Financial Markets and Economy
Here are the winners from the market's big first quarter rally (Yahoo Finance)
The first quarter of 2017 was one of the stock market’s overall best quarters in recent years. Tech stocks were winners and “Trump stocks” were laggards.
The U.S. Consumer Will Probably Be Fine After Weak Start to Year (Bloomberg)
The disappointing start to the year for Americans’ spending probably won’t be the story for the rest of 2017: Faster income growth, higher confidence and a robust labor market are all in place to help ensure a rebound.
Dollar Drops to Low After Dudley Says No Rush to Increase Rates (Bloomberg)
The dollar dropped to a session low in choppy trading after New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley said that 2 more rate increases in 2017 seem about right, though there’s no need to hurry given that the economy is far from overheating.
Japan Inflation Registers First Back-to-Back Rise Since 2015 (Bloomberg)
Japan’s core consumer prices rose slightly for a second month in February, while the jobless rate dropped to the lowest level since 1994.
China Watchers Tone Down Stock Calls on Monetary Tightening (Bloomberg)
China’s stock market will see limited gains in the next three months, with tightening onshore liquidity the main hurdle, according to analysts.
Little Sign of a ‘Trump Bump’ in the Economic Forecast (NY Times)
Consumers are more confident. Stocks are up 5 percent since the start of the year. And from the president on down, there’s talk of a Trump bump. The only problem: The boom is apparent everywhere except in the economic data.
Biggest China Banks' Bad-Loan Problem May Finally Be Easing (Bloomberg)
Earnings reports this week from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. showed that their provisions for losses on bad loans stabilized last year, helping them to post higher-than-estimated profits.
Venezuela Bonds Fall Most in Two Years on Political Uncertainty (Bloomberg)
Venezuela’s dollar bonds fell the most in two years on Friday as rising political uncertainty in the South American country rekindled concern over a default ahead of a multibillion-dollar payment due next month.
As Automation Advances, Coal Jobs Trump Vows to Bring Back No Longer Exist (NY Times)
In Decatur, Ill., far from the coal mines of Appalachia, Caterpillar engineers are working on the future of mining: mammoth haul trucks that drive themselves.
From Sake Brewing To Energy Production: How Innovation In Biofuels Is Coming From Unlikely Places (Forbes)
It’s an exciting, albeit confusing and risky age for the energy sector, as researchers turn to new sources for clean, renewable forms of energy. For the layperson, the infrastructures of solar and wind power are easy to perceive as “clean,” but there are a host of others that come into play, as well as behind-the-scenes infrastructural and energy logistics oriented technologies involved.
Treasuries Rise on Dovish Comments by New York Fed's Dudley (Bloomberg)
Treasuries rose Friday after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said “a couple” more interest-rate increases this year “seems reasonable” and that there’s no “great urgency” to tighten monetary policy.
10,000 Hours of Trading: What does It Take to Hone your Trading Skills (New Trader U)
The question of what it takes to become a master in any field (sport or business) has been in the epicenter of research for many years. It has occupied psychologists and philosophers alike for decades. Is it the innate talent what matters or a skill can be mastered with practice.
Companies
Lululemon Critics Need To Chill Out (Bloomberg)
Shares in the yoga-gear maker plunged more than 20 percent on Thursday after it warned investors that first-quarter sales at established stores would come in lower than the year before.
China's Millennial Consumers: What Victoria's Secret Got Wrong, And Nike Got Right (Forbes)
Chinese millennials are a new breed of consumers who will shape the future of commerce. They are very interested in consumption and excited by it. They constantly live-stream fashion shows on their phones and discuss new trends.
Apple Scores Victory Over Australian Banks in Apple Pay Spat (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. has seen off efforts by Australia’s banks to form a negotiating bloc over the introduction of Apple Pay, a win for the U.S. technology giant in the global battle to control the future of mobile payments technology.
Technology
Snapchat adds another feature Facebook will copy (Engadget)
Snapchat is in a tough spot right now and we're not just talking about all of those insensitive filters. Users love Stories, but because of that, everybody from Medium to Bumble to Facebook is adding its own version of the feature to its platforms.
The Smartest Machines Are Playing Games (Bloomberg)
Artificial intelligence has come a long way in the 20 years since International Business Machines Corp.’s Deep Blue beat world champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game chess match, or even the six years since Watson trounced Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! Computers have beaten top human players at checkers, backgammon, poker, and go.
NASA tests robotic tools to crack the surface of icy moons (Tech Crunch)
While the Mars rovers are assiduously searching the red planet for water over the next decade, there are whole moons full of the stuff just waiting for us to come visit. At least, that’s the theory.
Politics
The Cost of Trump's Deepening Unpopularity (Bloomberg)
Gallup's first post-health care presidential approval poll showed President Donald Trump down to 36 percent approval, a new low. He had previously fallen slightly below Barack Obama's low point; he's now one tick lower than either Bill Clinton or Gerald Ford at their worst.
President Trump backtracks on trade, will propose only “moderate” changes to NAFTA (Salon)
Based on a draft proposal circulating Congress, President Trump and his administration will only seek modest changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
California Upholds Emissions Standards, Setting Up Face-Off With Trump (NY Times)
California’s clean-air agency voted on Friday to push ahead with stricter emissions standards for cars and trucks, setting up a potential legal battle with the Trump administration over the state’s plan to reduce planet-warming gases.
These New Hampshire voters are convinced Donald Trump is right about his illegal voters claim (Salon)
Donald Trump’s biggest fans in New Hampshire are sticking by one of Trump’s most disputed and debunked claims — that millions of votes were illegally cast for Hillary Clinton — even though Trump’s claims are not even backed up by most Republican politicians.
