“The speculator’s chief enemies are always boring from within. It is inseparable from human nature to hope and to fear. In speculation when the market goes against you hope that every day will be the last day – and you lose more than you should had you not listened to hope – the same ally that is so potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big and little. And when the market goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out – too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts . . . Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he must hope.” — Jesse Livermore

1 Occidental Seeks to Buy Anadarko for $38 Billion, Topping Chevron’s Offer — Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) offered to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) for $38 billion, launching a potential bidding war for a company that previously agreed to be purchased by Chevron Corp. (CVX) for about $33 billion.
2. Chip Stocks Volatile After TI, STM — Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) lost its post-earnings gains after the CFO said the cyclical downturn was likely still in its early stages. European semi peer STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) reported Q1 misses and said lower-than-expected FY19 plans would be addressed with inventory adjustments and spending cuts. European chip stocks shook off early losses, but the U.S. sector could still have a volatile day as investors seek clearer sector visibility.
3. Boeing Details Financial Hit From 737 MAX Grounding — The aerospace giant said that it was taking an initial hit of more than $1 billion while the plane is grounded and production of additional aircraft remains scaled back. Mr. Muilenburg, CEO said the Federal Aviation Administration would soon conduct certification flights to test the 737 MAX’s updated software, a key step to restarting commercial flights. Boeing is also working with airlines and pilots to restore trust among fliers. the plane maker reported first-quarter earnings of $2.15 billion. The profit demonstrated the resilience of Boeing’s broader portfolio, with sales of 787s and other jetliners as well as services and military hardware limiting the decline.
However, the company said it would suspend the huge share buybacks that have propelled its share price over the past three years and it dropped full-year profit and sales guidance for 2019.
4. Bank of Japan Leaves Policy Unchanged — the Bank of Japan left policy unchanged, as most economists expected, maintaining its policy balance rate at -0.1% and guiding to keep extremely low interest rates until at least spring 2020. That’s putting a date to policy guidance it had previously just said it would keep for an “extended period.” The BOJ’s target for the 10-year government bond yield is zero, and for the first time the bank projected economic growth for the year ending March 2022 (it expects 1.2% growth then). It sees core CPI rising at 1.6% in fiscal 2021; time’s running out for Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda to hit a 2% inflation rate before his term expires in 2023.
5. Japan Trade Talks Kick Off — U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is scheduled to meet with Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso to discuss provisions against currency manipulation and other trade issues. Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is also set to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to negotiate trade issues that could impact automobile manufacturers Honda (NYSE:HMC), Toyota (NYSE:TM), Mazda (OTCPK:MZDAY) and Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY). The meetings precede the planned summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump later in the week.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: