Financial Markets and Economy
Dollar Enjoys Support From Dudley Comments Before Yellen Q&A (Bloomberg)
A post-U.S. payrolls rebound in the dollar and Treasury yields kept driving thin markets on Monday before a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that follows hawkish comments from Fed Vice-Chairman William Dudley.
Bond Market Calm Is Threatened by Fed's $1.75 Trillion MBS Shift (Bloomberg)
As far as bond buyers go, the Federal Reserve is pretty laid-back.
Even as the central bank amassed trillions of dollars of debt to prop up the economy following the financial crisis, it didn’t hedge its holdings or worry about gains and losses that might keep ordinary investors up at night.
Easter Candy Hunt Gets Cheaper as Funds Exit Sugar Bets (Bloomberg)
As expectations for a global supply surplus mount, money managers have reduced their bets on a sugar rally for six straight weeks, the longest streak since August 2014.
Consumers and firms see a Trump boom. Most forecasters do not (The Economist)
Is America’s economy booming? Consumers seem to think so. Their confidence, as measured by the Conference Board, a research group, is at its highest since December 2000, when the dotcom bubble had not fully burst.
Oil Caps Longest Gain This Year as Biggest Libyan Field Halts (Bloomberg)
Crude capped its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field suffered another outage, while Russia signaled it’s weighing an extension of OPEC-led production cuts.
Russia Turns Wary on Japan Gas Future as Abe Heads to Moscow (Bloomberg)
Russia’s Gazprom PJSC isn’t confident in Japan’s future as a growing natural gas user, which may damp prospects of a proposed pipeline between the countries as Premier Shinzo Abe travels to Moscow later this month.
Boom or Bust: Stark Partisan Divide on How Consumers View Economy (NY Times)
Economics has a foundation in hard numbers — employment, inflation, spending — that has largely allowed it to sidestep the competing partisan narratives that have afflicted American politics and culture.
Iron Ore Slumps Into Bear Market as Barclays Sees Further Losses (Bloomberg)
Iron ore’s descent into bear-market territory may herald further weakness, with Barclays Plc pinning the blame for the slide on lower steel demand in China driving a shift from mills toward lower-quality ore and raising the prospect of a drop into the $50s.
Income inequality today may be higher today than in any other era (The Washington Post)
A few years ago, economists Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson uncovered a startling fact about the origins of inequality in America.
Why Resource-Rich Australia Can't Keep Lights On: QuickTake Q&A (Bloomberg)
Australia has some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels but is running short on gas. That’s raised the prospect of widespread power outages and stoked a national debate over energy policy -– as well as prompting Elon Musk to offer up a solution.
Stunning drops in solar and wind costs turn global power market upside down (Think Progress)
Stunning drops in the cost of wind and solar energy have turned the global power market upside down.
For years, opponents of renewable power, like President Donald Trump, have argued they simply aren’t affordable. The reality is quite different.
Reinventing The Death Spiral (Value Walk)
About two decades ago, some unscrupulous hedge funds began tricking unsophisticated small cap companies into agreeing to “ death spiral ” converts (convertible debt). These were called “death spirals” as there was no set floor to the conversion price. Rather, they converted at some date in the future based on then market prices.
The World's Most Overrated Trade (Long/Short Investments, Seeking Alpha)
Whether stocks are "overvalued" or not is a personal opinion that depends on returns expectations, risk tolerance, time horizon and personal beliefs about the market, among other factors.
Market Movers, APR 10-14: Possible Oil, Met Coal Supply Disruptions On Syria Attack, Cyclone Debbie (S&P Global Platts)
How will the situation in Syria following the US missile attack last week affect oil supply and prices? And how will the metallurgical coal market move this week after the 32% surge in premium low volatile coal prices on April 5, in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie? Editor Alexis Gan looks at this and other factors that could drive commodity markets this week.
Libor: Bank of England implicated in secret recording (BBC News)
A secret recording that implicates the Bank of England in Libor rigging has been uncovered by BBC Panorama.
