Financial Markets and Economy
Treasury Market Liquidity Still Robust, Officials Show in Blog (Bloomberg)
The world’s largest debt market is sound and traders’ ability to transact remains robust, U.S. Treasury Department officials said in premiering a liquidity gauge Friday in a blog to be posted on the government’s website.
Oil stable as production outages offset impact of stronger dollar (Business Insider)
Oil prices were steady on Friday after a run up on supply disruptions, especially in the Americas, where wildfires continue to rage near Canada's huge oil sand fields, tightening a market suffering global oversupply.
Oil prices dip as focus returns to global supply glut (Market Watch)
Oil futures edged lower on Friday as traders looked beyond recent supply disruptions in Canada and Libya and focused on the global crude glut.
The Downside of Hedging Currency Risk for Stock Investors (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. dollar’s weakness this year has shown the downside of hedging currency exposure when investing in overseas stocks.
'Paralyzing Volatility' Means Trouble for Wall Street Giants (Bloomberg)
There’s plenty of volatility, but what happened to the volume?
Banks Face New Rule That Magnifies Loss Reserves in Weak Economy (Bloomberg)
A new accounting rule that will force banks to set aside provisions for bad loans long before they sour could cannibalize profits and eat into capital at U.S. lenders.
Big drop in bullishness for U.S. stocks could actually be a good sign (Market Watch)
The U.S. stock market’s recent weakness represents little more than investors taking a breather before they mount another rally.
Want to bet on millennials? Buy these stocks (Market Watch)
We’re about to find out how many more millennials found jobs as social-media managers, fixie repairmen or whatever, allowing them to move out of mom and dad’s basement.
GM, Lyft to Test Self-Driving Electric Taxis (Wall Street Journal)
General Motors Co. and Lyft Inc. within a year will begin testing a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis on public roads, a move central to the companies’ joint efforts to challenge Silicon Valley giants in the battle to reshape the auto industry.
U.S. trade panel to probe devices of eight smartphone vendors (Business Insider)
The U.S. International Trade Commission is launching an investigation into the mobile devices of eight smartphone vendors over an alleged patent violation, the trade panel said on its website.
Goldman Said to Extend Fixed-Income Job Cuts to 10% of Staff (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is cutting more jobs in its securities units, extending reductions in fixed-income operations this year to roughly 10 percent of workers there, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
European stocks pull back, veering toward second straight losing week (Market Watch)
European stocks were lower Friday, with broad-based losses coming ahead of closely watched U.S. labor-market figures, staying on course for second consecutive week in the red.
Shares in one of Britain's biggest construction companies have crashed nearly 20% (Business Insider)
Shares in Interserve, one of the UK's largest construction and services companies, are getting pummelled on Friday morning, after the company said that it faces a huge impairment charge on a major project in Scotland.
Push for $15 Raises Pay—And Tensions (Wall Street Journal)
The growing push to raise the minimum wage to as much as $15 an hour is creating new issues in the workplace: While some of America’s lowest-paid workers will get fatter paychecks, their veteran colleagues may feel underpaid.
Herbalife Soars After Saying It's Close to FTC Resolution (Bloomberg)
Herbalife Ltd. soared as much as 13 percent in early trading after saying it’s in late-stage talks to resolve a Federal Trade Commission probe into whether the nutrition company is a pyramid scheme.
The world's largest steelmaker is getting smashed by China (Business Insider)
ArcelorMittal, the biggest steel producer in the world, saw first quarter profits fall by a thirdas the price slump in commodities continued to affect its bottom line.
Poltics
U.S. Doubles Down on Egypt’s Dictator (Bloomberg View)
Abdul Fattah el-Sisi has been trampling human rights, the rule of law and freedom of the press since he became Egypt's president two years ago. For almost as long, the international community has called on him to stop. But his critics in Washington have recently changed their tune.
Sisi said Wednesday through an official statement that the human rights situation in Egypt should not be approached from a “Western perspective,” and he warned that the “fall of nation states” in the Middle East could fuel the rise of terrorism.
After vanquishing 16, Trump has one more rival to beat (Market Watch)
And then there were none.
That, of course, is what happened to the 16 presidential hopefuls who entered the race for the Republican nomination against Donald Trump.
Trump, under pressure to unite Republicans, sharpens attack on Clinton (Reuters)
Donald Trump is testing out themes to use against Democrat Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee tries to persuade disgruntled party loyalists to get behind his campaign.
Technology
This Flexible, Holographic Smartphone Is The Future (Popular Science)
Smartphones haven't really changed in the last few years. Yes, they're faster, have high resolution, and take better photos, but the core technology has remained relatively unchanged.
But that might change soon. Researchers at Queen's University Human Media Lab in Australia showed off Holoflex, a holographic, flexible phone with an OLED display that's a breath of life into the future of smartphones. This means holograms without 3D glasses or any kind of equipment, that can be viewed at any angle.
Huawei Just Copied the iPhone—Down to the Last Screw (Wired)
This is not a photo of two Apple iPhones. This is a photograph of an iPhone on top of Huawei’s new P9.
I’ll excuse your double-take, because Huawei is shamelessly copying Apple here. Yes, it migrated the fingerprint sensor like a flounder’s eye and eliminated the mechanical home button, but the two phones share similar antenna bands, styling, and finish. They even sport the same proprietary star-shaped security screw, in exactly the same spots.
Health and Life Sciences
Hepatitis C Now Leading Infectious Disease Killer in U.S. (Medicine Net Daily)
The number of hepatitis C-linked deaths in the United States reached a record high in 2014, and the virus now kills more Americans than any other infectious disease, health officials report.
There were 19,659 hepatitis C-related deaths in 2014, according to preliminary data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yoga for the Showoff. Namaste. (NY Times)
Chip Foley has competed in 50 triathlons, but now he’s turning his focus upside down. “My ultimate goal is to be able to do a handstand and hold it for 30 seconds,” he said.
The hunt for natural antibacterials (BBC)
What do tea, beer, honey and marine sponges have in common?
They are all among the natural products Welsh scientists are targeting in the hunt for sources of new antimicrobials.
Life on the Home Planet
Ice core reveals how lush Antarctica changed to icy desert (New Scientist)
Antarctica was once covered with tropical forests. Now researchers have fully charted the slow transition from tropical paradise to icy wasteland, thanks to a single marine sediment core.
The core shows for the first time that temperate forests were a key transitional stage before falling temperatures turned the continent into a white wasteland.
Moderate Syrian Rebels Torn Between Giving Up, Joining Islamic Extremists (Wall Street Journal)
Ali Othman is among a shrinking band of Syrian rebels in the mountains across from this border town who face an agonizing choice: accept a settlement with a regime they revile or fight alongside al Qaeda’s Islamist allies.
