Mnuchin says U.S.-China trade deal is 90% done: Morning Brief - Yahoo Finance

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

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WHAT TO WATCH

Industrial giant FedEx (FDX) and chipmaker Micron (MU) reported quarterly results after the market close Tuesday. On one hand, FedEx warned that the trade war and weakness in global trade materially impacted their business. On the other hand, Micron surprised investors with stronger-than-expected results.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau will be releasing May’s durable goods orders ahead of the opening bell. Durable goods orders declined for the past three consecutive months, and economists are expecting headline orders to have fallen again by 0.1% in May, up from the 2.1% drop in April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Durable goods excluding transportation are anticipated to have risen 0.3%.

On the corporate earnings side, General Mills (GIS) is scheduled to release results ahead of the market open, while Rite Aid (RAD) reports after the market close.

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TOP NEWS

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, and Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He shake hands as they pose for a photo before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

Mnuchin tells CNBC U.S.-China trade deal is 90% done: U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that the trade deal between the United States and China is "about 90%" complete, CNBC reported. "We were about 90% of the way there (with a deal) and I think there's a path to complete this," Mnuchin said in an interview to the news channel. [Reuters]

Fed is 'insulated' from short-term political pressure: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday afternoon that the Fed is “insulated” from short-term political pressure, warning that huge policy mistakes can happen when the Fed is influenced by the White House. [Yahoo Finance]

Tesla has enough orders to set delivery record, Musk writes: Tesla Inc. (TSLA) could be on the verge of a quarterly record for vehicle deliveries, though the electric carmaker will need to go “all out” in the last few days of the month, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk wrote in an internal memo. [Bloomberg]

Illinois becomes the latest state to legalize marijuana: Illinois became the 11th state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana on Tuesday after Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the regulatory bill legislators passed at the end of May. Legal recreational marijuana sales will begin in Illinois on January 1, 2020. Now which states will follow? [Yahoo Finance]

A super-short guide to the 24 Democrats running for president: Americans will finally see how a battalion of Democratic presidential candidates stack up head-to-head during this week’s debates. Ten Democrats, headlined by Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke, will debate on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo today starting at 9 pm ET. Another 10, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, will lock horns the following night. [Yahoo Finance]

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2019-06-26 10:20:00Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20vbmV3cy9tbnVjaGluLXNheXMtdXMtY2hpbmEtdHJhZGUtZGVhbC1pcy05MC1kb25lLW1vcm5pbmctYnJpZWYtMTAyMDU4MDU2Lmh0bWzSAW9odHRwczovL2ZpbmFuY2UueWFob28uY29tL2FtcGh0bWwvbmV3cy9tbnVjaGluLXNheXMtdXMtY2hpbmEtdHJhZGUtZGVhbC1pcy05MC1kb25lLW1vcm5pbmctYnJpZWYtMTAyMDU4MDU2Lmh0bWw

Tesla close to all-time delivery record - Musk - Seeking Alpha

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. Tesla close to all-time delivery record - Musk  Seeking Alpha
2. Tesla orders surge for record quarter, but deliveries are the bottleneck  Electrek
3. Elon Musk emailed Tesla employees to push them to hit aggressive second-quarter goals  CNBC
4. The curious blocking of elonmusk.today  Financial Times
5. In leaked email, Elon Musk says Tesla is very close to setting a record for deliveries in one quarter. But whether the company pulls it off comes down to one of the things it struggles with most  Business Insider
6. View full coverage on Google News

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3473781-tesla-close-time-delivery-record-musk

2019-06-26 07:54:00Z
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Dow futures turn positive ahead of open as investors digest Powell comments - CNBC

U.S. stock index futures jumped Wednesday morning after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that the U.S. and China were almost there on a trade deal.

At around 5:30 a.m. ET, Dow futures rose 106 points, indicating a positive open of more than 112 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were both seen slightly higher.

