last major hurdle in its takeover battle with Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ). The two have been engaged in a bidding war since December to buy control of Oslo Bors. Norway's government also declined to set a two-thirds ownership requirement, which had been pushed by Nasdaq.
Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) executive team has received big bonuses for settling a bitter multi-billion dollar legal battle with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). CEO Steve Mollenkopf saw the biggest award, receiving 40,794 shares of Qualcomm stock, which works out to $3.5M at Friday’s closing price of $85.84. "In making these grants, the Compensation Committee considered the anticipated long-term stockholder value resulting from these agreements with one of the Company's key customers." QCOM shares are up 50% since the settlement.
India's antitrust watchdog has ordered an investigation into Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Google for allegedly abusing the dominant position of its popular Android mobile operating system to block rivals, sources told Reuters. The Competition Commission of India last year started looking into the complaint, which is similar to one Google faced in Europe that resulted in a $5B fine on the company. In mid-April, the CCI decided there was merit in the accusations made in the complaint and ordered its investigation unit to launch a full probe.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) hasn't seen $6,000 in about six months, but it crossed that level just a week ago, and has now taken out $7,000 for the first time since early September. Others like Ripple (XRP-USD), Ether (ETH-USD), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-USD) and Litecoin (LTC-USD) are joining the rally as well. The move reignited suggestions from the crypto community that the digital assets act as a haven in times of uncertainty, as stocks pulled back amid heightened U.S.-China trade tensions.
What else is happening...
'The Stock Market Is Providing Investors A Warning - Are We Listening?' writes contributor Avi Gilburt.
ETF industry watches as Nasdaq (NDAQ) cyber suit goes to trial.
EU sees possible extension to U.S. car tariff deadline.
SpaceX (SPACE) Starlink internet satellites packed for launch.
Contributor Gary Alexander says Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) is exceeding expectations.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan -0.8%. Hong Kong closed. China -1.2%. India -1%. In Europe, at midday, London -0.1%. Paris -0.6%. Frankfurt -0.8%. Futures at 6:20, Dow -1.2%. S&P -1.3%. Nasdaq -1.7%. Crude +1.5% to $62.60. Gold -0.3% to $1284.10. Ten-year Treasury Yield -3 bps to 2.43%
Today's Economic Calendar
9:05 Fed's Rosengren Speech 9:10 Fed's Clarida Speech
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