News You Can Use From Phil’s Stock World

Financial Markets and Economy

Fed buys $8.5 billion of mortgage bonds, sells none (Reuters)

The Federal Reserve bought $8.494 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities in the week from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, compared with $6.718 billion purchased the previous week, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said on Thursday.

Solid jobs gains defy forecasts, unemployment rate dips (The Globe And Mail)

Canada pumped out 48,000 jobs in January, defying expectations for employment losses as new positions in the service sector fuelled the country’s job growth.

Dollar Headed for First Weekly Gain of the Year (Bloomberg)

The dollar relinquished early gains to trade little changed late Friday, though it was poised to post its first weekly advance since December, with gains of about 0.7% on the week.

Financial Stocks Spike on Fed Regulatory Chief's Plan to Resign (Bloomberg)

The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF gained as much as 0.6 percent on Friday after Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo announced he will retire on or around April 5. Tarullo, who started his term a week after Barack Obama took office, also served a the central bank’s top regulator of Wall Street banks. The 64-year-old’s stint as governor wasn’t due to expire until 2022.

Oil rises on U.S. gasoline stocks, but market bloated (Reuters)

Oil prices held onto gains on Thursday with U.S. prices rising on evidence that gasoline demand could strengthen in the world’s biggest oil market, although bloated crude supplies meant that fuel markets remain under pressure.

Oil Jumps as IEA Sees Record OPEC-Cuts Compliance, Rising Demand (Bloomberg)

Oil rose as the International Energy Agency said OPEC has achieved a record 90 percent initial compliance with a production cut accord, while demand grew faster than expected.

Pound Drop Means More For Profits Than U.K. Economy (Benchmark, Bloomberg)

The pound's precipitous drop since the Brexit vote may do more to help the earnings of British exporters than the economy as a whole

‘Thanks to Donald Trump, it could be party time for investing in Russia’ (The Telegraph)

Russian stock markets gained around 90pc last year as the oil price rose and there were signs that the political risks around the country could be reducing.

U.S. Consumers Are Watching Government Policy Like Never Before (Bloomberg)

Three weeks into his presidency, Donald Trump's every statement continues to dominate headlines — and Americans are paying attention.

U.S. Moves to Grab Russia’s Crown as World’s Top Wheat Supplier (Bloomberg)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut its forecast for Russian wheat exports this season for a second time, to 28.5 million metric tons. That’s closing the gap to the 27.5 million tons of shipments now expected from the U.S., which had its estimate raised by 5.8 percent.

China's January trade data blew away expectations (Business Insider Australia)

Chinese trade data easily breezed past expectations in December, helping to fuel optimism over the state of the global economy.

Market Outlook on Fed Rate Hikes Is Waning (Bloomberg)

After peaking in December, following Donald Trump’s surprise presidential win and the second rate hike from the Fed, there has been a steady decline.

Is A Trump Stock Dump Coming? 4 Signals To Watch (Forbes)

I'm not a market timer and I hate the idea of even trying to predict where stocks are going. But stocks will head south at some point in the future. And it's increasingly likely that President Trump's policies could trigger a decline, according to a raft of new research from economists.

One of Wall Street's most prominent bulls is retiring (Business Insider)

Abby Joseph Cohen, the president of Goldman Sachs' Global Market Institute, is retiring.

Germany is playing a dangerous game on trade (Quartz)

Germany’s got a nasty habit—one that it’s foisting on the rest of the world. The country just announced record-breaking surpluses in trade and its current account.

Vancouver’s Empty Mansions Highlight Middle-Class Housing Woes (Bloomberg)

Vancouver’s multimillion-dollar homes are increasingly out of reach for Vancouverites. And nothing speaks to the Canadian city’s affordability crisis more than its empty houses.

The European Central Bank is about to do something very stupid (The Week)

Back in 2012, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi declared that "the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro." He has apparently already forgotten that promise.

OPEC Production Cut May Need to Be Extended: Oil Ministers (OilPrice.com)

The oil ministers of Iran and Qatar have suggested that OPEC’s production cut agreement may have to be extended beyond the June deadline, despite an almost 100-percent compliance rate.

China Vice Premier: "Those Who Manipulate Economic Data Will Be Punished" (Zero Hedge)

Ask any economist or trader over drinks, or in any other setting, what they think about Chinese economic data or financial reporting and the answer will be one and the same: it's all fake.

Companies

Sears May Sell Land, Cut Jobs To Save $1B; Shares Soar (Associated Press)

Sears may sell more locations, cut more jobs and put more of its famous brands on the block as part of its latest plan to revive the faltering retail chain.

