Business

World stocks pulled back from all time highs, and European bourses initially followed U.S. futures and Asian shares lower, however both European risk sentiment as well as E-Minis rebounded after an Odoxa poll showed Macron overtaking Le Pen in the 1st round for the first time, and that the addition of Juppe instead of Fillon may see a 2nd round run-off between Macron vs Juppe, leading to a slump in Bund futures to session lows, and a bounce in European stocks.

The Sales Managers Index (SMI) is one of the earliest monthly indicators of Indian economic activity. February's data shows the catastrophic after-effects of the December demonetization policy which was intended to crack down on corruption and 'black money'.

The February Headline SMI has fallen to an index level of 60.2 in unadjusted terms, the lowest level in over 3 years.

Source: WorldEconomics.com

Via Michael Shedlock of MishTalk.com,

Eurozone headline inflation hit two percent this week, and that has the inflation hawks in Germany screaming.

Yet, ECB president Mario Draghi has promised to maintain QE asset purchases, and Italy has no other real buyer for its bonds.

What’s Draghi to do?

Headline Inflation Hits Two Percent

A milestone.

 

With Tesla stock price down 15% in the last few weeks, amid a roaring market, it appears doubts about Elon Musk's omnipotence are creeping in once again... and rightly so. Despite the hype surrounding hundreds of thousands of pre-orders due to start production in H2 2017, buried deep within the company's most recent 10-K filing is an admission that there is still no Model 3 beta prototype.

By Nicholas Colas of Convergex

Last Time US Stocks Were So Expensive, This Happened