Financial Markets and Economy
Oil eases off one-month peak as traders eye Cushing build, U.S. supply (Reuters)
Oil futures fell on Wednesday, pulling back after eight straight sessions of gains after U.S. crude inventory data suggested the market was still heavily supplied.
Trump triggers U.S. bond yield slide, dollar recovers (Reuters)
U.S. Treasury yields tumbled on Thursday and were on track for the biggest weekly decline since late 2015 after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would like to see interest rates stay low, while inflows into bonds drained life from stocks.
Fear Is Creeping Back Into Markets (Bloomberg)
The calm in stocks worldwide is giving way to concern, with investors in Europe and the U.S. rushing to hedge against declines and a Credit Suisse Group AG index flashing a warning as the list of economic and political obstacles grows.
Trump's message to bankers: Wall Street reform rules may be eliminated (Reuters)
President Donald Trump told a group of chief executives on Tuesday that his administration was revamping the Wall Street reform law known as Dodd-Frank and might eliminate the rules and replace them with "something else."
Indexes Beat Stock Pickers Even Over 15 Years (The Wall Street Journal)
Most actively managed U.S. stock funds were beaten by their market benchmarks over the past decade and a half, a record of underperformance that helps explain why stock pickers are losing billions of dollars in assets each month to low-cost passive investments that track indexes.
PBOC Resumes Reverse-Repo Cash Injections After 13-Day Pause (Bloomberg)
China’s central bank restarted the use of an instrument that adds cash to the financial system, adding liquidity before more than $45 billion of funds come due.
Wall Street ends lower; Trump comments dampen sentiment late (Reuters)
U.S. stocks eased on Wednesday and the S&P 500 closed below a key technical level for the first time since Election Day, pressured by lingering geopolitical concerns and President Donald Trump's comments on the dollar and interest rates.
By one measure, investors have almost never been this nervous about stocks (Yahoo Finance)
Stock market investors have rarely ever been this skittish.
As measured by Credit Suisse’s in-house fear barometer, investors haven’t been as concerned as they are right now since just before Brexit, when the firm’s gauge hit an all-time high.
Higher Yields Damp China’s Corporate Bond Market (The Wall Street Journal)
In an economy deeply reliant on bank funding, China’s bond market was supposed to offer an alternative for domestic borrowers. Now, new priorities are throwing a wrench in those plans.
Insight: Ballooning bills – More U.S. hospitals pushing patients to pay before care (Reuters)
The 25-bed rural hospital in the southwest corner of the state implemented the protocol because of mounting unpaid bills from insured patients, a group that had previously not raised red flags.
Saudi Arabia Raises $9 Billion in First International Sukuk Issuance (The Wall Street Journal)
Saudi Arabia has raised $9 billion in its first international sale of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, people familiar with the transaction said Wednesday, as the kingdom rolls out an ambitious plan to reshape its oil-dependent economy.
The Coming Profit Squeeze (The Wall Street Journal)
Companies may not give up fat profit margins without a fight. That could soon pose a problem for the economy.
Puerto Rico seen sliding toward bankruptcy as deadline nears (Reuters)
Bankruptcy for Puerto Rico is looking ever more likely as the clock ticks down toward a May 1 deadline to restructure $70 billion in debt, ramping up uncertainty for anyone betting on returns from the island's widely held U.S. municipal bonds.
Trump Liking Yellen Ignites Prospects for Fed Policy Continuity (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump hinted for the first time that he’s open to keeping Janet Yellen at the helm of the Federal Reserve. For markets trying to predict the future of monetary policy, that’s a change of heart that suggests continuity during an era of disruption in Washington.
To Goldman, Developed World Looks Riskier Than Erdogan, Zuma (Bloomberg)
Geopolitical risks may be on the rise in emerging markets, but investors from Goldman Sachs to BlackRock aren’t much bothered by them. Developed nations, on the other hand, are giving them the jitters.
Shale, Not Stock, Fuels the Wealthiest U.S. County (Bloomberg)
There are three good guesses for which U.S. county has the the highest adjusted gross incomes (AGI): New York County, otherwise known as Manhattan; Connecticut’s Fairfield County, where those rich Manhattanites land when they want a lawn; and Wyoming’s Teton County, home of Jackson Hole, where the richest of the rich go to play and sometimes stay.
Brooklyn Home Sales Jump Most Since '10 With Listings Near a Low (Bloomberg)
Home sales in Brooklyn jumped the most in seven years while the supply of listings hovered near a record low, pushing buyers toward bidding wars in the New York borough.
Companies
United Airlines faces mounting pressure over hospitalized passenger (Reuters)
United Airlines (UAL.N) and its chief executive faced mounting pressure on Tuesday from a worldwide backlash over its treatment of a passenger who was dragged from his seat on a plane on Sunday to make room for four employees on the overbooked flight.
Airbnb signs dozens more tax agreements in the U.S., France (Reuters)
Airbnb has reached new deals with dozens of jurisdictions in the United States and France to collect and pay taxes, doubling down on its effort to improve its image with local policymakers even as it face regulatory challenges around the world.
Technology
The Smartphone Is Eventually Going To Die, And Then Things Are Going To Get REALLY Crazy (Simple Capacity)
One day, not too soon — but still sooner than you think — the smartphone will all but vanish, the way beepers and fax machines did before it.