Why Did Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Stock Gain 11% in January? (Fool.com)

The worst may be over for Chipotle (NYSE: CMG).While its numbers are well below where the chain stood before its food-safety scandal, the Mexican eatery showed tentative signs that customers are returning when it reported Q4 results.

Yelp plunges after sales outlook misses estimates (YELP) (Business Insider)

Yelp shares slumped by as much as 11% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company's projection for first-quarter sales missed analysts' expectations.

The world's largest container carrier is in big trouble (Wolf Street)

A.P. Moller-Maersk – a conglomerate that includes the largest container carrier in the world, transporting about 19% of all seaborne containerized cargo, plus large port operations, an oil driller, and other units – got caught in two industries that saw prices collapse: seaborne container freight and oil.

USA Today Owner Gannett Beat Q4 Revenue And Profit, But Print Advertising Still Declining (MarketWatch Pulse)

Gannett Co. Inc. shares rose nearly 9% in premarket trade on Thursday after the USA Today owner reported fourth-quarter earnings that were better than Wall Street had forecast.

Technology

10% of digital news consumers say 'Facebook' is a news outlet (Mashable Asia)

People are reading news online, but they don't always remember where the news came from — unless it was on Facebook.

iPhone 8's iris scanner, wireless charging rumors pick up steam (CNet)

An iris scanner, wireless charging and an OLED display (instead of an LCD screen) could come to the 10th-anniversary iPhone, according to a new report from Digitimes.

How Robots Helped Create 100,000 Jobs at Amazon (Singularity Hub)

Accelerating technology has been creating a lot of worry over job loss to automation, especially as machines become capable of doing things they never could in the past.

Mark Zuckerberg reveals Oculus’ glove-like VR controller prototypes (The Next Web)

On a trip to Oculus’ research lab in Redmond, Washington, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried out the company’s prototypes for glove-like controllers that are designed to be used in VR and AR experiences with the Rift headset, and shared a photo of them which you can see above.

Scientists make battery that runs on air and carbon dioxide (Engadget)

Researchers at Penn State University have potentially come up with yet another way we could create energy from all that nasty carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere.

How an AI took down four world-class poker pros (Engadget)

That was anticlimactic," Jason Les said with a smirk, getting up from his seat. Unlike nearly everyone else in Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino, Les had just played his last few hands against an artificially intelligent opponent on a computer screen.

Politics

Trump Overrules Tillerson, Rejecting Elliott Abrams for Deputy Secretary of State (NY Times)

Mr. Trump overruled his newly minted secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, and rejected the secretary’s choice for his deputy at the department, two people briefed on the decision said Friday.

California rallies around Jerry Brown, eager to battle Trump (Politico)

Less than three weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, Gov. Jerry Brown has never been more popular, and nearly two-thirds of adults in the nation’s most populous state want California to go its own way on climate change and immigration, according to a new poll.

Trump Shows Interest In Privatizing Air Traffic (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump told airline and airport executives Thursday that he is interested in privatizing America's air traffic control system and improving the nation's airports and roads, which he called obsolete.

Anger erupts at Republican town hall (CNN)

More than seven years after angry anti-Obamacare town halls erupted across the country, raw emotions are boiling over again — this time, as the Republican Party under President Donald Trump gears up to dismantle Barack Obama's legacy.

6 Highlights From the Ruling on Trump’s Immigration Order (NY Times)

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday unanimously upheld a Federal District Court judge’s decision to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out its executive order on immigration.

Americans Oppose President Trump's Environmental Deregulation, Poll Says (TIME)

The majority of Americans oppose President Donald Trump's plan to eliminate environmental regulations that combat climate change, according to a new poll, underscoring skepticism about an oft-repeated promise the campaign trail.

Life on the Home Planet

Emergency Spillway Use Likely At Oroville Dam In California (Associated Press)

Water could pour over an emergency spillway at Lake Oroville for the first time ever, a last-ditch alternative that California officials said they had been hoping to avoid.

Alec Baldwin Mocks Ivanka Trump (and Her Dad) on ‘Tonight Show’ (NY Times)

Mr. Baldwin, who is hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, was otherwise light on Trump jokes in his banter with Jimmy Fallon. The guys did brief, dueling Trump impersonations in a skit called “Box of Lies,” though Mr. Fallon sounded more like Marlon Brando.

400 pilot whales stranded on New Zealand’s ‘whale trap’ beach (New Scientist)

More than 400 pilot whales beached themselves on Thursday in one of the worst whale stranding New Zealand has ever seen. The animals washed up on beaches at Farewell Spit on the South Island, a known black spot for whale strandings.

New talk of warming pause just another faux climate controversy (New Scientist)