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5f8fddcc5a1a25d5fce9ec5e331ba8dd

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/24/apples-tim-cook-calls-for-calm-heads-on-china-us-trade.html

Apple's Tim Cook calls for calm heads on China, US trade

Apple's Tim Cook calls for calm heads on China, US trade Apple CEO Tim Cook.Getty Images Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Saturday called for "calm heads" and more open trade, amid rising fears of a trade war between the United States and China. Trade tension between China and the United States flared this week when President Donald Trump unveiled plans on Thursday to slap tariffs on potentially up to $60 billion in Chinese goods. China's Commerce Ministry on Friday urged the United States to "pull back from the brink", saying it was not afraid to engage in a trade war. "I'm cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn't benefited, where the benefit hasn't been balanced," Cook said. Speaking at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing, Cook said he hoped "calm heads" would prevail. The sparring has cast a spotlight on hardware makers such as Apple, which assemble the majority of their products in China for export to other countries. Electrical goods and tech are the largest U.S. import item from China. In the past year, Apple and other foreign tech firms have grappled with a string of new regulatory requirements in China, including a controversial law requiring firms to house user data in data centers overseen by Chinese firms. Last month, Apple officially moved to store keys for its iCloud data in China, provoking intense criticism from rights groups who say the decision makes it easier for Chinese officials to tap and collect private data. Despite challenges, the company has sought to expand its services in China, its third-largest market, where roughly 1.8 million developers use its platform. "My belief is that businesses should be engaged with governments in countries where they are doing business, whether they agree or disagree," Cook said. Cook has come to China several times in the past year, and was among executives who met Chinese President Xi Jinping last October. "My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together," Cook said. Others attending the three-day forum include the chief executives of IBM, Google and Qualcomm. Cook, who this year co-chaired the event, also attended last year when he called for China to increase trade and continue opening itself up to the world.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/25/one-strange-rock-collaborators-explain-what-life-on-earth-means-for-humans-looking-to-mars.html

'One Strange Rock' collaborators explain what life on Earth means for humans looking to Mars

'One Strange Rock' collaborators explain what life on Earth means for humans looking to Mars World Perspectives | Getty Images With so much happening on planet Earth in peril, are humans truly prepared to reach Mars? "One Strange Rock," a National Geographic television series that debuted on March 26th, sets out to show viewers what makes the Earth unique among other planets in the solar system, and the conditions it took to foster life on the planet. As part of the series – produced by Darren Aronofsky and narrated by superstar Will Smith – several astronauts give personal anecdotes and perspectives about the planet based on a place few humans who have actually visited outer space. "One Strange Rock" illustrates the idea that Earth has several frontiers humans have yet to conquer, and functions as a love letter of sorts to the planet at a time when humans have their sights set on redder pastures. Expectations are heightened over efforts to reach Mars – which, if SpaceX founder Elon Musk has his druthers, could happen as early as next year – with eventual human colonization seen as a real possibility. The Red Planet is "a hard place to get to," Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space and a former commander of the International Space Station, told CNBC at a press conference recently. "Personally, I do not think we'll ever get to Mars with the engines that exist now. We will need something better in order to make that leap of distance." He added that the voyage itself would take a year, and was fraught with potential risks. "No matter what goes wrong in that year, you can't go home. That's like condemning a lot of people to death, because a lot could go wrong." With that in mind, CNBC recently asked "One Strange Rock's" contributors to share their thoughts on the idea of humans departing Earth for life on Mars. Several of them believed that our planet still holds its own unexplored mysteries, and lessons for venturing beyond Earth's orbit. US Director Darren Aronofsky.Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Image Earth is "at risk [so] we definitely have to take a better job of taking care of what we have before we put too many resources into getting to other planets. If we destroy our home, we're no longer earthlings. First and foremost, personally [speaking], we have to take care of our home. Through space exploration, most of what we do is look back at ourselves, and going to Mars will reveal more about what it means to be an earthling and a human." US Pilot Scott Horowitz (L), US Jeff Hoffman (C), Italian Maurizio Cheli (R) pose on March 09, 1996 after leaving the Shuttle on Kennedy Space Center's runway 33.Tony Ranze | AFP | Getty Images "The more we learn about Mars the more fascinated we become. Mars has generally been the source of aliens that are going to invade the Earth. Even in the popular imagination Mars is associated with life, but scientifically it's a place where maybe … it's a place that could potentially support human life. Technologically, economically we have a long way to go. Mars is really hard." U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, member of the 50/51 expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). Kirill Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty Images "Life needs to spread beyond this world, because there can always be another catastrophic event that will end life here as we know it now. … Exploration has to continue so that we can continue. Philosophically … it's important that we expand" beyond the Earth's atmosphere, she said. Dr. Mae JemisonOlivia Michael | CNBC "If we don't get our act together here, we certainly aren't going to figure out how to go to Mars and live, because we have to understand the microbiology. We're not going to be able to terraform Mars without really understanding what's happening here on Earth, which we are destroying really, really rapidly. ... We still have things that we need to explore here." Astronaut Mike Massimino attends the 2014 Webby Awards on Monday, May 19, 2014, in New York.Andy Kropa | Invision | AP "We already should have been on Mars! I think that we want to explore and keep going, especially now with these private companies." A trip to Mars is projected to take place sometime within the next 20 years, but Massimino thinks humans should try someplace closer. "I think [back to] the moon is where we should go." Jerry LinengerOlivia Michael | CNBC "I like the John Kennedy speech where he said: 'We choose to go to the moon … not because it's easy, but because it's hard.' … That's my answer to anything. I don't care where we go: Mars, the moon or whatever, but just do something that's hard to push technology and bring out the best in man." Correction: An earlier version misspelled Darren Aronofsky's last name and misstated his title. He is executive producer of "One Strange Rock."

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/art-cashin-wall-street-gets-used-to-trumps-art-of-the-deal-approach.html

Art Cashin: Wall Street's rebound shows that investors are getting used to Trump's 'Art of the Deal'

Art Cashin: Wall Street's rebound shows that investors are getting used to Trump's 'Art of the Deal' VIDEO3:3403:34Art Cashin: Investors will feel more optimistic until we retest 200-day moving averageSquawk on the Street Wall Street is catching on to President Donald Trump's "dramatic" approach to dealmaking, veteran trader Art Cashin told CNBC on Monday. "I think the markets [are] beginning to understand the 'Art of the Deal' in the president's mind," said Cashin, the UBS director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange. "You start off first with something very dramatic" as a starting point for negotiations, and then there's room to scale back, Cashin added. As an example, Cashin referred to Trump's tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum, which had pressured the market right after the March 1 announcement. But shortly after, Trump said he would exempt U.S. trading partners Canada and Mexico. And then last week, the administration said it would grant the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and South Korea exemptions as well. The tariffs "sounded like they were going to be big and originally nobody was going to be exempted," Cashin told "Squawk on the Street." "Now everyone is exempted." Cashin also sees the same stick-and-carrot dynamic developing in regards to China. Following Trump's announcement last week of up to $60 billion in tariffs against Chinese imports and Beijing's $3 billion retaliation, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said over the weekend he's optimistic a trade agreement will ultimately be negotiated with China. "You got help from Secretary Mnuchin ... about trade wars really being in negotiation," cited Cashin as a reason the stock market opened so strongly on Monday following Thursday's and Friday's sharp decline. China announcing a willingness to hold talks with the U.S. in order to resolve their differences also helped support stocks. Cashin said the markets will continue to feel "optimistic" until there's a retest of the Feb. 8 closing lows or there's a real breakthrough to the upside. Disclaimer

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/cnbc-transcript-vasant-narasimhan-ceo-novartis.html

