Dr. Ed's Blog

Apr 28 (Saturday)

Markets
Amazon Closes in on Title of Largest U.S. Company (W)

Central banks
Bank of Japan Ditches Inflation Target Date (W)

US
U.S. Economy Grew at 2.3% Rate (W)
US wages jump on back of sturdy economic expansion (FT)
Twin Surprises: Americans Are Getting Paid More But Not Spending it (W)
US subprime auto bears will have their day (FT)

Europe
Europe’s Mixed Economic Fortunes Complicate Path for Reducing Stimulus (W)
Britain and the EU Are Pulling Back From the Cliff—For Now (W)

Trade
Mayday on May Day? Trump steel tariff deadline looms (R)
Europe and the U.S. Teeter on the Brink of a Trade War (B)
Can Merkel Win Anything On Trade From Trump? (N)
NAFTA officials put top-level talks on hold until May 7 to consult with industry (R)
“Mexico First” Campaign Could End Welcome for U.S. Oil Giants (N)

Geopolitics
Koreas Agree to Pursue Peace Deal (W)
Trump Says Kim Jong Un Summit Location Narrowed to Two or Three Possibilities (B)

Industries & companies
FANGs: Amazon Surges After Stunning Wall Street With Its Near-Perfect Quarter (B)
FANGs: Apple Sours Tech Sector’s Week With Earnings Anxiety (B)
FANGs: Facebook Faces Tough Questions in Britain (N)
Media: Cable TV’s Cord-Cutting Woes Grow With Pressure From Netflix (W)
Tech: Microsoft’s Cloud Has Business Booming Again (N)

Corporate finance
Sprint and T-Mobile Are Said to Be Close to Merging (N)

Technology
Tesla Expects to Make Some Money Off Elon Musk’s Tunnel Company (B)

Offbeat
The Crypto Crime Wave Is Here (W)

Apr 27 (Friday)

Markets
Technology Stocks Rally After Strong Facebook, AMD Earnings (B)
Earnings Are Providing a Boost for the Worst Performers of 2018 (B)
Citi Says U.S. May Become World’s Top Oil Exporter Next Year (B)
Euro dips below $1.21 following ECB policy meeting (FT)

Central banks
Eurozone data raise prospect of long goodbye for QE (FT)
Draghi acknowledges ‘moderation’ in eurozone growth (FT)

US
Trump Tax Windfall Going to Capex Way Faster Than Stock Buybacks (B)
Owning Is the New Renting: Homeownership Trends Upward as U.S. Loses Renter Households (W)
US housing: how Fannie and Freddie became rental powerhouses (FT)
U.S. Jobless Claims Drop to Lowest Level Since 1969 (W)
Business Investment Stalls in the First Months of 2018 (W)
Older People Working Longer, Earning More (Census)

Europe
Relief for Greece? The debt dilemma facing creditors (FT)

China
China Moves to Police Its History With New Law (W)
A Chinese Developer’s Pile of Overdue Loans Raises Fears It’s Just the Beginning (W)

Geopolitics & trade
Beijing Ready to Hit Back if U.S. Curbs Chinese Investments (W)
Hopes for U.S. Tariff Exemptions Fade in Europe (W)
Germany braced for impact of US steel tariffs (FT)
When Moon Meets Kim, Be Wary of Success (B)
North Korea nuclear test site said to have ‘collapsed’ (FT)

Industries & companies
Autos: GM’s Profit Sinks on Restructuring, Other Costs (W)
Airlines: US airline stocks tumble on higher fuel costs (FT)
Consumer: Consumer Staples Become This Earnings Season’s Punching Bag (B)
FANGs: Why Amazon and Google Haven’t Attacked Banks (W)
Financials: Deutsche Bank Retreats as New CEO Extols ‘Immediate Action’ (W)
Financials: Wells Fargo’s 401(k) Practices Probed by Labor Department (W)
Shipping: UPS’s Balancing Act: More Packages, Less Spending (W)

Technology
Snap Tries Again With High-Tech Specs (W)

Offbeat
The Million-Dollar Cancer Treatment: Who Will Pay? (W)

Apr 26 (Thursday)

YRI
Why You Should Care That the 10-Year Treasury Yield Just Reached 3% (Fortune)
Daily Markets Overview

Markets
U.S. Stocks Higher as Boeing Lifts Dow Industrials (W)
Investors Are Looking for Any Hint of Trouble in Strong Earnings (B)
Once Market Darlings, Tech Stocks Enter ‘Prove-It-To-Me’ Era (W)
BlackRock Aims to Turn Retail Investors Into Quants (B)

US
Retiring broke? More than half of Americans are at risk of it happening (USA)

