Financial Markets and Economy
Why Energy Stock and Oil Investors Disagree (The Wall Street Journal)
Energy shares and oil prices have fallen out of step. OPEC’s decision to curb output and the resulting higher oil prices were supposed to be a boon for oil producers and the companies that help them drill wells and pump crude.
Dow 21,000 matches the fastest 1,000-point march in history (Market Watch)
That was fast! The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday closed above 21,000 for the first time ever, soaring to a psychologically significant level and marking one of its quickest runs to such a milestone.
FED Survey Finds Economy Growing At Moderate Pace (Associated Press)
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy has been growing at a moderate pace, helped by sustained gains in consumer spending.
Mnuchin: Stock Market Shows People Believe in Trump’s Agenda (FoxBusiness)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin gave the FOX Business Network an inside look at the administration’s economic agenda. “The number one thing that the president and I are focused on is economic growth,” he said.
For China’s Factories, a Weaker Currency Is a Double-Edged Sword (NY Times)
At first glance, given the way that China controls its currency, the Guangdong Chigo Air Conditioning Company might seem like a winner.
The Urban Condo Boom Has Reached Its Final Frontier: Detroit (The Wall Street Journal)
When David Di Rita first tried to develop luxury apartments in this city’s downtown, entire skyscrapers were vacant, storefronts were boarded up, drugs were peddled openly and most of the neighborhood’s residents were squatters.
US Construction Spending Drops 1 Percent In January (Associated Press)
Builders cut back on construction spending in January by the largest amount in nine months, with weakness stemming from the biggest reduction in government activity in nearly 15 years.
Donald Trump’s Fake Math (The Daily Beast)
President Donald Trump’s address to Congress promised the economically impossible—massive spending increases combined with big new tax cuts—without vastly increasing the national debt Trump’s already complained is far too big.
Media Stocks Lifted By Market Rise As Investors Anticipate Tax Cut (Deadline)
Several media and tech companies’ stock prices touched 12-month highs today as the overall market rose on the growing belief, reinforced by President Trump’s speech last night, that corporations soon might see their taxes cut.
America’s ‘hidden subsidies’ for fossil fuels are worth $170 billion a year (The Conversation)
Donald Trump wants to restrict or even abolish the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In particular, he is proposing to dramatically limit the federal agency’s power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, instead putting the onus on individual states to self-regulate.
Trump Makes Healthcare a Priority, Insurance Stocks Surge (Fox Business)
UnitedHealth (UNH) is one of nine stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting an all-time high Wednesday, in the wake of President Trump’s first address to Congress where he provided an outline of what he expects to guide the GOP as it begins to coalesce around a healthcare replacement bill.
GDPNow (Federal Reserve Bank Of Atlanta)
The growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) is a key indicator of economic activity, but the official estimate is released with a delay. Our GDPNow forecasting model provides a "nowcast" of the official estimate prior to its release.
How Poor Data Costs The U.S. Economy $3.1 Trillion A Year (Newsweek)
Dr. David Hand, chief scientific advisor at data technology and investment company Winton Capital Management, speaks with Newsweek senior writer and finance editor Leah McGrath Goodman about how poor data costs the U.S. economy an estimated $3.1 trillion a year.
Taser: Wait, I Thought Earnings Were Good?!?! (Barron's)
On first glance, Taser offered everything an investor could want. It reported a profit of 12 cents a share, beating forecasts for 11 cents, according to Zacks, on sales of $82.1 million–a record–beating forecasts for $71 million.
Higher education in Britain is still good value compared with America (The Economist)
Universities in Britain may soon be able to charge £14,000 ($17,200) a year for new fast-track degrees. These proposed two-year courses will cost the same £28,000 as the standard three-year course, but living expenses will be reduced.
USDJPY Surges After Brainard Says "Rate Hike Likely Appropriate Soon" (Zero Hedge)
One day after a duo of Fed presidents unleashed the biggest plunge in 2 month Fed Fund futures since 2008, sending March rate hike odds from 50% to 80% in under two hours.
Companies
Crocs taps new CEO, closes stores in wake of brutal quarter (New York Post)
The Colorado-based company — whose brightly-hued, plastic clogs are worn by the likes of celebrity chef Mario Batali — is bumping its chief executive upstairs and closing 160 stores over the next two years.
McDonald’s Decides to Embrace Fast-Food Identity (The Wall Street Journal)
After losing about 500 million U.S. orders over the past five years over failed attempts to widen its customer base, the fast-food chain said it is going to embrace its identity as an affordable fast-food chain and stop chasing after people who will rarely eat there.
Technology
McLaren’s new supercar has a rotating dashboard (The Verge)
Most cars are used for a single, simple task: get the driver and their passengers from point A to point B. If we’re honest — though they start around the $200,000 mark — most McLaren sports cars are probably used for the same purpose.
2017 is set to be the year of driverless technology, with auto giants such as Ford and Audi making huge financial commitments in the field of motoring AI.
Economists May Be Underestimating How Fast the Robots Are Coming (Bloomberg)
Economists may be underestimating the impact on labor markets of increasing automation and the rise of artificial intelligence, according to a post published on the Bank of England’s staff blog on Wednesday.