CNBC Transcript: Vasant Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis

CNBC Transcript: Vasant Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis Following is the transcript of a CNBC interview with Vasant Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, at the China Development Forum in Beijing. The interview was broadcast on CNBC's Squawk Box on 27 March 2018. All references must be sourced to a "CNBC Interview'. Interviewed by CNBC's Martin Soong. Martin Soong (MS): President fired the first shot. China returned fire, returned salvo. And now there's is the risk this thing could just sort of blow up into a full blown trade war. It seems to be what everybody's talking about and also worried about. Your thoughts? Vasant Narasimhan: You know when we think about ourselves as a global company, we are obviously very pro-free trade, we want there to be a stable system of free trade that allows a company like us, a Swiss-based company that operates in over 150 countries, to be able to work freely and fairly. You know when we look at the situation we hope that there's a reasonable solution that comes about and that you know this doesn't escalate. I think it would only damage the global economy and obviously impact companies like us – we have manufacturing sites around the world, including in China and in the United States. And we need to be able to run our global supply chains in a stable way. So I think we're hopeful though that we can get to an amicable solution. MS: OK I mean whether it escalates or not, who knows right, but are you confident that you've got a handle on your supply chain sufficiently that it can be nimble and fast enough to pivot if you need? Vasant Narasimhan: We're fortunate in that we are a large enough company that we have redundancies and so we can manage through these situations, so it's not a cause of great concern. I think it's just more the symbol it sends to the global economic system. And I think we'd rather be in a world where there's stable policies that allow for free trade. MS: Of course. A couple of months ago, January, start of year, you were in Davos I know at a table with the president and was then Werner Baumann from Bayer. And there were, I mean there were other people as well, but you guys were big pharma and whole idea was, Gary Cohen at that time was still in the job, is trying to drum up more investment for the U.S. What was that dinner conversation like? And did you actually get face time with the president? What did you tell him? Vasant Narasimhan: It was a group discussion and so really it wasn't a one on one opportunity, but we did get to take pictures – that was probably about it. But most of the discussion focused on what would it take to create stability and create an environment where companies like ours would increase investment in the United States. I highlighted the importance of continuing to upscale the workforce to be digitally enabled and enabled in a world where artificial intelligence and digital technologies are going to be really important. I think others highlighted other elements including the importance of stable trade agreements, things like Nafta amongst other trade agreements, so those with the kind of things we talked about. I would say it was a pretty free flowing discussion but no commitments were made. MS: Okay, no conclusions or commitments. You know the thing is with tax reform, we've seen companies like Pfizer doing pretty well out of it, nice windfall right. And I guess the key question is, especially for pharma, we've seen on the back of tax reform fairly significant wave of M&A kickoff and this is the first time we've seen this in about a decade or so. So the key question is, tax reform, you get a windfall. What do you do with the money? Do you invest it at home to create jobs? Do you buy back shares? In Novartis' case, what is likely to be? Vasant Narasimhan: One important clarification we've been making is for overseas-based companies like Novartis and tax reform had really minimal impact. So we don't see a lower tax because of this tax reform. So from that standpoint it doesn't really change much of how we operate, but what we are continuing to do is follow our capital allocation priorities and as I've said I really want us to be a focused medicines company, powered by data and digital technologies and that means looking for bolt-on acquisitions, of value creating bolt-on acquisitions. That's where our focus has been. We recently completed one in January of Advanced Accelerator applications, an oncology company that was about a four billion dollar bolt-on that we did. And that's the kind of place where we see value bringing in technologies that fit in our core therapeutic areas and then we can unlock the value of those technologies. MS: So bolting on this is interesting because your immediate predecessor, Joe Jiminez, did a lot of the I guess the pruning right, the hard work and left the company in pretty good shape for yourself to take over, with the exception, we can get into your push to bolt-on and push to AI in a just a bit, but I want to get to the two sort of I guess hangovers that Joe Jiminez sort of left to you and that is what to do Alcon and also what to do with Sandoz. Let's get to Sandoz first because I mean the talk of the market is you could be weeks away from letting it go. Are you? Vasant Narasimhan: So first I want to give a little broader context, so you know when you look at Novartis we started out after the formation of the companies abroad conglomerate. Over time we've slimmed down under Joe's leadership to three leading businesses - Sandoz, Alcon and of course our leading pharmaceuticals business. You know I see us continue to focus our resources and in pharmaceuticals and medicines broadly. With Alcon, as we've stated, you know we look forward to taking a potential action, moving to a potential decision in the first half of 2019. And that's still the timeline that we will maintain and no change on that. MS: Even though finally you've got sales growth at Alcon? Vasant Narasimhan: Well we're happy with the sales growth, we want to continue to see both sales growth and profitability improvement, but we still think it would be the right timeline to look towards the first half of 19 for any potential action on Alcon. Now with respect to Sandoz, I think it has been well characterized the global generics market is under pressure particularly in the traditional generics. We see great strength and growth in Biosimilars, where we have about the leading Biosimilars portfolio in the industry. So we're quite we're quite keen on continuing to maintain our focus on Biosimilars. In the rest of the Sandoz business, and as I've stated publicly, we really want to continue to think about how best to invest in that business to ensure we are differentiated and can grow. We have no immediate plans to really change our approach on Sandoz. We continue to evaluate all options, particularly in the U.S. business that's been under pressure, but we haven't made any decisions. MS: So with Sandoz the problem is basically no pricing power or slipping pricing power right so your fight back is okay let's go more complex, let's go more higher margins as well. The problem is, a lot of your competitors are doing the same thing - so differentiation. Vasant Narasimhan: If you think about the generics industry from 2000 to 2012, it was a highly attractive area where having global scale was what we really mattered. Now with the emergence of really significant competition from China and India, cost leadership becomes much more important. So companies like ours have to move into more complex value added medicines as you described. The key will be how to differentiate your value proposition versus the other generics companies and that's what we're focused on. MS: OK let's circle back now to the acquisitions, you were talking about bolt-ons. I think a lot of people were watching to see whether this first wave of M&A becomes sort of a tidal wave for the first time in about a decade. Your focus for Novartis where do you see, what sorts of businesses are you targeting that would be good fits for what you want to do, which is pipeline right? Vasant Narasimhan: Well you know we really think we want to focus our M&A efforts on these bolt-on acquisitions that have either new technologies or products that fit into our core therapeutic areas. When you think about Novartis's core therapeutic areas, we operate in about seven therapeutic areas where we have global scale, we have developing capabilities, we have commercial capabilities. And our goal is to find either assets that are near the market or earlier stage pipeline assets that fit in those areas. We really believe the value's in bolt-on acquisitions and you know we're not looking at large scale M&A we think that typically can be very disruptive to companies like ours with strong pipelines. So our focus has really been on those on those bolt-on acquisitions particularly in areas such as oncology, where we did triple-A as well as other therapeutic areas. MS: And this is kind of a market question, even if you do find suitable targets right, the timing, is there value out there right now the way the pharmas are now? Vasant Narasimhan: Well you know that is I think the challenge right now with M&A, I mean the valuations are extremely high right now and they continue to be on the high end. There's takeover premiums I believe in many of these stocks already. And that's really where the challenge is in doing bolt on M&A is to find situations where you can really get a reasonable price where our company will benefit, our shareholders will benefit and the selling company would also benefit. That's certainly more challenging today than it's been in the past. END Media Contact: Mike Cheong Communications Manager, CNBC Asia Pacific D: +65 6326 1123 M: +65 9852 8630 [email protected] About CNBC CNBC is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the world's major financial markets via three regional TV networks in Asia, EMEA and the US. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web featuring video, real-time market analysis and dynamic financial tools. CNBC serves the world's most powerful audience of CEOs, senior executives, the financial services industry and private investors and is available in more than 409 million homes worldwide. CNBC is a division of NBCUniversal. For more information, please visit www.cnbc.com

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/fiscal-policy-is-spinning-out-of-control-ex-gao-head-under-clinton-and-bush.html?__source=fincont&par=fincont

Fiscal policy is 'spinning out of control': Ex-GAO head under Clinton and Bush

Fiscal policy is 'spinning out of control': Ex-GAO head under Clinton and Bush VIDEO3:1103:11Fiscal policy is spinning out of control in DC: Fmr. US comptroller generalClosing Bell The spending spree coming out of the nation's capital has to stop, former Government Accountability Office head David Walker told CNBC on Monday. "Fiscal policy is spinning out of control again in Washington, D.C.," said Walker, who was head of the GAO under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. "We are mortgaging the future of kids and grandkids at record rates. That is irresponsible. It is unethical. It is immoral. It must stop," he told "Closing Bell." On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill into law, despite being "unhappy about it." Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The legislation, which funds the government through the end of September, significantly boosts military spending. It also increases funding for border security, infrastructure and efforts to fight the opioid epidemic. "We've seen the debt ceiling limit go up $1 trillion in the last year. We're facing trillion-dollar annual deficits starting in '19, and we can see on the horizon that the federal budget may end up spending $1 trillion on interest alone in the not-too-distant future. And what do you get for interest? Nothing," said Walker, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Connecticut. He's particularly concerned about the 70 percent of the budget that's on "autopilot" — so-called mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. "We have made no meaningful progress on diffusing that ticking time bomb," Walker said. "That's what we have to get to if we want to restore fiscal sanity." It's a different story on the Republican tax plan, which he thinks will create additional economic growth and job opportunities. That additional growth will produce some revenues, he said. "But let's understand this ... our fiscal gap is too great to close it with growth alone." — CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

