Morning Memo: Friday, September 13, 2013

"Morning Memo" begins below this "NOTE for  NEWCOMERS" to "Morning Memo"...... Each morning, we post a short bullet-point list of noteworthy events, data, etc that find their way into the assessment of global markets.  It's far from complete and is not meant to be an exhaustive reconciliation of all things that could possibly impact stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities!  Rather, it's best viewed as a cryptic memo of "highlights", noteworthy items that took place in Asia, European and US hours.....and color-coded 'Red' for seemingly negative impact on equity markets, 'Green' for positive.
This will also serve as a useful review mechanism, as scrolling through the series of "Morning Memo" posts over time ought to summarily highlight what generally drove price action.  
We hope you find this useful and informative....and as always, that you'll share feedback!!
5:15am ET...

• Asia....markets generally lower (though Nikkei closed up slightly), seemingly on some lightening up of positions ahead of next week's Fed meeting (Sept 17/18), and after a strong week across most of Asian equity markets which rallied on reduced Syria concerns, stronger economic data out of China and less fear of imminent tapering.
• Indonesia...Rupiah strengthened again on the heels of yesterday's surprise interest rate hike by the central bank.  They also reduced growth forecast for the year.
• European markets generally lower in light activity ahead of next week's Fed meeting.
• Company news of note or with potential broader market implications:
• Twitter...tweeted late yesterday that they're beginning the IPO process.
• Fresenius Helios...the German hospital and kidney dialysis company announced a large acquisition of hospitals within Germany, putting, in their words "the majority of the German population within an hour's drive of a Helios hospital".  (Editorial note:  Fresenius'  (FMS) kidney dialysis division, along w/Davita (DVA) are the two largest kidney dialysis companies in the US.  See out series on The Obesi-fication of America).
• JPMorgan..will spend $4B and add up to 5,000 people to their compliance and oversight efforts to be sure to clean up shop, and in response to ongoing intense scrutiny and oversight.
• Syria...Kerry and Lavrov continue to meet in Geneva in search of a solution.  While both sides still expressing hope for a diplomatic outcome, there still appears to be wide gaps in views on how to get there.  Being watched closely by markets.
• US..Retail Sales slightly worse than expected in August, but revised up in prior two months. Overall consistent w/uninspiring consumer activity at a roughly 2% GDP pace.
• US..Consumer Sentiment (Univ of Michigan/Thomson Reuters index) fell in Sept to 76.8, fr 82.1 in August, lowest level since April.
• more later....

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(Please note: This article is solely meant to be thought provoking and is not in any way meant to be personal investment advice. Each investor is obligated to opine and decide for themselves as to the appropriateness of anything said in this article to their unique financial profile, risk tolerances and portfolio goals).
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