Top Selling Vehicles In The US In February (Associated Press)
Automakers released February U.S. sales of new cars and trucks on Wednesday. Here are the top selling vehicles, the total sold and the percent change from last February.
This site is “taking the edge off rant mode” by making readers pass a quiz before commenting (Nieman Lab)
Two weeks ago, NRKbeta, the tech vertical of the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, published an explainer about a proposed new digital surveillance law in the country.
The Incredible Shrinking Motor (The Economist)
Cars, much like people, are getting bigger. They began to expand when safety regulations required beefier vehicles; customers, in turn, acquired a taste for larger models. The hulking SUV is the world’s fastest-growing breed of car; even medium-sized hatchbacks have inflated.
Politics
Trump administration has found only $20 million in existing funds for wall (Reuters)
President Donald Trump’s promise to use existing funds to begin immediate construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has hit a financial roadblock, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Pentagon looks at authorizing some raids without White House approval (CNN)
Military commanders are discussing speeding up the authorization of counterterrorism missions by allowing the Pentagon or even field commanders to approve some of them rather than the White House, US defense officials told CNN.
President Donald Trump gave a big speech Tuesday night before a joint session of Congress that was stuffed with lies, divorced from observable reality and a moral travesty.
Trump’s health care vision is impossible (Think Progress)
During a Tuesday night speech to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump made a lot of promises regarding health coverage but offered no feasible plan for how to make those promises a reality.
DREAMer detained by ICE moments after speaking at immigration rally (Salon)
When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at her Jackson, Mississippi home earlier this month, 22-year-old Daniela Vargas barricaded herself inside a closet as the law enforcement officials searched every inch of her home for four hours.
Here’s to the return of the journalist as malcontent (Columbia Journalism Review)
Its inability to understand Donald Trump’s rise over the last year, ending in his victory Tuesday night, clearly stand among journalism’s great failures, certainly in a generation and probably in modern times.
House Republicans Announce Only Republicans Are Allowed to See New Health-Care Plan (New York Mag)
Yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan boasted that his party would follow a deliberate, transparent process to repeal and replace Obamacare. “This is how the legislative process is supposed to be designed,” he told the Today show.
Trump’s incompetent war on the federal bureaucracy could lead to his undoing (Salon)
Several of his Cabinet posts remain unfilled as Trump’s nominees have not been officially confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Trump has yet to install new management at Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as those for energy, labor, agriculture and the interior.
White House Lied to Journalists About Trump Speech in ‘Misdirection Play’ (MediaIte)
CNN reported Wednesday on a senior administration official admitting that the White House intentionally misled reporters ahead of President Donald Trump‘s congressional address in order to get generate positive press coverage as part of a “misdirection play.”
You Can't Balance Out Racism (The Concourse)
Donald Trump earned plaudits last night for giving a speech that was “presidential,” meaning one that adhered to standard norms of political bullshit and struck a “softer tone.”
Trump’s preliminary budget makes devastating cuts to most of the government (Think Progress)
President Trump is expected to release his outline for federal government spending on Monday, and according to multiple news outlets, he will increase defense funding by $54 billion while leaving Social Security and Medicare as is.
Senator Caught On Tape Yelling At Kids During A Private School Voucher Discussion (Scary Mommy)
With Betsy DeVos’ nomination to Secretary of Education, we are hearing more and more about school vouchers, charter schools, and private schools.
Supreme Court snatches victory away from the forces of gerrymandering (Think Progress)
On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court corrected a serious error by a lower federal court that, if allowed to spread throughout the judiciary, could have significantly bolstered future attempts to draw gerrymandered districts.
Life on the Home Planet
Taiwan rolls out first phase of water rationing this year (Taiwan News)
Rainfall over the 228 holidays only slightly alleviated the water shortage situation at the Shihmen Dam by adding an additional six days of water supply, but was insufficient to halt the first phase of water rationing implemented in northern Taiwan starting Thursday.
Mount Etna, Europe’s Most Active Volcano, Puts On a Show (NY Times)
In a fiery reminder of its presence and its power, Mount Etna roared to life this week on the island of Sicily, sending red-hot fountains of molten rock and ash high into the air and down the slopes of Europe’s largest and most active volcano.
We’ve Talked About Homicide In Chicago At Least One Million Times But I Don’t Think This Has Come Up (City Notes)
Like the captions say, the one on the left shows homicide rates by police district in the early 90s, when crime was at its peak in Chicago, and the one on the right shows the same thing, but about two decades later.*
Scientists sound the alarm on impending ‘major extinction event’ (Think Progress)
In June of 2016, a group of scientists reported that a tiny rodent found only on a single island off the coast of Australia had officially gone extinct — the first mammalian causality, according to the scientists, of man-made climate change.
Remembering a City Where the Smog Could Kill (NY Times)
Once upon a time, you could touch the air in New York. It was that filthy. No sensible person would put a toe in most of the waterways.
Antarctica hits record high temperature of 63.5°F (Reuters)
An Argentine research base near the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula has set a heat record at a balmy 63.5° Fahrenheit (17.5 degrees Celsius), the U.N. weather agency said on Wednesday.
