Financial Markets and Economy
Korean Stocks Hit Record Despite Scary Nuclear Rhetoric (The Wall Street Journal)
What would a country’s stock market do if its neighboring country threatens to attack it with nuclear weapons? Hit a record high, of course.
U.S. Productivity Falls by Most in a Year; Labor Costs Climb (Bloomberg)
U.S. worker productivity declined in the first quarter by the most in a year as growth in the world’s largest economy weakened, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.
Metals Extend Sell-Off on Mounting Concerns Over Demand in China (Bloomberg)
Metals extended their biggest daily plunge this year, buffeted by signs of ample supplies of copper, and concerns over demand in China. Iron ore tumbled in Dalian, steel plummeted in Shanghai and mining shares slid to the lowest level in four months.
Why the Retail Crisis Could Be Coming to American Groceries (Bloomberg)
The American grocery store has so far been mostly immune to the ravages of online shopping and the all around apocalyptic outlook facing the nation's retailers. But a war is coming to the staid supermarket, and that could mean more consolidation, bankruptcies, and falling prices.
Natural Gas and Lentils Drive Canadian Exports to Record (Bloomberg)
Canadian exports rebounded to a record high in March on energy and consumer goods such as red lentils, narrowing the trade deficit more than predicted.
In a Twist, Snow Is Keeping Natural Gas Prices Down in Texas (Bloomberg)
West Coast power producers are ditching gas in favor of cheap, plentiful hydroelectric power, which is surging after the wettest year ever across the Northern Sierra Nevada range.
This is what the bull market’s last gasp looks like (Market Watch)
To be sure, many market timers for years now have been predicting the end of this amazing bull market, and so far they’ve been wrong. So there’s nothing particularly new about the recent spate of predictions that the bull market is about to end.
Here’s What ‘Billions’ Gets Wrong About the Municipal Bond Market (Bloomberg)
People believe what they see on television. They even take social cues from both reality and entertainment programs. I remember a guy who thought it was acceptable to drop in unannounced pretty much because he saw Kramer, Elaine and George do it so many times on Seinfeld.
Jay Clayton Confirmed as SEC Chairman (The Wall Street Journal)
The Senate on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, elevating a Wall Street lawyer who hopes to turn around the decline in the number of public companies over the past 20 years.
One Sign That the Retail Industry Isn’t Dead Yet (Bloomberg)
Customers cussed at him and threw ice cream at him. Finally, Don-Wesley Andrews had enough. He quit McDonald’s in Sacramento, California, for a job at Wal-Mart.
SEC approves request to list and trade quadruple-leveraged ETfs (Reuters)
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved a request to list and trade quadruple-leveraged exchange-traded funds, marking a first for the growing market for such funds in the United States.
Nasdaq 6,000 – Then And Now [INFOGRAPHIC] (Value Walk)
The Nasdaq Composite hit 6,000 last week, more than 17 years after first reaching 5,000 in March 2000. The road from the first break above 5,000 to the 6,000 milestone was a long one.
Experts on an Earlier Version of the World (A Wealth Of Common Sense)
A few years ago I attended an institutional investment conference headlined by John Paulson, the man who became famous following the real estate crash for the greatest trade ever.
Damage to U.S. Crops Won't End the Global Wheat Glut (Bloomberg)
A U.S. snowstorm that sent wheat prices surging this week on concerns about crop damage will do little to stop global inventories piling up.
S&P 500: Most Boring Six Days in 23 Years (Price Action Lab)
In the last six days the S&P 500 has remained within a tight range. A similar volatility crash occurred 23 years ago and was followed by year-long directionless market.
Companies
Apple CEO Cook: Rumor Mill Causes a Pause in iPhone (Barron's)
Apple (AAPL) chief executive Tim Cook, talking to Street analysts this evening on a conference call about the company's just-reported fiscal Q2 results, and Q3 outlook, said that the company was noticing a "pause" in purchases of iPhone of late, which he attributed to "reports about future iPhones."
Google to pay $334 million to settle Italian tax dispute (Reuters)
Alphabet Inc's Google has agreed to pay 306 million euros ($334 million) to settle a tax dispute with Italy, the company and the country's tax authority said on Thursday.
Google and Facebook’s Idealistic Futures Are Built on Ads (Bloomberg)
In 2011 a young computer scientist named Jeff Hammerbacher said something profound while explaining why he’d decided to leave Facebook—and the promise of a small fortune—to start a company.
Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete With Amazon? (Bloomberg)
Last summer, Marc Lore, founder and chief executive officer of e-commerce startup Jet.com Inc., sat down to record a private video for the top officials of the world’s largest retailer: Wal-Mart. In the video, meant for Wal-Mart executives and board members who weren’t yet part of weeks of secret negotiations between the companies, Lore stares earnestly into the camera and shows off his Bentonville bona fides.
Film business, higher affiliate fees lift Viacom's revenue (Reuters)
Viacom Inc (VIAB.O), the owner of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, reported a quarterly revenue that handily beat estimates, helped by growth in its filmed entertainment unit as well as higher affiliate revenue.
Shell Profit Soars as Oil Sector Bounces Back (The Wall Street Journal)
Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday reported a sharp increase in profit in the first quarter, rounding off a bumper set of results for the world’s biggest oil companies as years of cost-cutting and a fragile recovery in oil prices begin to pay off.
