Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• China Exports Shrug Off Talk of Trade War, Factory Gauge Surges. A gauge of activity at China’s manufacturers posted its first gain since November, as factories recovered from a seasonal dip at the start of the year and export demand shrugged off threats of a trade war. The manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 51.5 in March versus the 50.6 estimate in Bloomberg’s survey and 50.3 last month. The non-manufacturing PMI, covering services and construction, stood at 54.6, the statistics bureau said Saturday, compared with 54.4 in February. Levels above 50 indicate improvement.
• How Facebook(FB) Helps Shady Advertisers Pollute the Internet.

Wall Street Journal:

• Israel Says Firing on Palestinian Protesters Was Justified. Demonstrations in the Gaza Strip continue with fewer numbers, a day after 15 Palestinians were killed, according to local authorities.
• Banks Forecast Gains for Crude Oil. Analysts raise their forecast amid draining crude inventories and rising geopolitical risks.

CNBC:

• Trump bashes Amazon(AMZN) 'scam,' claims post office loses 'billions' delivering packages for the internet retailer.
• Earnings season could stop the ‘bleeding’ on stock markets: Nuveen strategist.

Zero Hedge:

• Facebook(FB) In Turmoil: Employees In Uproar Over Executive's Leaked Memo.
• Tesla(TSLA) Admits Autopilot Was Engaged During Deadly Model X Crash.
• "Huge Caravan" Of Central American Refugees Is Headed For The U.S. Border.
• In Unprecedented Move, China Plans To Pay For Oil Imports With Yuan Instead Of Dollars.

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Stocks Are About to Get a $400 Billion Dividend Boost. Here’s a fresh reason to celebrate the end of a lousy quarter in global equities: the new one kicks off with the potential adrenaline boost of as much as $400 billion in dividends. “We think it is no coincidence that spring is also a seasonally strong period for equities," Morgan Stanley strategists including Andrew Sheets wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. Up to $400 billion is set to be paid into investor accounts between March and May, they calculated. “April in particular tends to be a strong month for global equity returns.”

• China's Biggest Stocks Suffer Worst Quarterly Loss in Two Years.

• China Cuts Taxes for Chipmakers to Promote Industry Development.

• Hon Hai's Profit Beats Estimates Thanks to Demand for iPhone X.

• China Plans Merger of Shipbuilders to Create Behemoth. China’s government is working on a plan to combine its two biggest shipbuilders to create an industrial giant that would dwarf its South Korean rivals, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The state council, China’s cabinet, has given its preliminary approval to merge China State Shipbuilding Corp. with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp., the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The two companies have combined revenue of at least 508 billion yuan ($81 billion) making products ranging from aircraft carriers for China’s navy to vessels to carry containers, oil and gas for commercial companies.

• Einhorn's Main Hedge Fund Down 14% This Year After March Drop.

• Telegram Raises $1.7 Billion in Coin Offering, May Seek More.

Wall Street Journal:

• China’s Huawei Is Determined to Lead the Way on 5G Despite U.S. Concerns. Mobile giant inundates standards-setting confabs with its representatives and recommendations.

• Trump Freezes Funds for Syrian Recovery, Signaling Pullback. Order to State Department to hold off on spending jibes with president’s call for an early exit.

• Why Would Walmart Want to Buy an Insurer? The Retail Squeeze. Talks with Humana spurred by search for growth and profits in Age of Amazon(AMZN).

• Why Wall Street’s Love Affair With Tech Hasn’t Cooled. Analysts cite big tech’s solid earnings outlook and its dominance across sectors from retail to social media.

MarketWatch.com:

• Mortgage rates tick down as investors rotate back to the bond market.

Fox News:

• IG report faults ex-FBI official McCabe for lying four separate times, congressman says. (video)

• Respected professor blasts 'once-proud' CNN in scathing op-ed: 'CNN lost its way'.

CNBC:

• ‘Good riddance’ to the first quarter, April should bring better news for stocks: LPL's Detrick.

• Tesla’s(TSLA) ‘day of reckoning’ is near as its plunging stock increases financing risk.

• Facebook exec in 2016 internal memo defends 'ugly' growth tactics, even if people use platform for evil. (video)

• Bitcoin is on track for its worst first quarter ever with over $114 billion wiped off its value.

Zero Hedge:

• Israeli Troops Kill Seven Palestinians, Wound 500 Amid Massive Border Protests.

• Crypto Carnage Continues - Bitcoin Back Below $7,000, Ether Under $400.

• Israeli Stealth Fighters Fly Over Iran Amid Speculation Of Imminent War.

• Judge Rules California Starbucks Must Have Cancer Warnings On Their Coffee.

• Japanic? Industrial Production Slowest In 16 Months, CPI Drops, Unemployment Jumps. (graph)

• ECB Doubles Bond Purchases Just As Market Hits Turbulence. (graph)

• "It's Destroying Jobs And Destroying Value" - Former Walmart US CEO Explains Why Trump Is Right About Amazon(AMZN).

• 'Global Synchronous Recovery' Narrative Crushed As EU, US Data Diverge. (graph)

• Facebook(FB) Hires "Third-Party" Fact-Checkers To Stamp Out "Fake News".

• A Majority Of Americans No Longer Trust Facebook(FB).

• Musk-nado - Tesla(TSLA) Tumbles After-Hours On Massive Model S Recall.

• Meet BunnyToken: A New ICO From A Bunch Of Porn Stars.

• Leaked Texts Suggest Coordination Between Obama White House, CIA, FBI And Dems To Launch Trump-Russia Probe.

