The town of Ferugson, Mo., stood silent for 4 1/2 minutes to mark the killing of Michael Brown, which lead to “Black Lives Matter” protests across the U.S. This week, Fed Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart is speaking on Monday and NY Fed President William Dudley will be speaking Wednesday. Investors will be looking for hints on whether the Fed is likely to lift rates in September. This week 2q earnings reports begin to wind down, with Procter & Gamble, Dollar General, Verifone, Navistar.
Died: Frank Gifford, football Hall of Famer at age 84. The beloved Giants star and Olympics TV host died suddenly at home in Connecticut of natural causes. His wife is NBC “Today” host Kathie Lee Gifford. New York Post
Warren Buffett eyes biggest deal yet. Berkshire Hathaway is close to buying Precision Castparts at a price likely to exceed $30 billion. Berkshire has held a 3% stake in the aircraft and oil industry parts maker for more than two years. Precision has underperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 30 percentage points over the past five years, making it a ripe takeover target. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
The unflappable Donald Trump defends record on women. But he’s not apologizing for his remarks about Fox News host Megyn Kelly in an interview with CNN on Friday. Trump said she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her…wherever.” He claims he didn’t intend to be rude just to describe her level of anger Om “Meet the Press,” Trump added: “When I was attacked viciously by those women, of course, it’s very hard for them to attack me on looks, because I’m so good looking. But I was attacked very viciously by those women.” Wall Street Journal (paywall)
France the leader in markets for 2015. Performance: 20.64%, followed by the Nikkei with 18.76%, and Shanghai, with 15.75%. S&P 500 is up a weak 0.91% so far. DShort, Advisor Perspectives
Greece getting closer to outline of deal for €86 billion resuce plan. Apparently some European countries are feeling they were a little too tough on Greece. Finland has parted ways with Germany, which is trying to get even more concessions from Athens. Deadline for a deal: August 20. Financial Times (paywall)
“Smart money” no longer betting against gold. Commercial hedgers are maintaining the lowst net short position in gold since 2001, according to data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. They tend to be countercyclical — as opposed to short-selling hedge funds, which are momentum players, and are net short for the first time in history. Zero Hedge
Twitter is talking to Intel president to take over CEO reins. Renée James has only about 2,000 Twitter followers and has tweeted only 14 times. Twitter watchers seem to view her as a dark horse candidate. New York Post
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