I want THAT waitress!!! .. A diner at the Hawskmoor Steakhouse in Manchester, England ordered a nice $300 bottle of 2001 Chateau Pinchon Longueville Bordeaux. That's a nice wine to eat with your steak. But, when the waitress grabs 2001 Chateau Le Pin that goes for almost $6,000 and gives it to you by mistake..THAT is a GREAT NIGHT!!! ..To the credit of the owners, they went to Social Media and Congratulated the diner saying they hoped he enjoyed it .. and saying, "for those worried, we did NOT sack the waitress. She is wonderful and we will not lose her position for an honest mistake like this... THIS time" ... In Texas, a man in custody that is accused of murder might just be a serial killer. Bill Chemirmir of Kenya was a healthcare worker in Texas for years. He is in jail accused of smothering an elderly woman with a pillow and stealing her jewelry. The woman was not dead and called police when she regained consciousness. Chermirmir now stands accused of murder in 7 similar cases. Now that authorities have uncovered the "pattern" they are investigating almost 200 similar deaths in the area over the past several years. Think about it. If an elderly, bed ridden person happens to be dead in their bed, would it warrant an investigation? Probably not, right? .. Oh, and President Trump asked me to point out that Chemirmir is an illegal immigrant... Down in the Swamp, the Abortion Battle is ON. A day after Alabama passed strict abortion laws, Louisiana followed with a law forbidding abortions after eight weeks except in "health of mother" situations. The "Right to Life" groups are not making any attempt to "veil" their intentions. They are saying they expect lower courts to rule against these laws and they are looking for a Supreme Court ruling. The pro-abortion side is obviously furious. They are vowing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court (which is nice that both sides agree on THAT). The media will do whatever they can to "spin" this . but.. the Supreme Court Justices don't care about spin. They care about the merits of the case and the arguments. Whatever you believe about this subject, this is going to be argued ad nauseam for the next year. Ugh! .. Now, can someone tellPresident Trump that you can't crap all over "The Polls" and call them "Worthless and Inaccurate" and then later say, "The Polls say my approval ratings are higher than Reagan AND Obama". The "polls" stink. They get it wrong more than they get it right. You can't crap on them when you don't like them and praise them when you do. (Well, I guess you CAN ..because he just DID.. But, you SHOULDN'T)... The appointment of a prosecutor to look into the origin of the Trump Collusion investigation is causing a good deal of scrambling and finger pointing in the Swamp. Former Obama officials, Comey, Clapper, and Brennan are throwing each other under the bus and the fur is flying. The main issue they are "Spinning" is "who was responsible for pushing the Steele Dossier". This is because they all knew it was uncorroborated. So, whoever "pushed it" as "evidence" to get the FISA warrant is in trrouuubllleeeeeee... President Trump unveiled his newImmigration plan. He calls for changing the "mix" of immigrants and allow more high level workers in. Think his plan has ANY Shot? I'm going with NOOOOOOOOO... .. and former President Jimmy Carter has been released from the hospital.. so. All of you that were hoping you were going to get a day off for his, "National Day of Mourning" .. You gotta WAIT!! ..and a RIP to Architect I.M. Pei, 102. Pei designed many, many buildings. Some of the most famous are the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Pyramid in the center of the Louvre Museum. .... SPORTS: Reigning Champ Brooks Koepka shot a record 63 to lead the PGA by 1 after day one. If he keeps playing like this NO ONE will catch him.. Oddly, Koepka only has 2 Regular PGA Tour wins but has THREE Majors. If he wins Sunday he'll have 6 Total USA Wins and FOUR will be Majors. WOW .. NHL: Boston wins 4-0 overCarolina and sweeps the series. Game 4 of San Jose/St. Louis tonight. ... NBA: Golden State 114-111 over Portland to take a 2-0 series lead.... CELEBRIDIOTS: A very sad RIP to internet sensation, Grumpy Cat!! The cat, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, died at age 7 after complications from a urinary tract infection. HERE ..another RIP to Ashley Massaro, 39. Massaro HERE was a WWE Wrestler and then a contestant on "Survivor". Police are investigating and not revealing a cause of death but say it is "non-criminal".. and ..A GET WELL to WWE Wrestling legend Ric Flair is in hospital again. The situation is described as serious but his wife says she expects him to make a full recovery..there are not a lot of details... and our old friend, Emily, decided to protest the New Abortion Laws by doing what she does best: Get Naked. Emily decided to pose nude and argue that the reason people want to outlaw abortion is "to perpetuate the industrial prison complex" because there will be more black babies that will grow up and go to jail. HERE Wow, Emily. That's pretty racist. I think you should do a NEW protest against all RACISM...and .. of course.. do so by POSING NAKED.
From Seekingalpha.com
A fresh bout of risk aversion is hitting global stocks after tough words on trade from Beijing suggested that while a potential U.S.-China deal could happen further into the future, its impact on the world economy would be far more immediate. The Communist Party's People's Daily used a front page commentary to evoke the patriotic spirit of past wars, saying its trade battle would never bring China down. Stocks in Shanghai fell 2.5% on the news, while Dow futures are off more than 100 points. Other fears plaguing the markets are the prospect of European auto tariffs. While reports this week pointed to a delay, the White House has until midnight to decide on the levies.