• Trump: "We're Coming Out Of Syria Very Soon; Others Can Take Care Of It Now".

• Under Armour(UA) Admits 150 Million Users Affected By Data Security Breach.

• Gold Gains In Q1 As Stocks, Bonds, Cryptos, Dollar Tumble Amid Trade Tantrums, Techlash. (graph).

Business Insider:

• Apple(AAPL) just released iOS 11.3 — here's what's new in the massive iPhone update and how to download it.

• It's just dumb to put more than $250,000 in one bank account if you're rich.

• California will now require coffee to be sold with a cancer warning — here's what the science says.

Weekly Scoreboard*

S&P 500 2,649.55 +.16%*

The Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

 
Indices

• DJIA 24,215.30 +1.28%

• NASDAQ 7,070.66 -.78%

• Russell 2000 1,536.55 -.39%

• S&P 500 High Beta 42.70 -.84%

• Goldman 50 Most Shorted 140.63 -.74%

• Wilshire 5000 27,391.60 +.27%

• Russell 1000 Growth 1,374.07 -.09%

• Russell 1000 Value 1,183.01 +.34%

• S&P 500 Consumer Staples 541.49 +2.35%

• Vanda Cyclicals-Defensives 1.5558 -4.65%
  

• NYSE Technology 1,808.07 -2.34%

• Transports 10,400.30 +1.13%

• Utilities 692.73 +1.51%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 94.11 -.71%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 47.68 -1.93%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,283.74 -.53%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 1,014.59 -.39%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 310,872 -.98%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index -223 -74

• Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 44.0 n/a

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 703,708 +5.3%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 2,392,391 -.45%

• Total Put/Call .94 -22.76%

• OEX Put/Call .26 -61.76%

• ISE Sentiment 121.0 +37.5%

• NYSE Arms .83 -49.52%

• Volatility(VIX) 19.70 -14.1%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 47.07 +4.92%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 7.63 -1.04% 

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 7.96 +2.18%

• Smart Money Flow Index 17,181.30 -6.76%

• ICI Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.825 Trillion +.18%

• ICI Domestic Equity Mutual Fund/ETFs Weekly Flows -$17.122 Billion

• AAII % Bulls 31.9 -3.9%

• AAII % Bears 35.3 +24.0%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 195.36 +.07%

• Crude Oil 64.93 +.95%

• Reformulated Gasoline 201.79 +.50%

• Natural Gas 2.73 +4.16%

• Heating Oil 202.84 +1.97%

• Gold 1,323.90 -.47%

• Bloomberg Base Metals Index 200.94 -.64%

• Copper 303.20 +.30%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 338.33 USD/Metric Tonne unch.

• China Iron Ore Spot 64.41 USD/Metric Tonne +1.92%

• Lumber 517.0 +6.76%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,031.47 +.27%

Economy

• Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast +2.4% +60.0 basis points

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 5.2% -30.0 basis points
  

• Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index .2321 -2.3% 

• US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index 14.21 -72.38%

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 160.99 +.16%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index 49.80 +3.5 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index -56.8 +.9 point

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 31.80 -3.6 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 74.3% chance of no change, 25.7% chance of 25 basis point hike on 5/2

• US Dollar Index 90.05 +.26%

• MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index 1,722.06 +.26%

• Bitcoin/USD 7,439.28 -13.4%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 136.48 +1.20%

• Yield Curve 57.25 -9.25 basis points
  

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield 2.74% -9.0 basis points

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $4.361 Trillion n/a

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 23.04 -1.2%

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 261.29 +2.79%

• Italian/German 10Y Yld Spread 129.0 -16.75 basis points

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 13.25 +2.11%
  

• Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 34.64 +25.8%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 53.73 +7.07%

• South Korea Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 51.66 -.95%

• Russia Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 123.49 +2.09%

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporate High Yield Index 148.62 +.05%

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.06% -2.0 basis points

• TED Spread 60.75 +20.0 basis points

• 2-Year Swap Spread 30.75 -2.5 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -6.50 +3.5 basis points

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 65.86 +2.81%

• America Energy Sector High-Yield Credit Default Swap Index 448.0 +3.27%

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 66.19 +1.6%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 137.46 -4.85%
  

• CMBS AAA Super Senior 10-Year Treasury Spread to Swaps 170.0 +2.0 basis points
  

• M1 Money Supply $3.688 Trillion n/a

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,061.50 -.40%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 224,500 +3,000

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 1.3% unch.
  

• Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 4.44% -1.0 basis point

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 401.30 +4.78%

• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort 56.8 unch.

• Weekly Retail Sales +3.20% +20.0 basis points

• Nationwide Gas $2.65/gallon +.06/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 1,080.0 -3.31%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 788.74 -2.59%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 22.50 +28.6%

• Rail Freight Carloads 260,765 -4.83%

Best Performing Style

• Mid-Cap Value +.4%

Worst Performing Style

• Small-Cap Growth -.9%

Leading Sectors

• Paper +2.4%

• Retail +2.3%

• Gold & Silver +1.9%

• Defense +1.8%

• REITs +1.8%

Lagging Sectors

• Shipping -2.6% 

• Internet -2.8%

• Semis -3.0%

• Disk Drives -3.0%

• Social Media -3.1%

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (11)

• FINL, LE, GES, RH, USG, HOME, RSPP, SHPG, MGPI, LHO and SGH

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (12)

• RHT, MIK, SCOR, ANAB, CXO, FDS, BDC, EVR, BHVN, ABBV, MLHR and MGNX

Weekly Charts

ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change