The 2008 recording adds to evidence the central bank repeatedly pressured commercial banks during the financial crisis to push their Libor rates down.
Bank Of America: "Previously This Has Only Happened In 2000 And 2008" (Zero Hedge)
Although it will not come as a surprise to regular readers that, for various reasons, loan growth in the US has not only ground to a halt but, for the all important Commercial and Industrial Segment, has dropped at the fastest rate since the financial crisis, some (until recently) economic optimists, such as Bank of America's Ethan Harris, are only now start to realize that the post-election "recovery" was a mirage.
From "Dissensus" To "Democrazy": A Warning From Deutsche Bank (Zero Hedge)
Last October, Deutsche Bank's credit derivatives expert Aleksandar Kocic, one of the best stream-of-consciousness, James Joyceian writers among the Wall Street sell-side, penned what was at the time the best summary why the existing politcal system was fracturing with every passing day.
Companies
PetroChina Downgraded to Underperform (Barron's Asia)
Credit Suisse downgraded PetroChina (857.HK) (PTR) to underperform from neutral after the energy giant’s first quarter profit guidance fell short of analyst expectations.
Here's Why Investors Who Think Tesla Is Worth More Than Ford Should Think Again (Forbes)
Last week, Tesla Inc. blew past Ford Motor Co. to become the second largest automaker in the United States in terms of market capitalization. Now, the Silicon Valley auto upstart is threatening to topple General Motors Co. and become number one.
Vilas Capital : Tesla Is Going Bankrupt And Is Still A Great Short (Value Walk)
Before we delve into our investment thesis on Tesla, Inc., a little background may be helpful. We are value investors. You know, the backward looking, head in the sand, numbers focused relics that have no business discussing the future.
Technology
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F441565%2F802b75e8-191d-4730-b5fe-59d8f6b03a6c.jpg)
Bill Gates, VR super nerd, will now take you into the future (Mashable)
"Hello, my name is Bill Gates, super nerd. Join me as I use these technology goggles to take you into the feeeeeewchaaaaah!"
Of course that's what the co-founder of Microsoft was thinking when he posted Sunday what might be his nerdiest photo yet (and he has a bunch), all in the service of promoting his new Samsung Gear VR channel.
Quarter of Miles Traveled in the U.S. by 2030 Seen as Driverless (Bloomberg)
A quarter of all miles driven in the U.S. could be in shared, self-driving electric cars by the end of the next decade, setting off a seismic shift that will upend the auto industry, according to a study on the rise of the autonomous age.
Is There Really a Security Rationale for Banning Laptops on Planes? (NY Times)
Since late last month, airlines and travelers flying to the United States and Britain from several airports in Muslim-majority nations have been adjusting to bans on certain electronic devices in airplane cabins.
Computer security is broken from top to bottom (The Economist)
Over a couple of days in February, hundreds of thousands of point-of-sale printers in restaurants around the world began behaving strangely. Some churned out bizarre pictures of computers and giant robots signed, “with love from the hacker God himself”.
New Artificial Synapse Bridges the Gap to Brain-Like Computers (Singularity Hub)
From AlphaGo’s historic victory against world champion Lee Sedol to DeepStack’s sweeping win against professional poker players, artificial intelligence is clearly on a roll.
Valo Is The Versatile Outdoor Light That Can Be Used Just About Anywhere (Digital Trends)
Hikers and campers looking for a new light source to take with them on their outdoor adventures may want to check out the Valo, a lightweight and versatile flashlight that recently launched on Kickstarter. The lamp even offers some unique features that set it apart from the competition.
Comcast is apparently more than a little envious of internet-only streaming services like CBS All Access and HBO Now. Bloomberg contacts claim that the cable giant is planning to introduce an online video service that would revolve around shows from NBCUniversal networks, including Bravo, SyFy and USA.
Keep Your Passwords Safe And Handy With Sticky Password Premium, Now 80% Off (Digital Trends)
It’s common knowledge these days that using the same password for more than one login is risky, but remembering a huge list of long, complicated passwords can be impossible. If you do use a unique and complex password for every login, you likely have them all written down or saved somewhere.