Geopolitics & trade
Nafta Proposal on Foreign Investments Jolts Energy Firms (W)
Huawei Under Criminal Investigation Over Iran Sanctions (W)
South Koreans Take a Reality Check Ahead of Summit With North (W)
North Korea Nuclear Test Site Largely Unusable, Chinese Scientists Say (W)

Industries & companies
Autos: Ford Plans $11.5 Billion in Extra Cuts, Kills Most U.S. Cars (B)
FANGs: The ‘Amazon Effect’ Stings Consumer-Staples Stocks (W)
FANGs: Facebook Earnings Soar as It Tackles User-Data Crisis (W)
FANGs: Gmail Is Getting a Long-Overdue Upgrade (Wired)
Financials: Visa Profit Rises Sixfold as Card Spending Growth Continues (W)
Tech: Twitter Remains Profitable as It Continues to Add Users (W)

Technology
BMW’s New Electric SUV Looks Shockingly Normal (Wired)
Turning an Echo Into a Spy Device Only Took Some Clever Coding (Wired)
Robotics: The Lab Making Robots Walk Through Fire and Ride Segways (Wired)

Corporate finance
Comcast Sets Up Battle With Fox (W)

Apr 25 (Wednesday)

Markets
U.S. Stocks Slide on Caterpillar Warning, Rising Bond Yields (W)
U.S. Investors Just Gave Up on the Bull Market (B)
Earnings Drag Down Stocks: DealBook Briefing (N)
Italy Stocks Hit Highest Since 2009 as Political Impasse Ignored (B)

Credit, commodities, & currencies
10-Year Bond Yield Hits 3% for First Time in Four Years (W)
Crude in West Texas Is Cheapest in Three Years Versus Europe (B)
Resurgent dollar hits EM carry trade favourites (FT)

US
U.S. consumer confidence, housing data highlight economy’s strength (R)

Europe
Germany lowers growth forecast as business morale weakens: source (R)

Geopolitics & trade
Trump says new NAFTA deal could be completed quickly (R)
Macron makes long-term investment in Trump (FT)
“Very good chance” of a U.S.-China trade deal: Trump (R)
A Trade War Isn’t a Real War (The Atlantic)

Industries & companies
FANGs: Amazon to Start Offering In-Car Deliveries (W)
FANGs: Google and Facebook Likely to Benefit From Europe’s Privacy Crackdown (W)
FANGs: Apple Takes a Step on Payment of Back Taxes to Ireland (W)
FANGs: Apple shares drop on more warnings from iPhone supply chain (R)
Pharma: Generic-Drug Companies to Face First Charges in U.S. Probe (B)

Corporate finance
China Ride-Hailing Giant Didi in IPO Talks, Likely Beating Uber to Market (W)

Technology
Brain-Computer Interfaces: The Last Frontier of Privacy (W)

Offbeat
Finland Has Second Thoughts About Giving Free Money to Jobless People (N)
Proof China Can Buy Up Everything in Your Country If It Wants (B)

Apr 24 (Tuesday)

Markets
Stocks could see more turbulence as 10-year yield inches to important 3 percent level (C)
Aluminum Sells Off as U.S. Takes Softer Sanctions Stance (W)

US
U.S. Existing-Home Sales Rose in March (W)
First-time home buyers are the biggest losers when it comes to rising inflation (BI)

Europe
Italy Running Out of Ways to Form Government (W)
Five Star suffers setback in quest for government (FT)

China
The Chinese Car Invasion Is Coming (B)

US taxes
A 20% Business Deduction? Here Are the Obstacles (W)
Tax bill will slash by half the number of homeowners using the mortgage deduction (C)

Geopolitics
Trump’s Message to Congress: New Nafta or No Nafta (W)
Europe Confronts Blowback From U.S. Economic Moves (W)

Industries & companies
Airlines: United Airlines CEO to Skip Bonus, Chairman Will Step Aside (B)
Autos: Ferrari Quietly—Very Quietly—Tests Electric Car (B)
FANGs: Google Parent’s Net Soars as Sales Continue to Climb (W)
FANGs: Google’s capital expenditures tripled from a year ago (C)
FANGs: Google CEO tells investors not to worry about Europe’s upcoming privacy rules (C)
FANGs: EU Probes Apple’s Planned Acquisition of Shazam (W)
FANGs: Amazon Baffles Investors With Meaningless Numbers (B)
FANGs: Facebook Removes More ISIS Content by Actively Looking for It (B)
FANGs: Jeff Gundlach Says It’s Time to Go Short on Facebook (B)

Technology
Amazon Has a Top-Secret Plan to Build Home Robots (B)

Offbeat
Sean Hannity linked to shell companies that spent $90M on property: report (Hill)

Apr 23 (Monday)

Markets
MLPs Look Attractive Again, and Yield as Much as 8% (BR)
Going Deeper Into Emerging Market Bonds (BR)
Don’t Buy Russia’s Stocks—Buy Its Bonds (BR)

