Financial Markets and Economy
How a ‘Low Volatility’ Stock Plunged 85% in an Hour (The Wall Street Journal)
Reading the label isn’t enough for picking funds. You may need to go into the ingredients list, too.
Take a look at funds that track the MSCI Minimum Volatility Emerging Markets Index.
North Dakota Oil Spills 3 Times Larger Than First Estimated (Associated Press)
A December oil pipeline spill in western North Dakota might have been three times larger than first estimated and among the biggest in state history, a state environmental expert said Friday.
The Saudi Aramco Oil Put Problem (Bloomberg)
Yet Khalid Al-Falih's warning also unintentionally emphasized another parallel with the former Federal Reserve chairman. Instead of a Greenspan put in stocks, there now appears to be a Saudi Arabian put in oil.
Retailers Keep Closing Stores. That’s Hitting Some Real Estate Stocks (The Wall Street Journal)
Accelerating troubles among big retailers are weighing on a corner of the market for real estate investment trusts, a rare bout of underperformance for one of the hottest sectors in recent years.
All drill, no frack: U.S. shale leaves thousands of wells unfinished (Reuters)
U.S. shale producers are drilling at the highest rate in 18 months but have left a record number of wells unfinished in the largest oilfield in the country – a sign that output may not rise as swiftly as drilling activity would indicate.
Could Gulf States Be Forced To Devalue Their Currencies Against The Dollar? (Forbes)
The ups and downs of energy prices are causing endless difficulties for the oil-rich governments of the Gulf, making fiscal planning difficult and forcing them into some big shifts in policy, with the imminent introduction of taxes for locals alongside cuts to subsidies and other spending.
Flow Show: Investors Are Marching Out of Stock Funds (Barron's)
With enthusiasm for the Trump Administration waning, investors seem to be bracing for a storm. U.S. stock fund redemptions jumped to a 38-week high, according to data-tracking firm EPFR Global.
Here are the stocks that win if the Trump-Ryan health-care bill passes, says top analyst (CNBC)
UnitedHealth Group, Anthem and Humana would be among the big winners if the Trump-Ryan health-care bill is approved by the House on Friday, Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte told CNBC.
Companies
Finish Line's explanation of its disappointing quarter perfectly captures the retail apocalypse (Business Insider)
Finish Line had a hard time selling shoes during the fourth quarter, and its explanation of why is a concise summary of the retail industry's crisis.
One chart shows the huge amount of money Apple is spending to buy its own stock (Business Insider)
Apple might not be a growth stock like Amazon or other tech giants, but investors can appreciate that the company tries hard to raise its stock price through stock buybacks.
Bitcoin tumbles below $1,000 (Business Insider)
Bitcoin is back below $1,000. Aggressive selling on Friday has the cryptocurrency down 4.1% at $987 a coin as traders remain uneasy over its near-term outlook.
Technology
Twitter might build a paid subscription service for power users (The Verge)
Twitter is considering offering a paid subscription to power users, including brands and news organizations, The Verge has confirmed.
Apple Pay ‘State of the Union’ report details adoption among retailers (9To5Mac)
Apple Pay has been steadily growing as Apple continues to add support for new banks and rolls out the service to users in more countries, but we have less data on how much its been adopted in retail and among users.
How to enable T-Mobile’s new robocall protection to block scam calls on iPhone (9To5Mac)
As part of an industry-wide fight against robocalling, T-Mobile is introducing new technologies today to help consumers fight against phone call scams.
Amazon Prime Air drone completes its first US public delivery (CNet)
Amazon Prime Air said Thursday it shipped its first package out in public in the US this week, marking another small step toward its goal of filling the skies with delivery drones.
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Treasury secretary ‘not at all’ worried about robots taking jobs (The Verge)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he’s “not at all” worried about robots displacing American workers, and his definition of artificial intelligence comes from Star Wars. In an interview today with Axios’ Mike Allen, Mnuchin said he was unconcerned about the effects of automation, both with physical machines and artificial intelligence.
U.S. workers face higher risk of being replaced by robots. Here's why (CNN)
Thirty-eight percent of jobs in the U.S. are at high risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence over the next 15 years, according to a new report by PwC.
US Senate votes to overturn Internet privacy rules & block any future ones (9To5Mac)
The US Senate has voted to overturn Internet privacy rules introduced last year by the FCC – and to prevent the FCC from passing any further such rules in the future.
