At war with Alibaba: Top brands fight China e-commerce giant

The rivalry is so notorious it's been called the "great cat-and-dog war." On one side towers Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China's e-commerce market leader, embodied by the black cat mascot of its Tmall platform. Brands now caught in the cross-fire say they were punished by Alibaba after refusing exclusive deals as the e-commerce giant tried to muscle out the competition — a charge Alibaba denies. Executives from five major consumer brands told The Associated Press that after rebuffing Alibaba, traffic to their Tmall storefronts fell, hurting sales.

The Trump stock market looks a lot like Reagan's, and that may not be a good thing

Reagan's stock market gives clues for the Dow's next move: Acampora    2:27 PM ET Fri, 20 April 2018 | 01:53 Donald Trump, like Ronald Reagan before him, is an outside-the-beltway president. That recently prompted longtime market watcher Ralph Acampora to investigate whether the two had anything else in common. What he found could be a warning to the stock market. "Ronald Reagan had a six-month honeymoon," Acampora, director of technical research at Altaira Capital Partners, told CNBC's "Futures Now" last week. "The percentage gain was roughly about 10 percent." When Reagan was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 1981, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at around 950. The index, which at

Here’s what Wells Fargo did to trigger a $1 billion fine

Unlike many of the scandals that have triggered billion-dollar penalties for banks, the problems that led to a 10-figure federal government settlement for Wells Fargo & Co. don’t appear to have colorful emails or trader messages describing bad behavior. Wells Fargo’s WFC, +1.98%  risk management already resulted in an unprecedented Federal Reserve sanction of having its growth limited. Wells Fargo, keep in mind, was fined by the CFPB and other regulators after opening millions of customer accounts without permission. To hear the OCC tell it, Wells Fargo did not establish “effective first and second lines of defense,” execute on a comprehensive plan to address compliance risk management deficiencies, fill mission-critical staffing positions, implement a reliable risk assessment and testing program and report compliance concerns adequately to the board.

Mobius says there’s a 30% correction coming for U.S. stocks

Mark Mobius, the 81-year-old investment guru, believes the U.S. stock market is set for a 30% correction that would essentially wipe out the gains of the last two years. The renowned fund manager, who left Franklin Templeton, the American investment house, after more than 30 years in January, said “all the indicators” point to a large fall in the S&P 500 SPX, -0.85%  and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.82%  . “I can see a 30% drop,” said Mobius, who launched one of the world’s first emerging market funds. “When consumer confidence is at an all time high, as it is in the U.S., that is not a good sign. “The market looks to me to be waiting for a trigger that will cause it to tumble. You

Prestige Economics' Schenker Sees Trade as Big Risk to Growth

Prestige Economics President Jason Schenker discusses U.S. and China trade relations, and talks about the price and production of oil. THERE ARE OTHER RISKS THAT WE ARE SEEING ON THE TABLE IN FEBRUARY, THAT WE SAW A CORRELATED DECLINE IN ASSET VALUE, EQUITIES ON PRICES BOND RISES, OIL PRICES BY CONCERN OF HIGHER INTEREST RATES AND THEN OF COURSE WITH THE ENTRANCE OF MARCH CAME THESE TRADE CONCERNS THAT HAVE ADDED FURTHER DOWNWARD PRESSURES. OPTIMISM THAT WE COULD MOVE TO SOME SORT OF THE TAUNT WOULD BE QUITE POSITIVE DETENTA E WHERE ANY FURTHER SPIN OUT OF CONTROL WITH TRADE WOULD BRING DOWNSIDE RISK TO GROWTH AND EQUITIES, DOWNSIDE TO COMMODITY PRICES.

Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Bullish Over $2.806, Bearish Under $2.762

Natural gas futures finished nearly flat last week, highlighted by a sharp break on Thursday and an even greater rally on Friday. Fundamental traders are having a difficult time trying to forecast near-term demand because of the erratic weather pattern in the United States. June Natural Gas futures settled the week at $2.767, up $0.003 or +-.11%.