Central banks
What the Fed’s Latest Moves Mean for Rates (BR)

US
Does the Flattening Yield Curve Signal a Recession? (BR)
Property and demography: High prices in America’s cities are reviving the suburbs (E)

Europe
The eurozone economy: a nasty surprise in store? (FT)

US politics
US companies count the costs of Trump tax law (FT)
Inside White House, Fears of Rosenstein Dismissal Are Easing (W)
Arthur Laffer Talks Taxes and Kudlow (BR)

Geopolitics & trade
U.S. Hints at China Truce as World Warns of Trade-War Threat (B)
Mnuchin Calls for IMF to Increase Transparency of Surging Chinese Infrastructure Lending (W)
US urges IMF to reduce trade imbalances (FT)

Industries & companies
FANGs: U.S.-China Trade War Is Bad News for Google’s Expansion (W)
FANGs: Facebook and Apple Embody New Tech Divide (BR)
Media: A Netflix for sports nerds: ESPN starts a streaming service (E)
Tech: The Looming Battle Over AI Chips (BR)

Corporate finance
HNA Cuts Stake in Deutsche Bank as It Continues to Unload Assets (W)

Technology
IKEA furniture and the limits of AI (E)

Offbeat
Who Has More of Your Personal Data Than Facebook? Try Google (W)
Deliverance: Why America’s post office should be privatized (E)

Apr 21 (Saturday)

Markets
Interest-rate worries may not be offset by good earnings news in the week ahead (CNBC)
10-year Treasury yield hits its highest level since 2014 (CNBC)

Central banks
Top ECB Officials Give Different Takes on the Economy (W)

US politics
The real reason the Republican tax cut isn’t going to work (WP)
Kudlow’s Uneasy Transition From TV to White House Reality (W)

Trade
US considers emergency curbs on China tech investment (FT)
A U.S.-China Trade War Would Reshape Tech Investment (W)
Steel Tariffs Likely to Lead to U.S. Job Losses, Fed Economists Find (W)
A Trump Win on China Tariffs Could Aid Auto Plants in U.S. —Just Not American Ones (W)

Geopolitics
North Korea says it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests (CNBC)
North and South Korea Open First Direct Phone Line Between Leaders (W)
Europe in diplomatic push to ease Russia sanctions (FT)

Industries & companies
Airlines: Airline Regulators Call for Emergency Inspections of Boeing 737 Engines (W)
FANGs: Facebook Has a New Data Policy—Here’s the Short Version (W)
FANGs: Apple Can’t Cut Dependence on Rival Samsung’s Screens (W)
FANGs: Everyone Talks About Apple’s Changing Business Except Apple (B)
Industrials: GE aircraft business helps lift earnings gloom (FT)
Tech: Chipmakers Are Fighting a Three-Front Battle This Week (B)
Tech: Dell’s return shows public markets don’t bear a grudge (FT)

Technology
Seven Artificial Intelligence Advances Expected This Year (Forbes)
Blockchain Is About to Revolutionize the Shipping Industry (B)
Google wants to completely replace texting (BI)

Offbeat
East Hampton Passes Law to Keep Tabs on Village’s Social Circuit (B)

Apr 20 (Friday)

YRI
Either Respect Amazon When Investing or Risk Getting Run Over (The Street)
Daily Markets Overview

Markets
Commodities Shoulder the Blame for Hits to Treasuries and Stocks (B)

Central banks
Don’t Fear the Yield Curve—Just Yet (W)
Fed Will Accept a Recession Before It Allows High Inflation (B)

China
China Quietly Rolled Out a Very Big Bang (B)

Geopolitics & trade
Japan’s Surging Car Exports Raise Risk of U.S. Trade Fight (W)
EU Seeks to Avoid U.S. Steel Tariffs by Reviving Trade Pact (W)
Proposed U.S. Tariffs on China Risk Penalizing Manufacturers Unevenly (W)

Cybersecurity
How North Korea’s Hackers Became Dangerously Good (W)

Industries & companies
Autos: What If Tesla’s Time Is Running Out? (B)
Consumer: Sentiment sours for big brand consumer staples (FT)
Consumer: Big Consumer Brands Like Raising Prices, but It Is Getting Harder (W)
FANGs: Amazon Prime Has More Than 100 Million Members (W)
FANGs: Facebook’s 2017 Privacy Audit Didn’t Catch Cambridge Analytica (Wired)
Tabaco: Philip Morris Shares on Track for Worst Day in a Decade (W)
Tech: In a U.S.-China Tech Battle, Companies Caught in Middle (W)
Tech: Lagarde urges greater scrutiny of Big Tech (FT)

Corporate finance
Qualcomm Is in the Eye of U.S.-China Storm Again (W)
P&G to buy Merck’s consumer health unit for €3.4bn (FT)

