Financial Markets and Economy
China clamps down on excess steel as Japan decries Trump 'protectionism' (Reuters)
Twenty-nine Chinese steel firms have had their licenses revoked as Beijing kept up its campaign to tackle overcapacity in the sector and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would open a probe into cheap steel exports from China and elsewhere.
German Business Confidence Climbs to Highest Since July 2011 (Bloomberg)
German business sentiment rose to the strongest level in almost six years in a sign that the momentum in Europe’s largest economy is set to continue.
Top Iron Ore Forecaster Says Prices Will Sink Back Below $50 (Bloomberg)
Iron ore is destined to retreat back below $50 a metric ton next year as supplies go on rising, according to the top forecaster, who warned that weakening prices will probably encourage the sale of inventories.
Cracking the Mystery of Labor's Falling Share of GDP (Bloomberg)
Economists are very worried about the decline in labor’s share of U.S. national income. One reason they’re concerned is because when less of an economy’s wealth flows to workers, it exacerbates inequality and increases the risk of social instability.
Oil Falls to Four-Week Low as U.S. Drilling Seen Boosting Output (Bloomberg)
Oil fell for a sixth day as the ramp-up of U.S. drilling signaled further production gains in the world’s biggest crude-consuming nation.
Bundesbank Sees German Growth Decline That Immigration Can't Fix (Bloomberg)
Germany’s aging population will probably suck some power out of the economy in the next decade and immigration won’t be enough to fix the problem.
The Rich Are Living Longer and Taking More From Taxpayers (Bloomberg)
Age 100 is now an imaginable goal for young people around the world with good health care. The average woman in Japan is already living to 87. Yet many Americans are dying younger and younger.
How a $1.4 Billion ETF Gold Rush Rattled Mining Stocks Around the World (The Wall Street Journal)
Unruly trading in the shares of some small gold companies is rekindling investor concern about the pressure that fast-growing passive funds can exert on the stocks they are meant to track.
States Seek to Shore Up Health Insurance Markets (The Wall Street Journal)
Amid uncertainty in Washington about the future of the Affordable Care Act, states are moving to bolster their own insurance markets, hoping to fend off big rate increases and pullbacks by insurers.
Local, global security firms in race along China's 'Silk Road' (Reuters)
Global security companies and their smaller Chinese rivals are jostling for business along Beijing's modern-day "Silk Road", the grandiose plan for land and sea routes connecting the world's second largest economy with the rest of Asia and beyond.
Lifeline for Nuclear Plants Is Threatening Wind and Solar Power (Bloomberg)
The push to save U.S. nuclear plants for the sake of fighting climate change is threatening support for the bread and butter of clean power: wind and solar.
China Markets Reel as $1.7 Trillion in Shadow Funds Unwinds (Bloomberg)
A $1.7 trillion source of inflows into Chinese markets has suddenly switched into reverse, roiling the nation’s money management industry and sending local bonds and stocks to their biggest losses of the year.
French election spurs equity market, euro rally (Reuters)
Global equity markets rallied on Monday to lift a gauge of world stock indexes to a fresh peak, while the euro briefly jumped to a five-month peak against the U.S. dollar as the first round of an election in France went to the market's preferred contender.
‘Apartheid Without the Racism’: How China Keeps Rural Folks Down (The Wall Street Journal)
An epic property boom restricted to city dwellers has opened a wealth gap that continues to widen in China, setting back a state campaign to ease poverty and shunting rural dwellers from the middle-class dream.
Goldman Said to Get Burned by Coal, Retail in Trading Miss (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s fixed-income revenue was so unexpectedly weak in the first quarter that last week’s earnings report left the stock tumbling and Wall Street buzzing over what happened. Part of the answer is now emerging.
Once-Flush Startups Struggle to Stay Alive as Investors Get Pickier (The Wall Street Journal)
Eighteen months ago, Beepi Inc. was rapidly expanding its online used-car business to 16 U.S. cities where people could buy cut-rate vehicles adorned with giant shiny bows.
This Is the Eye-Opening Data That Hints the U.S. Restaurant Industry Has Completely Collapsed (The Street)
So much for people using their tax refund checks for a few splurges at fast casual restaurant Chipotle (CMG) in the first quarter.