084d329a2c31cb5e32bb61d040da8efe

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/ftc-confirms-facebook-data-breach-investigation.html

Facebook stock slides after FTC launches probe of data scandal

Facebook stock slides after FTC launches probe of data scandal VIDEO0:5500:55FTC probing Facebook privacy practicesSquawk on the Street Shares of Facebook cratered as much as 6 percent Monday after the Federal Trade Commission announced it is investigating the company's data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica leak of 50 million users' information. "The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices," the agency said in a statement. The FTC declined to confirm last week that it was investigating Facebook, including whether it violated a consent decree the tech company signed with the agency in 2011. The decree required that Facebook notify users and receive explicit permission before sharing personal data beyond their specified privacy settings. A violation of the consent decree could carry a penalty of $40,000 per violation. "We remain strongly committed to protecting people's information. We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions the FTC may have," Rob Sherman, deputy chief privacy officer for Facebook, said in a statement to CNBC. Facebook is facing questions over its data handling following reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the personal data of more than 50 million Facebook users. Facebook's stock shed more than 13 percent in the five days of trading following the initial reports. Monday morning the stock briefly fell into bear market territory, more than 20 percent off its 52-week high, before paring losses. By early afternoon it was down less than 2 percent. The FTC is firmly and fully committed to using all of its tools to protect the privacy of consumers. Foremost among these tools is enforcement action against companies that fail to honor their privacy promises, including to comply with Privacy Shield, or that engage in unfair acts that cause substantial injury to consumers in violation of the FTC Act. Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements. Accordingly, the FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices.

82f160f4a3140a87699ee838569fc93e

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/student-loan-forgiveness-gets-one-shot-350m-boost.html

Student loan forgiveness gets one-shot, $350M boost

Student loan forgiveness gets one-shot, $350M boost VIDEO1:0201:02First-come, first-served: Trump will let some student loan borrowers erase their debtNews Videos As part of the new $1.3 trillion federal spending bill, Congress authorized a $350 million "fix" to fund a popular student loan forgiveness plan that many financial experts say is failing. If you thought or were told you didn't qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program because you were not enrolled in a qualifying repayment plan — typically an income-driven plan — the Department of Education might still let you erase your loans. Congress has allocated the DOE $350 million to offer forgiveness to student loan borrowers who meet all requirements for PSLF except that they were enrolled in graduated or extended repayment plans, which are ineligible for relief. Many student loan borrowers thought they were paying their way toward student loan forgiveness, only to learn they are not eligible for one technical reason or another.Emily Rose Bennett | The New York Times To qualify, you'll still need to have a loan from the Direct program, have had made all of your payments in full and on time, and have worked 10 years in a public service job with a qualifying employer. Additionally, the forgiveness plan will be given out on a "first-come, first-served" basis, until the money runs out. Considering that there are potentially many newly-eligible debtors, this "first-come, first-served" fund may not last long at all. That means you'll want to get your application in as soon as possible, said Mark Kantrowitz, a student loan expert. "You don't want to be playing a game of musical chairs and be the one left out," he said. You can start applying in around 60 days. VIDEO1:1701:17How to deal with college debtCollege Game Plan The PSLF, established by President George W. Bush in 2007, allows student loan borrowers who pursue government or non-profit public service jobs to wipe out their remaining debt after 10 years of on-time payments. In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that one in four American workers could be eligible for forgiveness. But last year, the agency reported that a range of student loan industry practices "delay, defer or deny access" to that consumer protection. Many students believe they're paying their way toward forgiveness, only to find they hold a loan or are enrolled in a repayment plan that disqualifies them from the program. Since the DOE first began accepting PSLF requests in October 2017, some 13,000 people have applied but just 1,000 are expected to be eligible, a DOE spokesman told CNBC. Nancy Conneely, director of policy at AccessLex Institute, which provides financial education to  students and schools, applauded the funding. "This is a great first step in ensuring the program is doing what it was intended to do —incentivize people to work in public service," she said. But Jonathan Fansmith, director of government relations at the American Council on Education, said the $350 million is not enough to cover all the borrowers who would be eligible if they were simply enrolled in a different repayment plan. Last month, Senate Democrats tried to secure $4 billion to mend the program. The "first-come, first-served" stipulation, he added, was surprising. "You usually don't see that in federal policy," he said. "Loans work like an entitlement." More from Personal Finance:Strong economy could be your ticket to a new jobIf you're tired of Medicare Advantage, now is the time to ditchRetire in paradise: 5 countries where you can live the dream

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/usg-soars-nearly-20-percent-as-it-spurns-a-buyout-offer-from-german-firm.html

Warren Buffett is offering a German firm an interesting trade that could lead to a profitable takeover of one of his stocks

Warren Buffett is offering a German firm an interesting trade that could lead to a profitable takeover of one of his stocks Warren BuffettDavid A. Grogan | CNBC Building materials company USG announced on Monday it rejected a buyout offer from Germany-based Gebr. Knauf KG, despite the fact that the bid involves a transaction supported by one of its largest shareholders: Warren Buffett. "Our Board is always looking for ways to deliver value to all of our shareholders, but Knauf's opportunistically timed proposal is wholly inadequate as it does not reflect USG's intrinsic value, including the significant opportunities ahead of us," USG's non-executive chairman Steven Leer said in the release. "We are confident that the strategy we presented on March 8, 2018 at our Investor Day will deliver significantly more value to our shareholders than Knauf's proposal." The company's shares rose 19.5 percent Monday to $40.03. USG is a leading provider of wall, ceiling, flooring and roofing products. Gebr. Knauf KG revealed in a securities filing Friday it offered to buy USG for $42 per share on Mar. 15. The company also said in the filing a senior executive of Berkshire Hathaway offered Gebr. Knauf KG a $2 per share option to buy its stake in USG for a "price of not less than $42 per share." The option will only be exercisable if Gebr. Knauf KG acquired the whole company. Gebr. Knauf KG said it is currently evaluating Berkshire's option proposal. Berkshire Hathaway is USG's largest shareholder with a 30.8 percent stake in the company, according to a filing. A Berkshire filing Monday stated the Buffett and another Berkshire executive talked to the German company on March 23 about the option proposal. Berkshire Hathaway did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Gebr. Knauf KG filing. VIDEO2:0802:08These are the companies that Warren Buffett should buyDigital Original

53d46f5bde46804ca15f9bd508c495ef

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/walmart-unit-jet-com-names-tesco-veteran-simon-belsham-as-president.html

Walmart unit Jet.com names Tesco veteran Simon Belsham as president

Walmart unit Jet.com names Tesco veteran Simon Belsham as president Simon BelshamLuke MacGregor | Bloomberg | Getty Images Walmart's Jet.com has named Tesco veteran Simon Belsham as president of the e-commerce company, effective immediately, the company said Monday.Belsham will be responsible for expanding the company's online grocery business, Walmart e-commerce CEO Marc Lore said in a memo to employees. Belsham spent seven years at Tesco, one of Britain's top grocery retailers, and worked at U.K.-based Ocado, helping the online supermarket company expand its nonfood business. He succeeds Liza Landsman, who announced plans recently to leave Jet.com and join a venture capital firm. "There are so many ways technology can change retail and be a force for good in our lives," Belsham said in a statement about his new position. "In my view, there is no business better positioned to take advantage of the opportunity ahead than the combination of Walmart and Jet." Belsham joins Jet.com at a time when Walmart is ramping up its online grocery business in the face of competition from Amazon-owned Whole Foods, Kroger and Target. In its most recent quarter, Walmart's e-commerce growth cooled significantly, disappointing investors and analysts about Jet.com's performance. Walmart acquired the company in 2016. Lore has said Jet.com aims to target consumers in urban markets who might not frequent Walmart stores. Late last year it launched its own private-label brand, Uniquely J, in a bid to win more of those shoppers' dollars and boost profit margins. "With Jet Grocery being an integral part of the strategy, Simon brings incredible experience in scaling grocery delivery and his unique background in converging technology and retail to create amazing experiences for customers," Lore said in the memo. Current Jet.com execs Andrew Gasper, David Echegoyen and Jack Hanlon will report to Belsham, Lore said.

