Your Evening Briefing
Your Evening Briefing
(Bloomberg) --
Markets had been lulled by signs of progress in trade talks, a dovish turn by the Fed and solid corporate earnings. Then President Donald Trump’s trade negotiator told him China was backtracking on the deal. All it took was two threatening tweets from Trump to send volatility flying and stocks tumbling. But the crisis may short-lived: Investors started buying the dip and a new round of talks are expected to take place this week in Washington.
Here are today’s top stories
U.S. equities recovered during the afternoon session as concern eased that Trump’s threats would prevent a resolution of his trade war on China.
Save the date: Special Counsel Robert Mueller is tentatively scheduled to testify before Congress on May 15. Trump tweeted his displeasure, and since Mueller is still a government employee, could block the way. Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, faces a historic contempt vote for refusing to provide Congress with the full report on Russian interference with the 2016 election.
Boeing knew months before one of its 737 Max jets crashed, killing all 189 people aboard, that a cockpit alert wasn’t working as advertised to buyers. A second crash of a Boeing 737 Max killed another 157 people.
Apple is planning to unveil updates to its operating software and core apps such as Maps and Messages at its software conference next month.
Iran signaled Monday that it may scale back some commitments made as part of the 2015 nuclear deal in response to tightening U.S. sanctions. The announcement came as the Pentagon said it was moving an aircraft carrier strike group and bombers closer to Iran due to unspecified Iranian land and maritime preparations.
The Kentucky Derby result was bizarre to the casual observer. But to Bloomberg’s resident thoroughbred expert, the disqualification of Maximum Security was the right call.
What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? Friday’s jobs report showed investors exactly what they wanted to see, the Bloomberg news director said. Today, however, was different, as shown by the panic set off by Trump’s latest tweets. With stocks having run so far, so fast this year and a high number of speculators having shorted the VIX, the conditions were ripe for a sharp downside move. The question for investors is whether anything that transpires on the trade front can disrupt these general conditions of inflation-free growth.
What you’ll need to know tomorrow
- Who makes almond, oat milk and soy milk? Big dairy.
- How a professional poker player “reads” others at the table.
- Trump may redefine poverty, cutting more Americans from welfare.
- Fidelity will offer cryptocurrency trading within a few weeks.
- Goldman missed Uber’s IPO, but made a fortune anyway.
- The best Corvette ever made isn’t good enough anymore.
- Last night’s “Game of Thrones” was dark and full of coffee.
What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek
Women, long the main buyers of consumer goods, want healthier and more innovative products so badly that they’ve decided to make them themselves. It’s a shift from the pharmaceutical approach that larger companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and others have long taken in the sector. Instead, a new fleet of female-founded personal-care and health companies are focusing on sustainability and wellness.
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.