Paul Ryan: Devin Nunes’ source is a “whistleblower-type person” (Salon)
As the rush is on to discover who leaked Rep. Devin Nunes information about possible surveillance of President Trump’s transition team, House Speaker Paul Ryan is providing some cover for the House Intelligence Chair, saying that he or she was a “whistle blower-type person.”
Putin, in First Remarks on Russian Protests, Warns of Potential Chaos (NY Times)
Breaking five days of silence — and a virtual Soviet-style blackout on state news media — over the biggest protests in Russia in years, President Vladimir V. Putin responded publicly on Thursday to the nationwide anticorruption demonstrations with a familiar message.
In Empty Offices, Critics See Evidence of Trump Devaluing Science (NY Times)
On the fourth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the staff of the White House chief technology officer has been virtually deleted, down from 24 members before the election to, by Friday, only one.
Donald Trump lashes out at Freedom Caucus as second attempt at Obamacare repeal reportedly falls apartIn a Thursday morning tweet, Trump called on fellow GOP members to “fight” the Freedom Caucus, the small collection of Republican House members who drove Ryan’s predecessor from his job and succeeded in scuttling the president’s plan to repeal portions of Obamacare.
EU to Trump: Mess With Brexit and We’ll Mess With Texas (Bloomberg)
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hit back at Donald Trump’s support for the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, saying that he would champion American states that wanted to secede from the union.
Mike Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity (The Wall Street Journal)
Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.
National corruption breeds personal dishonesty: A shady government compromises morality (Scientific American)
A number of studies have shown that seeing a peer behave unethically increases people’s dishonesty in laboratory tests. What is much harder to investigate is how this kind of influence operates at a societal level.
So Much News, So Little Time – Nepotism, Impeachment & The Freedom Caucus (CC)
First Daughter Ivanka Trump gets a White House job, recently impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye is arrested, and Donald Trump fights with his fellow Republicans.
Trump is set to sign 2 executive orders on trade Friday (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump talked tough on trade on the campaign trail, vowing to renegotiate a slew of major deals and to label China a currency manipulator on "Day One."
Now his administration appears to be taking a more cautious approach.
The Trump presidency is in a hole (The Economist)
DONALD TRUMP won the White House on the promise that government is easy. Unlike his Democratic opponent, whose career had been devoted to politics, Mr Trump stood as a businessman who could Get Things Done.
With all the hoopla over the current administration’s relationship with Russia and the health care Dumpster fire, we haven’t been paying as much attention to the Trump policy that seems to be going great guns: the deportation and detention of foreign nationals by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Things just went from bad to worse for Devin Nunes and the White House (The Washington Post)
The New York Times just reported that two White House officials helped provide Nunes with information that President Trump and his associates had been swept up in legal surveillance, just before Nunes briefed Trump himself and then disclosed some of the information to the media and to the House Intelligence Committee that he chairs.
Top GOP Senator Signals Tax Plan's Permanence Is 'Up in the Air' (Bloomberg)
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said Thursday it’s uncertain whether Congress will offset the tax cuts that Republicans hope to deliver with new revenue, creating the chance that their tax-overhaul plan would be limited to 10 years.
Robert Reich: Trump’s technique for dealing with bad news involves a fog machine (Robert Reich's Blog)
President Donald Trump’s technique for dealing with bad news is to create enough confusion and partisanship to envelope it in dense fog.
Trump and Russia, the never-ending story (The Economist)
Charges of collusion over an inquiry into collusion, probes and counterprobes: the swirl of hearings and allegations stemming from Russian meddling in the presidential election is becoming wearyingly hard to follow—which, for some, may be the point.
Scientists wage war: Long legal battles ahead over Trump’s climate order (Climate Control)
Environmental groups and progressive states are vowing to battle President Donald Trump in court over his push to repeal federal climate protections, and experts are warning that the battles ahead will be slow and protracted.
Total Control Is Crippling the GOP (Bloomberg)
Bill Hoagland spent 25 years as a Republican aide in the Senate, a career spanning the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes. He’s old enough to remember when the GOP was capable of tough things, such as comprehensive tax reform.
The Times still pulls its punches: Why is the leadership of the “opposition party” still mincing words? (BillMoyers.com)
Page A13 of the print edition of the March 27 New York Times carries a tantalizing if equivocal headline: “Is the Military Big Enough?” The article takes up a whole page, half of which is a graphic representing the numbers of tactical aircraft (3,476), attack helicopters (760), “unmanned aerial vehicles,” aka drones (637), bombers (157) and so on.
Trump’s innovative solution to climate change: Don’t mention climate change (Salon)
Stealing a page straight out of Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s playbook, the Trump administration has reportedly directed the only office within the U.S. Department of Energy with the word “climate” in its title not to use the phrase “climate change.”
Trump’s climate rollback could cost taxpayers billions (Think Progress)
Climate change is not just an environmental problem; it’s an economic problem, as well. The consequences of climate change — more intense precipitation events, longer and more destructive wildfire seasons, increased risk of drought or flooding, sea level rise — will harm plants and wildlife, but they will also damage crops, reduce availability of natural resources, and destroy infrastructure.
Life on the Home Planet
Modi's Aim to Spread Solar to Poorer Nations Wins IEA Support (Bloomberg)
The International Energy Agency will help support Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to spread solar power to more developing nations, especially those clustered around the Equator.
If you were traveling via motorway from Islamabad to Lahore during November or December 2016, you might have felt like your head was in the clouds. That’s thanks to the smog that engulfed large parts of Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces in that period.
