Market Morning: It’ll Be A Whirlwind Of a Week

Stock Market Roundup

Bank of America Says This Week Is The Most Important Of The Year For Economy

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Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is biting its banking nails over a bunch of political developments and economic data on tap for this week that could change the direction of the global economy. Today, traders will react to President Trump’s slamming of the G7 and reserving a “special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and generally being grumpy about trade and adding more tariffs. Futures (^GSPC) are up though, so it doesn’t seem that traders care all that much.

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On Tuesday, Trump and Kim Jong Un will meet and talk about possibly finally formally ending the Korean War between the US and North Korea. Yes, it’s still going on, nearly 70 years after President Truman invaded a country for the very first time in American history without formally declaring war first. Assuming Trump can finally end the Korean War, which would be pretty momentous, markets will then have Tuesday’s consumer price index data to deal with. And then the United Kingdom’s formal Brexit vote in the House of Commons. Nobody is sure if it will actually pass. If it doesn’t, the UK could be in a spicy pickle.

On Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee will tinker with interest rates, probably by hiking them, and Italy will sell more bonds at who knows what interest rates.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank might say something concrete about ending its massive bond buying program. If they give a formal date for it, the Italian and Spanish bond markets could take one to the chin.

On Friday we’ll get a rest, maybe.

Related tickers: (NYSEARCA:EWU) (NYSEARCA:FXB) (NYSEARCA:EWI) (NYSE:HSBC)

Ben Bernanke Comes Out of Hiding To Sound Economy Alarm, Slam Fiscal Policy

Remember that guy who printed up about $16 trillion in 2008 and handed it out to a bunch of banks? Well, he’s railing against fiscal stimulus now. He says it’s the wrong time, that Congress is irresponsible, going into too much debt, and the economy could crash at any moment, though he thinks it’ll be 2020. Nevermind that Ben Bernanke oversaw one of the worst global collapses since the Crash of ’29 and that he never saw it coming. Now, apparently, he sees it coming and he might want to get outta Dodge.  In phraseology he never dared use as Fed Chair in 2006 when he took over from Alan Greenspan and the housing bubble was already popping, speaking of the economy and comparing it to the famed cartoon character who was best at constantly sustaining severe head injuries, he said, “And then in 2020, Wile E. Coyote is going to go off the cliff and look down.”

What to do: Get your parachutes ready. Wise Ben has spoken.

Cryptos Crushed After South Korean Hack

Bitcoin (BTC-USD), ether (ETH-USD), Ripple, (XRP-USD) and bitcoin cash (BCH-USD) all got sledgehammered over the weekend on the news of a hack at a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange called Coinrail. Nobody know how much was stolen, but a wallet that might belong to one of the attackers has about $40 million worth of altcoins in it. $7,000 has been breached on bitcoin itself though EOS (EOS-USD) is leading the way down, crashing over 14% in the past 24 hours. Past hacks that have slammed the cryptocurrency sector have led to quick recoveries. Let’s see what happens this time as an indicator of sentiment in the battered space.

Meanwhile, blockchain itself is having a good week, as use of the technology is being considered for organizing and securing electricity grids, potentially allowing customers to choose where their energy comes from.

Forget the Inflation Indexes and Look at Starbucks

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is raising the price of regular brewed coffee by 10 to 20 cents a cup. Joining the party is General Mills (NYSE:GIS), which recently announced more unspecified price hikes in the near future, and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) already hiked prices last year. Are we at the Fed’s 2% inflation target yet? We’ll find out on Tuesday.

 

 

 

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