Huawei CFO seeks bail on health concerns; Canada wants her in jail

TORONTO/BEIJING (Reuters) - The CFO of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] argued that she should be released on bail while awaiting an extradition hearing, citing her longstanding ties to Canada, properties she owns in Vancouver and fears for her health while incarcerated, court documents showed on Sunday. Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is fighting to be released on bail after she was arrested on Dec. 1 in Vancouver at the request of the United States.

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  China calls on Canada to free Huawei CFO or face consequences

  Reuters
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  For Huawei CFO, an Idyllic Summer Playground Turns Into a Prison

  Bloomberg

Investors in ‘Get-Me-Out-of-Here Mood’ as Asian Stocks Spiral

The sell-off in global equities deepened in Asia hours after Chinese economic data released over the weekend signaled a further weakening of both domestic and international demand in November. Adding insult to injury, tensions have ratcheted up after the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer, with China’s Vice Foreign Minister having summoned the U.S. Ambassador to China in a protest over her capture on Saturday. Australia was the worst performer in the region with Japan’s, whose economy shrank more than forecast, while China’s stocks dropped with the offshore yuan weakening for a fourth day.

Here’s what smart rich people really do with their nest egg

Most people think they’re above average in intelligence, relationship status and professional achievement. Social scientists call this “illusory superiority.” My business partner Scott Puritz, has found the one area where even above-average people, objectively smart, rich, successful professionals, seem to wave the white flag and admit to not understanding — money and investing. “One of the most shocking things is the low-level financial literacy throughout our culture,” Puritz told the Washington Post.

Discussing volatility in the global market

Sean Corrigan, director at Cantillon Consulting discusses the investment opportunities amid growing volatility in the markets.

China to Announce Resumption in U.S. Soy Purchases Soon

The final decision will be made by the State Council or cabinet, said the people, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential. The decision comes just over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping pledged during the G20 meeting in Argentina to resolve the trade tensions that have disrupted global commodity flows. The resumption of U.S. soybean purchases will provide some relief to American farmers who have seen exports to the world’s biggest consumer plummet and domestic inventories pile up.

3 charts suggest housing ‘bubble trouble’ with a tech meltdown ‘yet to come’

In fact, according to data provided by the National Association of Realtors, he points out inventory has more than doubled from a year ago. Richter says the red bars signal “bubble trouble” in the housing market. “They see the prices and they do the math with higher mortgage rates, and they walk,” Richter said.

Huawei CFO Cites $12 Million Home and Health Troubles in Bail Bid

In court filings, her attorneys paint a picture of a cancer survivor who’s undergone multiple surgeries and needs daily medication to cope with a plethora of health issues, while outlining how her entire family has deep roots in Vancouver, where she’s being held. The CFO’s bail hearing resumes Monday in the Canadian city after Friday’s proceedings yielded no result. The 46-year-old mother of four, accused of guiding a global effort to mask violations of sanctions on sales to Iran, has languished in jail since her arrest.

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  China warns Canada there will be 'severe consequences' over Huawei chief's arrest

  The Independent
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  China pressures US, Canada ahead of Huawei hearing

  Associated Press

Stocks Fall on Heightened Trade Worry; Euro Climbs: Markets Wrap

Miners and energy producers led the retreat in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, while futures on the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes were all in the red as Asian shares dropped across the board. Dampening the mood at the start of the week was weak data on China’s slowing economy and news the country’s vice foreign minister has summoned the U.S. ambassador Terry Branstad to protest the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.’s chief financial officer. Sentiment in financial markets has been fragile in recent weeks as traders gauge whether the Fed could slow its tightening path as trade war fears linger.

These Lowe’s stores are closing in the next three months

Lowe’s Companies said Monday that it will close 51 underperforming stores and other locations, including 20 stores in the U.S., as part of its plan to focus on its most profitable stores. The stores being closed in the U.S. are located across 13 states

Mark Cuban says the best investing advice he got when young was to be as poor as possible first

Mark Cuban once drove around a real hunk of junk — seriously. The billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner says the best pieces of investing advice he got when young was to be as poor as possible first. The “Shark Tank” star these days doles out a lot of advice to young entrepreneurs on CNBC but he says it doesn’t take a million-dollar idea to become rich.

White House's Peter Navarro on John Kelly, stock market drop

White House National Trade Council director speaks out on 'Sunday Morning Futures' on the chief of staff shakeup and trade fears rattling U.S. stock market.

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  Trump's potential next chief of staff pick leaving White House

  AFP
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  Trump in new setback as Pence aide Nick Ayers turns down chief of staff role

  The Guardian

What Wall Street strategists forecast for the S&P 500 in 2019

On the low end, we have Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson who sees the S&P 500 (^GSPC) essentially going sideways and ending 2019 at 2,750. On the bullish side is Credit Suisse’s Jonathan Golub, who sees multiple expansion sending the S&P to 3,350. Here’s a summary of what Wall Street’s top strategists are telling their clients.

