• Hurricane Matthew Heads North Matthew, the first major hurricane threatening a direct hit on the U.S. in more than 10 years, lashed Florida on Friday with heavy rains and winds, after killing at least 339 people in Haiti on its destructive march north through the Caribbean. Although the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 3 storm as it approached the U.S. mainland, winds gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and heavy downpours were still reported across coastal communities in Florida, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The NHC's hurricane warning extended up the Atlantic coast from southern Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina. Those three states and North Carolina have all declared states of emergency. More than 12 million people in the U.S. are under hurricane watches and warnings, according to the Weather Channel. Fortune • A Different Sort of Hard Pounding A 6% 'flash crash' in sterling underlined how badly markets have been shaken this week by the Conservative Party's apparent prioritization of tighter immigration controls over free trade with the EU as part of the Brexit process. A 'fat finger' in a period of low overnight liquidity seemed to be responsible for a brief drop to a new 31-year low of $1.2035 but, tellingly, the pound is still over 2 cents below where it was before the incident, and volatility has continued well into the European morning. The trigger appeared to be some hawkish words about the U.K.-EU divorce settlement by French President Francois Hollande, a man who will almost certainly have no influence on the process, given his poor chance of re-election in May. That's a good illustration of how fear is stalking what is supposedly the most rational of markets. Fortune • The Dollar Marches On Pre-Payrolls It's Payrolls Day! Wall Street reckons that the economy will have added 175,000 non-farm jobs in September: any more will strengthen expectations of an interest rate rise even before the election by a Federal Reserve that may feel the need to show its independence after fielding accusations of partisan bias from GOP nominee Donald Trump in recent weeks. The flip side of that argument is of course that the Fed would expose itself to charges of giving in to pressure from the other side. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 4.9% while average hourly earnings are slated to edge up by 0.2% after a 0.1% rise in August. With the market scare over the ECB 'tapering' its QE program now over, a strong labor market report could also send the dollar back into appreciation mode vis-a-vis the euro, which is also suffering from some (ultimately Brexit-driven) Angst. The single currency slid to its lowest level in nearly two months against the dollar overnight. Reuters • Wal-Mart Braces for an Expensive Migration Wal-Mart said it would significantly slow the pace of new store openings and concentrate resources on building up its online operations as it uses its acquisition of jet.com to try to close the gap on Amazon.com. Wal-Mart's online business, worth $14 billion, is still barely one-sixth the size of Amazon's. The need for heavy investment (including, possibly through the acquisition of a stake in India's Flipkart) is likely to depress cash flow for some time: the company told Wall Street analysts it expects its capital spending to rise to $11 billion next year. Earnings per share are expected to be flat next year, than rise 5% in 2018. The market didn't like the news much, driving Wal-Mart's shares down 3.2% to a four-month low. Fortune | 
No comments:
Post a Comment