Politics
Outrage over picture of Mike Pence and all-male Republican team 'discussing plans to curb maternity care' (The Telegraph)
Many have been angered by a photograph of Mike Pence and an all-male Republican team reportedly deciding whether maternity care should be covered in Donald Trump's new health insurance plan.
House Opens Debate Ahead of Vote on Health Bill (NY Times)
The House opened debate Friday on one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in years, a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and, in an extremely rare step, roll back a major, established social welfare program — with a vote in the full House set for Friday afternoon.
Inspector General To Review Pullback Of Healthcare.Gov Ads (Associated Press)
A federal inspector general has launched an inquiry into the Trump administration's decision to pull advertising for HealthCare.gov in the closing stretch of this year's sign-up season, according to a letter made public Friday.
Virginia judge backs Trump on travel ban (Politico)
A federal judge in Virginia has affirmed President Donald Trump's authority to issue his revised travel ban executive order, although key parts of the directive remain blocked due to rulings from two judges in other states.
SPICER: Trump 'left everything on the field' for GOP Obamacare replacement (Business Insider)
President Donald Trump has done all he can, and the fate of the GOP healthcare bill is up to the House lawmakers, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday.
In a March 4 skit, “Saturday Night Live” comedian Alex Moffatt depicted President Donald Trump’s third child as a simpleton who can’t help but clumsily disclose how ethically inappropriate his family’s business ties are now that his father occupies the White House.
Insurance Companies Could Profit From Fewer Customers Under GOP Plan (NPR)
The House Republicans' embattled health care bill has plenty of detractors: Democrats, hospitals, the American Medical Association and the House Freedom Caucus all oppose it. But the insurance industry is not on that list, even though it stands to lose millions of customers.
Eric Trump will share business updates with father 'probably quarterly' (Politico)
Opting against selling his business or placing it in a blind trust, President Donald Trump left management of the Trump Organization in the hands of his older two sons, Eric and Donald Jr.
Sean Spicer clearly thinks we’re all stupid. As the man charged with leading the Trump White House’s communications shop, Spicer is in the unenviable position of having to respond to reports that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is both wildly corrupt and financially linked to a Russian billionaire with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
EU to threaten Britain with court action if Theresa May refuses to pay £50bn Brexit 'divorce' bill (The Telegraph)
Britain will be threatened with court action by the EU if it tries to walk away without paying a £50 billion “divorce bill”, leaked papers reveal.
Toronto schools will no longer allow student trips to US (CNN)
Canada's largest school system announced it will no longer allow student or staff trips to the US, citing uncertainty over the travel ban.
Trump Data Gurus Leave Long Trail of Subterfuge, Dubious Dealing (Bloomberg)
Last fall, the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica gained fame as the group of nerdy British data scientists that helped Donald Trump get elected. The firm says it’s able to use its “psychographic data models” to sway undecided voters by targeting people’s social media profiles and serving up messages and ads based on their perceived biases.
Winners And Losers In House Republican Health Plan (Associated Press)
The old and the poor made out great when House Republicans failed Friday to dismantle Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The rich and the almost rich didn't do so well.
Health and Biotech
Decades of TB progress threatened by drug-resistant bacteria, warn experts (The Guardian)
Multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of TB are causing increasing concern, says a new report in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. Migration and travel mean that drug-resistant cases of tuberculosis that are difficult to treat have appeared in almost every part of the world.
Life on the Home Planet
Climate Change May Be Intensifying China’s Smog Crisis (NY Times)
Chinese leaders, grappling with some of the world’s worst air pollution, have long assumed the answer to their woes was gradually reducing the level of smog-forming chemicals emitted from power plants, steel factories and cars.
Coral reefs might be in more trouble than we thought (Popular Science)
As a result of moderate ocean warming amplified by local weather conditions, forty percent of corals in a remote circular reef in the South China Sea died, according to a new study in Scientific Reports.
The Mosquito Solution (The New Yorker)
Few people, unless they travel with an electron microscope, would ever notice the egg of an Aedes aegyptimosquito. But the insects follow us nearly everywhere we go.
The Over-the-Top Mansions Billionaires Just Can't Sell (Realtor.com)
A billionaire’s home may have it all—over-the-top amenities and square-footage measurements in the tens of thousands are just some perks—but that doesn’t mean it sells right away when it hits the market.