How the new tax law creates a ‘perfect storm’ for Roth IRA conversions

For years I’ve lectured about the wonderfulness of Roth IRAs. While the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes one negative change for Roth IRAs, they are still pretty wonderful. Here’s what you need to know about Roth IRAs and especially Roth IRA conversions in the post-TCJA world. Roth IRAs have two big tax advantages The two most-important Roth IRA tax advantages are: Tax-Free withdrawals Unlike traditional IRA withdrawals, qualified Roth IRA withdrawals are federal-income-tax-free and usually state-income-tax-free too. What is a qualified withdrawal? It’s one that is taken after you, as the Roth account owner, have met both of the following requirements: 1. You’ve had at least one Roth

U.S. regulator permits China's ZTE to submit more evidence

The U.S. Commerce Department has granted ZTE Corp's request to submit more evidence after the agency banned American companies from selling to the Chinese technology firm, a senior Commerce official said on Saturday. The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS, this week banned American companies from selling to ZTE for seven years, saying the Chinese company had broken a settlement agreement with repeated false statements. The action was sparked by ZTE's violation of an agreement that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran.

• China's ZTE says it's seeking a solution to US tech ban

  Associated Press
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  China fund managers slash ZTE valuation after U.S. sanction

  Reuters

Ford tells WPP it will take bids from other ad agencies

Ford Motor Company said on Saturday it will take bids on some of its advertising managed by WPP , adding to uncertainty around the British ad giant after last week's exit of founder Martin Sorrell. While Ford's decision does not affect all of its accounts with WPP - and the agency will be able to bid for the rest of the business along with everyone else - it comes at a difficult juncture for the world's biggest advertising firm. Saturday's announcement is part of a review of Ford's strategy that has lasted since November, when it told long-time partner WPP that it was considering its future ad model.

• 
  Is Sorrell's Grand Design For Madison Avenue Crumbling

  Forbes
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  Why Ford Is Ready To Roll WPP After Making Ads For 75 Years

  Forbes

Female pilots are a rarity at commercial airlines in the U.S.

Female pilots are rare, especially in the U.S. When a Southwest Airlines LUV, -0.05%   plane’s engine exploded mid-flight this week, pilot Tammie Jo Shults, 56, made an emergency landing. She is a former Navy pilot and one of the first women to fly an F/A-18 fighter jet. Shults is an anomaly among airline pilots — and not just because she was able to stay calm in such extreme circumstances As a female pilot, Shults is part of a small group. Just 6.3% of commercial pilots and 6% of non-commercial pilots in the United States are women, according to the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide, a nonprofit based in Vancouver. That’s 6,081 commercial female pilots and 10,247 non-commercial female

Central Banks Fret Trade War More Deflationary Than Inflationary

Global central bankers sounded the alert that a trade war would leave them worrying more about the economic fallout than any boost tariffs would give to inflation. As President Donald Trump threatens to impose levies on imported steel and aluminum and duties on as much as $150 billion of Chinese goods, uncertainty over global commerce is casting a pall over an otherwise strong outlook. The tensions were a key theme at the IMF meetings in Washington, with policy makers on Saturday warning of challenges in a communique. Colombia’s central bank president said a trade war would be "catastrophic," his Paraguayan peer said it would be "bad for everyone," while Japan’s chief described protectionism

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  Mnuchin Is Cautiously Optimists on China Trade Deal

  Bloomberg Video
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  U.S. Treasury chief may visit China as trade tensions simmer

  Reuters

Higher yields are not helping emerging markets: expert

Dollar weakness might return, says Eric Robertsen, head of global macro strategy and foreign exchange research at Standard Chartered Bank.

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  Europe, Emerging Markets Lead in Sustainability

  Morningstar
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  The yen will weaken because the global economy is growing, says strategist

  CNBC

U.S. banks push mortgage apps as home lending slows

Big U.S. banks are racing to launch websites and mobile apps to make getting a mortgage faster and easier, investments that may have modest near-term payoffs as home lending activity slows. Bank of America Corp has spent $1 billion on its digital banking services in the last six years and launched its lineup of techy mortgage products last week. Bank of America's app automatically fills in a customer's address, employment history and other information that the bank already has, cutting out hundreds of boxes customers would otherwise have to fill.

