Headlines: U.S. Strike on Syria
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Russia warns of serious consequences from U.S. strike in Syria (Reuters)
Russia warned on Friday that U.S. cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base could have "extremely serious" consequences, as President Donald Trump's first major foray into a foreign conflict opened up a rift between Moscow and Washington.
U.S. Strike on Syria Shakes Up ISIS Fight (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. missile attack on a Syrian air base has created rifts in a calibrated international campaign against Islamic State and threatens military cooperation between the U.S. and Russia.
Rebels Hail U.S. Strike, Syria Says 16 Killed (The Wall Street Journal)
Syrian opposition supporters hailed the U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base, but said they doubted it would shift the balance of power in a war that has increasingly tipped in favor of the regime.
The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria (The Intercept)
In every type of government, nothing unites people behind the leader more quickly, reflexively or reliably than war. Donald Trump now sees how true that is, as the same establishment leaders in U.S. politics and media who have spent months denouncing him as a mentally unstable and inept authoritarian and unprecedented threat to democracy are standing and applauding him as he launches bombs at Syrian government targets.
Trump’s Syria Strike Sends Not-So-Subtle Warning to U.S. Rivals (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Syria sent a powerful message around the world — one that could be read very differently in Moscow, Pyongyang and Beijing.
Syria Strike Puts U.S. Relationship With Russia at Risk (NY Times)
The American military strike against Syria threatened Russian-American relations on Friday as the Kremlin denounced President Trump’s use of force and the Russian military announced that it was suspending an agreement to share information about air operations over the country, devised to avoid accidental conflict.
Congress Supports U.S. Airstrikes Against Syria, Debates What Happens Next (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against Syria threw Congress back into a debate that it dodged 3 1/2 years ago, as lawmakers from both parties offered support for the response to a suspected chemical attack but began considering which future actions might require their approval.
Financial Markets and Economy
Oil rises after U.S. missile strike in Syria, weekly gain 3 percent (Reuters)
Oil prices rose on Friday, trading near a one-month high and closing the week up 3 percent after the United States fired missiles at a Syrian government air base, raising concern that the conflict could spread in the oil-rich region.
U.S. stock funds' weekly outflow largest in 2017: Lipper (Reuters)
Investors yanked the most money from U.S.-based equity funds since December during the latest week, Lipper data showed on Thursday, as they feared stocks may be overpriced given the many roadblocks in implementing U.S. President Donald Trump's economic policies.
Nobody Is Saying Anything About How U.S. Earnings Season Will Go (Bloomberg)
In the past month, only 83 have published profit guidance of any variety, the least at this time of the year since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1999.
Bank of England's Carney calls for UK-EU deal on bank rules after Brexit (Reuters)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney called on Friday for Britain and the European Union to reach a sweeping deal to recognize each others' bank rules after Brexit, or risk a potentially damaging hit to financial services across Europe.
Traders Are Worried About China Local Government Debt Again (Bloomberg)
The scent of doom is returning to China’s local government bond market.
S&P Global Ratings pulled the trigger on the first ever downgrade of a Chinese local-government financing vehicle Thursday, citing the city in eastern Jiangsu province’s high debt burden.
Wall Street Is Making It Harder to Buy a Car (Bloomberg)
On countless occasions in recent years, the U.S. auto industry has relied on cheap and easy credit from Wall Street to get it through rough patches.
Norway Wealth Fund Turns ‘Cautious’ on Stocks After Trump Rally (Bloomberg)
Norway’s $915 billion wealth fund is now turning “cautious” on global stock markets after reaping the benefits of a global rally over the past two quarters fueled by rising economic optimism.
Plenty of Beauty in U.S. Jobs Data Beneath Ugly Main Number (Bloomberg)
For the March U.S. employment report, with its ugly headline payrolls number, it’s what’s inside that counts.
While the gain of 98,000 jobs in a survey of businesses and government agencies was the weakest since May and below all analysts’ forecasts, many accompanying details showed a solid labor market.
5 Things to Watch in the March Jobs Report (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. labor market started 2017 on solid ground. In January and February, employers added an average of 236,500 jobs a month. That pace might be difficult to maintain.
Rosenberg on the Jobs Report: 'There is no possible way to put lipstick on this pig' (Business Insider)
The March jobs report was a mixed bag for many economists.
Are Traders Creating a Bizarre New Feedback Loop… Feedback Loop… Feedback Loop? (The Wall Street Journal)
What if selling insurance against tornadoes made tornadoes occur less frequently? Something like that may be behind the incredible calm in global financial markets.
Greece, Creditors Move Closer to Deal on Bailout (The Wall Street Journal)
Greece and its international creditors agreed Friday on the main points of a deal that could keep the country’s bailout program going, according to Greek and European Union officials, resolving a monthslong deadlock over fresh austerity measures and possibly clearing the way for talks on debt relief.
