Like millions of Americans, Wall Street was glued to the surreal Congressional hearing of former FBI director James Comey. But the latest circus in Washington didn't rattle investors, at all. The Dow even popped toward the end of the hearing, hitting a new record high. While stocks ended just slightly positive, the mild response signals Wall Street saw no smoking gun that would doom the Trump agenda. "It doesn't feel like there was a gotcha moment," market strategist Art Hogan said.
Super Mario Draghi is done propping up Europe with even lower rates. The ECB didn't hint it would hike anytime soon, but said it expects rates to "remain at present levels" for some time -- as opposed to current levels "or lower." Draghi suggested the eurozone economy is picking up steam. But Brexit may be taking a toll on Britain. The U.K. said GDP rose at just a 0.2% clip in the first quarter -- even weaker than Greece and lowest of the 28 EU member nations.
The escalating crisis in the Middle East has claimed a new group of victims: soccer fans and cartoon lovers. TV channels owned by Qatar's BeIN Media have been suspended in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates. Those two nations have been leading a bid to isolate their Gulf neighbor in a diplomatic dispute over regional security. Still, TV subscribers want their shows and games, and they bombarded social media with questions about why their screens went dark this week. All this isn't good for Qatar, whose debt was downgraded by Standard & Poor's.
A select group of academics will meet at an undisclosed London location to come up with projections the U.K. media will use to declare winners in the general election. The professors, who must leave their mobile phones behind once they enter the so-called "bunker," will cull through data about 20,000 voters from 144 polling stations. This exit poll is usually more reliable than other opinion polls. We'll know for certain on Friday just how accurate it is.
A glance at the shale oil boom: It's been a rough week for crude oil, which crashed 5% on Wednesday, its worst day in three months. More pain could be in store from the weekly Baker Hughes rig count report, which is due out at 1 p.m. ET on Friday. The number of oil rigs has increased 21-straight weeks, underscoring the oversupply problem in the oil markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment