Trump blasts bitcoin, Facebook's Libra: Morning Brief

Updated Fri, Jul 12, 2019, 3:24 AM

Friday, July 12, 2019

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WHAT TO WATCH

Market participants will receive a gauge on U.S. producer price changes on Friday, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell concluded testimony to Congress reiterating central bankers’ concerns of persistently below-target inflation.

The headline June producer price index (PPI) is expected to register as flat month-over-month according to consensus economists polled by Bloomberg, retreating from a 0.1% month-over-month increase in May. The primary PPI is expected to have risen 1.6% for the month over last year, slower than the 1.8% year-over-year increase in May.

PPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, is anticipated to have risen 0.2% month-over-month in June, matching May’s pace. The index is expected to have risen just 2.1% over last year in June, which would mark the slowest pace since July 2017. May’s 2.3% year-over-year increase in PPI, excluding food and energy prices, had been the slowest rate since January 2018.

The Labor Department’s PPI report, released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, comes a day after a gauge of underlying consumer prices for June was shown to have risen the most in more than a year. The core consumer price index (CPI), excluding food and energy prices, rose 0.3% in June over the month prior, exceeding expectations.

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TOP NEWS

New virtual money concept, Gold Bitcoins ( btc ) is Digital crypto-currency use blockchain Technology for

Trump: 'I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies': On Thursday night at 8:15pm ET, President Donald Trump tweeted about cryptocurrencies for the first time ever—and the tweet was extremely bearish. [Yahoo Finance]

Plus: $32M swiped from cryptocurrency exchange [Bloomberg]

China June trade surplus with U.S. rises 11%: China's trade surplus with the United States, a major source of friction with its biggest trading partner, rose 11% in June to $29.92 billion from $26.9 billion in May, customs data showed on Friday. [Reuters]

Exclusive: Amazon ramps up hiring a month ahead of Prime Day: In anticipation of a large volume of orders flooding in during Prime Day, the e-commerce giant went on a hiring spree for its warehouse networks across the country, weeks before the July 15-16 event. In June alone, Amazon (AMZN) hired 5,000 full-time warehouse associates, the retailer told Yahoo Finance. [Yahoo Finance]

Drug makers tumble after Trump reverses stance on rebates: The Trump administration is no longer pursuing a proposal to reform the current system of drug rebates, paving the way for the status quo to remain. It’s good news for pharmacy benefits managers (PBM) and insurers. Health care companies combining PBMs and insurance led the market higher with Cigna (CI), UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and CVS Health (CVS) surging 8.8%, 5.4% and 4.5%, respectively, on Thursday. [Yahoo Finance]