Politics
Trump team frustrated with go-slow approach on NAFTA: Ross (The Canadian Press)
U.S. President Donald Trump’s point man on the North American Free Trade Agreement is expressing frustration at the go-slow attitude of American lawmakers.
Donald Trump's travel expenses in 10 weeks cost US taxpayers as much as Barack Obama spent in two years (Independent)
Donald Trump’s trips to his luxury Florida resort have already cost the US taxpayer at least $24 million (£19.2 million) – roughly as much as Barack Obama spent on travel in the first two years of his presidency.
Is Obamacare in a ‘Death Spiral’? (Politico)
The Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces have faced a tough year. They aren’t imploding, but they have experienced high premium increases and insurer exits this year.
Donald and Vlad are still a deadly combo: Either as partners or rivals, they’re waging a war against civilizationAs the subplots and sub-subplots cascade endlessly around the question of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and the Donald Trump campaign’s possible collusion, it would do us all good to take a few steps back and reflect more deeply on the big picture.
Toronto Mayor Says He's Open to Sale of City Real Estate Assets (Bloomberg)
Toronto’s mayor won’t rule out selling some of the city’s prime downtown real estate as he looks to make better use of assets amid an unprecedented property boom.
The new age of Ayn Rand: how she won over Trump and Silicon Valley (The Guardian)
As they plough through their GCSE revision, UK students planning to take politics A-level in the autumn can comfort themselves with this thought: come September, they will be studying one thinker who does not belong in the dusty archives of ancient political theory but is achingly on trend. For the curriculum includes a new addition: the work of Ayn Rand.
Britain’s Green Party proposes a three-day weekend (The Economist)
With the prospect of Easter and two bank holidays on the horizon, Britons have an embarrassment of long weekends to savour. For Caroline Lucas, the joint leader of the Green Party, that is not enough: she wants three-day weekends every week.
Trump’s Idea of Running Government Like a Business is Bad for Citizens (Naked Capitalism)
Yves here. Let us not forget that George Bush also made much of the fact that he was going to run the Administration like a corporation, with a bunch of supposedly very disciplined MBAs. We have an update on this dodgy Republican pitch via the Real News Network.
Bizarro World: Some Republicans Now Defending "Failing" ObamaCare (Zero Hedge)
For months now we've warned, as have many prominent Republican legislators, that Obamacare is on the verge of collapse (see "Obamacare On "Verge Of Collapse" As Premiums Set To Soar Again In 2017").
Why Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan could wind up in a ditch (Politico)
President Donald Trump is counting on his $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to produce the kind of bipartisan legislative victory that has eluded him on health care and pretty much everything else.
Life on the Home Planet
5 facts about crime in the U.S. (Pew Research Center)
Donald Trump made crime-fighting an important focus of his campaign for president, and he cited it again during his inaugural address in January. With the White House and Justice Department announcing steps to address violence in American communities, here are five facts about crime in the United States.
Scientists identify parts of brain involved in dreaming (The Guardian)
Scientists have unpicked the regions of the brain involved in dreaming, in a study with significant implications for our understanding of the purpose of dreams and of consciousness itself. What’s more, changes in brain activity have been found to offer clues as to what the dream is about.
Pope Francis Will Visit Egypt As Planned Despite Bombings Of Christian Churches (The Huffington Post)
Pope Francis will go forward with a planned visit to Egypt this month, despite two bombings at Coptic Christian churches over the weekend, Vatican officials told reporters on Monday.
California gunman kills wife, self as she teaches class; student also dead (Reuters)
A special education teacher and one of her students were fatally shot by her estranged husband when he opened fire with a high-caliber revolver before killing himself in her classroom at a San Bernardino, California, elementary school, police said.
Charleston church shooter pleads guilty to state murder counts (Reuters)
Dylann Roof, the white supremacist already sentenced to death in federal court for a 2015 massacre at a historic black church in South Carolina, pleaded guilty on Monday to separate state murder charges, sparing relatives of the victims a second trial.
