Financial Markets & Economy
Guess Who Owns $1.1 Billion In Apple Stock (Zero Hedge)
The Swiss National Bank had a rough quarter in Q1 as the decision to abandon the increasingly unsustainable EURCHF floor (an event which marked an implicit admission that central banks are not all-powerful after all) blew a $32 billion hole in the central bank’s euro reserves. That, however, wasn’t the most remarkable takeaway from the SNB’s quarterly report.
How a Con Man Stole Millions Selling Fake Facebook Shares (Bloomberg)
The pitch seemed irresistible: Here was a chance to connect with a money man for billionaire Carlos Slim.
But the supposed financial whiz, who called himself Ken Dennis, wasn’t who he said he was, authorities now claim. In truth, he’s Troy Stratos — and is now standing trial in a bizarre fraud case that provides a glimpse into how money and influence flow through Silicon Valley.
(Picture source.)
Shale Stocks Slammed As Crude Cracks Back Below $60 (Zero Hedge)
But just two days ago everything was awesome after the biggest inventory draw since 2014: Einhorn didn't know what he was talking about, the energy sector's 28x Fwd P/E was 'fine' and oil prices were on their way back to levels that save the US Shale industry… now, not so much…
Oil is not "up"…
Do Small Businesses Deserve Exemptions From the Minimum Wage? (Mother Jones)
Brian Hibbs, a Mother Jones reader and owner of Comix Experience, wrote in to object to San Francisco's plan to raise its minimum wage. Conservatives who argue against the minimum wage often point to jobs lost and heavy burdens on small businesses, and progressives largely brush off those arguments as so much Chamber of Commerce propaganda. And then you have guys like Hibbs. Read what he has to say, and then we'll discuss.
This Is What Happens When Bill Gross Ignores Bill Gross (Bloomberg)
Bill Gross should have listened to Bill Gross.
Just before the selloff in German government bonds, the manager of the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund said the debt was the “short of a lifetime.” Yet instead of betting all-out against German bunds, Gross wagered they would trade in a narrow range for the time being, fund holdings posted on the website of Denver-based Janus Capital Group Inc. show.
PayPal boosts loan sizes for small-business lending (Market Watch)
For tech firms, lending to small businesses is becoming, well, big business.
PayPal, a unit of eBay EBAY, +0.89% for now, said it has doled out $500 million in loans in the first year-and-a-half since it introduced the lending program. And rival Square recently said it had extended more than $100 million in cash advances in the year since it started its own version.
Bank Reserves and Loans: The Fed is Pushing On a String (Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds Blog)
The money multiplier effect no longer works.
As you (hopefully) know, we live in a fractional reserve banking system: if the bank is required to have $1 in cash reserves for every $10 in loans, it means the bank creates $10 of new money when it issues a $10 loan. When the $10 loan is paid off, that money vanishes from the system.
Did The World's Central Banks Hit The Panic Button This Morning? (Zero Hedge)
If there is one thing more worrisome for the world's central planners than a stock sell-off, it is a bond rout 'proving' that they have lost control. The overnight carnage across global bond markets appears to have triggered someone (or someones) to step in – in dramatic size – to rescue bonds and save the world once again.
TOM LEE: 'Bad news is good news for stocks.' (Business Insider)
In the era of easy central bank policy, one of the most popular market sayings has become "bad news is good news."
The read there is that bad economic data is seen by the market as requiring central banks to either keep policy easy, or ease policy further, providing a boost to stock prices as investors seek returns in riskier assets.
McDonald’s brings back the Hamburglar as a hot dad (Market Watch)
While fast food brands like Chipotle CMG, +0.45% and Panera PNRA, +0.53% plan to draw in more customers by removing artificial sweeteners and GMO ingredients from their menus, McDonald’s appears to have a different plan.
Meet McDonald’s MCD, +0.17% Hamburglar.
He’s lost the baby fat and the single-tooth grin. Now he’s a slimmed-down dad who may or may not be pursuing a life of crime and apparently has the same taste in sneakers as Kanye West.
Politics
The Feds just told New York City to remove Times Square's giant neon signs (Business Insider)
New York City officials are balking at federal demands that the city remove Times Square’s iconic neon signs.
The oversize billboards are apparently in violation of a 2012 highway spending bill that placed a number of Manhattan streets under regulation of the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, which limits the sizes of signs along roadways, WCBS first reported.
The Billionaire Whose Clinton Foundation Ties Could Be Trouble for Hillary Clinton (Bloomberg)
Like countless people before him, Frank Giustra's first meeting with Bill Clinton was a life-altering event indelibly etched in his memory. "We hit it off right away," Giustra recalls. "We hit it off for a whole number of reasons. We had a very similar upbringing. We had similar interests in books. Pretty soon, we were having a great conversation. I think he liked me."
European War Games: Responses To Russia’s Military Drills (Value Walk)
Several events have coincided to demonstrate the dynamic, if not guarded, relationship between Russia and the Nordic and Baltic states. Ten NATO countries and Sweden launched a two-week planned exercise in the North Sea on May 4 to improve their anti-submarine warfare capabilities. On the same day, Finland — not a NATO member — began mailing letters to about 900,000 reservists informing them of their roles in a potential crisis situation. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry formally complained to Russian authorities that Russian navy ships were disrupting cable-laying work in waters between Sweden and Lithuania, the latest in a series of formal complaints over Russia’s activity in the area. Concurrently, the Swedish and Lithuanian foreign ministers met with Moldova’s pro-West leaders in Chisinau.
