Financial Markets and Economy
Banks Will Keep Doing FX Stuff That Got Them in Trouble (Bloomberg)
Here they're doing that grumbling in letters to clients the day after their guilty pleas. There is no promise of reform here: The Justice Department caught the banks doing things that it didn't like and fined them billions of dollars, but won't stop them from doing most of those things. As long as there are no more ambiguities or misunderstandings about what they are. It's a weird stalemate. The Justice Department doesn't like these practices, the banks like them fine, and they've agreed to disagree. These practices have been singled out, in the context of criminal plea agreements (a bad context!), as things that happened. But not quite as crimes. And the banks are careful to make clear: They're going to keep happening.
The Senate Has a $66 Billion Gift for U.S. Banks (Bloomberg)
A U.S. Senate proposal to raise the level at which banks are deemed systemically important could help free up as much as $66 billion in capital at 11 lenders and allow for increased shareholder payouts.
There may be a simple, overlooked reason for the EU bond meltdown (Market Watch)
A recent meltdown in the eurozone’s bond market caught global markets by surprise, spreading fears of a repeat of the 2013 taper tantrum.
The jitters were so intense that it took a clear message from European Central Bank policy makers that the central bank stands firmly behind its aggressive stimulus program, for the market to calm and resume some bullish momentum.
Self-Driving Trucks Are Going to Kill Jobs, and Not Just for Drivers (Gizmodo)
The first road-legal autonomous truck made a splashy debut earlier this month. The Freightliner Inspiration Truck is shiny and new, but it will not be good for everyone. Autonomous trucks will destroy jobs, Scott Santens points out at Medium, killing the truck stop as we know it.
Even if you reserve no particular nostalgia for truck stops, the effects will be devastating for local economics. Autonomous trucks will obviously replace drivers, an estimated 3.5 million of them, but they will make the business that cater to drivers obsolete, too.
The Dark Side of Japan’s First-Quarter Growth Drivers (Wall Street Journal)
A buildup in inventories and higher exports helped Japan record stronger-than expected growth in the first quarter, but those engines may cool in the second quarter.
Real gross domestic product grew 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, or an annualized rate of 2.4%. Of that, private-sector inventory investment contributed 0.5 percentage point. In other words, growth would have been close to zero if inventories hadn’t expanded.
Despite Weaker-Than-Expected PMI, Chinese Stocks Stumble (Zero Hedge)
Chinese Manufacturing PMI missed expectations, printing a contractrionary 49.1 (against 49.3 expectatons) for the 3rd month in a row. While this was a small pick up from last month's 48.9 print, it hardly signals 'success' for the various easing efforts unleashed upon an all-knowing investing public. After yesterday's weakness in Chinese stocks, one would think a disappointing PMI was just the ticket to send investors wild with buying in anticipation of more easing, but now, Chinese stocks have erased early modest gains and are fading back…
Workers in the on-demand economy make an average of $18 an hour (Market Watch)
The average hourly wage in the on-demand economy is $18 an hour, with drivers in the ride-sharing economy and Airbnb hosts making the most at $25 an hour, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by Stanford University graduate students and a Y Combinator alumnus, offers a peek into the sharing economy, showing that its workers generally have multiple jobs and are under the age of 34.
Fed officials see June rate hike as unlikely: minutes (Reuters)
Federal Reserve officials believed it would be premature to hike interest rates in June even though most felt the U.S. economy was set to rebound from a dismal start to the year, according to minutes from their April policy meeting released on Wednesday.
The central bank debated whether a slew of disappointing data, including weak consumer spending, signaled a temporary slump or evidence of a longer-lasting slowdown, with most participants agreeing economic growth would climb to a healthier pace and the labor market would strengthen.
JUNE IS OFF THE TABLE (Business Insider)
June is probably off the table.
The Federal Reserve just released the Minutes from its April 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which indicated that the Fed is unlikely to raise interest rates in June.
China data damps gains in Asian shares (Market Watch)
Japan’s stocks traded at a 15-year high Thursday while Australia also rose, although weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data kept a cap on gains in the region.
The Nikkei Stock Average NIK, +0.46% extended gains for a fifth-straight day, rising 0.4% to 20,275.24. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.75% was up 0.8% at 5,655.30, after its currency continued to weaken.
Stocks and Trading
Chris Davis On Growth Stocks In Disguise (Value Walk)
Chris Davis is the current CEO of Davis Advisors, the investment manager founded by the Davis family that follows the principles of legendary value investor Shelby Cullom Davis. The manager’s flagship New York Venture Fund has earned over its 46-year history a net annualized 11.8%, vs. 10.0% for the S&P 500.
Chris Davis revealed how he set about looking for opportunities April’s issue of Value Investor Insight.
Politics
Obama: Climate Deniers in Congress Are Undermining Our Troops (Mother Jones)
Speaking to graduating cadets at the US Coast Guard Academy Wednesday, President Obama once again outlined his administration's case for ambitious climate action. At the heart of today's speech: the president's contention that global warming constitutes an immediate threat to America's national security and will cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars if left unchecked. [Picture to the right by Banksy.]
Rubio’s Gambian Human Rights Fiasco Gets Worse (Think Progress)
On Tuesday, ThinkProgress reported that Jennifer Lukawski, one of the hosts of a Marco Rubio campaign fundraiser scheduled for Wednesday, recently served as a registered foreign agent for a western African regime known for its human rights abuses — including repeated threats to behead gay people. In response, Pasamba Jow, spokesman for the Democratic Union of Gambian Activists, has called for Rubio to remove her from the host committee for the event.
Technology
Spotify adds podcasts and video clips (BBC)
Spotify has announced it is adding more non-music content to its app.
The new offerings include news bulletins from National Public Radio, the BBC and others as well as longer video and audio podcasts and clips.
Spotify has more than 60 million regular users across 58 countries. It says about 20% pay for its premium ad-free subscription services.
Microsoft Wants to Change Everything You Know About Email (Time)
Microsoft is reportedly working on a next generation email app that will strip away subject lines, greetings and signatures, and display only the text users need for a rapid fire conversation.
Microsoft has not formally introduced the new messaging app, though an announcement labeled “Microsoft Confidential” did briefly crop up on its public website, which was spotted by Twitter user @h0x0d on Tuesday. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on app.
Health and Life Sciences
High salt intake may delay puberty (Science Daily)
Researchers from University of Wyoming, USA led by Ms Dori Pitynski are investigating the effect of varying levels of dietary salt on the onset of puberty in rats. They found that rats fed a high salt diet (equivalent to 3 or 4 times the recommended daily allowance for humans) had a significant delay in reaching puberty compared to those fed a normal (low) salt diet. Interestingly, rats that had salt completely excluded from their diet also had delayed puberty.
Life on the Home Planet
Fried Food Is About to Get More Expensive (Bloomberg)
Lovers of deep-fried food, be warned. An oilseed crop that helps deliver the crispy and golden quality to french fries, potato chips and chicken is in trouble.
More than anywhere else in the world, Canada’s Prairie provinces yield canola seeds that are crushed to make vegetable oil used by McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Frito-Lay. This year, a dry spell has left the soil more like concrete, making it tougher for farmers to plant and threatening to cut production for a second straight year.
“We’ve just been missing every rain,” grower Eric McPeek, 30, said by telephone from his 4,100-acre farm in Coronach, Saskatchewan. McPeek sowed canola, durum wheat, chickpeas and lentils in ground he said was the hardest since 2010.
