Financial Markets and Economy
Dollar slides, yields rise as investors digest Fed (Reuters)
The dollar sank to a five-week low on Thursday while U.S. bond yields rose as investors digested the recent U.S. interest rate increase and indications there would be no pick-up in the pace of monetary tightening.
Yellen Calms Fears Fed’s Policy Trigger Finger Is Getting Itchy (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sought to reassure investors that the central bank’s latest interest-rate increase wasn’t a paradigm shift to a trigger-happy policy driven by fears of faster inflation.
Post-Fed Trades Fade as U.S. Stocks, Bonds Retreat: Market Wrap (Bloomberg)
Trades sparked by the Federal Reserve’s dovish tone partially unwound Thursday, as U.S. stocks slumped after the best gain in two weeks and Treasury yields edged higher following an 11-point tumble. The dollar slipped.
Canadian households owed $2 trillion at the end of 2016 (CBC News)
The information is contained in a Statistics Canada report released Wednesday on how much Canadians owe, and what they're buying with their borrowed money.
The Lone Dissenter From the Fed’s Rate Move Is Worried About Inequality (Bloomberg)
There was only one dissent from Wednesday's rate-raising decision by the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee, and it came from Neel Kashkari. The former aerospace engineer and onetime Republican candidate for governor of California is now president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
The ‘Very Strange’ Item on Trump’s 1040: Alternative Minimum Tax (Bloomberg)
Leaked pages of President Donald Trump’s 2005 tax return offer no new details about his foreign income and business dealings but highlight a tax he’s vowed to abolish.
In Trump era, some Mexican migrants head north – to Canada (Reuters)
Shortly after crossing the Rio Grande into the gang-infested border city of Reynosa, dozens of Mexicans deported during U.S President Donald Trump's first days in office said they would soon try to head north again – but this time to Canada.
Fed-PBOC Moves Hint at Calibration Mooted a Year Ago at G-20 (Bloomberg)
In the space of 10 hours spanning various time zones, the U.S. Federal Reserve lifted interest rates and reassured markets it doesn’t have an itchy trigger finger on Wednesday.
Trump May Not Want Refugees, but Rust Belt Mayors Do (Bloomberg)
Today, what began as a corner store in the city’s Bevo Mill neighborhood is a 96,000-square-foot (8,900-square-meter) juggernaut that distributes smoked meats, cheeses, cakes and Croatian jams from the former Yugoslavia, Germany, Italy and Greece to 28 U.S. states.
World stocks touch record high, dollar decline deepens (Reuters)
A global stocks index touched a fresh record high on Friday, wrapping up a week when many of the world's major central banks either raised interest rates or signaled they might do so, underlining confidence about economic growth and inflation.
London Lures Bob Diamond Back (The Wall Street Journal)
Bob Diamond, the American banker who left Barclays PLC five years ago, is back in town to buy ailing stock broker Panmure Gordon & Co. PLC.
Oil Little Changed as Saudi, Russia Send Mixed Signals on Cuts (Bloomberg)
Oil ended Friday little changed as Russia’s energy minister said it’s too early to discuss extending an output-reduction deal, reducing optimism a day after Saudi Arabia indicated that a rollover to the second half of the year is a near certainty.
Companies
Volkswagen’s Rough Patch Spells Opportunity for Investors (The Wall Street Journal)
Investors don’t expect much of Volkswagen, but that is precisely why the problem-laden German car maker should make a decent investment.
Goose IPO Vaults Reiss From Aspiring Writer to Millionaire (Bloomberg)
Dani Reiss had no intention of running a billion-dollar clothing empire when he joined his dad’s shop making winter parkas 20 years ago. He was an English literature graduate from the University of Toronto, looking for a few bucks to finance his travel plans.
Technology
Swatch Takes on Google, Apple With Watch Operating System (Bloomberg)
Swatch Group AG said it’s developing an alternative to the iOS and Android operating systems for smartwatches as Switzerland’s largest maker of timepieces vies with Silicon Valley for control of consumers’ wrists.
Cities Shop for $10 Billion of Electric Cars to Defy Trump (Bloomberg)
Dozens of U.S. cities are willing to buy $10 billion of electric cars and trucks to show skeptical automakers there’s demand for low-emission vehicles, just as President Donald Trump seeks to review pollution standards the industry opposes.
Fury Road: Did Uber Steal the Driverless Future From Google? (Bloomberg)
Travis Kalanick, the chief executive officer of Uber Technologies Inc., says he needs leadership help. He recently dispatched former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate sexual harassment claims against the company.
AccuWeather now lets you look at the forecast in virtual reality (Engadget)
Checking the weather report is usually a colorless, simple experience — a glance at an app to see the five day forecast or check the news for any major storms or events.
Tesla’s $169 Million Battery Play Is Just the Beginning (Bloomberg)
Last week, Elon Musk wagered he could address South Australia’s energy crisis with 100 megawatts (MW) of batteries installed in 100 days or less—“or it’s free.” The exchange blew up on Twitter and led to phone calls between Musk and leading Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Nintendo to Double Production of Switch Console (The Wall Street Journal)
Nintendo Co. has decided to at least double its planned production of the Switch console in the year ending March 2018 owing to strong demand, people briefed on the plans said.
'Anonymous' Joins Hacker Army Targeting Central Banks for Cash (Bloomberg)
In 2008, a group of thieves stole $700,000 from Russia’s central bank the old-fashioned way: they infiltrated a processing center, handcuffed a guard, and made off with the cash.
