News You Can Use From Phil’s Stock World

Financial Markets and Economy

Warning signs are piling up that the bull run in stocks is nearing an end (Business Insider)

If it feels like this bull market has been going on for a long time, that's because it has.

In fact, the current market rally, which has lasted 2002 trading days, is the longest one since the rally that preceded the 1929 stock market crash.

Currency Market Misery Is Algo Traders' Dream as Dollar Falters (Bloomberg)

Life may be a little tough if you’re a dollar bull hoping today’s the day the trend is going to resume. If you’re an algorithmic trader, you might just be in heaven.

Scoring the Fed's Decision: Will It Be Wise to Tighten in March? (Bloomberg)

Yellen said the U.S. economy is close to a level consistent with full employment — part of the Fed’s dual mandate — but a number of labor-market indicators have taken a step back recently.

A stock market crash is a way off, but this boom will turn to bust (The Guardian)

All three main measures of the health in the stock market are at record levels. Donald Trump is bragging about the boost he has given to share prices. Bourses around the world are taking their lead from Wall Street and heading higher.

Warning Signs Are Flashing for Macau Casino Stocks – Again (Bloomberg)

The last time investors were this optimistic about Macau casino stocks, it didn’t end well.

Back then, in 2014, bulls misread a Chinese anti-corruption campaign that scared away high rollers and erased $146 billion of shareholder value.

The Promise and Peril of the Trump Economy (Fortune)

In Dave Cote’s mind, the case for optimism is clear. The CEO of industrial giant Honeywell believes that the U.S. economy is poised for a surge under the Trump administration.

The Most-Hated Bear in Solar Isn’t Backing Down (Bloomberg)

When Elon Musk’s SolarCity hosted stock analysts about a year ago to gush about its prospects in the solar industry, Gordon Johnson was nowhere to be found.

Trump Keeps Promise to Coal Industry (NBC News)

With the stroke of a pen President Trump wiped out the Stream Protection Rule, an Obama-era order requiring coal companies to help protect streams and forests.

Investors might finally be recognizing risk in the stock market (Market Watch)

On Wednesday the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN — a measure of volatility — was up about 3.5%, while the stock market surged again.

What's Warren thinking? Airlines are in for bumpy ride, but Buffett bets big (Chicago Trubune)

Wall Street and Main Street perk up and take notice when superinvestor Warren Buffett buys a bunch of stock in a major company.

Investors tap investment-grade bond ETFs, but analysts like high-yield owed to ‘risk-on’ Trump (Market Watch)

Exchange-traded funds tied to investment-grade corporate bonds have come back into favor this year, with the category seeing billions of dollars in inflows, even as analysts remain cautious about the group.

Here are the best ways to make extra money and why people pay $200,000 initiation fees for country clubs like Mar-a-Lago (Market Watch)

Happy Thursday, MarketWatchers! Hope your days are going well. Here are the top personal finance stories of the day.

GREENSPAN: The US cannot afford to spend on infrastructure like it wants to because it's not on the gold standard (Business Insider)

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has again defended the gold standard monetary system that the US dropped in the 1930s. 

Greek Bank Run Re-accelerates: Massive Deposit Withdrawals Despite Capital Controls (Zero Hedge)

The grave disagreement between the International Monetary Fund and the European lenders, Grexit bombshells flying around and Greece’s reluctance to accept additional austerity measures have increase uncertainty among citizens – for one more time.

Philly Fed Explodes To 33-Year Highs – A 10-Standard-Deviation Beat (Zero Hedge)

Against expectations of a 18.0 print, February's Philly Fed exploded higher to 43.3 – the highest since January 1984. This is a 10-standard-deviation beat, led by a surge in new orders and the workweek, despite a decline in 'hope' and the number of employees.

Companies

Snap's 2 cofounders will sell up to $512 million in stock when their company goes public in March (Business Insider)

Snap cofounders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy plan to each sell up to $256 million in stock when their company goes public in March, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Committee on Thursday.

General Electric: Thank You Nattering Nabobs Of Negativism (David Alton Clark, Seeking Alpha)

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) stock offers an excellent opportunity for dividend growth and income investors today for several reasons. Furthermore, the stock appears to offer an excellent total return opportunity.

Advent Plans to Raise Stada Offer Over 3.48 Billion Euros (Bloomberg)

Drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG got a third suitor as potential buyers vie for its business in Germany and Russia.

The company said Thursday it’s received a non-binding offer at 58 euros a share — which gives it a value of about $3.85 billion — and is now weighing its options among three potential buyers. It didn’t identify the third candidate.

Marriott Sees a Strong 2017 With Starwood Under Its Belt (Fool.com)

The hotel business is competitive, but Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) has been an international leader in the industry for a long time. With the company having finished its merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts in late September, Marriott just finished its first full quarter with the combined business.

Hanjin Shipping officially sunk, declared bankrupt (The Wall Street Journal)

A South Korean court on Friday pulled the plug on Hanjin Shipping Co., declaring it bankrupt and ordering the liquidation of a company that has led the country’s shipping industry for the past four decades.

