Financial Markets and Economy
Dollar Heads for Longest Losing Streak Since May 2015: Chart (Bloomberg)
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for its fifth weekly decline, the longest run of losses since May 2015. Back then the gauge dropped 4.5 percent over five weeks only to rebound by 2.6 percent the week after.
The contrarian case for buying a big U.S. fund filled with Mexican stocks (Market Watch)
A couple of America’s frenemies have grabbed traders’ attention, as the Dow fights to end the week above 20K.
China Said to Order Banks to Curb New Loans in First Quarter (Bloomberg)
China’s central bank has ordered the nation’s lenders to strictly control new loans in the first quarter of the year, people familiar with the matter said, in another move to curb excess leverage in the financial system.
U.S. GDP Grew 1.9% in Fourth Quarter (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. economy decelerated in the final three months of 2016, returning to the familiar pace of growth that has marked the long but lackluster postrecession expansion.
Top 10 U.S. sanctuary cities face roughly $2.27 billion in cuts by Trump policy (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to strip municipalities of federal dollars for shielding illegal immigrants threatens $2.27 billion in annual funds for the nation's 10 largest cities, a Reuters analysis of federal grants found.
Trump Wants to Build a Wall. Finding Workers Won’t Be Easy (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall faces many obstacles. One of the tallest: building it without undocumented workers.
Greek Bonds Drop as Euro-Area Meeting Deadlock Continues: Chart (Bloomberg)
Greek bonds slumped on Friday after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said “time is running out” for Athens to get more aid.
Dutch Regulator Accidentally Posts Soros’s Short Positions (Bloomberg)
Some of hedge fund billionaire George Soros’s short positions dating back to 2012 were published on the Dutch financial market regulator’s website this week due to “human error,” according to the regulator AFM.
U.K. Brexit Boom Still Sees Economy Plagued by Old Problems (Bloomberg)
The U.K. economy is maintaining its stellar performance since the Brexit vote, but the reasons may be cause for concern.
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day (Bloomberg)
Trump edges toward a trade war, U.S. GDP is due, and earnings season continues. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.
Will Trump Make This $7 Billion Clean-Coal Plant Irrelevant? (Bloomberg)
Southern Co.’s “clean-coal” plant has been hailed as a first-of-its-kind project. President Donald Trump’s climate-change skepticism could make it the last.
U.S. Durable-Goods Orders Fall Due to Big Drop in Defense Category (The Wall Street Journal)
Demand for long-lasting manufactured goods declined in December, a reflection of a large drop in defense-related orders and only modest demand for other products.
Durable-goods orders fall for 2nd month in a row (Market Watch)
Orders for long-lasting goods made in the U.S. fell in December for the second month in a row, largely because of a cutback in demand from the Pentagon.
Dollar recoups losses, shares lower as banks weigh (Reuters)
The dollar regained more ground against a basket of currencies on Friday, while banks weighed on European shares following underwhelming results from Swiss major UBS.
Companies
PayPal Results Climb on Increased Customers, Transactions (The Wall Street Journal)
A rise in the share of holiday shopping that happened over the internet and mobile phones helped push PayPal Holdings Inc.’s fourth-quarter revenue up 17%, executives said Thursday.
Fiat Chrysler says to halve debt as recovery builds (Reuters)
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) (FCHA.MI) pledged on Thursday to nearly halve net debt this year, much more than expected as rising sales and profits put it on course to deliver much of an ambitious turnaround plan by the end of 2018.
RBS Gains After $3.8 Billion Charge Tied to U.S. Mortgage Probe (Bloomberg)
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose the most in two months in London trading after the bank took a 3.1 billion-pound ($3.8 billion) charge in a step toward resolving a U.S. probe into sales of mortgage securities.
TransCanada has not yet broached Keystone XL with shippers: CEO (Reuters)
TransCanada Corp has yet to discuss the Keystone XL oil pipeline with shippers and is not certain if all were still in support of it, the company's CEO said on Wednesday in his first public comments since President Donald Trump revived the project.
Ford sees lower 2017 profits, takes hit from pensions, Mexico (Reuters)
Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss, citing an accounting change to pensions and costs for abandoning a factory in Mexico, which President Donald Trump had attacked on the road the White House.
