Financial Markets and Economy
When the results come in, US economic growth and earnings are on pace to show very different grades.
Euro-Area Economic Confidence Surges to Highest in a Decade (Bloomberg)
Euro-area economic confidence jumped to the highest in almost a decade this month, a testament to a continued improvement that may soon prompt a policy shift at the European Central Bank.
Euro Down on Day After ECB's Draghi Signals Policy Patience (Bloomberg)
The euro fell versus the dollar and most of its G-10 peers as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled no urgency to tighten monetary policies despite an improved economic picture.
Wall Street’s New Problem: When Fund Titans Invest on the Side (The Wall Street Journal)
In 2010, a firm called Swift River Investments LLC put money into a software company developed by private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP. Five years later, a company Blackstone co-owned acquired the software firm, at a price that gave Swift River a fat profit.
Oil Shortage Feared by 2020 as Discoveries Fall to Record Low (The Wall Street Journal)
Global oil discoveries fell to a record low in 2016, the International Energy Agency says, raising fresh concerns about the potential for a petroleum-supply shortage as soon as 2020.
ECB Keeps Policy Settings Unchanged Awaiting Political Clarity (Bloomberg)
The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at record lows and maintained its quantitative-easing program as officials monitor the economic recovery and the risk of political turbulence in the region.
China Stock Slump Lures Top Buyers in Pivot Away From Hong Kong (Bloomberg)
China’s quest to clean up its financial system may be scaring some investors away from mainland shares, but for Eastspring Investments it’s the perfect time to switch strategy.
Currency Algo Trading Climbs for Investors on Integral's System (Bloomberg)
Money managers are ramping up their use of algorithmic trading in one corner of the $5.1-trillion-a-day currency market.
The Price Of Oil Falls As OPEC's Saudi Arabia, Kuwait And Iraq Want Cost Raised (The Motley Fool)
After initially aiming to boost crude oil prices to $55 a barrel, key OPEC members like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq have now set their sights on $60 a barrel of oil.
Here's how much the average online shopper in China is spending (eMarketer)
Disposable income and consumer spending in China continue to grow at a slow but steady pace.
Rising incomes are helping boost the fortunes of the country’s ecommerce sector, which has been a clear beneficiary of consumers’ growing largesse.
How some ‘Trump trades’ have performed as he nears his 100th day in office (Market Watch)
As President Donald Trump approaches his first 100 days in office, the so-called Trump rally since Election Day, marked by euphoria over a president pledging pro-growth policies, has experienced a shift.
This week’s Mutual Funds and ETF stories (Market Watch)
In this week’s digest, read about an ETF that invests in none other than the ETF industry — a reflection of how popular these products have become. The ETF business is growing fast and showing no signs of slowing.
Fannie and Freddie, Back in the Black (Bloomberg)
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were among the biggest disasters of the financial crisis. In September 2008, nine days before Lehman Brothers failed, the federal government took over the mortgage companies; it eventually spent more than $187 billion bailing them out.
The Next Trade War: Trump Threatens To Terminate "Horrible" Trade Deal With South Korea (Zero Hedge)
Two days after launching a trade war with Canada by imposing tariffs on lumber imports, one day after nearly terminating NAFTA (but stopping just shy after an alleged phone call from the leaders of Mexico and Canada), Trump has finally turned his attention to the one nation whose GDP consists of roughly 60% net trade, and which we said several months ago, is far more likely to be punished for trade malpractice than China: South Korea.
Home Prices Continue To Surge Sparking Fears Of Bubble 2.0 (Zero Hedge)
With each passing day, and each new financial bubble, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out what exactly is "normal."
Companies
Tomahawk Missile Maker Raytheon's Sales Rise 3.4% (Reuters)
Raytheon Co (RTN) reported a 3.4 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by higher sales in its divisions that make Tomahawk cruise missiles and electronic warfare systems.
United Says Litany of Failures Led to Flight Fiasco (The Wall Street Journal)
A new report by United Airlines has concluded that a litany of failures in customer service, training and technology contributed to the forcible removal of a paying passenger earlier this month.
Ford’s Profit Falls 35% on Recall Costs, Weaker U.S. Sales (The Wall Street Journal)
Ford Motor Co.’s first-quarter profit fell 35% from a year earlier amid higher costs and weaker U.S. sales, sending the stock down 1.7% in early afternoon trading.
Ford profit beats estimates; maintains 2017 profit outlook (Reuters)
Ford Motor Co reported a lower quarterly net profit on Thursday but beat analyst expectations amid higher commodity, engineering and recall costs, and a drop in vehicle sales.