ac2c854a75425587461307c506c48330

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/yen-to-protect-against-a-trade-war-is-wrong.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain

Buying the yen to protect against a trade war is ‘pretty peculiar,’ wealth manager says

Buying the yen to protect against a trade war is ‘pretty peculiar,’ wealth manager says VIDEO3:5803:58Why buying the yen as protection from a trade war is 'pretty peculiar'Squawk Box Europe Choosing to buy the Japanese yen as protection against a potential trade war is "pretty peculiar," one wealth manager told CNBC Monday. The Japanese currency has been mostly on the rise against the U.S. dollar as investors look for a safe haven amid fears of a global trade war. On Monday morning, the yen was close to a 17-month high against the dollar following the U.S. decision last week to impose new tariffs on China worth $60 billion. "Buying the yen because of a trade war in which Japan was going to be hit pretty badly, and Japan hasn't been exempted from the steel tariffs by the way, that seems to me pretty peculiar," Giles Keating, managing director at wealth manager Werthstein Institute, told CNBC. Prior to imposing new tariffs on China for allegedly stealing intellectual property rights, the U.S. announced tariffs on steel and aluminum products. The EU managed to get a temporary exemption from the latter tariffs last week, but Japan didn't. Toru Hanai | Reuters With fewer imports to the U.S., the Japanese economy could be hit and the currency could depreciate. More importantly, Japan could suffer from a deterioration in the trade ties between the U.S. and China, given its proximity to the latter. According to Tobias Harris, the vice president of advisory firm Teneo, the economic impact of the metal tariffs should be small on Japan, but they could signal something much more important. "The direct economic impact on Japanese producers may be limited — only 2 percent of Japan's steel exports go to the U.S. — but Tokyo's failure to convince Washington to spare it from the new measures could be a sign of a more contentious turn in the bilateral relationship," he said. "After a year of broad discussions in the U.S.-Japan Bilateral Economic Dialogue … The U.S. administration appears to be increasingly determined to press Japan for concessions to open its market and reduce its bilateral trade surplus with the U.S.," Harris added in a note Friday. Data from the Japanese government showed last month that the country's trade surplus with the United States narrowed in January, dropped 12.3 percent from a year ago to 349.57 billion Japanese yen ($3.32 billion). Japan has announced that it would look to be exempted from the metal tariffs, though they came into effect on Friday.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/youre-probably-using-the-wrong-credit-card-heres-how-to-fix-that.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar

You're probably using the wrong credit card. Here's how to fix that

You're probably using the wrong credit card. Here's how to fix that VIDEO1:0101:01You could be hurting your budget by using the wrong credit cardYour Money, Your Future If you haven't recently checked to see whether the credit card you're using is the right one for you, you could be leaving money on the table. A new survey from CreditCards.com found that 12 percent of credit card users, or 20 million individuals, have not switched cards in 10 or more years, while 28 percent, or 49 million, have always used the same card. "That's an awful lot of people who are missing out on an opportunity to get some rewards and missing an opportunity to make a real impact on their budget," said Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. Cutting down on any credit card debt is especially important this year because the Federal Reserve is expected to steadily raise rates, Schulz said. That means you will be paying more interest on any outstanding balances. Regardless of how long you have owned a credit card — whether more than 10 years or six months — ask yourself how you use the card and what you want to get out of it. Check your existing credit card accounts to track how you spend, including restaurant, gas and grocery purchases. Then identify what you want to get from a card, whether it be cash back or points toward travel. "All of these basic questions can help guide you to the right card if you take the time to ask them," Schulz said. Once you have identified how you will use the card, look for a card that matches your goals. If you're looking to transfer a balance or just keep a balance, look at cards with the lowest interest rates. Rates currently range from the low teens to the mid-20s, Schulz said, though it is possible to get an even lower annual percentage rate if you have excellent credit. If you plan to take advantage of rewards, look for cards that offer the biggest bonus. Watch out for cards that require you spend a certain amount to get that reward, such as $3,000 or $4,000 within a few months. "The last thing people should do is overspend to get rewards," Schulz said. "That's just asking for trouble." Also be sure to keep in mind how you will use the card. If you frequently travel overseas, for example, look for a card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. VIDEO2:4902:49The six things never to put on a credit cardDigital Original While you may be tempted to close the account on your old card completely, keeping it open will help boost your financial record. "Generally speaking, there's no reason to cancel an old credit card," Schulz said. "The longer you have a credit card with a good history, the better it is for your credit." The exception to that rule is if your old card comes with an annual fee and you are certain you're not going to use it anymore, Schulz said. CreditCards.com's online survey was conducted earlier this month and included 2,228 U.S. adults. More from Personal Finance: This hidden threat can devour more than $100,000 of your wealth This wedding savings strategy is easier said than done These tax breaks are vanishing. Grab them while you can

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/apple-education-event-in-chicago-new-macbook-ipad-expected.html

Apple expected to unveil lower-priced devices to compete with Google in education

Apple expected to unveil lower-priced devices to compete with Google in education VIDEO1:4301:43Apple's push into the classroomSquawk on the Street Apple is expected to reveal a lower-price laptop and updated iPad at an education-themed event in Chicago on Tuesday, which could shore up Apple's defenses against Google's increasing presence in U.S. schools. Apple is notoriously secretive about future product launches, and Tuesday's event is typically slim on details — no new products have been confirmed by the company yet. But bloggers at 9to5Mac have discovered code for a new developer framework called ClassKit and speculate that supply chain rumors of a cheaper iPad and MacBook make sense for schools buying in bulk. In particular, 9to5Mac reports, Apple could unveil a 13-inch Retina MacBook and a cheaper 9.7-inch iPad. Less well-known are Apple's plans for the Apple Pencil, as well as usual spring updates to the iPhone SE and Apple Watch franchises. Another shoe left to drop for Apple is the announcement of a location for its newest campus. Still, ClassKit, plus cheaper hardware, would show a big push from Apple in the education market, which has historically been a major investment area for the company. Bringing computers to college campuses was a project for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs inside and outside of his work at Apple, and digital textbooks was one of the original use cases that inspired the creation of the iPad, according to biographer Walter Isaacson. While Apple products still get prominent placement in university bookstores, Google's low-cost Chromebooks have surged to over half of all computing devices shipped to schools. Apple says Tuesday's event is the company's way of listening to teachers. The iPhone maker has also doubled down on other education-related initiatives. Apple's "Everybody Can Code" program, focused on mobile apps, recently expanded to 70 more colleges, and iPad devices host Swift Playgrounds, a code education platform. Apple also said in January it would fund 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai's women's education advocacy. Tuesday event is also an opportunity to raise the curtain for WWDC, Apple's June software developers conference, where the company may announce updates to Siri and augmented reality tools. SoundHound vice president Katie McMahon — formerly of Shazam, which was later acquired by Apple — said education has the potential to be one of the most important markets for smart assistants. Augmented reality is another emerging technology that has potential in the educational market, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cortney Harding, co-founder of the VR/AR agency Friends With Holograms, said that vocational training is already where many of the most promising apps are being made. And that's yet another area where Apple needs to keep up with the competition. Google is already rolling out AR and VR content to teachers through its Expeditions program.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/jp-morgan-investors-are-overreacting-so-buy-this-market-dip-for-big-rally-ahead.html

JP Morgan: Investors are 'overreacting' so buy this market dip for a big rally ahead