United Air to face second congressional grilling at Senate hearing (Reuters)
United Airlines (UAL.N) will be back in the hot seat on Thursday when the U.S. Congress holds its second hearing this week to examine the circumstances surrounding the forced removal of a passenger from a Chicago flight last month.
Technology
Tesla plugs older Model S as new buyers turn to Model 3 (Reuters)
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Wednesday reported first-quarter revenue that more than doubled, and while saying the upcoming Model 3 was on schedule for July, it downplayed the mass-market vehicle to give a sales pitch for its more expensive Model S.
Experts Have Revealed The Potential Dangers of Elon Musk's Neuralink Brain Interface (Science Alert)
Neuralink – which is "developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers" – is probably a bad idea. If you understand the science behind it, and that's what you wanted to hear, you can stop reading.
Google turns Raspberry Pi into a dirt cheap Home competitor (Engadget)
If you've ever wanted to have a conversation with your own tiny home-made computer, then your prayers have just been answered. Raspberry Pi has teamed up with Google, bringing voice integration to the Pi with a clever combination of hardware and software.
Chatbot challenges will make AIs discuss the latest news (New Scientist)
EVEN robots want to talk politics these days. Chatbots could soon be reading news articles and then discussing them with us.
Voice-activated assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri can check the weather but are left stumped by more complicated conversations, says Alan Black at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.
Now the Android Gmail app keeps an eye out for phishing links (Engadget)
In a particularly timely upgrade, Google is rolling out new protection against phishing links on its Gmail app for Android. According to the notes, when a user clicks on a suspicious link, they'll get a warning like the one shown above revealing that this could lead to a forged website (similar warnings came to web Gmail last year).
Politics
Trump faces major test as vote looms on U.S. healthcare bill (Reuters)
The U.S. House of Representatives was set on Thursday for a cliffhanger vote to repeal Obamacare, as Republican leaders worked to deliver President Donald Trump a win for one of his top legislative priorities.
In French Election, Youth Reject Establishment in Search for Jobs Cure (The Wall Street Journal)
Imane Laribi is like many young people in France: fresh out of school, struggling to start a career, and discontent with the choices before her in Sunday’s presidential election.
After North Korea criticism, China says wants to be good neighbor (Reuters)
China said on Thursday it wants to be good neighbors with North Korea, after the isolated country's state news agency published a rare criticism of Chinese state media commentaries calling for tougher sanctions over the North's nuclear program.
Trump order to ease ban on political activity by churches (Reuters)
President Donald Trump will take executive action on Thursday to ease a ban on political activity by churches and other tax-exempt institutions as part of an order on religious liberties, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.
France's Macron accuses presidential rival Le Pen of spreading lies (Reuters)
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron accused his far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Thursday of spreading lies by suggesting he had an undisclosed offshore fund.
Trump’s Threats to Break Up Banks Aren’t Scaring Wall Street Yet (Bloomberg)
Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he might support breaking up big banks, Wall Street isn’t worried. Yet.
'This is a middle finger to America': House hearing on Wall Street rules boils over (Business Insider)
Healthcare reform isn't the only major legislative accomplishment under President Barack Obama that Donald Trump promised to immediately undo.
Donald Trump Has Plaque At His Golf Course Commemorating Civil War Battle That Never Happened (Golf Digest)
Note — President Donald Trump recently caused a stir with comments about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War. However, this is not Trump's first case of historical revisionism regarding the Great Rebellion.
Le Pen Tirade Meets Logic of Macron in Brutal French TV Duel (Bloomberg)
Marine Le Pen unleashed a barrage of attacks on her presidential rival Emmanuel Macron as she tried to close a gap of some 20 percentage points in the only head-to-head debate of the French election campaign.
UK's Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, to retire from royal duties (Reuters)
Prince Philip, the 95-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, will retire from carrying out royal engagements from the autumn, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, ending more than six decades of active public life.
Philippines' Duterte says chat with Xi was at Trump's request (Reuters)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday his telephone conversation this week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss the Korean peninsula crisis was at the behest of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.
German domestic spy agency expects further cyber attacks before election (Reuters)
Germany's domestic intelligence agency expects further cyber attacks directed against German politicians and government officials ahead of national elections on Sept. 24, the agency's chief Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference on Thursday.
U.S. needs to balance foreign alliances: Tillerson (Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday outlined for his staff how an "America First" agenda translates into foreign policy, but did not address the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts, which worry many diplomats.
Trump’s Plan to Isolate North Korea Faces Trouble—in the South (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. bid to isolate North Korea faces a major test next week in South Korea, where an advocate of more engagement with Pyongyang is favored to win the presidential election.
Health and Biotech
Immune war with donor cells after transplant may wipe out HIV (Scientific American)
Have we had it all back to front? Ten years ago, a man known as the Berlin patient was cured of HIV. It was thought that a bone marrow transplant he received for cancer, from a person immune to HIV, had eradicated the virus from his body.
A Breakthrough in How We Treat Cancer Is on The Horizon (Business Insider)
There's been a push in the past few years to use genetic information to guide the treatment decisions of cancer patients. It's something former President Barack Obama started tackling with his 2015 Precision Medicine Initiative.
Life on the Home Planet
For The First Time, Scientists Have Measured The Mysterious Force That Makes Crystals Align (Science Alert)
Crystals are among the most fascinating structures in the natural world – not only do they have a unique, highly ordered, and repeating lattice structure, they also have all kinds of inherent, interesting properties, including the ability to self-assemble.
