Financial Markets and Economy
Oil bounces, world stocks hold near all-time highs (Reuters)
Stocks fell in Europe as investors locked in gains on this year's strong run, while oil prices rose after U.S. fuel inventories declined and Saudi Arabia cut supplies of crude to Asia by more than expected.
Traders Ask What Will Rouse Markets When Trump and Twitter Can't (Bloomberg)
North Korea nuclear tensions, a crackdown on debt in China, confusion over U.S. policy, elections in Europe: rich ingredients for sending markets into a tizzy.
EU Raises Growth Forecasts but Warns on Threat From Brexit and Trump (The Wall Street Journal)
The European Union raised its 2017 economic growth forecast Thursday, saying the bloc’s revival is strengthening despite geopolitical risks that could undermine its fifth year of recovery.
A stock market decline may be around the corner, according to Elliott Wave analysis (Market Watch)
This recent rally seems to have shaken many traders, especially those who have been incessantly trying to short-sell this market for the past year.
Money From Chinese State Giants Helped Fund Aluminum Stockpile (The Wall Street Journal)
Money from state-run Chinese companies was used to help finance the buildup of a massive aluminum stockpile that has crisscrossed the globe, depressed prices and sparked a criminal investigation in the U.S., according to business records, emails and people with direct knowledge of the transactions.
The Secretive Firm Set to Expand in Retail Options: Two Sigma Securities (The Wall Street Journal)
As the high-speed trading industry endures a wrenching period of consolidation, Two Sigma Securities is looking to come out on top.
In Trump's shadow, Fed official says trade barriers a 'dead end' (Reuters)
Trade protectionism is a "dead end" that may score political points but will ultimately hurt the U.S. economy, one of the most influential Federal Reserve officials said on Thursday in the central bank's strongest defense yet of open borders in the face of a skeptical Trump administration.
'Ice age' looms for China's outbound investment: study (Reuters)
China saw a rapid acceleration of outbound direct investment in services and industrial deals in 2016, a study showed in Thursday, but an investment "ice age" is looming in 2017 as authorities crack down on capital outflows.
Student Loans Just Got More Expensive (Bloomberg)
The U.S. government is raising prices for new student debt, adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of the typical federal college loan.
China April vehicle sales notch steepest fall in 20-months on tax hike (Reuters)
Chinese auto sales fell in April by the steepest in almost two years, the automakers' association said on Thursday, as a tax increase on small-engine cars from the beginning of the year discouraged buyers.
The Volcker Rule: How Trump’s New Regulator May Unleash Big Banks (The Wall Street Journal)
The nation’s main national bank regulator could act on its own to give banks relief from the Volcker rule trading ban, the agency’s acting chief said in his first interview since taking the job.
5 companies are carrying the S&P 500 (Wolf Street)
Over the past 10 weeks – so since March 1, 2017 – five stocks in the S&P 500 index have gained a total of $260 billion in market value, the infamous FAANG stocks: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (now Alphabet).
Companies
Snap misses on Q1 earnings, stock craters 20% (Business Insider)
Snapchat's user growth slowed to its lowest pace in years, as parent company Snap Inc. missed Wall Street expectations for its first quarterly earnings as a public company on Wednesday, sending its shares plunging more than 20% in after-hours trading.
Emirates Battered by Trump Travel Ban (The Wall Street Journal)
Emirates Airline said profit plunged in its just-ended fiscal year, slammed by a series of headwinds from weak business travel to a drop in bookings to the U.S. related to recent Trump administration travel directives.
These three firms own corporate America (The Conversation)
A fundamental change is underway in stock market investing, and the spin-off effects are poised to dramatically impact corporate America.
Wells Fargo management unveils $2 billion in new cost cuts (Reuters)
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) management unveiled $2 billion in new cost cuts ahead of presentations at the bank's investor day on Thursday as the scandal-hit lender hopes to appeal to skeptical investors on the heels of disappointing first-quarter earnings.
Aetna to Pull Out of Current Affordable Care Act Exchanges (The Wall Street Journal)
Aetna Inc. said it will pull out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges in Delaware and Nebraska next year, confirming that the insurer will exit all of the marketplaces where it currently sells plans.