JP Morgan: Investors are 'overreacting' so buy this market dip for a big rally ahead VIDEO0:4900:49JP Morgan: Investors are 'overreacting' so buy this market dip for big rally aheadNews Videos The pullback in stocks is a great buying opportunity, according to one top Wall Street firm. J.P. Morgan predicts the S&P 500 will rise by a double-digit percentage through year-end 2018, citing valuation and improving fundamentals. The S&P 500 has declined by 7.5 percent since its high for the year on Jan. 26. "Most of the selling seen over this period has been largely technical (trend-following strategies and option hedging in illiquid market environment), and as such represents a buying opportunity for fundamental investors," U.S. equity strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. "The market appears to be overreacting to sequential negative narratives (e.g., inflation scare, rising yields, hawkish Fed, rising deficits), we believe strong macro and fundamentals will continue to prevail." The strategist reiterated his 3,000 year-end price target for the S&P 500, representing 13 percent upside to Monday's close. Lakos-Bujas said the S&P 500 is trading at a 16 times forward price-to-earnings multiple, which is lower than its 30-year historical median valuation. He believes the market's fundamentals are "strong" and predicts earnings per share will grow by more than 30 percent over the next two years due to lower tax rates and robust sales growth. "In our view, there is still room for estimates to move higher given indirect benefits of tax reform are difficult to model (i.e., the impact of dynamic scoring, rising disposable income, higher business investment)," he wrote. Disclaimer

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/switzerland-urged-to-do-more-to-fight-penalize-bribery.html

Switzerland urged to do more to fight, penalize bribery

Switzerland urged to do more to fight, penalize bribery A tramway car captured with blurred motion rushes through the Paradeplatz (Parade square) in the heart of Switzerland banking industry in Zurich at night.@ Didier Marti | Moment | Getty Images A group of mostly rich, industrialized countries says Switzerland should do more to prosecute companies and apply tougher penalties for bribery. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also praised the Swiss Attorney General's office for expanding the number of cases it's investigating, pointing to a nearly six-fold increase in money laundering and bribery probes from 2011 to 2016. The Paris-based group, which counts Switzerland among its 35 member states, on Tuesday issued findings from a year-long review of the Alpine country that has long been associated with shady financial transactions and as a haven for clandestine deal-making. The OECD, among other things, urged authorities in Switzerland to improve protections for whistleblowers, reform its rules about legal assistance with other countries and ensure bribery sanctions are "effective, proportionate and dissuasive."

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/watch-white-house-takes-questions-as-market-rallies.html

Watch: White House takes questions as trade issues remain in focus

Watch: White House takes questions as trade issues remain in focus [The stream is slated to start at 2 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is scheduled to take reporters' questions at the White House on Tuesday. Trade issues remain in focus, particularly as the White House keys in on China's practices. The Stormy Daniels controversy is also still in the headlines, after the adult-film actress sued President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for defamation.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/28/teslas-plunge-could-be-self-fulfilling-prophecy-for-further-declines-morgan-stanley-warns.html

Tesla's plunge could be 'self-fulfilling' prophecy for further declines, Morgan Stanley warns

Tesla's plunge could be 'self-fulfilling' prophecy for further declines, Morgan Stanley warns VIDEO2:4102:41Moody's rating cut on Tesla 'not a concern': ResearcherStreet Signs Asia Tesla must quickly improve its Model 3 production rate if it wants to raise critically needed funds from investors at a decent price, according to Morgan Stanley. The firm reiterated its equal weight rating on Tesla shares. The note came a day after the stock declined 8 percent on a negative analyst report and the National Transportation Safety Board's announcement that it sent investigators to look into the fatal crash of a Tesla car last week. Moody's also downgraded Tesla's credit ratings after the close Tuesday "A sharp drop in Tesla's share price in part reflects questions on Model 3 ramp … an event that directly impacts both the company's near-term cash needs and ability to potentially access the market for capital," analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "A lower share price begets a lower share price… For a company widely expected to continue to fund its strategy through external capital raises, a fall in the share price can take on a self-fulfilling nature that further exacerbates the volatility of the share price." The company's shares declined 7.8 percent Wednesday. Tesla stock is now down by more than 30 percent from its high in September 2017. Jonas reiterated his $379 price target for Tesla shares, representing 36 percent upside to Tuesday's close. He said the company needs to accelerate its rate of Model 3 production if it wants to raise funds at an attractive price for the company. "The precise timing of when Tesla can achieve a 2,500/week and then a 5,000/week production run-rate for its mass market sedan can make the difference between whether Tesla is potentially raising capital from a position of weakness at a price near our $175 bear case or whether it can access capital from a position of strength with a stock price near our $561 bull case," the analyst wrote. Nevertheless, Jonas believes Tesla shares are attractive at the current level and recommends investors buy on any further declines. "We think that we are looking at one of the buying opportunities that many investors have been waiting for," he wrote. "We'd use further weakness from here as an opportunity to build an Equal-weight position in the stock … We see Tesla as modestly undervalued with very high risk." Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. VIDEO2:0502:05NTSB investigating fatal Tesla crash in CaliforniaPower Lunch Disclaimer

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/facebook-has-rolled-out-privacy-changes--but-its-doing-it-for-gdpr.html?__source=fincont&par=fincont

Facebook rolled out privacy changes — but it’s being forced to do it anyway by regulators

Facebook rolled out privacy changes — but it’s being forced to do it anyway by regulators Jason Alden | Bloomberg via Getty Images Facebook has announced a number of privacy changes to its platform in recent days following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, but the social network would have likely had to make the fixes anyway because of new upcoming legislation. On March 21, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg spoke out about the scandal in which 50 million Facebook user profiles were harvested with the data being sent to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. He announced some changes including a tool at the top of the News Feed to show users what apps have access to the data, restricting developers' access to data, and other initiatives. On Wednesday, the social media giant unveiled a raft of measures aimed at making it easier for users to see and access the data held by the company. Facebook said that it had been working on these measures for a while. While they are trying to regain trust with consumers by pushing out the new measures, it's likely they would have come in whether the data scandal had happened or not. "A lot of it, a lot of stuff they would need to have done to be compliant with the new European data protection laws, known as GDPR. So I'm not convinced how much of that was actually really new stuff," Damian Collins, a U.K. lawmaker who has summoned Zuckerberg to appear in front of the British parliament, told CNBC Wednesday. VIDEO3:4903:49UK lawmaker: Want to give data watchdog more powersStreet Signs Europe GDPR is short for the General Data Protection Regulation, a piece of legislation that will come into force across the European Union on May 25. Part of GDPR requires companies to allow users to download the data held on them and let them transfer it to another service if they want. Another part of the legislation is the right to be forgotten and the right to request data be deleted. That is something Facebook said it is making easier. So as much as Facebook might talk about being more responsible and being open to regulation, some of those laws are on the way and it's forcing them to implement these new features. And the implications will go beyond Europe to users in other parts of the world. "A much tighter data environment from Europe is set to change the way Facebook handles what they collect and how they sell it; and given that Facebook's 2-plus billion users are tightly interconnected, a change in Europe will affect how they handle business for those users connected to those in Europe as well," Ian Bremmer, founder of political analysis firm Eurasia Group, said in a note earlier this week. "So it's not quite as challenging for Facebook to say they're taking the popular outcry seriously and are prepared to address it — that legal 'fix' was already in the books." A Facebook spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. In a recent note to clients, Barclays said that Facebook has 93 million "lighter-weight" users in Europe and could see a small percentage of them go off the service completely.

c8e9b741fdbd2c59c1b9706a2078eff0

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/its-only-a-year-to-go-until-brexit--but-top-uk-retailers-are-frustrated-they-cant-prepare-for-it.html

It’s only a year to go until Brexit — but top UK retailers are frustrated they can’t prepare for it