Chipotle Earnings Show Huge Growth In Revenue, Sales As Mexican Grill Bounces Back From E. Coli Scare (International Business Times)
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) reported first-quarter financial and operating results on April 25, delivering improvements in just about every operating and financial metric, and not only as compared to the year-ago quarter. Chipotle improved its business results across the board on a sequential basis as well.
Deutsche Bank's Return to Growth Delayed as Trading Trails (Bloomberg)
Deutsche Bank AG’s muted gains in a particularly strong period for Wall Street trading is raising doubts about how quickly Chief Executive Officer John Cryan can recover ground lost to competitors.
Cotai Drives a Huge Quarter for Wynn Resorts (The Motley Fool)
Macau's resurgence has come just in time for Wynn Resorts' (NASDAQ:WYNN), and its first-quarter results are showing a lot of promise. The opening of Wynn Palace in the Chinese territory, which has seen 13% gaming growth in the quarter, has helped drive revenue gains for the casino resort operator.
Grubhub shares shoot up on earnings, revenue beat for first quarter (Chicago Tribes)
CEO Matt Maloney praised the company's performance — particularly what he called its highest-ever year-over-year rise in active users and restaurant partners — during a call with analysts. He pointed to the online platform Grubhub revamped last year and increased marketing and advertising as factors.
Here are the 50 largest companies in the world by revenue (Visual Capitalist)
Today’s data visualization comes from Datashown, and it compares the world’s largest companies by their 2016 revenues to really help put the size and scale of these companies into perspective.
Technology
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F460003%2F0b5a6c5c-57d8-497f-9884-81abc8d6d464.jpg)
Samsung made a ton of cash even though its flagship phones were a fiery disaster (Mashable Asia)
Its Galaxy Note 7 flagship phone, heralded as a true competitor to Apple's iPhone, was a disaster. Battery fires forced Samsung to stop selling the phones and recall them entirely. Seemingly ever single flight around the world for months surrounding the situation included a warning: No Samsung Note 7s.
Twitter trolls Trump's anti-immigrant hotline with calls about space aliens (Mashable Asia)
Seen a space alien lately? Maybe you should tell Donald Trump about it.
On Wednesday, his administration unveiled the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, or VOICE, which gave out a hotline number for those impacted by "criminal aliens." (Back to that in a second.)
Microsoft's Momentum Slows on Weaker Sales of Surface Tablets (Bloomberg)
Satya Nadella’s plan to reshape Microsoft Corp. as a cloud-computing company hit a snag in the third quarter, when lackluster sales of Surface tablets and weaker demand for corporate software-support services kept revenue growth in check.
Apple in talks to extend Apple Pay with person-to-person payments, offer its own prepaid debit cards (9To5Mac)
Apple is reportedly in talks with partners to launch its own person-to-person payments service, extending the breadth of Apple Pay and closely competing with services like Venmo or Square Cash. Recode reports that the company wants to announce the payments-between-friends feature later this year — although plans can change.
Why Do IoT Companies Keep Building Devices with Huge Security Flaws? (Harvard Business Review)
Earlier this year an alarming story hit the news: Hackers had taken over the electronic key system at a luxury hotel in Austria, locking guests out of their rooms until the hotel paid a ransom. It was alarming, of course, for the guests and for anyone who ever stays at a hotel.
Google iOS search now finds streaming movies, music and TV (Engadget)
Finding streaming content on your iPhone is getting easier. Google announced on Wednesday that the newest update to its search app on iOS devices will enable users to find TV shows, movies and songs on streaming services.
In State Of The Union For Alphabet, Larry Page Glosses Over Setbacks, Eyes 'Amazing Opportunities' (Forbes)
Business leaders tend to do a lot of explaining when things are messy or they're backed into a corner. When things are going well, they often let results speak for themselves.
The next generation of VR enhancements coming to HTC Vive (Engadget)
The first year of consumer virtual reality has been exciting, to be sure, but ask anybody in the industry, and they'll tell you that it's only the beginning.
Politics
Trump accuses Democrats of wanting to shut down the government (Politico)
President Donald Trump blasted Democrats on Thursday in a flurry of tweets, accusing them of angling for a government shutdown and suggesting that they are prioritizing protecting Obamacare over spending on defense and border security.
Pelosi: Government funding bill still has '70 poison pills' (CNN)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday evening that the funding bill under negotiation still has "70 poison pills" that the Democratic Party can't live with.
