Financial Markets and Economy
Another warning sign is popping up in the stock market (Business Insider)
Add a flattening yield curve to the number of warning signs that are popping up and suggesting this historic stock-market rally is nearing an end.
Global Stocks Retreat, Dollar Steady After Rally: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg)
European stocks followed U.S. and Asian shares lower while the dollar was steady after its longest winning streak since May, as Janet Yellen prepared to weigh in on the path for interest rates.
Fed Board Member Powell Says March Rate Hike Possible (Associated Press)
A Federal Reserve board member on Thursday added his voice to a growing group of Fed officials who are indicating that they may raise rates in March.
Japan Core Inflation Little Changed, Househols Spending Weak (Associated Press)
Japan's economy coasted along with only slight improvements in January despite a rebound in corporate investment.
Core inflation excluding volatile food prices rose 0.1 percent, mainly due to an uptick in energy prices, data released Friday showed. The unemployment rate in the world's third-largest economy edged slightly lower, to 3.0 percent, and the number of jobs per applicant remained at a 26-year high.
The Fed has 'no excuse' to put off a rate hike, Cramer says (CNBC)
The Federal Reserve has no excuse to put off hiking interest rates in March, CNBC's Jim Cramer said on Thursday.
"The rest of the economy is strong enough to take it," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."
A lot has to go right for the Trump rally to continue (CNN)
The "animal spirits" unleashed in the stock market by President Trump's victory have lifted the Dow an incredible 2,700 points in less than four months.
Think Your Property Taxes Are High? See the Most—and Least—Expensive States (Realtor.com)
For the third year in a row, New Jersey is the state with the highest property taxes in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub report, with an effective real estate tax rate of 2.35%. This totals about $7,410 annually on a nearly $316,000 home, the median price in the state.
Housing Demand over the Next Decade (Forbes)
Housing data in January gave mixed signals on the direction for the year. Closing activity for existing home sales shot up to a decade-high of 5.69 million units at an annualized pace, but pending contracts fell to their lowest level in 12 months.
Warren Buffett And Interest Rates (Christopher Speetzen, Seeking Alpha)
Recently, the famed investor Warren Buffett was on CNBC with Becky Quick and was asked about his thoughts about the valuation of the stock market.
5 Good Reasons To Believe A Stock Market Crash Is Looming (Off The Grid News)
Many investment experts believe that a major decline or even crash in the stock, real estate and bond markets is imminent – despite what the Dow Jones is telling us.
What To Do About The Upcoming Trump Correction? (Neal Frankle)
Some investors are anxious about markets right now. You might be one of them. Equity indexes are reaching new highs almost on a daily basis and lots of smart people out there know it can't continue indefinitely. And if you don't like President Trump, you might be especially jittery because he seems so unpredictable.
10 Simple Time and Energy Investments You Can Make in Yourself (The Simple Dollar)
I tend to view a good life as being one that’s full of good investments. If you use your resources (money, time, energy, etc.) in a smart way, they’re going to give far more value back to you in return.
Drop in oil, coal shipments takes the energy out of BNSF profits (Dallas News)
The Fort Worth-based railroad, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, reported that revenue declined nearly 10 percent to $19.3 billion, and net income declined 13 percent to $4.3 billion.
Companies
Hyundai Motor, Amorepacific shares slide following political tension with China (Reuters)
Shares of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co and Amorepacific Corp fell on Friday after local media reported China had ordered tour operators to stop selling trips to the country following Seoul's deployment of a U.S. missile defense system.
Sex demanded for promotions at Kay, Jared (USA Today)
lmost 250 women and men describe one of the nation's largest jewelry companies, Sterling Jewelers, which operates under the name of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, as a hotbed of sexual harassment in declarations as part of a long-running arbitration case.
CEO: Hard Rock Still Wants Casino Near NYC After Taj Mahal (Associated Press)
The company that bought Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal casino still wants to build a $1 billion casino in northern New Jersey just outside New York City.
U.S. Agents Raid Caterpillar Over Offshore Tax Practices (NY Times)
Federal agents raided three Caterpillar buildings near its Illinois headquarters on Thursday, company and law enforcement officials said, in an escalation of an inquiry into the heavy equipment manufacturer’s offshore tax practices.
Dunkin' Donuts To Remove Artificial Colors By End of 2018 (Associated Press)
The parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins says it will remove artificial colors from its products in the U.S. by the end of 2018.
Costco misses second quarter estimates though sales up in Canada, U.S., hikes membership fees (FInancial Post)
Costco Wholesale Corp.’s same-store sales in Canada outpaced growth in all of the warehouse retailer’s other divisions in the second quarter, even as the company’s overall results fell short of market expectations Thursday.