"We were about 90% of the way there (with a deal) and I think there's a path to complete this," Mnuchin told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Wednesday, without providing detail on what the final 10% of an agreement might entail. He said he's confident President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping can make progress in stalled trade talks at the forthcoming Group of 20 (G-20) meeting this weekend.

Wall Street saw its worst day of June on Tuesday on the back of comments from Federal Reserve officials. Fed Chair Jerome Powell Tuesday said the central bank is assessing whether the U.S. economy is calling for lower rates. However, Powell also said that the Fed will take a wait-and-see approach given how rapid recent economic changes have been.

Earlier on Tuesday, James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed, downplayed prospects of a rate cut. Market expectations point to a rate cut in July.

In terms of data, there will be durable goods numbers at advanced economic indicators due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

In corporate news, General Mills and KB Home are due to report earnings.

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2019-06-26 06:13:40Z
CBMiVWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuYmMuY29tLzIwMTkvMDYvMjYvc3RvY2stbWFya2V0LXRyYWRlcnMtZGlnZXN0LWZlZHMtcG93ZWxsLWNvbW1lbnRzLmh0bWzSAVlodHRwczovL3d3dy5jbmJjLmNvbS9hbXAvMjAxOS8wNi8yNi9zdG9jay1tYXJrZXQtdHJhZGVycy1kaWdlc3QtZmVkcy1wb3dlbGwtY29tbWVudHMuaHRtbA

FedEx sues US government over export controls after Huawei problems - Ars Technica

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Federal Express is suing the US Department of Commerce, arguing that US export control laws are so onerous that it's impossible for FedEx to comply with them. US laws "require considerably more screening than possible from common carriers like FedEx," the company argues in a legal complaint filed in a DC federal court on Monday.

The lawsuit doesn't mention Huawei, but it was filed after a string of disputes between FedEx and Huawei that may be connected to US export control laws.

FedEx is one of the many international companies feeling pressure from the escalating trade war between the United States and China. Last month, the Trump administration added Huawei and its affiliates to an "entity list" under export control law. That made it illegal to ship a range of US-made technology to Huawei.

FedEx argues that US export control laws are impossibly burdensome for a common carrier like FedEx. Theoretically, FedEx says, the law requires FedEx to determine whether any package violates the law by shipping US technology to a proscribed entity. However, FedEx says, most of its packages are sealed before shipment. Searching them all would not only be expensive—it could also violate laws protecting the privacy of packages.

FedEx wants the courts to declare the export control law unconstitutional, at least as it applies to common carriers like FedEx.

Interestingly, Fedex rival UPS does not seem to agree with Fedex's argument.

"We have not had any particular issues with shipping for Huawei or any of our other customers, and we would not be supportive of joining such a lawsuit or making such claims," a UPS spokesman told The Wall Street Journal.

The Huawei connection is murky

Since the Trump administration added Huawei to its export control list last month, FedEx and Huawei have become embroiled in a series of disputes over mishandled shipments.

In mid-May, Huawei accused FedEx of diverting two packages shipped from Japan to the United States, instead of delivering them to Huawei offices in China. The smartphone giant said that FedEx was planning to do the same thing with two other Huawei packages, also bound for Huawei offices in China. But for reasons that aren't clear, the packages were returned to their senders in Vietnam instead.

Last week, Fedex became embroiled in controversy for sending a Huawei phone bound for the United States back to its sender in the United Kingdom. The phone was sent by a UK journalist at PC Mag to the magazine's New York office. After arriving at a FedEx facility in Indiana, the phone was flown back to Britain.

A note attached to the returned package said "parcel returned by FedEx, due US government issue with Huawei and China government."

FedEx said it didn't generate the note and that all of these incidents were isolated mistakes—not reflections of FedEx policies.