Pivotal CEO talks IPO and balancing life in Dell family of companies

On one hand its part of the EMC federation companies that Dell acquired in 2016 for a cool $67 billion, but it's also an independently operated entity within that broader Dell family of companies -- and that has to be a fine line to walk. Whatever the challenges, the company went public yesterday and joined VMware as a  separately traded company within Dell. CEO Rob Mee says the company took the step of IPOing because it wanted additional capital.

Mexico Central Bank Head Sees No Need of Extra Peso Intervention

The peso’s retreat in the past few days hasn’t been marked by the kind of liquidity shortage that would dictate additional intervention beyond what’s already happening, according to Mexico’s central bank governor. The peso fell 2.6 percent last week, the most among 31 world major currencies, after two polls showed leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador widening his lead ahead of the nation’s July 1 election. Lopez Obrador has unsettled investors with proposals that include canceling a new Mexico City airport and delaying parts of the nation’s oil-industry opening to foreign and private investment.

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  'Everyone's against me': rivals attack Mexico leftist in TV debate

  Reuters
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  Mexico candidates pile on leftist front-runner in debate

  AFP

Oil dips as U.S. drilling tempers otherwise bullish sentiment

Oil prices dipped on Monday as a rising U.S. rig count implied further increases in output, marking one of the few factors tamping back crude in an otherwise bullish environment. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $68.22 a barrel. "We expect for oil prices to recede slightly today as market anticipates on the prospect of rising production in the U.S.," Singapore-based Phillip Futures said on Monday.

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  Are High Oil Prices Sustainable?

  Oilprice.com
• ANALYSIS-Asian oil demand to hit record, but industry can't take...

  Daily Mail

Can Facebook, Apple and Google keep powering tech’s growth?

Technology stocks have driven gains on Wall Street the past few years, but volatility in the first quarter could be a sign of serious doubts forming about the future of some of tech’s biggest names. As those companies report first-quarter earnings in a flood of results during the next two weeks, it will be a major test of whether these companies will continue to post huge growth, and fuel further overall gains, or settle into a more mild adulthood. The tech sector in general has been attractive because it offers some high-growth stocks that come with risk, as well as legacy blue chippers that provide stability but little upside. Investors have already seen examples of the typical earnings response to these types of companies early in this earnings season: Netflix Inc. NFLX, -1.48%  , the first big tech company to report, delivered a stunning quarter, revenue jumping 40.4%, and streaming only revenue jumping even more, up 43%, with a huge jump in subscriber growth, including its international customers.

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  Stocks This Week: Amazon, Nike and Disney

  Forbes
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  3 Charts to Know: Top Tech Earnings This Week

  Bloomberg

Oil Held Below $69 as Rising U.S. Drilling Counters OPEC Curbs

Oil held below $69 a barrel as signs American shale explorers are ramping up drilling activity sent jitters through a market that hoped OPEC’s commitment to further drain a global oversupply would prop up prices. Futures in New York dropped as much as 0.4 percent after data showed American drillers added five working oil rigs last week, stoking fears over surging U.S. output. The May oil contract gained 1.5 percent last week before expiring Friday as OPEC producers said supply curbs should continue in order to revive investments in oil and gas production. While the Organization of Petroleum Countries and its allies wiped out 97 percent of the targeted surplus that has weighed on prices for three years, the cuts should continue, Saudi Arabia said during last week’s meeting of oil producers in Jeddah.

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  Oil steady as U.S. drilling tempers bullish sentiment

  Reuters
• Will U.S. Shale Offset Soaring Global Oil Demand?

  Oilprice.com

The U.S.- China Face-off: Is It About Trade? Or National Security?

In theory, the U.S. Commerce Department’s move earlier this week to slap a seven-year ban on the sale of American products to ZTE Corp., China’s second-largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, was all about national security and had nothing to do with trade. In announcing the ban, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said his agency was punishing ZTE for violating terms of an agreement struck last year to settle allegations that the Chinese company had flouted U.S. restrictions on selling technology to Iran and North Korea. The ban immediately provoked nationalist outrage in Chinese media and on online forums, with many commentators urging Beijing increase state subsidies for China’s domestic chip industry.

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  China fund managers slash ZTE valuation after U.S. sanction

  Reuters
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  U.S. regulator permits China's ZTE to submit more evidence

  Reuters