Good morning and Happy Friday.

The Asian/Pacificmarkets leaned to the upside. South Korea, Austrailia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Singapore posted gains; China, Hong Kong and Thailand were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle Eastare currently mostly up. Poland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Sweden are all posting solid gains. Futures in the Statespoint towards a slight positive open for the cash market.ES futures are up 12 points at the moment

The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down.

End in sight

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said negotiators could come to an agreement in principle to raise or suspend the debt ceiling as soon as this weekend, allowing the House of Representatives to vote on a bill next week. "I can see now where a deal can come together," he told reporters at the Capitol. That's the most positive he has been since Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has estimated that the U.S. government is at risk of default as soon as June 1. Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said a deal is "close" and Steny Hoyer, a Democratic representative from Maryland and former congressional leader, said: "I think we're going to get a deal." (72 comments)

No pause yet?

The chances of a rate hike at the Federal Reserve's June 13-14 meeting increased yesterday after Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said she's not yet in favor of pausing rate increases, based on current data. The probability of a 25-basis point rate hike increased to 37.8% today from 10.7% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. That would be the Fed's 11th straight rate hike. Fed Governor Philip Jefferson said a "considerable amount of data on economic activity" for April and May have yet to come in before a decision is made. He said he's considering monetary policy's "long and variable lags", uncertainty over tighter lending standards, GDP's slower growth, and the policy's muted effect on the labor market so far. Note that Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman and New York Fed President John Williams are all slated to address separate events later today. (11 comments)

Legal shield upheld

The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major win for internet and social media companies by maintaining legal protections for content posted by users in two separate lawsuits that claimed that these firms "aided and abetted" terrorists. In a case involving Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) video-sharing platform YouTube, judges refused to limit the immunity that internet companies have under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The case pertains to Islamic State's attack in Paris in 2015. In another case, judges dismissed a lawsuit against Twitter that sought to hold the social media app liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act for an Istanbul nightclub shooting in 2017. In the Twitter case, the top court raised doubts if social media firms can be held liable for "agnostic" algorithms that push content to users. The rulings put to rest fears that the tech industry could be subject to a wave of similar lawsuits. (4 comments)

Today's Economic Calendar
8:45 Fed's Williams Speech
9:00 Fed's Bowman Speech
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
11:00 Jerome Powell Speech
1:00 PM Baker Hughes Rig Count

Other Items

Equity Residential (EQR) founder Sam Zell dies at 81.

PacWest (PACW) debt rating downgraded to junk at Fitch.

Billionaire Carl Icahn says bearish market bets were a mistake.

Tesla (TSLA) bulls remain recharged after annual shareholder meet.

Netflix (NFLX) shares log 10% gain amid positivity from first ad upfront.

ESPN making moves toward streaming its channel direct to consumers.

WHO recommends updating COVID shots to add Omicron XBB.1 variants.

Applied Materials (AMAT) shares slip despite Q2 results topping expectations.

Warren Buffett buys $200M in Occidental (OXY) stock, raises stake to 24.4%.

Exxon (XOM) sees net-zero global emissions scenario by 2050 'highly unlikely'