The FedEx lawsuit is being widely reported as a response to these Huawei shipping snafus, but it's not clear that they're actually connected. Huawei says that the packages diverted in May had important corporate documents, not hardware that could be subject to US export restrictions. And US export laws shouldn't restrict the ability of a British journalist to send a legally purchased Huawei phone to colleagues in the United States.

Last year, FedEx was fined for 53 violations of federal export-control regulations. Those violations involved the shipment of 52 airport parts to France in 2011 and an electron microscope to Pakistan in 2012.

What we don't know is what kind of behind-the-scenes conversations FedEx is having with the Trump administration. The US government may be pressuring FedEx to step up its screening activities against Huawei. But Monday's FedEx lawsuit doesn't say that.

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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/fedex-sues-us-government-over-export-controls-after-huawei-problems/

2019-06-25 22:19:00Z
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Consumer confidence drops to lowest level since September 2017 - Yahoo Finance

Consumer confidence drops to lowest level since September 2017

Consumer confidence is on the decline.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index tumbled to 121.5 in June, dropping from a downwardly revised reading of 131.3 in May and snapping three consecutive months of improvements.

June’s results missed consensus expectations for a reading of 131.0, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, and marked the lowest level in nearly two years.

Indices tracking consumers’ assessments of current and future business conditions also sharply declined in June, the Conference Board reported. The Present Situations Index fell 8.1 points to 162.6 in June, while the Expectations Index decreased 10.9 points to 94.1.

The Conference Board’s report comes amid mounting friction between the U.S. and some of its major trade partners. These ongoing geopolitical concerns and the uncertainty over their resolution rattled consumers in June, according to the Conference Board.

“The decrease in the Present Situation Index was driven by a less favorable assessment of business and labor market conditions,” Lynn Franco, senior direct of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in a statement. “The escalation in trade and tariff tensions earlier this month appears to have shaken consumers’ confidence.”

“Although the Index remains at a high level, continued uncertainty could result in further volatility in the Index and, at some point, could even begin to diminish consumers’ confidence in the expansion,” Franco added.

According to the Conference Board, the percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve six months from now decreased by 3.3 percentage points in June to 18.1%. Those expecting business conditions to worsen rose 4.3 percentage points to 13.1%.

“It is a disappointing outcome given that expectations ought to have received a boost from the drop back in gasoline prices and renewed surge in the equity market back to record highs,” Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note.

However, the Conference Board’s steep decline in its June confidence index may be short-lived, according to other analysts.

The indices tracking consumers’ assessments of expectations and current conditions “are driven by different forces, with expectations responding to the stock market and gas prices, while current conditions tend to reflect the unemployment rate. So when both move sharply in the same month, it often indicates a response to other external forces,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, explained in a note.

Namely, the most recent survey encompassed part of the period from late May to early June during which the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico. These plans were walked back on June 7.

“We're guessing that the Mexico tariff fiasco, which also triggered steep drops in business surveys conducted while the tariff threat was live, is responsible,” he said. “If we’re right, the confidence index will rebound strongly in July, unless the Osaka [G20] summit is a disaster and the president imposes tariffs on imported Chinese consumer goods.”

“For now, note that the index remains very high by historical standards even after this decline, and it is no threat to our view that consumers' spending will continue to rise at a solid pace,” he said.

—

Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck

Read more from Emily:

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2019-06-25 14:07:00Z
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Amazon announced the date of Prime Day, and it sounds like Alibaba’s Singles Day - Yahoo Finance

Close-up of logo for Amazon Prime deals on Prime Day, on a paper on a light wooden surface, San Ramon, California, July 18, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Amazon just released the dates of Prime Day – and this year the sale event will be the longest ever, lasting a full two days.

Prime Day, the annual shopping event for Prime members, will run July 15 to 16. Like previous years, the best deals usually feature Amazon’s own products, like the Amazon Fire TV and the Echo smart speaker. An early deal, Toshiba HD 43-inch Fire TV Edition Smart TV, is selling at $179.99, 40% off the regular price.