It’s only a year to go until Brexit — but top UK retailers are frustrated they can’t prepare for it In 365 days the U.K. will no longer be a member of the European Union. But U.K. businesses are still unware of how much they will have to change to continue trading with the rest of Europe — making it harder to plan for the future. Paul Clarke, chief technology officer at the online food retailer Ocado, told CNBC that he is concerned about future funding. The £3.59 billion ($ 5.09 billion) company has benefited from European money in the form of business funding to develop its operations. "How will the UK government replace that?," he wondered during a phone call with CNBC. The U.K. has agreed in principle with the European Union (EU) on a transition period of 21 months — meaning that between March 29, 2019 and December 31, 2020, U.K. businesses will be able to continue trading on current terms, while making the necessary preparations for the total break-up moment. But so far, it is impossible to prepare for the break-up moment given that negotiators haven't decided on how the future relationship is going to be. The second largest U.K. grocer, Sainsbury's, warned Tuesday it will need at least a year's notice to prepare trading arrangements with other EU countries after Brexit. A 'sale' sign seen from a Oxford Street's clothes store in London.Rahman Hassani | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images Retailers are growing frustrated towards the lack of clarity regarding their future. So far, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the U.K. will leave the EU's single market – which allows the free movement of goods, services, money, and people – as well as the EU's customs union — an area subject to the same custom duties. But the EU is not willing to fabricate a new relationship with the U.K. and offered instead a trade agreement, similar to the one that the EU recently closed with Canada. This solution would likely represent higher costs for companies both in Europe and the U.K. trading with one another. Sterling has fallen about 5 percent against the U.S. dollar since the day the U.K. voted to leave the EU. The depreciation in the currency has increased pressures on retailers to ramp up prices as the costs of their raw materials have risen. Daniel Rubin, founder and executive chairman of Dune, told CNBC over the phone that shoe retailers are not able to compensate for the added costs by raising shoe prices. "It's a mistake to push up prices because people don't have more money," he said. Consumer prices have risen since the U.K. decided to leave the EU in June of 2016. The latest CPI numbers showed prices jumping 2.7 percent in February after a 3 percent increase in January. At the same time, wage increases have not managed to surpass inflation — squeezing consumers' income. With companies facing higher costs, they are prioritizing investments on their online presence rather than on their physical stores. Rubin told CNBC that his company's strategy is investing in e-commerce and looking at expanding into other markets. "The most exciting growing area is international," he said, mentioning the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. Looking down on the New Oxford Circus crossing at sunset.Loop Images | UIG | Getty Images The shoe retailer has 38 stores across the U.K. and, though it is investing in improving its online presence, it is not planning to close any of them. However, Rubin noted that as leases come to an end, it's unlikely that the firm will renew them. Commercial property and real estate services adviser CBRE said that "the weak pound has attracted international real estate investors and tourists to the U.K. and boosted domestic exports, increasing demand for the office, prime retail, industrial and hotel sectors." But with higher demand for office and prime retail spaces, rent prices could increase. Schuh sells over 80 brands, including Nike, Adidas and Converse. Without the current tariff-free benefit that U.K. firms have with other European countries, companies like Schuh that import goods could see their business impacted. "My fear is that we get tariffs or cues in the border," Colin Temple, managing director of Schuh, told CNBC over the phone earlier this month. Higher costs to move goods across the border will mean lower margins for retailers, unless they raise prices for consumers. "We might buy more stock," Temple told CNBC about preparations for possible higher import costs post-2020. "Once we know what's happening, we can react," he said. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/tesla-stock-on-pace-for-worst-month-after-federal-probe-moodys-downgrade.html

Tesla is on track for its worst month ever — down 24.86 percent so far

Tesla is on track for its worst month ever — down 24.86 percent so far The inside of a Tesla vehicle is viewed as it sits parked in a Tesla showroom and service center in Red Hook, Brooklyn on July 5, 2016.Spencer Platt | Getty Images Tesla shares are on pace for their worst monthly performance as the electric car company faces a spate of recent issues. Tesla stock is down 24.86 percent in March, as of Wednesday, pacing for its worst month since the company first went public in 2010. Other recent stock performance figures look pretty rough for Elon Musk's car company. Shares have fallen 17.21 percent in the quarter, putting it on track to record its worst quarter since the fourth quarter of 2013. On the week, Telsa is down 14.51 percent, with shares on track for their worst week since Feb. 5, 2016. Recent declines have come on the back of a federal investigation into a fatal car crash involving a Tesla vehicle in California earlier in the month. In response, Tesla has said it was assisting with investigations, although it also defended its Autopilot technology. Moody's recent downgrade of its corporate family rating on Tesla has also weighed on the stock. The agency downgraded the company's credit ratings Tuesday and changed its outlook to negative from stable, citing "significant shortfall" in the Model 3 production rate and a tight financial situation. Those concerns were echoed by Morgan Stanley, which highlighted in a recent note that the company had to accelerate its Model 3 production if it wanted to raise funds at an attractive price. Telsa shares closed down 7.67 percent on Wednesday, some 30 percent off a record high touched in September last year. Clarification: The report has been modified to better explain the nature of the federal government investigation of the crash in California. — CNBC's Gina Francolla, Tae Kim and Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report. VIDEO2:4502:45Moody's downgrades Tesla's credit rating due to Model 3 production delaysPower Lunch

7f8253ad155aabe53c02ab2b3d9beaad

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/30/auto-companies-feature-virtual-reality-and-other-tech-heavy-exhibits-at-new-york-auto-show.html

Auto companies feature virtual reality and other tech-heavy exhibits at New York Auto Show

Auto companies feature virtual reality and other tech-heavy exhibits at New York Auto Show Auto shows are really supposed to be about cars, but several automakers at the New York International Auto Show are turning to tech to entertain visitors and advertise their products. Virtual reality headsets, remote control cars, and robots were all on display during the show's press preview days at the Jacob Javits Center. Here is a look at a few of the big ones: Adam Jeffery | CNBC Toyota's Fine Comfort Ride concept car is meant to model what an autonomous vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells would look like. The vehicle has four seats, and the front two can swivel to face the rear seats. There are also displays on the windows for reading or watching video. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Toyota also had virtual reality headsets which simulated the experience of riding in the vehicle. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Chevrolet had a table set up where users could pilot a remote controlled car that competed with one that had driver assistance features such as lane keep assist and automatic braking. The idea is to test whether a human driver can pilot a vehicle more deftly than one with driver assistance tech. As the name suggests, the Human Support Robot is meant to assist humans with everyday tasks, such as fetching or picking up objects. It has a robotic arm that can grip and pickup even thin delicate objects like sheets of paper. Adam Jeffery | CNBC The robot is capable of recognizing objects and environments and can either operate autonomously or be controlled via remote. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Honda Lens is an augmented reality exhibit that displays graphics and animation which show off various features and characteristics of Honda vehicles, giving facts about the engine or pointing out tech on the dashboard inside the car. Honda The photo above is a simulation of what a user would see with the device.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/31/mit-developed-imaging-technology-that-can-see-through-fog.html

MIT researchers are tackling a major challenge for self-driving cars — fog

MIT researchers are tackling a major challenge for self-driving cars — fog VIDEO1:0501:05Autonomous cars might soon have X-ray-like vision in fogDigital Original Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have developed a new imaging system that can gauge the distance of objects obscured by fog so thick that humans can't see through it. The goal is to integrate the technology into self-driving cars so that even in bad weather, the vehicles can avoid obstacles. The imaging-sensing system uses a time-of-flight camera, which fires short laser bursts toward an object. It then counts how long it takes for the light to bounce back. Fog typically scatters the laser light, making it difficult for autonomous vehicles. But the researchers developed an algorithm that finds patterns in the scattered light to reveal distance. At MIT Media Lab's Camera Culture Group, researchers tested the system in fog much denser than what cars would face in the real world. The system performed better than human vision, whereas most imaging systems perform far worse. A navigation system that was even as good as how a human driver handles the fog would be a huge breakthrough for autonomous cars.