Six weeks of talks between Theresa May and the opposition Labour Party have come to a close without an agreement as Jeremy Corbyn told reporters that discussions had gone as far as they can go and his party will oppose her Brexit deal. On Thursday, May agreed to set a timetable for her departure as prime minister in the first week of June, while political rival Boris Johnson threw his hat in the ring for leadership of the Conservative Party. Sterling -0.3% to below $1.28.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in investing millions in Deliveroo as it leads a $575M funding round that includes existing investors T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW), Fidelity Management and Greenoaks. Deliveroo, which has raised a total of $1.53B since it launched in 2013, is a British company that allows users to order food from nearby restaurants using an app. Its U.K. rivals include Uber Eats (NYSE:UBER) and Just Eat (OTCPK:JSTTY), but the firm operates across 14 markets including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and the UAE.
Luckin Coffee (LK), which begins trading today on the Nasdaq, has priced its IPO at $17 per share - the higher end of its indicated range - marking the biggest U.S. float by a Chinese firm this year. In a sign of strong demand, Luckin sold 33M American Depositary Shares - upsizing from the 30M originally planned - and raised $561M to give the Beijing-based coffee chain a market valuation of roughly $4B. Luckin currently operates 2,370 stores across China and plans to open 2,500 more this year with the goal of dethroning Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) as the country's largest coffee chain.
While the move didn't appear to have a particular trigger, a plunge was seen across the crypto space overnight following a strong recovery since early April. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) slid 10% to $7,215, according to Coindesk, while the price of Ethereum (ETH-USD) fell 8% to $241 and Ripple (XRP-USD) slipped 15% to $0.3993. "This last drop was likely caused by a combination of profit-taking and also algorithmic trading compounding the swift fall," said Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic Capital. "We can expect these types of steep rises and drops to continue for some time until institutional investors grow market volume."
Hiroto Saikawa is staying on as CEO of Nissan Motor (OTCPK:NSANY) as the company backed the protege of former boss Carlos Ghosn as well as a new board with a majority of independent directors. Saikawa's reappointment is likely to be seen as a rebuff to Renault (OTCPK:RNLSY), which has been pushing for leadership change at Nissan as a prelude to merger talks due to his opposition of full integration. Their alliance's unequal relationship - smaller Renault has the bigger stake in Nissan - has long been a source of friction.
Soaring to levels not seen since December 2018, Sony (NYSE:SNE) shares closed today's session nearly 10% higher in Tokyo. The jump followed the company's announcement that it would repurchase up to 4.8% of its total number of shares issued - worth up to ¥200B ($1.82B). Sony further announced a partnership with competitor Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), with the gaming powerhouse set to use its Azure cloud services for streaming games and media, as well as a deal to develop chips for intelligent image sensors.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) closed the session up 2.4% on Thursday after completing development of a software update for its 737 MAX jets, along with associated simulator testing and engineering test flights. "We're making clear and steady progress and are confident that the 737 MAX with updated MCAS software will be one of the safest airplanes ever to fly," CEO Dennis Muilenburg declared. The 737 MAX has flown with the updated MCAS software for more than 360 hours on 207 flights to date. Boeing will also provide additional information to address FAA requests.
What else is happening...
"2019 has been a difficult for retail," says Colorado Wealth Management Fund, but "many REITs are finding ways to adapt."
Bad day for semiconductors following Huawei ban.
'Silver bullet' defense for Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) in Roundup litigation?
Australians head to the polls with economy on the ballot.
Multinationals eye weekend tax vote in Switzerland.
Contibutor Stefan Redlich comments on AT&T (NYSE:T) with the stock still trading sideways.
Thursday's Key Earnings
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) +6.1% AH topping expectations. Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) -9.9% AH on EPS miss, low Q2 revenue outlook. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) +2% AH after Q1 beats, gaming recovery. Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) -15.4% AH posting wider loss, downside guidance. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) +1.4% amid solid U.S. comparable sales.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +0.9%. Hong Kong -1.2%. China -2.5%. India -1.4%. In Europe, at midday, London -0.3%. Paris -0.4%. Frankfurt -0.8%. Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.4%. S&P -0.5%. Nasdaq -0.6%. Crude +1.2% to $63.60. Gold -0.1% to $1285.20. Bitcoin -10.1% to $7215. Ten-year Treasury Yield -2 bps to 2.38%
Today's Economic Calendar
10:00 Quarterly Services Report 10:00 Consumer Sentiment 10:00 Fed’s Clarida Speech 10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales 10:00 Leading Indicators 11:15 Fed's Williams Speech 1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count 1:40 PM Fed’s Clarida: “The Federal Reserve's Review of Its Monetary Policy Strategy, Tools, and Communication Practices” 2:00 PM Fed's Williams Speech
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Roger “Raj” Searing
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