Technology

Elon Musk Is Officially Out on Flying Cars (Science Alert)

If you could attach one name to the future of transport technology – whether it's self-driving cars, or spacecraft that can ferry humans to Mars – Elon Musk would have to be it.

Apple may replace Touch ID with 3D face scanning on the next iPhone (The Verge)

The latest rumor for Apple’s next iPhone comes from JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall who claims that Apple will be adding a front-facing 3D laser scanner for facial recognition to unlock the device, as noted by MacRumors.

AT&T follows rivals with standalone unlimited plan (CNet)

On Thursday, the carrier announced its own unlimited offering, set to become available Friday for all postpaid customers (people who pay their bills at the end of the month). The company previously only offered unlimited data when you subscribed to its DirecTV or U-Verse TV services.

Microsoft Office for Mac gets Touch Bar support (Engadget)

Owners of the Macbook Pro with Touch Bar will be pleased to hear that Microsoft Office now works with the LCD strip Apple introduced with its latest laptop.

China To Add 800,000 Charging Points To Support Booming NEV Market (Forbes)

China is going to build 800,000 new charging points this year in support of the booming new energy vehicle (NEV) market. The figure includes 100,000 public chargers and 700,000 non-public chargers. 

Don't Touch That Outket Public Chargers Could Let Hackers Steal Your Data (Digital Trends)

There’s an unlikely danger lurking in the corner of every coffee shop, airport, conference center, and public library: Power strips and chargers. CNN reports that “compromised” outlets — chargers clandestinely commandeered by hackers — can wreak havoc on your smartphone.

Facebook plans customizable filters for nudity and violence (Tech Crunch)

Facebook wants to give you the power to define what is and isn’t objectionable, and influence the local defaults of those who don’t choose voluntarily. You’ll eventually be able to select how much nudity, violence, graphic content and profanity you’re comfortable seeing.

Mark Zuckerberg’s humanitarian manifesto (Tech Crunch)

Mark Zuckerberg never saw Facebook as just a business, and so never accepted his role as just a businessman. 

Five years ago, in Zuckerberg’s pre-IPO letter to Facebook investors, he wrote, “There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the

Chatbots and the future of 911 (Venture Beat)

The odds are you have already engaged with a bot during a customer service interaction. In fact, with advances in natural language processing, it’s getting harder to distinguish a human from a computer.

Politics

Trump's Messy Case That He Inherited A Mess (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump on Thursday made a messy case that he "inherited a mess" from his predecessor. Economic stats and territorial losses of Islamic State insurgents don't support his assertions about the problems handed to him on those fronts.

House GOP draw up health-care overhaul, but big gaps remain (Market Watch)

House Republican leaders sketched out a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, offering a set of policy specifics but showing they have yet to bridge significant GOP divisions over many of its components.

Trump’s Pick For National Security Adviser Rejects Job Offer After Erratic Press Conference (The Huffington Post)

President Donald Trump’s pick to replace ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn turned down an offer to join the administration after the president’s bizarre news conference on Thursday, several news outlets reported.

From Backrooms To Banquet, Top Envoys Seek to Engage US (Associated Press)

Envoys from leading global powers called Thursday for greater cooperation to tackle current conflicts and prevent future crises, pushing back against the isolationist tendencies that some diplomats fear could flourish with the new U.S. administration.

This Time Cover Says Everything You Need to Know About Trump's First Month (Mother Jones)

President Donald Trump's first month in office has been marked by a series of seemingly unending disasters—from bungled executive orders and the abrupt resignation of his national security adviser to the unprecedented leaks to the press and so on.

White House dismisses 6 over failed background checks (Politico)

Several White House staffers were dismissed Thursday morning after failing FBI background checks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

As Trump Raves, His Republican Enablers Face a Moment of Truth (The Daily Beast)

House Republicans reacted foolishly Tuesday to the Trump administration’s shifting explanations of the December calls that disgraced—and now resigned—National Security Adviser Michael Flynn made to the Russian ambassador to Washington.

Health and Biotech

This Year's Flu Shot Only Cut Infection Risk by Less Than Half (Bloomberg)

Americans who rolled up their sleeves for a flu shot this year cut their chances of coming down with the aches and fever of influenza by almost half, a level of protection that is disappointing for a vaccine but still better than in some recent years.

Life on the Home Planet

Life Near Oroville Dam Now Shadowd By Fears And Concerns (Associated Press)

Northern California residents, who had spent days at evacuation shelters, were allowed to return to their homes but many stayed only long enough to pack valuables before fleeing an approaching storm that will test recently repaired spillways at the nation's tallest dam.

Feds find crazy pot-flinging catapult on Mexican border fence (CNet)

A bizarre contraption caught the eye of federal agents patrolling along the US-Mexico border in Arizona last week. After seeing several people on the Mexican side running away from the approaching patrol, agents discovered a catapult attached to the southern side of the fence, as well as two bundles of marijuana nearby.

The happiest worker spends about one day a week in the office (Quartz)

Want to feel engaged at work? Try spending most of your time at home.

According to a new Gallup poll of 9,917 employed US adults, there is little difference in engagement between employees who work from home full-time and those that come into the office full-time.