Kevin O’Leary is right about cars, and his logic can save your retirement

I’m a big fan of “Shark Tank,” the CNBC show where successful entrepreneurs listen to young hopefuls pitch the next big thing — and maybe buy a piece of the action. Of course I would be. As an entrepreneur myself I totally get where they’re coming from

How the rich get richer in every type of stock market

Nine years in, the bloom is decidedly off the rose for U.S. stock investors While experts disagree whether we’re in a bear market, volatility is definitely back in a big way. Stock indexes have fallen by hundreds of points, recovered, then fallen

In your 50s and nothing saved for retirement? You're not alone

Sidelined by illness, the economy or job loss, people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s often find themselves struggling to plan for retirement. Some declare they will just keep working forever, while others are taking steps to plan a retirement that may look different from the traditional one they’d envisioned decades earlier. A serious illness, not being prepared for a big stock market downturn or a sudden job loss can quickly jettison dreams of a sunny retirement.

SoftBank Sticks to IPO Price Despite Market Drop, Network Outage

Including an overallotment of about 160 million shares, SoftBank is selling a total of roughly 1.76 billion shares. Founder Masayoshi Son and his bankers dispensed with a price range and chose to set a single preliminary figure last month, betting that they will be able to sell all of the shares in the cash-generating business. While the underwriters were able to cover their entire book by Wednesday last week, a Japan-wide network outage the following day left its 34 million mobile subscribers in the country without services for hours.

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  Japanese Shoppers Race to Empty SoftBank's $88 Million Handout

  Bloomberg
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  SoftBank May Be Milking Its Cash Cow Dry

  Bloomberg

Why the next 10% move in the stock market might be down

1) Very few people are talking about the number of large hedge funds that are currently closing. In late September, I read that 6 or 7 hedge funds were shutting down on October 1, and we saw indiscriminate selling during the first few weeks of October. Since most hedge funds allow for redemptions on a quarterly basis, we are likely to see another large exodus at the beginning of 2019.

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  Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Dollar General Corp. (DG) Anymore

  Insider Monkey
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  Is Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (MLNX) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

  Insider Monkey

This chart is scarier than the Dow plunging 1,150 points last week

Close that Yahoo Finance Dow Jones Industrial Average chart (^DJI) for a second and pull up one of the financials if you want a good scare on the economy. The Dow plunged 1,150 points last week amid concerns over an inverted yield curve (it usually predicts a recession), mixed messages on President Donald Trump’s trade deal at the G20, an expected Fed rate increase, and ongoing fears on Apple’s outlook. Financials (XLF) were the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) last week, and some major bank stocks got crushed.

The Real Implications Of The New Permian Estimates

This week the United States Geological Survey (USGS) announced a groundbreaking oil and gas discovery in West Texas’ Permian Basin. According to the organization’s recent press release, a whopping 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids are now believed to lie untapped in the Wolfcamp Shale and overlying Bone Spring Formation area of Texas and New Mexico’s Permian Basin. Major players in the energy industry already have a significant presence in Wolfcamp and Bone Spring, including Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. It was already well known and well documented that these fields were remarkably fertile grounds for oil extraction, but the jaw-dropping extent of the new figures released this week by the USGS has made the massive crude and shale reserves of the Permian Basin freshly headline-worthy.

Hedge Funds Have Stocks to Dump, in Bad Sign for Sell-off

Hedge funds that had stocked up on American equities are still sitting on substantial inventory, according to Sundial Capital Research Inc. While exposure to the S&P 500 Index among long-short equity funds has come down significantly from the record high of early October, it’s still well above levels that marked other market lows over the past decade, Sundial President Jason Goepfert wrote in a note to clients Friday. “Hedge funds are fleeing stocks, but not fast enough,” said Goepfert, who set up Sundial, a Minnesota-based research firm focusing on investment risk management, after previously working at Wells Fargo, and who has more than two decades’ experience in finance.

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  Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Dollar General Corp. (DG) Anymore

  Insider Monkey
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  Is Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (MLNX) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

  Insider Monkey

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Drop as Traders Eye China Trade Spat

December futures slid as much as 1 percent on the S&P 500 Index and were trading 0.3 percent lower by 8:20 a.m. in London on Monday after China summoned the U.S. ambassador following the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.’s chief financial officer. Data on Sunday showed China’s producer prices climbed at the slowest pace in more than two years. “What’s worrying people is the expectation of a slowdown in both European and U.S. growth in 2019, coupled with a lack of clarity on trade and the effectiveness of any China stimulus,” said John Roe, head of multi-asset funds at Legal & General Investment Management Ltd.

Global stocks extend slump as growth worries mount

Losses in global stock markets snowballed on Monday, with U.S. equity futures and Asian shares sliding on worries over slowing growth and fears that a rise in tensions between Washington and Beijing could torpedo chances of a trade deal. Traders returned from the weekend to face a growing wall of worry, with the world's largest economies -- the United States, China and Japan -- all reporting weaker-than-expected data which pointed to moderating activity. Investors were also bracing for a Tuesday vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May's European Union divorce deal, which looks set to be rejected by parliament, raising fears of a chaotic exit in March.