The Rise Of Passive Investing Via ETFs – The Herd (Value Walk)
There is no question Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have exploded in popularity. They offer many benefits to investors and their merits are well known. There is also rising evidence ETFs are changing the structure of the markets and how investors behave.
Under Trump, coal communities are stuck between a rock and a hard place (Think Progress)
Blair Zimmerman, Pennsylvania's Greene County Commissioner, knows coal. As a mine worker for 40 years and then a politician in southwestern Pennsylvania, he knows how important coal is to both the identity and economic stability of his community.
Dallas Fed: "Texas Manufacturing Expansion Continues" in April (Calculated Risk)
Texas factory activity increased for the 10th consecutive month in April, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, moved down three points to 15.4, suggesting output growth continued but at a slightly slower pace this month.
Don't Look Now But Bond Yields Are Tumbling (Zero Hedge)
If everything's so awesome, why are Treasuries so bid?
Heavy demand for Treasuries this morning after two notable data disappointments.
11 Facts That Prove That The U.S. Economy In 2017 Is In Far Worse Shape Than It Was In 2016 (The Economic Collapse)
There is much debate about where the U.S. economy is ultimately heading, but what everybody should be able to agree on is that economic conditions are significantly worse this year than they were last year.
Double Data Disappointment Today Follows Worst Macro Week In 6 Years (Zero Hedge)
Following the worst week for US macro data in six years, The Chicago Fed (National Activity) and now The Dallas Fed (regional) have both disappointed and fallen this morning.
Companies
Sears' turnaround timeline is shrinking — and it could be next in line to declare bankruptcy (Business Insider)
S&P Global Market Intelligence has identified Sears as the most vulnerable public retail company in the US, saying it has a 24% chance of default within a year.
IBM Says CEO Pay Is $33 Million. Others Say It Is Far Higher (Bloomberg)
It’s a hefty sum for any CEO, let alone one who’s overseen five years of falling revenue and left shareholders with a total return of less than 0.1 percent.
PPG Mulls Hostile Akzo Bid After Sweetening Offer to $29 Billion (Bloomberg)
PPG Industries Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael McGarry said he plans to make a hostile takeover bid for Akzo Nobel NV if his sweetened offer of 26.9 billion euros ($28.8 billion) doesn’t bring the recalcitrant Dutch target to the negotiating table.
T-Mobile Customer Growth Slows Ahead of Expected Merger Frenzy (The Wall Street Journal)
T-Mobile US Inc. lured customers away from bigger phone companies at a slower rate than in previous quarters, ahead of what analysts expect to be a busy merger season.
PPG Raises Bid for Akzo Nobel to $26.4 Billion (The Wall Street Journal)
Paint giant PPG Industries Inc. on Monday raised its offer for Dutch rival Akzo Nobel NV to €24.6 billion ($26.4 billion), the U.S. firm’s third takeover attempt in a two-month-long, unsolicited courtship.
Technology
Apple Pay goes live with bill pay (Business Insider)
Cable company Comcast went live with its previously announced integration of Apple Pay for bill payments, allowing Xfinity customers using Apple Pay to skip the hassle of manually entering card information or sending checks by mail, reports 9to5Mac.
KGI: iPhone 8 mass production delayed to October/November as major component upgrades cause supply bottlenecksWe’ve been hearing several reports that the launch of the iPhone 8 could be delayed compared to previous years. Reputable Apple analyst KGI Ming-Chi Kuo has also weighed in today, reporting that mass production of the OLED iPhone will likely be pushed back to October/November, instead of the normal August/September timeframe for new iPhone launches.
Samsung to Issue Galaxy S8 Software Updates After Complaints (The Wall Street Journal)
Samsung Electronics Co. said it would roll out two software updates for its new Galaxy S8 smartphone this week after users complained of red-tinted screens and patchy Wi-Fi connections.
The Electric Car Revolution Now Faces Its Biggest Test (Bloomberg)
If you took a spin down to the New York International Auto Show last week and saw the $37,500 Chevy Bolt (electric) parked next to the strikingly similar $17,000 Chevy Cruze (gasoline), the answer is probably a hard no. The Bolt is arguably a better car than the Cruze—but not $20,000 better.
Google Photos for iOS beams images to your TV with AirPlay (Engadget)
Google has been improving its Photos app for a while now, adding features like automatic white balance, compensation for wobbly video, social photo editing tools and even improving Apple's own Live Photos.