Amazon (AMZN) started Prime Day in 2015, and it has evolved as the Seattle e-commerce giant’s business footprint expands. In the early years, the main purpose of Prime Day was to attract more people to sign up for Prime, which now costs $119 a year and gives members free 2-day shipping among other perks. Now 59% of U.S. households are Prime members, according to RBC Capital Research. Prime Day has put more focus on engaging members and increasing their spending on the platform. The deals also expanded from online to stores like Whole Foods.

Amazon wants its users to get comfortable with voice shopping, so this year it has pushed some early access to deals only available through its smart speaker Alexa. Amazon also touts one-day delivery on more than 10 million products. The company announced in April it is investing $800 million in the second quarter to speed up delivery times.

Singles Day similarities

BROOKLYN, NY - JULY 11: Guests attend the Amazon Music Unboxing Prime Day event on July 11, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Amazon)

To spice up the shopping holiday, Amazon seems to have borrowed a page from Alibaba’s playbook, promoting offerings beyond deals that are similar to the Chinese e-commerce giant’s Singles Day.

Started a decade ago, Singles Day is the biggest one-day shopping holiday in the world, scoring $30.8 billion in sales last year. The event usually kicks off with a four-hour gala featuring celebrities both from China and overseas, including Nicole Kidman and Mariah Carey. Alibaba’s Tmall has been working with brands like Mars to launch new products.

For the first time, Amazon is also selling exclusive launches and collaborations on Prime Day, both online and in-store. Levi’s will drop a special version of its iconic jeans designed by football player Sterling Shepard and model Chanel Iman Shepard. In its release Amazon also teased “special performances” and “great entertainment.” Last year, Amazon Music hosted an Unboxing Prime Day concert in New York featuring Ariana Grande and Alessia Cara days ahead of the sale event.

“Our vision is that Prime Day should be the absolute best time to be a member – when you can enjoy shopping, savings, entertainment and some of the best deals Prime members have ever seen,” said Jeff Wilke, head of Amazon Worldwide Consumer.

Krystal Hu covers technology and China for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

Read more:

• New bipartisan bills threaten Chinese IPOs and Chinese companies listed in the U.S.

• Amazon just got FAA approval to fly drones for deliveries

• Huawei is still winning 5G contracts around the world despite the U.S. ban

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

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2019-06-25 13:40:00Z
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FedEx sues US over mandate to monitor Huawei shipments - Engadget

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FedEx has already been accused of diverting Huawei's shipments, and it's not keen on dealing with more complaints. The courier has sued the US Commerce Department (including Secretary Wilbur Ross and Assistant Secretary Nazak Nikakhtar) to absolve itself of the need to monitor packages for potential export violations by Huawei and other companies. It argued that the requirement not only violated the Constitution's protections for due process, but was technically unfeasible given the scale of FedEx's operations.

The company handles about 15 million packages every day, according to the complaint, and it would be a "virtually impossible task" to inspect all of them. It might sometimes violate privacy rights and laws. And without safe harbor protections, FedEx believes it's in a no-win situation where it either risks "immediate" fines and penalties from the US or deals with the wrath of foreign governments and its own customers.

FedEx didn't mention Huawei by name in the lawsuit, although there's little doubt that the Chinese company is the focus of the case. The placement of Huawei on the Commerce Department's Entity List, which bars US companies from doing business without explicit permission, forced numerous businesses to either sever ties with the company or stay on guard like FedEx has.

The Commerce Department told the Wall Street Journal it hadn't yet reviewed FedEx's suit, but said it planned to defend its role in national security. You can expect it to contest the accusations, then. And that may leave FedEx in a tough spot when China is drafting its own 'unreliable entities' list that might punish companies for complying with US orders.

Source: PDF, Wall Street Journal

In this article: china, commerce department, department of commerce, export, fedex, gear, huawei, lawsuit, mobile, politics, shipping, trade

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2019-06-25 13:17:16Z
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