A U.S. senator says a man wearing a tutu ‘kind of asks for it’ (The Washington Post)
When Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) visited Greybull High School in northern Wyoming on April 20, a student asked him a question at a preplanned question-and-answer session: “What work are you and your comrades doing to improve the life of the LGBT community in Wyoming? How do you plan to help Wyoming live up to its name as ‘The Equality State?’”
BOJ Keeps Monetary Policy Unchanged Says 2020 Games To Help (Associated Press)
Japan's central bank kept its ultra-lax monetary policy unchanged Thursday, forecasting that growth in the world's third-largest economy would remain slow but steady through the fiscal year ending in March 2018.
Bush Already Tried Trump’s Proposed Corporate Tax Holiday and It Was a Total Failure (The Intercept)
As part of its radical but still mostly undefined tax plan, the Trump administration proposed a tax holiday for corporate earnings stored overseas. Reporters have been hearing on background that the tax rate would be slashed from 35 percent to 10 percent.
Trump Says Nafta Pullout Still Possible If Renegotiation Fails (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s still ready to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if he can’t renegotiate better terms for the U.S. but that he decided to hold off on a decision after appeals from the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
Lawmakers push one-week stopgap funding bill (The Hill)
Lawmakers are pushing a one-week funding bill to prevent a government shutdown as leadership continues to negotiate a larger agreement.
Trump’s Corporate Tax Rewrite Faces Major Obstacle: Its Cost (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump offered corporate America a sweeping tax vision whose ultimate promise of lower rates and more global competitiveness depends on one thing: longevity. Given the plan’s uncertain costs, longevity may be one thing the proposal can’t deliver.
EU Determined to Limit Brexit Damage as It Finalizes Stance (Bloomberg)
The European Union warned the U.K. that its remaining 27 countries are now its chief concern rather than anything Theresa May might want to achieve from Brexit as it seeks to limit negative consequences from Britain’s departure.
Trump's plan to slash business taxes seen as 'guidepost' by congressional Republicans (Reuters)
President Donald Trump unveiled a one-page plan on Wednesday proposing deep U.S. tax cuts, many for businesses, that would make the federal deficit balloon if enacted, drawing a cautious welcome from fiscal conservatives and financial markets.
Ex-Congresswoman Accused of Living Large on Charity Funds (Associated Press)
Prosecutors in Florida have told jurors a former congresswoman financed a lavish lifestyle of Beverly Hills shopping trips and fancy parties on donations to a charity ostensibly set up to help poor children with scholarships.
California attorney general: Trump administration 'in denial' about its executive powers (Business Insider)
California's top prosecutor had some terse words for the Trump administration hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration's attempt to financially penalize so-called sanctuary cities.
Trump's tax cut proposal shines light on MLPs (Reuters)
The Trump administration's proposal to slash tax rates on so-called pass-through businesses would deliver a windfall to investors in master limited partnerships and could offer a much-needed lift to this niche segment of the energy market.
Health and Biotech
Thousands of Obamacare Customers Left Without Options as Insurers Bolt (Bloomberg)
Tens of thousands of customers who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces could lose their coverage for 2018. Several insurers have already decided not to offer marketplace coverage next year amid financial risk and Republican stop-and-go efforts to replace the law.
Cancer Drug Fund didn’t deliver value ‘to patients or society’ (New Scientist)
The Cancer Drugs Fund, which ran from 2010 to 2016, cost more than £1 billion, and gave people access to expensive new cancer drugs not routinely available on the NHS.
Life on the Home Planet
10 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in (Pew Research Center)
As demographers convene in Chicago for the Population Association of America’s annual meeting, here is a look at 10 of Pew Research Center’s recent findings on demographic trends, ranging from global refugee and migrant flows to changes to family life and living arrangements.
Israel suspected after missile strike at military base near Damascus airport (The Wall Street Journal)
A huge explosion shook Damascus in what state media said was an Israeli missile strike on a military installation near the Syrian capital’s international airport.
"The world is moving closer to nuclear annihilation.” – Ban Ki-Moon (Euro News)
Speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School in Massachusetts, Ban said the international community must maintain the pressure of sanctions on North Korea to stop its advancing nuclear and missile threats.
Israel strikes arms depot near Damascus airport: sources (Reuters)
Israeli warplanes struck a weapons supply hub operated by Lebanese group Hezbollah near Damascus airport on Thursday, targeting arms sent from Iran in commercial and military cargo aircraft, Syrian rebel and regional intelligence sources said.