Politics
Europe Gets Reprieve in Dutch Election, But the Center Fragments (Bloomberg)
When Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in November his Dutch equivalent, Geert Wilders celebrated the arrival of a “Patriotic Spring” that would lift anti-immigrant nationalists to power across Europe. That uprising failed to materialize in the Netherlands.
Dutch PM cheers EU leaders by seeing off far-right's Wilders (Reuters)
EU leaders lined up on Thursday to congratulate Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on beating far-rightist Geert Wilders in the first of a series of European elections this year in which populist insurgent parties are hoping to rock the establishment.
Trump Adviser Carl Icahn Lobbies for Rule Change That Benefits Icahn (Bloomberg)
Late in the day on Feb. 27, Michael McAdams’s phone lit up with a flurry of calls and messages. McAdams runs a biofuels trade group, and in the arcane world of fuel policy, the news couldn’t have been bigger: The White House was considering a radical change to the U.S. renewable fuel mandate, which governs the amount of ethanol blended into the country’s gasoline supply.
Trump's budget cuts to domestic, aid programs draw Republican scorn (Reuters)
President Donald Trump's first budget outline, calling for a security-heavy realignment of federal spending, drew resistance on Thursday from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress as many balked at proposed deep cuts to diplomatic and foreign aid programs.
Queen formally approves law giving UK PM May power to trigger EU exit talks (Reuters)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth on Thursday formally granted Prime Minister Theresa May the power to trigger exit talks with the European Union, approving legislation which passed through parliament late on Monday.
Trump Says He Based Charge of Obama Wiretapping on Media Reports (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he based claims that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower at least partially on media reports, and remained confident that information emerging in the coming weeks would vindicate his so-far unsubstantiated charge.
Tillerson urges 'new approach' to North Korea, gives no details (Reuters)
The escalating threat from North Korea's nuclear program shows a clear need for a "new approach," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday, although he did not say what the Trump administration planned.
Tillerson Tells North Korea It Has Nothing to Fear From U.S. (Bloomberg)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that North Korea has nothing to fear from the U.S. or its allies in the region while calling for a new approach to efforts to dismantle the nation’s nuclear program.
Tillerson's use of email alias at Exxon 'entirely proper': Exxon attorneys (Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's use of an alias email address while he was chief executive at Exxon Mobil Corp was "entirely proper," attorneys representing the company said in a letter to a New York court on Thursday.
Trump vows appeal up to Supreme Court after loss on travel ban (Reuters)
A defiant President Donald Trump has pledged to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to fight for his revised travel ban, parts of which were halted by two different federal judges in recent days.
Tillerson Doesn't Rule Out Preemptive Strike on North Korea (Bloomberg)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is considering “all options” to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat while criticizing China over moves to block a missile-defense system on the peninsula.
Trump Budget Likely to See Major Rewrite in Congress (The Wall Street Journal)
Republicans were quick to lodge objections on Thursday to President Donald Trump’s budget plans, many of which trim away smaller programs that help the sort of local communities he vowed to rejuvenate during the campaign.
In first Trump-Merkel meeting, awkward body language and a quip (Reuters)
The first face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel started awkwardly on Friday and ended even more oddly, with a quip by Trump about wiretapping that left the German leader visibly bewildered.
Gorsuch Defended Illegal Immigrants in Criticism of Government Agencies (The Wall Street Journal)
Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, whose confirmation hearing begins Monday, has been unusually forceful with his concerns that judges allow government agencies too much power to make policy, a red flag for liberals who worry that such views could weaken environmental, labor and health regulations.
Berlin: Merkel's call with Chinese president not linked to her U.S. trip (Reuters)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone call with the Chinese president, in which they agreed to work for free trade, had no connection to her visit to Washington that is overshadowed by trade issues, a German government spokesman said on Friday.
Trump barnstorms to push healthcare plan; signs of conservative support (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump used his barnstorming strategy on Wednesday to try to build momentum for his first legislative initiative, a healthcare overhaul, by holding a massive rally in Nashville, Tennessee, reminiscent of his campaign events.
Philippines tells EU lawmakers to butt out after criticism of drugs war (Reuters)
The Philippines derided the European parliament on Friday for interfering in its affairs after it issued a resolution calling for the release of a top critic of the president's war on drugs, which it said should target narcotics networks instead of users.
Oklahoma lawmaker, found with boy in motel, charged with prostitution (Reuters)
An Oklahoma Republican state senator who campaigned as a champion of family values was booked on felony prostitution charges on Thursday after police found him in a motel room with a teenage boy and drugs, court documents showed.
Life on the Home Planet
China to build on disputed shoal in South China Sea (Reuters)
China will begin preparatory work this year for an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, an official said, as two U.S. senators introduced a bill to impose sanctions on its activities in the disputed waterway.
Sirens blare as Japan, fearing North Korea, holds first missile drill (Reuters)
Sirens blared and loudspeakers broadcast warnings in Japan's first civilian missile evacuation drill on Friday, conducted in a fishing town by officials wary about the threat of North Korean missiles.
Iraqi forces edge into Mosul's Old City, Nuri mosque in sight (Reuters)
Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul edged into the Old City and around the al Nuri mosque on Friday trying to seal off a main road to prevent militants sending in suicide bombers to attack their positions.
