Week of Sept 2 2016 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“The essence of portfolio management is the management of risks, not the management of returns. All good portfolio management begins and ends with this premise.” — Benjamin Graham
1. Singapore Confirms Locally Transmitted Zika Cases — Singapore authorities have identified 41 Zika cases that were transmitted locally, and cautioned that they expect to find more. The cases appear to be the largest single beachhead the virus has made in Asia in the current epidemic, which has also been detected in countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Philippines. Also, China added the U.S. to a list of Zika-infected countries, worrying U.S. exporters, who fear they will be required to fumigate containers destined for Chinese ports. Furthermore, the FDA has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Roche’s (OTCQX:RHHBY) “Lightmix Zika” test, a quick diagnostic check that allows healthcare professionals to quickly detect the virus.
2. Apple Received $14.5B In Illegal Irish Tax Benefits — EU antitrust regulators have ordered Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to pay up to €13B ($14.5B) in taxes to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through the country was illegal state aid. Apple and Ireland said they would appeal the decision.
3. U.S. Banks Log the Most Profitable Quarter Ever — according to figures from SNL Financial and S&P Global Market Intelligence, U.S. banking industry just logged its most profitable quarter ever Despite an increasing regulatory burden and lackluster share performance. Earnings for the three-month period totaled $43.6B, compared to the $43.01B in Q2 of 2015, a 1.4% beat. On a sequential basis, the April-to-June period topped the previous quarter by $4.56B, an 11.7% rise.
4. Job Report – US created 151,000 jobs in August vs. 180,000 jobs expected — Nonfarm payrolls increased just 151,000 for the month as Wall Street economists were expecting the nonfarm payrolls report to show a gain of 180,000 in August, with the unemployment rate ticking down one-tenth to 4.8 percent. Wage growth slowed and the probability of a September hike drops from 27 percent to 12 percent.
5. World Leaders Prepare for G20 Summit — World leaders descended upon Hangzhou for the G20 summit to reaffirm their dedication to global growth. Developing an open financial system, promoting an economic recovery and coordinating monetary policies are among the main topics to be discussed under this year’s theme of “building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy.”
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
Tags: G20 Meeting