Best Buy: A Brighter Spot In Retail (D.M Martins Research, Seeking Alpha)
Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) announced fiscal Q4 2017 results on Wednesday. The company failed to meet top-line expectations, but better-than-expected EPS was the latest in a series of 13 consecutive beats.
Target’s Long Slog Ahead Means There’s ‘No Rush’ To Buy Shares (Barron's)
Target (TGT) plunged following its fourth-quarter earnings last week, as investors fretted about its disappointing profit and guidance.
Technology
Amazon admits that a typo took the internet down this week (Engadget)
The Great Amazon Web Services Outage of 2017 is behind us. Now, Jeff Bezos' golden child is ready to explain what happened. Turns out, what took Giphy, Medium, Slack, Quora and a ton of other websites and services down was a typo.
AMD Is Reborn With Ryzen (Forbes)
I have been around AMD for the past 20 years as a commercial customer, general consumer and an analyst tracking the company and the industry around it.
Fitbit sold more wearables in 2016 than Apple and Samsung combined (CNet)
Industry analysts and journalists have been been quick to make judgments on the wearable market. Some have called it a fad, while others have claimed it's already dead. Not so fast.
GM Is Rolling Out Unlimited Data Plans for All Its Cars (Fortune)
Wireless Internet—and the desire for it—has become an integral part of many consumers daily lives. And the appetite for Wi-Fi doesn't subside out once they're in a car.
Twitter turns to algorithms to clamp down on abusive content (Reuters)
Twitter Inc on Wednesday launched a wider effort to use algorithms to identify accounts as potentially engaging in abusive behavior, a departure from its practice of relying on users to report accounts that should be reviewed for possible violation of its rules.
Politics
Carter Page, Adviser Once Linked to Trump Campaign, Met With Russian Ambassador (NBC News)
Carter Page, an adviser once linked to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, confirmed to MSNBC's Chris Hayes Thursday that he met with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. at last year's Republican convention.
Florida Could Flip Burden Of Proving 'Stand Your Ground' (Associated Press)
Florida's "stand your ground" law, a source of contention for years, could soon provide even more protection to people who invoke it. Some lawmakers want to make prosecutors prove a defendant wasn't acting in self-defense before proceeding to trial.
Democrats to Jeff Sessions: Recusal Is Not Enough (NBC News)
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday remained largely unsatisfied with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, with some continuing to call for his resignation.
Figures On Government Spending And Debt (Associated Press)
Figures on government spending and debt in millions of dollars. The government's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
What to Know About Sergey Kislyak, the Ambassador at the Center of Trump's Russia Controversy (Vivian Salama and Vladimir Isachenkov / AP)
he Trump administration's back-to-back controversies over its Russian ties now have at least one thing in common: Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Pence used AOL email on governor business, got hacked (CNet)
Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a personal AOL account for sensitive state business, including discussions about homeland security issues, while he was governor of Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday.
Calpers May Cut Return Target Again, California's Brown Says (Bloomberg)
California Governor Jerry Brown said the state’s retirement system is "probably" going to lower its investment-return goal again, a move that will further pressure local governments already straining under rising pension costs.
GOP Health Plan Could Cost Minnesota Billions (Associated Press)
Minnesota officials are bracing for billions of dollars in additional health care expenses if congressional Republicans enact a plan they're discussing to replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a draft document obtained by The Associated Press.
Spicer: Sessions 'was 100 percent straight' on Russia communications (Politico)
Jeff Sessions “was 100 percent straight” with the Senate Judiciary Committee last month when he denied having any communications with the Russians, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday, accusing Democrats of pushing “a false narrative for political purposes.”
One Of trump's CLosest Friends Is Dumping His Failed Casino (Vanity Fair Hive)
In February 2016, billionaire investor Carl Icahn took over the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City after its parent company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Trump, Aboard Navy Carrier, Vows To Boost Defense Spending (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump pledged to boost defense spending as he basked in the nation's military might aboard a next-generation Naval aircraft carrier on Thursday.
Fact-checking President Trump’s address to Congress (The Washington Post)
An address to Congress is such an important speech that presidents generally are careful not to stretch the truth. The “16 words” in George W. Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address that falsely claimed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Africa led to significant turmoil in the administration, including the criminal conviction of a top aide.
Life on the Home Planet
Trump’s Appeal: What Psychology Tells Us (Scientific American)
Donald Trump's rallies enacted how Trump and his followers would like the country to be. They were, in essence, identity festivals.
Zika Raises Birth Defect Rate 20 Times, CDC Report Finds (NBC News)
It's just a rough estimate, nowhere near to being precise, and it's taken from just a handful of states. But such a giant spike is notable, and it shows the need to keep tabs on pregnancies, the team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The Right Way to Start a Meeting (Harvard Business Review)
We all know there’s a price to pay for a making bad first impression: A limp handshake conveys low confidence; a wrinkled suit makes you seem lazy; oversharing comes across as emotional instability.