30 big tech predictions for 2017 (BI Intelligence)
Technology is disrupting nearly every part of our daily lives.
Smartphones have allowed us to stay connected to each other at literally every moment of our lives, whether it's on our daily commutes or on faraway vacations.
Politics
Trump's push to fund wall may be delayed as government shutdown looms (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump indicated an openness on Monday to delaying his push to secure funds for his promised border wall with Mexico, potentially eliminating a sticking point as lawmakers worked to avoid a looming shutdown of the federal government.
Donald Trump’s Associated Press interview: 10 things we learned (but may have already known) (Salon)
President Donald Trump gave a sit-down interview to the Associated Press that was published Sunday, and the rough transcript shows that the first 100 days in office really haven’t changed him at all.
Trump Signals Shift on Wall Funding to Avert Government Shutdown (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump signaled he may be willing to wait a little longer to secure federal funding for his controversial border wall, a shift that could make it possible for Congress to finish work on spending legislation in time to avoid a government shutdown.
I.R.S. Enlists Debt Collectors to Recover Overdue Taxes (NY Times)
The Internal Revenue Service is about to start using four private debt-collection companies to chase down overdue payments from hundreds of thousands of people who owe money to the federal government, a job it has handled in house for years.
Trump to propose 15 percent corporate tax rate (Politico)
President Donald Trump is expected to propose slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent on Wednesday, as the White House unveils its first stab at a tax plan, according to two sources familiar with the administration’s deliberations.
French Presidential Runoff Heralds New Political Era (The Wall Street Journal)
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine Le Pen led the first round of voting in France’s presidential election as voters redrew the political map, placing the European Union at the center of a new divide.
Hollande urges French to reject Le Pen in presidential run-off vote (Reuters)
France's outgoing president, Francois Hollande, on Monday urged people to back centrist Emmanuel Macron in a vote to choose his successor next month and reject far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose place in the run-off represented a "risk" for France.
Anderson Cooper Warns: Don’t Be ‘Desensitized’ By Trump’s ‘Fake Facts’ (The Huffington Post)
That’s the warning from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, noting that President Donald Trump once again implied incorrectly that he beat Hillary Clinton in the popular vote.
Health and Biotech
Billionaire Doctor’s $11,000 Cancer Test Has Few Takers So Far (Bloomberg)
A health-care company founded by the world’s richest doctor is struggling to get paid for an $11,000 diagnostic test, the latest challenge to the billionaire’s quest to conquer cancer.
Life on the Home Planet
Bomb attack hits U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan (Reuters)
Suspected Taliban insurgents on Monday attacked a U.S.-operated base in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, officials said, but gave few immediate details of an assault that coincided with a visit to Kabul by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Trump’s indifference to climate change has not changed China’s view (The Economist)
Residents have found something else to blame for the toxic smog that envelops many Chinese cities for much of the year. Until recently the culprits that were usually fingered were the obvious ones: emissions from coal-fired power plants, exhaust fumes from cars and dust from building sites.
U.S. Suspects Russia Supplying Small Arms to Taliban in Afghanistan (The Wall Street Journal)
U.S. military officials said they have seen an increasing number of small arms provided by the Russian government, including machine guns and antiaircraft weapons, in the hands of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan over the past 18 months.
If you think traffic is bad now, wait for the inland migration (Think Progress)
When rising waters from superstorms like Katrina or Sandy inundate heavily populated coastal communities, vast numbers of people will abandon their destroyed homes and flee for safety and shelter elsewhere.
U.S., Philippines scale back next month's military drills, no more 'war games' (Reuters)
About 5,000 American and Philippine troops will hold humanitarian exercises next month instead of annual war games, scaling back military drills in response to President Rodrigo Duterte's disdain for their longstanding defense alliance.
Sean Hannity the Latest Fox News Host to be Accused of Sexual Harassment (Talk 1170 Radio)
Former FoxNews.com Columnist, attorney, and former frequent Fox News Channel guest Debbie Schlussel appeared on Friday’s Pat Campbell Show and accused Fox News Prime Time Host Sean Hannity of the same type of behavior that lead to Bill O’Reilly leaving the beleaguered network last week.
