Wall Street tempers Syria concerns with Facebook stock boost

A Facebook-led rebound in technology stocks helped Wall Street cope with losses sparked by concerns about a US-Russia conflict in Syria.

Facebook’s shares were up 1.1%, before falling about 0.5% when chief executive Mark Zuckerberg began his second day of testimony. The social network giant’s gains helped the technology sector cut losses to a marginal 0.09% and briefly pushed the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 into positive territory.

The S&P 500 fell 15.30 points, or 0.58%, at 2,641.57 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 25.27 points, or 0.36%, at 7069.03.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 218.55 points, or 0.90%, at 24,189.45. The index is burdened by financial and industrial stocks, which are still reeling from the impact of outstanding questions about tariffs between the US and China.

Among stocks, Netflix gained 3.3% after Goldman Sachs predicted the online video streaming company would exceed expectations when it reports results on April 16, EST.

Round two for Zuck
Facebook’s chief executive returns to a hearing of Congress' energy and commerce committee, following a joint Senate hearing yesterday.

House lawmaker and energy and commerce chairman Greg Walden says he's interested in developing a better understanding of how user data is collected and shared by the social network.

Representative Bob Latta echoed the interest, saying: "For me, I am deeply concerned with Facebook's inability to pinpoint exactly where some of this personal information may have ended up, and whether Mr Zuckerberg can definitively say that it is not in the hands of any foreign governments that could seek to exploit it."

Several House lawmakers will also ask about privacy legislation. Representative Marsha Blackburn, who chairs the energy and commerce telecom subcommittee says the submitted Browser Act, H.R. 2520 (115) would impose opt-in privacy rules for both tech and telecom companies.

Mr Zuckerberg also confirmed FBI special counsel Robert Mueller had contacted Facebook as part of the investigation probe into the alleged 2016 election interference. But he also said Facebook did not alert the Federal Trade Commission about the Cambridge Analytica incident.

Trump mulls Syria action
US President Donald Trump is warning Russia of military action in Syria over an alleged chemical attack, declaring that missiles “will be coming.”

Mr Trump was reacting to a warning from Russia that any US missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted.

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’,” he wrote on Twitter.

“You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” Mr Trump tweeted, referring to Moscow’s alliance with Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

The World Health Organisation says about 500 people were treated for "signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals" after the latest suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded that: “Smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not towards the lawful government.”

According to NBC News, the Russian military has been jamming some US military drones operating in the skies over Syria. The Russians began jamming some smaller US drones’ GPS systems several weeks ago, four US officials said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May is ready to approve a British military action in Syria and would not seek prior parliamentary approval because she favoured acting soon.

Xi’s speech not enough
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledges to lower tariffs on automobiles and open his country's market have been marked as little more than a few recycled and incremental promises that have yet to be fulfilled by business leaders and analysts.

While the speech approached key issues, Mr Xi largely ignored the US's top concerns with China about its massive subsidisation and state support of Chinese industry.

"If the [Chinese] administration's goal is to modestly move the needle on the trade balance and improve market access somewhat, then this would be a starting point of a negotiation. But if their goal is to constrain China's industrial policy, then this doesn't even get China to the table," Centre for Strategic and International Studies analyst Scott Kennedy says.

The White House, however, praised the Chinese president’s speech as "an encouraging step forward" but said it may not be enough to stop it from continuing with his planned tariffs on up to $US150 billion worth of imports from China.

"We want to see concrete actions from China, and we're going to continue moving forward in the process and in the negotiations until those things happen," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says.

China formally challenged those new tariffs at the World Trade Organisation. Beijing asked for consultations on the action, which it says violated both the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as well as the Agreement on Safeguards.

Beijing used the same justification to impose duties on about $US3 billion worth of US goods. The US Trade Representative officials previously dismissed China's claim that the tariffs constitute a safeguard action, arguing that it imposed the tariffs on national security grounds.

US CPI data down
US consumer prices dropped for the first time in 10 months in March caused by a decline in the cost of petrol.

The Consumer Price Index slipped 0.1% last month in the index’s first and largest drop since May 2017, after climbing 0.2% in February, according to the US Labour Department. In the 12 months through March, the CPI increased 2.4%, the largest annual gain in a year.

The so-called “core” CPI rose 2.1% year-on-year in March, the largest since February 2017, after increasing 1.8% in February 2018. It is now well above the 1.8% annual average increase over the past 10 years. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI unchanged in March and the core CPI rising 0.2% from February.

French money hole
France is eating into its budget deficit faster than expected – and that could have an impact on some delicate tax negotiations.

New projections suggest France could be running a surplus – its first in close to 50 years – by the end of President Emmanuel Macron's term in 2022. A more orderly fiscal house "will help us make progress on other major projects like taxing [digital giants]," French finance minister Bruno Le Maire says.