Technology
Apple iPhone Price Under Pressure as Buyers Seek Cheaper Devices (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. results next week will likely show iPhone sales growing again, bucking a year of declines. That’s the good news.
Apple's strategy in the 'smart home' race is threatened by Amazon (Reuters)
In less than a year, Amazon's combination of the Echo speaker system and the Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant has come close to delivering on the elusive promise of easy-to-use technology that can control gadgets in the home with a few spoken words.
This robot can trick computers into thinking it's a human (Business Insider)
"Captchas" are a vital line of defence against robots.
They're those little tests you have to take to prove you're human online, often when signing up for something. Without them, the web would be overrun by malicious bots and fake accounts — but even they're not perfect.
Robotic Food Delivery Is Rolling Into The United States In February (Popular Science)
Starship Technologies, co-founded by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis of Skype fame, raised $17.2 million in January to build a fleet of six-wheeled delivery robots.
Politics
In Trump era, Democrats and Republicans switch sides on states' rights (Reuters)
Five years ago, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, now President Donald Trump's nominee for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, sat in the front row as the U.S. Supreme Court debated the contentious Affordable Care Act.
Trump’s Immigration Revamp to Include Plans for Safe Zones Inside Syria (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump is crafting executive orders that would institute sweeping changes to U.S. refugee and immigration policies, including a ban on people from countries in the Middle East and North Africa deemed by the new administration as a terror risk, according to people familiar with the plans.
The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned (The Washington Post)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.
Trump heads to Philly to charm congressional Republicans (Politico)
President Donald Trump may crow about his successes when he takes the stage before congressional Republicans at their group retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday—but he'll be asking his fellow GOP politicians for help making his agenda a reality.
Blacklisting Muslim Brotherhood Carries Risks (The Wall Street Journal)
In the immediate aftermath of the Arab Spring, the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates were winning elections across the Middle East—a testament to the Islamist movement’s popular appeal.
U.K. Lawmakers Given Two Weeks to Debate Short Brexit Bill (Bloomberg)
Prime Minister Theresa May’s government will push its draft law to trigger the start of the Brexit process through the House of Commons within two weeks in a rush to stick to her March 31 deadline.
Philippines says U.S. military to upgrade bases, defense deal intact (Reuters)
The United States will upgrade and build facilities on Philippine military bases this year, Manila's defense minister said on Thursday, bolstering an alliance strained by President Rodrigo Duterte's opposition to a U.S. troop presence.
Trump Greets U.K.'s May as World Leaders Look For Cues (Bloomberg)
Theresa May will provide the first test for how world leaders can deal with Donald Trump when she arrives in the U.S. to welcome the new president to the global stage and lay the groundwork for a U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
Trump Faces Criticism Over Prospect of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump drew sharp criticism Wednesday from Republicans as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill over the prospect of an administration review of U.S. policy on the interrogation and detention of enemy combatants, a move that could lay the groundwork for resuming the use of techniques once banned as torture.
Health and Biotech
Mysterious cluster of amnesia cases, possibly tied to opioids, alarms health officials (STAT News)
Public health officials on Thursday said they had detected a bizarre cluster of cases in which patients in Massachusetts developed amnesia over the past few years — a highly unusual syndrome that could be connected to opioid use.
New DNA-Like Drugs Show Promise in Treating Alzheimer’s (Scientific American)
A growing body of research has traced the roots of Alzheimer’s disease to the deposition of a protein called tau throughout the brain. To date, however, targeting the rogue protein to treat dementia has produced mixed results, with a promising anti-tau compound recently failing in a late-stage clinical trial.
Life on the Home Planet
Six shot during vigil for gunshot victim in Chicago: media (Reuters)
A 12-year-old girl was among six people shot on Wednesday evening during a vigil in Chicago for a gunshot victim, local media said, the day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened federal intervention to tackle gun violence in the city.
Planet Earth makes its own water from scratch deep in the mantle (New Scientist)
Our planet may be blue from the inside out. Earth’s huge store of water might have originated via chemical reactions in the mantle, rather than arriving from space through collisions with ice-rich comets.
Dozens of survivors pay homage to victims of Auschwitz (Reuters)
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and some of the last survivors of Auschwitz paid homage to the victims of the Holocaust on Friday, 72 years after the Nazi death camp was liberated in the final throes of World War Two.
