Wall Street calm as US drops out of UNHRC

Wall Street was buoyed mostly by large Nasdaq gains as fears of a US/China trade war dissipate.

Twenty-First Century Fox lifted 7.8% after Walt Disney, also up 0.7%, increased its offer for some of Fox’s assets to $US71.3 billion, hoping to muscle Comcast’s recent bid.

PayPal shares also rose after the company agreed to acquire financial technology company Hyperwallet Systems for $US400 million.

Elsewhere, although the S&P tech sector was 0.7% higher, Facebook rose 2.8%, Alphabet advanced 1.5% and Amazon.com climbed 1.4%. Shares in those companies have been relatively unaffected by trade worries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15.7 points, or 0.06%, to 24,684.51, the S&P 500 gained 8.69 points, or 0.31%, to 2771.28 and the Nasdaq Composite added 74.08 points, or 0.96%, to 7799.67.

The S&P 500 almost broke a three-session losing streak, as gains in media stocks helped send the consumer discretionary sector up 0.7%. Shares in Boeing, which has acted as a proxy for trade fears, rose 0.8% after six straight declines keeping the Dow almost unchanged. The aerospace company was considering plans for a new mid-market jet that could enter service in 2025.

Among those which dipped, shares of Starbucks fell 9.2% after it said it would close 150 US stores in its 2019 fiscal year, while Oracle dropped 6.4% after warning currency conversions would weaken the company’s quarterly performance.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield edged up to 2.924%, from 2.893%. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says sturdy US economic growth has built a strong case for continuing to gradually lift interest rates.

US out of UNHRC
“For too long, the [UN] Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias,” US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told the 47-member council based in Geneva.

Ms Haley cited the council’s “chronic anti-Israel bias,” and says she had warned a year ago that the US would leave if the council failed to kick out human rights abusers and continued to discuss Israel’s treatment of Palestinians at every meeting. Ms Haley then announced the US will leave the council.

“We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights,” adding that the decision “is not a retreat from human rights commitments.”

Ms Haley says the council has passed more resolutions against Israel than the “number passed against North Korea, Iran and Syria combined,” condemning the “disproportionate” focus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US decision against “this prejudiced body” in a message on Twitter yesterday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s election to council membership in the past year was one of the final straws for the Trump administration, Ms Haley explained, adding that the US would be “happy to rejoin” if the body reforms.

“The Secretary-General [António Guterres] would have much preferred for the US to remain in the Human Rights Council,” a spokesperson for the UN chief said in a statement.

Kim and Xi talks
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is on the second day of his visit to China, having been greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday.

Mr Xi says he hopes Pyongyang and Washington would be able to implement fully the outcome of last week’s nuclear summit in Singapore, where Mr Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation in return for US security guarantees.

He also praised Kim for the “positive” outcome of the summit, adding that “the Chinese people’s friendship for the North Korean people will not change, and China’s support for socialist North Korea will not change.”

For his part, Mr Kim reportedly promised to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure “true peace” in the process of “opening a new future” on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Pyongyang to produce a plan for concrete steps toward denuclearisation raising pressure on Mr Kim during his Beijing visit. Mr Moon remarked that “it’s necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think it’s necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures.”

US and South Korean officials are hoping the suspension yesterday of a major joint military exercise will help solidify nuclear negotiations with North Korea. And North Korea could begin the process of handing over the remains of troops missing in the Korea war in the next few days, including those of US soldiers.

Cambridge Analytica denies tampering
Aleksandr Kogan, the British professor at the centre of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, denied that the user data he provided to the firm helped in targeting voters during the 2016 US election.

"I believe there is almost no chance this data could have been helpful to a political campaign – and I still have not seen any evidence to indicate that the Trump campaign used this dataset to micro-target voters," Dr Kogan told the US Senate commerce subcommittee on consumer protection.

However, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie says he was aware of efforts by the firm to reduce voter engagement and turnout among certain demographic groups. Mr Wylie says he "was aware of various projects where voter suppression" was discussed at the firm, including efforts to "demotivate turnout" by certain "target groups," primarily African Americans.

Violence in Israel
A major escalation of violence flared up overnight between Israel and the militants in the Gaza Strip after Hamas fired a volley of rockets at Israeli territory, leading the Israeli military to target 25 Palestinian militant Hamas group positions in Gaza.

Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepted seven of the 45 rockets fired into Israel, and there have been no immediate official reports of deaths or injuries from the militant attacks.

The escalation started shortly after Israel carried out strikes against three Hamas sites in response to Palestinians flying fire kites and balloons over the Gaza border, which have caused significant damage to Israeli territory.