Japan automakers look to robots to keep elderly on the move (Reuters)
Japanese automakers are looking beyond the industry trend to develop self-driving cars and turning their attention to robots to help keep the country's rapidly graying society on the move.
Adobe is using AI to make your selfies look like actual photography (Popular Science)
Smartphone cameras aren’t very good at taking flattering selfies. The wide angle lenses introduce unpleasant distortion, and the small camera sensors can’t produce those blurry backgrounds we see in higher-end portraits. Of course, that doesn’t stop people from shooting tons of them.
This hacker built his own iPhone using parts from Chinese electronics markets (Popular Science)
Scotty Allen first got the idea to make his own iPhone over beers with fellow gadget enthusiasts. The American hacker and engineer lives part-time in Shenzhen, China, a city full of chaotic electronics markets and an experimental spirit fostered by its inhabitants.
Politics
White House accuses Russia of Syria chemical attack 'cover up' (Reuters)
President Donald Trump's administration accused Russia on Tuesday of trying to shield Syria's government from blame for a deadly gas attack, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson brought a Western message to Moscow condemning its support for President Bashar al-Assad.
Xi to Trump: China Wants Peaceful Solution to North Korea Issue (The Wall Street Journal)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump, who had pressed China for more action to blunt the threat from North Korea, urging a peaceful resolution and emphasizing China’s trade ties with the U.S.
Tillerson Says U.S.-Russia Relations at ‘Low Point’ After Meeting With Putin (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. and Russia tried Wednesday to reduce rapidly rising tensions, but clashed over a range of issues, especially the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, during a daylong visit by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that included the Trump administration’s first face-to-face talk with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Russian diplomat says U.S. stance on Syria 'a mystery' – agencies (Reuters)
The U.S. position on Syria remains a mystery to Moscow and Washington's rhetoric tends to be primitive and loutish, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday.
Trump Lays Groundwork for Federal Government Reorganization (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump is issuing a presidential memorandum that will call for a rethinking of the entire structure of the federal government, a move that could eventually lead to a downsizing of the overall workforce and changes to the basic functions and responsibilities of many agencies.
In surprise move, Iran's Ahmadinejad to run for president (Associated Press)
Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday stunned the country by unexpectedly filing to run in the May presidential election, contradicting a recommendation from the supreme leader to stay out of the race.
UK's Daily Mail to pay Melania Trump damages over modeling claims (Reuters)
Britain's Daily Mail agreed on Wednesday to pay Melania Trump an undisclosed sum and issue an apology after it published an article saying the U.S. First Lady had offered "services beyond simply modeling" in her former job.
Melenchon Crashes Front-Runners’ Party as French Risks Rise (Bloomberg)
Under a cloudless blue sky at an outdoor waterfront rally of 30,000 people in Marseille on Sunday, Jean-Luc Melenchon showed why his rise in French polls is spooking markets.
Newly Energized Liberals Pour Record Effort Into Local Races (The Wall Street Journal)
The 23-year-old Georgian attended the women’s march in Washington after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. She became a local captain for Sister District, a new online group that directs donors to legislative races around the country.
CEOs steering Trump away from Bannon’s hardcore policies (Politico)
The CEO of Blackstone Group, who has known Trump for years, has become so close to the president that the two sometimes talk several times a week, covering everything from Chinese trade to tax policy to immigration.
China’s Split With Russia on Syria Signals Warmer Xi-Trump Ties (Bloomberg)
China’s abstention from a United Nations resolution condemning the chemical attack in Syria is the most significant sign yet of warmer ties between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump after they met last week.
U.S. tax reform debate moves away from Ryan blueprint (Reuters)
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan's tax reform blueprint appears to be losing its status as the likely framework for the first major tax overhaul since 1986, with rival approaches emerging from the White House, Senate and other quarters in Congress.
Health and Biotech
Is the U.S. Ready for Future Disease Threats? (Scientific American)
During Tom Frieden's seven and a half years as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his agency was buffeted by crises that included government furloughs, H1N1 flu, laboratory safety issues, an earthquake in Haiti, and outbreaks of Ebola and Zika virus.
New Simpler Parkinson's Tests Probe Walking, Talking, Typing (Scientific American)
People with Parkinson’s disease may show hints of motor difficulty years before an official diagnosis, but current methods for detecting early symptoms require clinic visits and highly trained personnel.
Life on the Home Planet
N. Korea Nuclear Test Could Come Saturday or Sooner, Sources Say (Voa News)
North Korea appears to have a placed a device in a tunnel at its nuclear test site that could be detonated Saturday or even sooner, U.S. government and other sources said Wednesday.
There’s a treasure trove on the seafloor—and that could be a bad thing (Popular Science)
Rare minerals might not sound as exciting as sunken treasure to you, but to the mining industry those materials could be literally more valuable than gold. And there are few regulations in place yet to stop deep sea mining from destroying the seafloor.
Our rivers and lakes contain a scary number of pesticides and pharmaceuticals (Popular Science)
From pesticides to caffeine, chemicals that affect living organisms are making their way into the nation’s rivers and streams. That's the conclusion reached by a pair of complimentary studies by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the US EPA, both published today in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