Health & Life Sciences
New Corn Ethanol Is Even Worse For The Climate Than We Thought. But Is It Illegal? (Think Progress)
Corn ethanol may be breaking the law, according to a study from last month, “Cropland Expansion Outpaces Agricultural and Biofuel Policies in the United States.”
It appears that corn was caught yellow-handed by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers in a plot with other crops like soy to replace “millions of acres of grasslands.” But scientists named corn the ring-leader: “Corn was the most common crop planted directly on new land.”
Activated charcoal: The latest detox fad in an obsessive food culture (Science Based Medicine)
Our diet is either the cause of, or solution to, all of life’s problems. I’m paraphrasing agreat philosopher. We just can’t seem to let food be food. Today each ingredient we eat seems to be demonized or glorified. Gluten is the latest evil. It used to be fat. At some point in the past, it was MSG. Or it’s a superfood, preferably local, organic and GMO-free. Even on the healthiest diet, however, we’re apparently still ingesting too many harmful chemicals. After all, this is apparently a toxic environment we live in. Gwyneth Paltrow says so. So does the Food Babe.
Mountain gorillas: Lots of deleterious genetic variation disappeared from population thanks to inbreeding (Science Daily)
The first project to sequence whole genomes from mountain gorillas has given scientists and conservationists new insight into the impact of population decline on these critically endangered apes. While mountain gorillas are extensively inbred and at risk of extinction, research published today inScience finds more to be optimistic about in their genomes than expected.
Technology
Google, Dominant in Search, Tries Mantle of Upstart in Wireless (NY Times)
Call it the Google paradox.
Last month, the European Union’s antitrust chief accused Google of abusing its dominant market power in web searches.
A week later, Google announced it was entering the wireless service market in the United States, threatening to disrupt one of America’s most concentrated industries. Meantime, it is expanding its super-high-speed broadband Internet service to as many as 34 cities, taking on another market so concentrated that the government recently derailed the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.
Electronic Arts Profit Beats Estimates on Madden, Dragon Age (Bloomberg)
Electronic Arts Inc., the video-game company known for the Madden football franchise, reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that beat analysts’ forecasts.
Yahoo & Localytics extend their analytics platforms to support Apple Watch apps (9 to 5 Mac)
With more than 3,000 apps for the Apple Watch already on the App Store for Apple’s new device, two major analytics platforms today announced support for Apple Watch apps through their respective SDKs.
Yahoo shared that its Mobile Developer Suite has added support for Apple Watch app analytics for developers at no cost through Flurry Analytics, the platform it acquired almost a year ago. By implementing Yahoo’s analytics system, developers of Apple Watch apps gain access to several metrics…
Life On The Home Planet
A New Kind Of Pregnancy Center That Counsels Women About All Of Their Options (Think Progress)
Six years ago, when Angelique Saaverdra got pregnant and decided to pursue an open adoption, she didn’t have anyone to lean on. She did some online research to try to find a support group, but her searches turned up only conservative religious-affiliated groups that counsel women who regret their abortions — something that she says she didn’t identify with at all.
39 of the strangest world records ever set (Business Insider)
Most world records — the world's smallest man (21.5 inches tall), the world's oldest twin sisters (103 years old), or the world's highest standing jump (4 feet 10 inches onto a platform) are interesting factoids to know.
But other records are totally wacky, like the biggest jigsaw puzzle made of tents, or the largest-ever gathering in Sumo wrestler suits (seriously).
Review: Mariah Carey and Her Can’t-Look-Away Debut in Las Vegas (NY Times)
You watch the crash because you want to see how it will end: near miss or carnage, relief or horror, laughter or tears. Part of the appeal is the feeling of helplessness – you are a viewer, but not an agent. Whatever happens, you’ll be affected, but you can’t chart the course. And looking away is never the right choice.
In the case of late-period Mariah Carey, it’s the high notes that you can’t avert your eyes — and ears — from. When she began her career in the early 1990s, she was capable of outrageous vocal feats, singing whole octaves higher than almost everyone else, stringing together dog-pitch bleats into ecstatic runs. She brought something superhuman into the otherwise grounded world of pop-soul.
Here's How the Massive New Bird Flu Outbreak Could Affect You (Mother Jones)
The US poultry and egg industries are enduring their largest-ever outbreak of a deadly (known as pathogenic) version of avian flu. Earlier this month, the disease careened through Minnesota's industrial-scale turkey farms, affecting at least 3.6 million birds, and is now punishing Iowa's massive egg-producing facilities, claiming 9.8 million—and counting—hens. Here's what you need to know about the outbreak.
Mosque Installed at Venice Biennale Tests City’s Tolerance (NY Times)
The 18th-century novelist William Beckford wrote that he couldn’t help thinking of this city’s most beloved sight, St. Mark’s Basilica, as a mosque, with its “pinnacles and semicircular arches” all “so oriental in appearance.” But despite the profound stamp that Islamic culture has left on Venice’s art and architecture over centuries, it remains one of the few prominent European cities without a mosque near its historic center, leaving Islamic residents who work there to pray in storerooms and shops amid the tourist crush.
A Ground-Level View of Baltimore's Protests: Hope, Anger, and Beauty (Mother Jones)
On April 12, Freddie Gray was arrested by Baltimore police. One hour later he was comatose. A week later he was dead, succumbing to spinal injuries inflicted while in custody. On Monday, Gray's funeral was followed by peaceful protests as well as looting, arson, and confrontations with police.
Photographer Andrew Renneisen was on the streets that night and the following day as the city took stock of the riots' aftermath, capturing images of violence and destruction, but also hope and courage.