EU advised to rank Uber as transport, challenging business model (Reuters)
Uber provides a transport service and must be licensed, an adviser to the European Union's top court said on Thursday, in a potential blow to the U.S. firm which says it is merely a digital enabler.
Maersk Executives Call a Bottom in the Shipping Container Market (The Wall Street Journal)
Danish shipping-and-oil giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S said Thursday the container market is starting to emerge from one of the worst industry downturns with demand outgrowing capacity for the second consecutive quarter.
AIG Plans to Name Brian Duperreault as Next CEO (The Wall Street Journal)
American International Group Inc. plans to name Brian Duperreault—a onetime lieutenant to former CEO Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg—as the firm’s chief executive officer, with an announcement expected as soon as Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
Technology
Social Media Use by Generation [Infographic] (Marketing Profs)
There will be 2.67 billion social media users worldwide by 2018, according to estimated cited in an infographic by Personal Money Service.
If more than one-third of the world is on social media, how can you make sure the right message gets to the right people?
Tesla begins taking orders for its solar roof (Los Angeles Times)
Tesla’s high-design solar roofs are moving a step closer to a housetop near you.
Tesla Inc. is accepting orders for its electricity-generating roofs, with a Wednesday afternoon kickoff.
Highest-Paid Women in America Reap Rewards of Technology Boom (Bloomberg)
Ginni Rometty, Meg Whitman and Safra Catz have been trailblazers in the technology industry, and now they’re America’s highest-paid female executives.
Politics
MacArthur defends his linchpin health care amendment to raucous crowd (CNN)
Kevin and Wendy Kapuscinski both voted for Rep. Tom MacArthur in November.
Six months later, after their congressman played a central role in resurrecting the GOP's efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare in the House, they sat outside MacArthur's town hall in Southern New Jersey vowing never to do it again.
Trump claims absolute immunity from D.C. wine bar's lawsuit (Reuters)
Lawyers for Donald Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. president has "absolute immunity" from a lawsuit by owners of the Cork Wine Bar in Washington, D.C., who claim that his ownership of a nearby hotel constitutes unfair competition.
Comey’s Firing Came as Investigators Stepped Up Russia Probe (The Wall Street Journal)
In the weeks before President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, a federal investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government was heating up, as Mr. Comey became increasingly occupied with the probe.
Acting FBI Head Testifies Days After Comey Firing (The Wall Street Journal)
Andrew McCabe, acting FBI director, declines to say whether former FBI Director James Comey told President Donald Trump he wasn’t under investigation.
Comey Firing Distracts Trump White House, Risking His Agenda (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey is an unwelcome distraction for a White House already straining to enact its agenda and could hamper its efforts to pass a repeal of Obamacare and cut taxes.
McCain, Sasse to Vote Against Trump Trade Nominee (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump is facing the first open dissent from Republican lawmakers over his attempt to scrap the party’s longstanding free-trade policy, with two GOP senators announcing Wednesday they will vote against the confirmation of Mr. Trump’s trade representative.
Comey infuriated Trump with refusal to preview Senate testimony: aides (Reuters)
The anger behind Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday had been building for months, but a turning point came when Comey refused to preview for top Trump aides his planned testimony to a Senate panel, White House officials said.
Germany's Schaeuble calls for euro zone parliament: La Repubblica (Reuters)
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wants to increase in integration of euro zone countries by creating a parliament for the currency bloc.
Trump to sign executive order creating voter fraud commission (Politico)
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday creating a commission to examine voter fraud and voter suppression, something that he has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, constitutes a major and ongoing problem in the U.S.
Life on the Home Planet
The Scientific Truth About Planet Nine, So (Forbes)
Last year, two astronomers were looking at the most distant objects orbiting our Sun ever discovered, when they noticed something funny. These ultra-distant Kuiper belt objects, instead of having their orbits oriented at random, were both swept off in one particular direction and tilted in the same direction.
Number of Illegal Cuban Immigrants Caught by Coast Guard Drops to Zero in April (The Wall Street Journal)
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Coast Guard last month didn’t intercept any Cubans trying to sail illegally to the U.S., a change due in large part to new policies set by both the Obama and Trump administrations, the head of the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