44f156be023155abc1a74f33e0505bbb

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/01/china-announces-new-tariffs-on-us-meat-and-fruit-amid-trade-war-fears.html

China announces it's imposing new tariffs on 128 US products

China announces it's imposing new tariffs on 128 US products VIDEO2:1702:17China announces new tariffs on 128 US productsSquawk Box China is implementing new tariffs on meat, fruit and other products from the U.S. as retaliation for American duties, heightening fears of a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies. Beijing's latest move, announced by its finance ministry in a statement dated April 1, is direct retaliation against taxes approved by President Donald Trump on imported steel and aluminum. Chinese officials had been warning over the last few weeks that their country would take action against the U.S. The tariffs begin on Monday, the finance ministry statement said. China's Customs Tariff Commission is increasing the tariff rate on pork products and aluminum scrap by 25 percent. It's also imposing a new 15 percent tariff on 120 other imported U.S. commodities, from almonds to apples and berries. All told, the extra tariffs will hit 128 kinds of U.S. products, multiple outlets reported. The list of new duties matches the proposed list released by the government on March 23, according to Reuters. At that time, China said the affected U.S. goods had an import value of $3 billion in 2017 and included wine, fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts, steel pipes, modified ethanol and ginseng. VIDEO2:2902:29The market is still very concerned about a trade war: StrategistSquawk Box Asia The decision to target $3 billion in U.S. imports is significant, but it's widely seen as a drop in the ocean given the size of the bilateral trading relationship. U.S. goods exported to China in 2016 totaled $115.6 billion, according to official data. China's retaliation is "a statement of intent ... but it's not an escalation in our opinion," Steve Brice, chief investment strategist at Standard Chartered Private Bank, told CNBC on Monday. The White House didn't respond to a message from The Associated Press on Sunday seeking comment. While China's response was tied to Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, it could end up hurting American ranchers and farmers — many of whom are from regions that voted for Trump in 2016. U.S. farmers shipped nearly $20 billion of goods to China in 2017. The American pork industry sent $1.1 billion in products, making China the No. 3 market for U.S. pork. Of note, China's trade retaliation is not against Trump's announcement in March that he is planning new tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports. The White House's planned tariffs are partly aimed at punishing Beijing for allegedly stealing American technology and pressuring U.S. companies to hand it over. Observers have suggested that Beijing may be saving stronger retaliatory measures for a response to that White House plan. For Chinese tariffs to have a significant effect, "the U.S. should not be the main producer of that specific product, so China can easily find substitutes when trying to import that product," economists at Natixis said in a note. VIDEO2:5702:57This company in Indiana is feeling the heat from Trump's new tariffsDigital Original Beijing could also ramp up its response by adding more goods to the 128-strong list. "If China can tolerate a large price shock, stemming from the lack of other sourcing countries, or if the domestic market can to some extent be a buffer, it may also extend its measures to a wider set of sectors, such as sub-products in paper, photographic films and cereal," the Natixis note said. But "more relevant products in terms of value of U.S. exports can hardly be included if China wants to achieve its Manufacturing 2025 targets," it continued, referring to a 30-year plan to boost China's industrial base. Regardless, many fear escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington could damage the global economy. For one, Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller said, following China's first threat of tariffs on 128 products, that uncertainty about tit-for-tat trade measures could result in an "economic crisis." "It's just chaos: It will slow down development in the future if people think that this kind of thing is likely," he told CNBC. Beijing has urged Washington to resolve the matter through dialogue and negotiation. —The Associated Press contributed to this report.

a27bfe6871fee5df60f913403df70a7b

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/01/walmart-may-have-designs-on-humana-heres-what-could-happen-with-a-deal.html

Why Walmart may have designs on Humana, and what it thinks it could get from a deal

Why Walmart may have designs on Humana, and what it thinks it could get from a deal VIDEO4:0304:03Walmart eyes Humana in potential mergerSquawk Box Walmart has been making forays into consumer health care for more than a decade. Now, the nation's largest retailer may be looking to play a bigger role in the sector by acquiring Medicare insurance giant Humana — just as its rival Amazon is increasingly making its own moves in the health-care market. Walmart and Humana are having early-stage talks about strengthening their existing partnership, people familiar with the matter tell CNBC. As part of those talks, an acquisition has also been discussed, but such deal talks are very early stage and may not happen. For Walmart, a deal to buy Humana would not come cheap: The health insurer had a market valuation of $37 billion, as of Thursday's close. Aetna's failed 2015 acquisition of Humana was valued at $54 billion. The firms have held preliminary talks exploring a possible combination, including a potential merger, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Humana is potentially an attractive asset for Walmart as it would help diversify its revenue stream," Cantor Fitzgerald health insurance analyst Steven Halper wrote in a recent report, noting that the retailer and insurer already partner on a co-branded Medicare prescription drug plan. "But our industry contacts suggest that Humana has been minimizing its relationship with Walmart recently," Halper added. Walmart may very well want to reinforce its partnership now, partly in response to retail pharmacy giant CVS Health's $69 billion deal to acquire insurer Aetna, and health Cigna's $54 billion proposed merger with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts. Additionally, there is a threat of online retailer Amazon's potential entry into the pharmacy business. The healthcare organization that accurately captures and analyzes the data of the fast-growing U.S. demographic — seniors — stands to lead the industry of the future.David Friend, M.D.managing director at consulting firm BDO "I think it's interesting to contemplate what the disruption could bring because I think that it makes everybody more creative in how they think about what's possible," said Tracy Watts, senior partner at health benefits consulting firm Mercer. "That's some of the good that has come out of these various types of partnerships and merger announcements," Watts said. The key for all of these deals is whether they can provide consumers with a more affordable and effective new health care model. CVS and Aetna are proposing to use pharmacy clinics to provide coordinated, personalized medical care for members with chronic conditions at a lower cost, by leveraging prescription and medical data. Yet some analysts say a Walmart-Humana combination has the potential to be even more transformative. Humana already has its own pharmacy benefits unit, and has launched nearly 200 standalone clinics to help manage chronic conditions for its Medicare members. Walmart has pharmacies in most of its 4,700 stores and Sam Club brands, and in-store clinics in Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas. An expanded partnership or merger with Humana catering to Medicare patients could help the retailer become a major provider of primary care. "The healthcare organization that accurately captures and analyzes the data of the fast-growing U.S. demographic — seniors — stands to lead the industry of the future," said Dr. David Friend, managing director at consulting firm BDO. Walmart has also tried to promote its in-store clinics as a lower cost point of primary care for its workers. As the nation's single largest employer, with more than 1.5 million workers, acquiring an insurer could ostensibly help Walmart bring down health costs for its own workforce. Still, buying a health-care company for its own employees' benefit "would be a terrible reason, because you paid for the value of Humana upfront when you purchased them," said Craig Garthwaite, director of the Health Enterprise Management Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. A woman waits to speak with Medicare consultants for enrollment in the Medicare Part D program in New York City.Getty Images Still, large employers are pushing for new models to reign in health costs and improve care. Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and J.P. Morgan Chase have joined together to create a firm, which will try to reduce costs and improve care for their combined workforces of 1 million people. Three years ago, when four of the major health insurers rushed to partner on large-scale mergers, the deals were blocked by the Department of Justice, and ultimately rejected by the courts on anti-trust grounds. Analysts say the CVS-Aetna and Cigna-Express Scripts deals are different, because they are not mergers of rivals but rather vertical deals which would not result in fewer competitors in the medical or pharmacy benefit markets. "On the anti-trust side, I don't see huge issues… with any of these three vertical mergers," said Garthwaite, though he added that integrated medical pharmacy benefits firms could make it harder for new standalone entrants. "If the barrier to entry is that everyone really likes having their insurer and their provider integrated together that it creates a much more attractive insurance class, then we should allow that activity to happen and we should regulate it," he explained. "It shouldn't be that we say we're not going to allow a good product to emerge because we're afraid," Garthwaite added. Last month, the Department of Justice asked CVS and Aetna extended its review of the merger, asking the companies for more information. The firms still expect the deal to be approved in the second half of the year. Even if regulators sign off on the deals, there are risks to execution for both Walmart and CVS, as they try to integrate health insurance, pharmacy, and primary care services at such a large scale. But Mercer's Watts says even if the deals aren't realized, health-care firms are clearly searching for a model that will provide more value and better care for consumers. "The fact that people gravitate to how much better something could be in some of these partnerships — I think that's good. I think that in the long term that's good for health care delivery," Watts said. —CNBC's Lauren Hirsch contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/first-on-cnbc-national-trade-council-director-peter-navarro-speaks-with-cnbcs-kelly-evans-today.html

FIRST ON CNBC: National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro Speaks with CNBC’s Kelly Evans Today