Technology
A Robot Does the Impossible: Assembling an IKEA Chair Without Having a Meltdown (Wired)
Palantir Knows Everything  About You (B)
Google’s New AI Head is So Smart He Doesn’t Need AI (Wired)

Apr 19 (Thursday)

Markets
Flattening Yield Curve Raises Warning Flag (W)
Banks: We Just Had a Record-Breaking Quarter. Shareholders: Meh (B)
Commodities Surge to Highest Level Since 2015 (B)
Is the U.S. Shale Boom Hitting a Bottleneck? (W)

Central banks
Fed Report Finds Tight Labor Markets, but Modest Wage Growth (W)
Here Are the Biggest Tariff Concerns in the Fed’s Beige Book (B)
Dudley Doesn’t See ‘Compelling’ Case for Faster Fed Rate Hikes (B)
Weak Inflation Reinforces ECB Caution Over Stimulus Taper (W)

Global
IMF sounds alarm on excessive global borrowing (FT)
U.S. Debt Load Seen Worse Than Italy’s by 2023, IMF Predicts (B)
World Economic Outlook, April 2018 Cyclical Upswing, Structural Change (IMF)
Officials Optimistic on World Growth, Despite Trade Tensions (W)

US politics
How the Tax Cut President Trump Loves Will Deepen Trade Deficits He Hates (W)
The fiscal picture is worse than it looks—and it looks bad (Brookings)

Geopolitics & trade
Trump ends his brief flirtation with TPP (FT)
Germany to Push for Exemptions From U.S. Sanctions on Russia (W)
Trump’s trade skirmish with China is ‘like a WWE wrestling match’ (BI)

Industries & companies
Autos: Tesla Could Benefit from China’s New Rules for Foreign Auto Makers (W)
Autos: California Opens Investigation of Tesla Workplace Conditions (B)
Autos: VW’s Resurgence Faces Old Auto Industry Realities (W)
FANGs: Facebook Provides a Preview of Its Privacy Makeover (W)
FANGs: Facebook Is Forming a Team to Design Its Own Chips (B)
FANGs: Netflix plots $1bn European investment drive (FT)
Financials: Morgan Stanley Posts Record Earnings, Revenue (W)
Financials: Big US banks eager to woo consumers with credit (FT)
Retail: Retail Rivals Amazon and Best Buy Team Up to Sell Smart TVs (W)
Tech: IBM Reports Higher Revenue on Sales of New Hardware (W)

Corporate finance
Bezos-Backed Cancer Startup Wants to Raise $1 Billion (B)

Offbeat
IRS Extends Tax Filing for One Day After Computer Problems (W)

Apr 18 (Wednesday)

Markets
Bank Investors Keep Taking Profits, No Matter the Earnings Beat (B)
Trump’s Yuan Devaluation ‘Warning Shot’ Isn’t Having Much Impact (B)

Central banks & IMF
Fed’s Williams Says Inverted Yield Curve Powerful Recession Sign (B)
China Central Bank Takes Pre-Emptive Move Against Ebbing Growth (W)
IMF Forecasts Global Growth of 3.9% This Year, Strongest Since 2011 (W)

US
Industrial Capacity Utilization Hits Three-Year High (W)

Europe
Balkan states clear hurdle in quest to join EU (FT)

Japan
2019 Looks Like a Crunch Year for Japan’s Economy (B)

China
How Long Until China Cranks Up the Debt Engine? (W)
Huawei, Called a Security Threat by the U.S., to Focus on Other Markets (W)
China’s Huawei backtracks on 5G shift (FT)

Geopolitics & trade
U.S. Weighs New Trade Action Against China (W)
FCC Takes Aim at Chinese Telecom Gear (W)
U.S. Tech Caught in Crossfire of China Trade Fight (W)
China makes concession to US by opening car industry (FT)
Trump Says U.S. and North Korea Had Direct, ‘High-Level’ Talks (B)
U.S. and U.K. Jointly Warn of Russian Cyberattacks (W)

Industries & companies
Autos: Tesla Halts Model 3 Production Again (W)
FANGs: Netflix Continues Growing Subscribers (W)
FANGs: Facebook Is Creepy. And Valuable. (N)
FANGs: Tech Stocks Outperform After Netflix Delivers Again for Bulls (B)
Financials: Four Big U.S. Banks Enjoy $2.3 Billion Tax-Law Windfall (W)
Financials: Goldman Profit Surges but Investors Lament Lost Buybacks (W)
Financials: Goldman eclipses rivals as trading unit rebounds (FT)
Retail: Walmart Is Making Its Website a Little Less Like Walmart (W)

Offbeat
IRS Experiencing Computer Problems on Tax Day (W)
The IRS Really Needs Some New Computers (B)