Shkreli's Ex-Lawyer Threatens to Blow Whistle at Trial (Bloomberg)
Martin Shkreli, the irreverent former pharmaceutical executive battling fraud charges, was accused by his former lawyer of submitting false documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and engaging in illegal stock trading.
The Whole 'Malls Are Dying' Thing Is Getting Old, Say Mall CEOs (Bloomberg)
Traditional retailers, whose obituaries have been started and scrapped for years, are on the critical list again, with stores shuttering and e-commerce giants like Amazon.com Inc. in ascendance.
RAY DALIO: There is a human tragedy taking place in America (Business Insider)
Ray Dalio is with Jamie Dimon.
Dimon, the JPMorgan CEO, said this week that while the US is "probably stronger than ever before," it is "clear that something is wrong."
Companies
Oil Trader Gunvor Approached Competitors Over Possible Sale (The Wall Street Journal)
Gunvor Group, one of the world’s largest oil traders, has sounded out competitors over a possible sale, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Deutsche Bank's $8.5 billion cash call marks end of era for cuts (Reuters)
Deutsche Bank's chief executive said an era of cutbacks was over on Friday after completing an 8 billion euro ($8.5 billion) capital increase to pay legal penalties, keep regulators happy and make fresh investments.
Amazon will spend about $4.5 BILLION on its fight against Netflix this year, according to JPMorgan (Business Insider)
Amazon is set to spend a gargantuan ~$4.5 billion on video in 2017, according to analysts at JPMorgan, a figure that would put the internet giant much closer to rival Netflix than many industry observers thought.
Technology
Tech’s High-Stakes Arms Race: Costly Data Centers (The Wall Street Journal)
Just as oil and gas companies plow billions of dollars in searching for new energy reserves, big technology companies are spending lavishly on a global footprint of sophisticated computers to run every startup and corporate colossus’s business in the cloud.
Master Your Samsung Galaxy S8 With These Tips And Tricks (Digital Trends)
Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is finally here, and it’s a looker. The South Korean company’s phone packs a gorgeous edge-to-edge curved screen, a beefed-up front-facing camera, a top-of-the-line processor, and a new virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence.
YouTube TV made this baseball fan finally cut the cord (Engadget)
I don't watch a lot of TV. I don't watch Game of Thrones or Walking Dead or many of the TV shows that are usually at the top of the popular zeitgeist. Instead, my daily entertainment is usually filled with YouTube videos and on-demand shows from Hulu or Netflix.
5 Alexa skills to try this week (Venture Beat)
Below are five noteworthy Alexa skills drawn from the Trending, New, Top Enabled, and Customer Favorites This Week categories of the Alexa Skills Marketplace.
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Will this app finally be the thing that makes it easier for us to find friends (Mashable)
There are a zillion apps to help you find friends with benefits, but what if what you really want is just regular, old-fashioned new friends?
Politics
Senate Confirms Neil Gorsuch as Supreme Court Justice (The Wall Street Journal)
The Senate on Friday confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, ending a 14-month vacancy on the high court that spanned two presidential administrations and sparked one of the most bitter political fights in Washington in recent memory.
C.I.A. Had Evidence of Russian Effort to Help Trump Earlier Than Believed (NY Times)
The C.I.A. told senior lawmakers in classified briefings last summer that it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president, a finding that did not emerge publicly until after Mr. Trump’s victory months later, former government officials say.
LA Times: Series of Six (Continuation) on Trump:
5. Conspiracy Theorist in Chief
It was bad enough back in 2011 when Donald Trump began peddling the crackpot conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a native-born American. But at least Trump was just a private citizen then.
When Donald Trump threatened on the campaign trail to deport every single immigrant living in the country illegally, bring back offshore drilling and reverse the anti-pollution policies that help clear smoggy skies, Californians immediately understood that our state would be disproportionately affected — and disproportionately harmed — by the reckless policies he was hoping to enact.
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Full series of the LA Times editorials: The Problem with Trump
II. Why Trump Lies
III. Trump’s Authoritarian Vision
V. Conspiracy Theorist in Chief
Health and Biotech
Too Much Information? FDA Clears 23AndMe to Sell Home Genetic Tests for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (Scientific American)
Genetic testing company 23AndMe is back with a controversial new offering, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday green-lighted the company’s request to market a fresh batch of direct-to-consumer tests.
Life on the Home Planet
Parts of the Arctic Ocean are Turning Into the Atlantic (Climate Central)
The findings, published in Science on Thursday, show that while warming air has a role to play, processes are playing out in the ocean itself that are fundamentally altering the region.
China fighter plane spotted on South China Sea island: think tank (Reuters)
A Chinese fighter plane has been spotted on a Chinese-held island in the South China Sea, the first such sighting in a year and the first since U.S. President Trump took office, a U.S. think tank reported on Thursday.
