The Non-Weirdness of Negative Interest Rates

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German government bonds with maturities going out to 30 years now trade with negative interest rates. UBS Group AG plans to charge an annual fee of 0.6% for some wealthy clients to hold their money. In Denmark, a bank is selling, for the first time, a mortgage-backed note that carries a negative coupon.

Negative rates are showing up everywhere, seemingly turning on their heads traditional notions of lending and borrowing. Negative yields just don’t seem to make any sense. A lender is supposed to get paid to part with capital, while a borrower is supposed to pay to use that cash for some purpose. It seems crazy that anyone  would voluntarily part with their money, only to end up with less of it.

Dish stock gains after chairman buys 500,000 shares

Shares of Dish Network Corp. DISH, +4.93% are up more than 3% in Thursday morning trading after Chairman Charlie Ergen disclosed that he purchased about 500,000 shares for $15.7 million over the course of the week. Ergen said in a filing that he purchased 300,005 shares at a price of $31.70 on Aug. 5, 100,000 shares at a price of $31.19 on Aug. 6, and 100,000 shares at a price of $30.94 on Aug. 7. The stock buys come as Dish embarks on a transformation through its plans to enter the wireless industry. Dish intends to purchase prepaid wireless brands and spectrum from T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS, +1.36% and Sprint Corp. S, +1.26% if their pending merger goes through, and the company will be able to lean on T-Mobile’s wireless network for several years while it builds out infrastructure for its own. Shares have fallen 18% in the past month, as the S&P 500 SPX, +1.01% has dropped 2.3%.

Match Group stock gets a downgrade after massive rally

Match Group Inc. shares MTCH, -6.85% are off 5.4% in Thursday morning trading after UBS analyst Eric Sheridan downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The rating change comes after the company’s better-than-expected earnings report, which included strong Tinder subscriber growth and an upbeat outlook. The report helped send Match shares up 24% in Wednesday’s session. "Looking forward, we now believe that almost all of the call optionality (Tinder user growth, pricing power, a non-Tinder recovery) seem solidly priced in at current levels (stock +68% in last 6 months)," he wrote. "We would need a better entry point than the current stock level to become more constructive against the secular themes evident in the long-term match narrative." Match shares have doubled so far this year, as the S&P 500 SPX, +1.00% has climbed 16%.

Chipotle testing queso blanco in Dallas, Detroit and San Diego

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG, +1.55% said Thursday that it is testing queso blanco across 52 restaurants in Dallas, Detroit and San Diego for a limited time. The queso blanco is made with Monterey Jack cheese, white cheddar, and serrano, poblano and chipotle peppers. Chipotle stock is up 1.3% in Thursday trading and up 86.5% for the year to date.

ANGI Homeservices’s stock plunges toward 2-year low after earnings miss, blamed on ‘bad forecasting’

Shares of ANGI Homeservices Inc. ANGI, -28.17% plummeted 29% to the lowest levels seen since May 2017, after the home services digital marketplace reported second-quarter earnings that missed expectations, which the company said could have to do with "bad forecasting." The company reported late Wednesday net income that fell to $7.0 million, or 1 cent a share, from $22.9 million, or 5 cents a share, which was below the average analyst estimate of 2 cents, according to FactSet. Revenue rose 17% to $343.9 million, but missed the FactSet consensus of $351.2 million. "There are some things to fix that I think our biggest problem there might have been just bad forecasting," said Chief Executive Joseph Levin said on the post-earnings conference call with analysts earlier Thursday, according to a transcript provided by FactSet. Separately, IAC/InterActiveCorp IAC, -3.00% said late Wednesday that it was considering distributing its stake in ANGI to shareholders. ANGI’s stock has tumbled 50% over the past three months, while IAC shares have gained 5.8% and the S&P 500 SPX, +1.00% has tacked on 1.0%.

European Economics Preview: France Business Confidence Data Due

Business confidence from France is due on Thursday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 2.00 am ET, Statistics Norway releases industrial output data for June. Economists forecast production to grow 0.3 percent on month, the same rate as seen in May.

At 2.30 am ET, Bank of France is scheduled to issue business sentiment survey results. The confidence index is forecast to rise to 96 in July from 95 in June. The survey also shows GDP estimate.

At 3.00 am ET, consumer prices and foreign trade figures are due from Hungary. Inflation is expected to remain unchanged at 3.4 percent in July.

At 4.00 am ET, the European Central Bank is slated to issue monthly economic bulletin.

At 5.00 am ET, consumer prices and labor force survey results are due from Greece.