…“People somehow think you must buy at the bottom and sell at the top to be successful in the market. That’s nonsense! The idea is to buy when the probability is greatest that the market is going to advance”… Jesse Livermore

1. James Clinger Nominated for FDIC Chair — taking a big step towards loosening the shackles on Wall Street, President Trump has nominated James Clinger as chairman of the FDIC, one of the U.S.’s most powerful bank regulators. If confirmed by the Senate, he would begin his term in November. Clinger currently serves as chief counsel for the House Financial Services Committee and has been involved in efforts to rip up Dodd-Frank.
2. UPS Adopts Peak Time Charges for 2017 Holiday Season — UPS plans to charge retailers extra fees to deliver packages during the busiest weeks before Christmas, creating a new challenge for an industry seek to offset declining foot traffic to shopping centers. UPS’s fees will force retailers like Amazon (AMZN) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) to decide over the next few months whether to raise prices, a difficult to do when online shoppers are reluctant to pay shipping fees.
3. MSCI Will Include China’s A shares In the MSCI Emerging Markets Index — the long-awaited China’s A-shares will be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in what was seen as a major milestone. “International investors have embraced the positive changes in accessibility… over the last few years,” said Remy Briand, Chairman of the MSCI Index Policy Committee.
4. Oil To Flow Through Dakota Access Pipeline as Summer Hearings Proceed — a U.S. District Court judge has set up a series of hearings through the summer to determine what will happen to the Dakota Access Pipeline while authorities conduct an additional review of the project’s environmental impact. Project developer Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE:ETP) is “pleased with the decision” as oil will continue to flow through the pipeline during the hearings.
5. All US Banks Pass This Year’s Stress Tests — The 34 largest U.S. lenders have all cleared the first stage of the Fed’s annual stress test, showing they would be able to maintain enough capital in an extreme recession to meet regulatory requirements. Banks are still subject to a second portion of the test in which the Fed approves or denies their capital plans, which will be released next week.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

“That cotton trade was almost the deal breaker for me. It was at that point that I said, ‘Mr. Stupid, why risk everything on one trade? Why not make your life a pursuit of happiness rather than pain?’” – Paul Tudor Jones

1. Jeff Immelt to Step Down as CEO of GE; John Flannery Takes Role — General Electric Co. (GE) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt will step aside this summer, and replace by John Flannery, head of the company’s health-care business and retire as chairman of the board on Dec. 31. Under Immelt ‘s term, GE shares have vastly underperformed the stock market during his tenure.
2. U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.3% in May — retail sales which reflecting consumer spending at stores, restaurants and websites—fell 0.3% in May from a month earlier, the Commerce Department reported. That marked the steepest drop since January 2016. A big factor was cheaper gasoline, which translated into less spending at service stations. But consumers also cut spending at big-box stores, electronics retailers and restaurants. Car sales, after hitting a record in 2016, have fallen nearly 2% over the past three months. Retail sales are a big component of consumer spending, which in turn accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic output.
3. Quantitative Investing Based on Computer Formulas Accounts for About 90% of All Trades — JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic stated that “The majority of equity investors today don’t buy or sell stocks based on stock specific fundamentals,” which estimates “fundamental discretionary traders” account for only about 10% of trading volume in equities.
4. Fed Raises Interest Rates and Sets Plan to Shrink $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet ‘this year’ — the Fed as expected on Wednesday last week raised its benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to between 1% and 1.25% — the third increase in a year and a half. The Federal Reserve lifted a key U.S. interest rate and laid out a plan to shrink its massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet starting “this year,” a pair of moves reflecting its view that an economic expansion now entering its ninth year no longer needs so much propping up. Under the plan, the Fed will initially allow $6 billion a month in principal from maturing Treasury securities to runoff. That will increase in steps of $6 billion each quarter over a year until it reaches $30 billion a month. For mortgage-backed securities and federal agency debt, the Fed set an initial cap of $4 billion. That will increase in quarterly steps of $4 billion each quarter until it reaches $20 billion a month.
5. U.S. Stock ETF Inflows Surge — Investors raced into exchange-traded funds this past week despite market jitters, according to Lipper, delivering the most cash to those funds since late last year. Stock ETFs listed in the U.S. attracted $17.7B during the week ended June 14, while their mutual fund counterparts recorded $6.8B of outflows in their largest week of withdrawals since April.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

“Success if getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” — Dale Carnegie

1. Arab Nations Sever Ties with Qatar — four Arab states have cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar, as well as closing air and sea routes, pointing to Doha’s ties to terrorism. The coordinated move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain marks a sharp escalation of a rift between the Persian Gulf states since late last month.
2. Global Market for Natural Gas Has Finally Arrived — the U.S. and China are working on a trade deal that could send vast quantities of gas pumped in Texas and Pennsylvania to factories in Shanghai and Guangdong. Improved access for U.S. exporters to China’s giant energy markets could boost overall global shipments. Thirty-nine countries now import LNG, up from 17 a decade ago, according to data and analytics firm IHS Markit. Several more, among them Uruguay, Bahrain and Bangladesh, are expected to lift the total to 46 in the next couple of years. The price differences also shrink. In 2012, Asia spot prices for LNG were $5.74 per million British thermal units higher than natural-gas prices in Europe, according to S&P Global Platts. This year so far, the difference has averaged less than $1.
3. S&P500 Brokeout to New All-time Highs — the S&P500 broke above the upper end of this consolidation from the past 3 months. Meanwhile, the list of stocks in the S&P500 also making new highs also broke out to the highest level since those March highs. According to to a research note by Sam Stovall of CFRA, “So far, 2017 has seen 17 new all-time closing highs for the S&P 500 and just 10 days where the index moved more than 1 percent in either direction. That kind of higher highs with low volatility always – yes, always – has been positive for the market, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. The previous 17 times that has happened, the market has averaged a 19.4 percent gain, with advances happening 100 percent of the time.”

4. British PM Theresa May Looks to Form New Government — Prime Minister Theresa May will seek permission from the Queen to form a new government, according to a spokesperson, despite calls for her to resign after a bruising election. Her Conservative party lost its majority, with Labour gaining significant ground, resulting in a hung parliament. Furthermore, The U.K. could suffer another ratings downgrade after a general election led to a hung parliament, according to S&P Global. The country lost its AAA rating last June following its vote to leave the EU. S&P said at the time it was worried the decision would lead to a deterioration of Britain’s economic performance and institutional framework.
5. FDA Wants Endo’s Opana ER Off the Market Due to Abuse Potential — in an unprecedented move, the FDA has notified Endo International’s (NASDAQ:ENDP) Pharmaceuticals unit that it wants opioid pain med OPANA ER (oxymorphone HCl) removed from the market due to its abuse potential. It comes after a panel of advisers concluded in March that the drug’s benefits did not outweigh the risks – opioids were involved in more than 33,000 deaths in 2015.
6. Technology darlings Stocks Reversed Hard in the Last 2-day — most notable being the NASDAQ (-1.8%) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (- 4.23%), as can be seen in the attendant chart below.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

There will not be any re-cap for the week of June 2 2017. We are away for some needed R&R.

Have a good week.

The staffs at EGS.