Bloomberg
“S&P 500 on Longest Rally in Month; Treasuries Drop: Markets Wrap.”
Stocks rose and Treasuries fell as a lull in the trade war gave investors room to focus on the start of the earnings season.
The S&P 500 Index rose for a fourth day, the longest streak since the beginning of June. PepsiCo Inc. jumped more than 3 percent after reporting better-than-forecast profit, bolstering optimism that Corporate America enjoyed a banner second quarter. European shares advanced with help from energy firms as oil held above $74 a barrel. The dollar gained and the euro fell as investor confidence in the region soured. Treasury yields advanced for a second session.
With fewer trade-war headlines rattling markets since Friday’s imposition of U.S. and Chinese tariffs, investors turn their attention to earnings season in the hope that strong results can complement a recent run of positive economic data.
“Strong U.S. growth is leading the global expansion and powering corporate earnings, but uncertainty around the outlook is rising and financial conditions are tightening,” said Richard Turnill, global chief investment strategist at BlackRock Inc.
Elsewhere, crude rose in New York as U.S. stockpiles were seen declining for the fourth time in five weeks. A basket of emerging-market currencies gained, while Turkey’s lira climbed after yesterday’s end-of-day tumble as traders came to terms with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan latest power grab.
Reuters
“Tesla moves first to hike prices in China as trade war hits car makers.”
U.S. carmaker Tesla Inc has hiked prices on its Model X and S cars by about 20 percent in China, the first automaker to do so in the world’s top automotive market in response to mounting trade tensions between the countries.
The move is the earliest indication of how much higher Chinese tariffs on certain U.S. imports will flow through to buyers, with other automakers likely to follow suit or shift a greater portion of production to China.
China slapped retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on imports of several U.S. products, including cars, after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods.
China’s tariffs are expected to hurt automakers, firms that make industrial components in the United States, and producers of soybean, whisky and other agricultural items. For Tesla especially, rapidly burning cash and struggling to turn a profit, China is key. Sales in the country accounted for about 17 percent of its revenue last year.In May, Tesla slashed up to $14,000 off its Model X in China after Beijing said it would cut import tariffs to 15 percent from 25 percent for most vehicles from July 1. But the latest retaliatory tariffs mean importers will have to fork out a total 40 percent duty on all U.S.-made cars they sell in China.
Tesla’s price hikes kicked in over the weekend. Its basic Model S sedan in China now costs about 849,900 yuan ($128,779), versus 710,579 yuan in May, while a Model X sport-utility vehicle costs about 927,200 yuan, versus 775,579 yuan, according to Tesla’s website. These prices are more than 70 percent higher than in the United States where the basic Model S sedan sells for $74,500.
“Raising the prices is going to hurt sales, but money-losing Tesla has to raise prices because they can’t afford to fully absorb the higher costs of the tariffs,” CFRA research analyst Efraim Levy said. “Considering they claim to be capacity-constrained, they should be able to shift sales elsewhere.”
BBC News
“Cave rescue: Boys and football coach free from Tham Luang.”
Divers in northern Thailand have rescued all 12 boys and their football coach from flooded caves, 17 days after they got trapped underground. The plight of the group and the dangerous work to free them has gripped the world’s attention.
The first of the boys were brought out on Sunday but the last of the group were only freed on Tuesday evening.They got stuck deep inside the caves on 23 June after heavy rains caused flooding and cut off their route out.
Aged between about 11 and 17, the members of the Wild Boars football team had entered the Tham Luang cave system in the province of Chiang Rai during an excursion with their coach.
After they were found by British divers last week, huddled in darkness on a ledge and cut off from the outside world for nine days, the race began to get them out before the weather deteriorated even further.
Bloomberg
“Bitcoin Heads for Its Biggest Drop in More Than Two Weeks.”
Bitcoin headed for the biggest drop in more than two weeks, as a rebound that saw the digital asset bounce almost 18 percent from the year’s lows ran out of steam.
The largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 6 percent on Wednesday, putting it on course for its worst day since June 22, according to composite prices compiled by Bloomberg at 7:42 a.m. in New York. The move was reflected in its peers, with Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin all falling more than 4 percent.
Rallies in digital tokens have been rare this year, with momentum lacking as apathy with last year’s hottest asset class grew. The currencies have struggled to retain speculator interest as a mania that saw Bitcoin rise 1,400 percent in 12 months appeared to have run its course.
The lack of interest was reflected in traded volumes, which in June plunged to the lowest level in more than a year, according to data from exchange Bitstamp Ltd., compiled by Bloomberg. Worldwide searches for the term «Bitcoin» hovered near the lowest level in a year, according to Google Trends data. Tweets that mention the coin peaked Dec. 7, at 155,600, and are now down to about 30,000 per day, BitInfoCharts says.