FIRST ON CNBC: National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro Speaks with CNBC’s Kelly Evans Today WHEN: Today, Monday, April 2, 2018 WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell" The following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro and CNBC's Kelly Evans on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F 3-5PM) today Monday, April 2, 2018. Following are links to video from the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/02/wh-trade-director-navarro-reducing-trade-deficit-will-add-jobs-to-us-economy.html?play=1, https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/02/wh-trade-director-president-is-committed-to-leveling-playing-field-with-china.html?play=1, https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/02/wh-trade-director-navarro-president-hit-the-nail-on-the-head-about-amazon.html?play=1m, & https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/04/02/wh-trade-director-navarro-i-dont-see-any-inflation-in-the-economy.html?play=1. All references must be sourced to CNBC. KELLY EVANS: NOW THE MARKETS TODAY WERE PLUNGING. WAS IT FEARS OF A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA? IN A FIRST ON CNBC INTERVIEW WE ARE JOINED NOW BY NATIONAL TRADE COUNCIL DIRECTOR PETER NAVARRO. MR. NAVARRO, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. WHAT A DAY. PETER NAVARRO: WHAT A DAY. EVANS: WHAT'S THE PRESIDENT THINKING ABOUT THE MARKET? NAVARRO: LOOK, THE MARKET IS REACTING IN A WAY WHICH DOES NOT COMPORT WITH THE STRENGTH, THE UNBELIEVABLE STRENGTH IN PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ECONOMY. I MEAN, EVERYTHING IN THIS ECONOMY IS HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS BECAUSE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ECONOMIC POLICIES. WE'VE CUT TAXES. THAT'S STIMULATING INVESTMENT IN A WAY WHICH WILL BE NONINFLATIONARY. THAT'S GOING TO DRIVE UP PRODUCTIVITY AND WAGES. THAT'S ALL GOOD. MICK MULVANEY IN OMB IS ORCHESTRATING ONE OF THE BEST DEREGULATION EVENTS SINCE THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION. THAT'S A SUPPLY SIDE BENEFIT TO THE ECONOMY THAT PUSHES INFLATION DOWN AND GROWTH UP. WE'VE GOT AN UNLEASHING HISTORICALLY OF THE ENERGY SECTOR, WHICH IS GOING TO DRIVE DOWN COSTS TO THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS, MAKE THEM COMPETITIVE EVEN AS IT DRIVES DOWN COSTS TO CONSUMERS AND ALLOWS THEM TO SPEND MORE AND GET MORE OUT OF THEIR DOLLAR. IN TERMS OF TRADE POLICY, BY REDUCING THE TRADE DEFICIT, WHICH IS THE INTENT OF THE PRESIDENT'S FAIR AND RECIPROCAL TRADE POLICIES, THAT WILL ADD THOUSANDS OF JOBS TO THIS ECONOMY AND BRING IN FOREIGN INVESTMENT. I MEAN, WHEN WE PUT THE TARIFFS ON SOLAR AND WASHING MACHINES IN JANUARY, THAT BROUGHT IN A FLOOD OF NEW INVESTMENT. SO YOU WONDER, AND IF I PUT MY OLD HAT ON AS A FINANCIAL MARKET ANALYST, I'M LOOKING AT THAT – THIS MARKET AND THE ECONOMY AND THINKING, THE SMART MONEY WILL BUY ON THE DIPS HERE BECAUSE THE ECONOMY IS AS STRONG AS AN OX. EVANS: IS THE PRESIDENT -- HAVE YOU HEARD HIM COMMENT ON THE MARKET WEAKNESS, PETER? IS HE ASKING ABOUT IT? HAVE PEOPLE – NAVARRO: I HAVEN'T SPOKEN WITH HIM TODAY. BUT LET'S BE CLEAR, THE PRESIDENT -- THE PRESIDENT'S FOCUS, SINGULAR FOCUS IS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH, RISING WAGES AND A STRONG MANUFACTURING AND DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE. EVANS: I KNOW, BUT YOU KNOW – I KNOW HE'S WATCHING IT. HE USED TO TWEET ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME. NAVARRO: IF WE HIT ALL POINTS OF THAT COMPASS, HANG ON, IF WE HIT ALL POINTS OF THAT COMPASS, THE MARKET WILL GO UP. SO THAT'S KIND OF WHERE WE'RE AT. I THINK IT'S THE AARON RODGERS THING EVERYBODY NEEDS TO RELAX AND LOOK AT THE CHESSBOARD HERE. LOOK, THIS ECONOMY IS JUST STRONG. IT'S NOT JUST THE U.S. ECONOMY. WE HAVE THE SYNCHRONICITY GLOBALL. WHERE EUROPE AND ASIA, LATIN AMERICA, THEY'RE ALL DOING VERY WELL MOVING TOGETHER ON THIS. THAT HELPS EVERYBODY. SO, AGAIN, RELAX. EVANS: LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CHESSBOARD FOR A MOMENT BECAUSE JUST THIS AFTERNOON THERE WAS WORD THE PRESIDENT WANTS TO WRAP UP THESE NAFTA NEGOTIATIONS WITHIN TWO WEEKS. IS THAT REALISTIC? NAVARRO: WELL, THE ISSUE HERE, WHICH THE PRESIDENT UNDERSTANDS KEENLY, IS THAT THE MEXICAN ELECTIONS ARE APPROACHING. AND YOU'RE GONNA GET TO A CERTAIN POINT, JUST LIKE AS YOU DO IN THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS, WHERE IT BECOMES DIFFICULT TO DO MEANINGFUL POLICY CHANGES. SO, I THINK WHETHER IT'S TWO WEEKS OR 30 DAYS, IT'S GOT TO BE SOON. AND AMBASSADOR ROBERT LIGHTHIZER, THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE, HAS BEEN DOING A GREAT JOB GOING OF THROUGH MULTIPLE ROUNDS WITH HIS CANADIAN AND MEXICAN COUNTERPARTS. SO WE NEED TO BE HOPEFUL ABOUT THIS BUT NOT GET OUR EXPECTATIONS UP TOO HIGH. LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS. WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW IS THAT THEY'RE IN VERY GOOD HANDS WITH THE TWO BEST NEGOTIATORS IN AMERICA, THE PRESIDENT HIMSELF AND AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER. EVANS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE THE NEGOTIATIONS FINISHED? DO YOU THINK IT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO THE PRESIDENT TO FINISH THE NEGOTIATE, PERIOD, WITH THE ELECTION COMING UP OR THAT THERE'S FUNDING FOR THE WALL OR THAT MEXICO SAYS WE'LL DO MORE TO HELP KEEP CENTRAL AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS FROM COMING THROUGH TO THE U.S. NAVARRO: LOOK, IMMIGRATION POLICY IS CRITICAL TO THIS ADMINISTRATION. IT'S THE FOUR PILLARS OF THAT POLICY HAVE BEEN SPELLED OUT AND THE PRESIDENT IS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO THAT. THE NAFTA NEGOTIATIONS ARE A SEPARATE ISSUE FROM THAT. AS SAID, THERE'S LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ON ALL THREE SIDES OF THIS NEGOTIATION MEETING OVER THE LAST NUMBER OF MONTHS, TRYING TO COME WITH A GOOD SOLUTION TO A BAD AGREEMENT. I MEAN, YOU GO BACK TO 1994 WHEN BILL CLINTON SIGNED THAT, WE WERE PROMISED 200,000 NEWS JOBS AND THE MOON. AND WHAT WE BASICALLY GOT WAS HELL FOR THE AMERICAN WORKERS AND HELL FOR THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS AND THAT'S GOT TO END. EVANS: PETER, WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF CHINA'S ANNOUNCED TARIFFS THIS MORNING? SOUNDS LIKE THEY ARE GOING AFTER PORK. I THINK THEY'RE GOING TO GIVE US A 25% TARIFF. LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE NOT PUTTING SOYBEANS ON THAT LIST, BUT DO YOU THINK THEY'RE TARGETING TRUMP STATES AND TRUMP VOTERS? NAVARRO: HERE'S THE BIGGER QUESTION TO ME: YOU HAVE CHINA, WHICH EVERYBODY KNOWS AROUND THE WORLD IS STEALING OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ALSO USING INDUSTRIAL POLICIES WHICH FORCE THE TRANSFER OF OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TO CHINESE FIRMS AND ALLOW THEM TO OUTCOMPETE US. THE PRACTICAL RESULT OF THAT HAS BEEN THE LOSS OF MILLIONS OF JOBS AND 60,000 FACTORIES TO CHINESE SOIL. NOW, ALL THE PRESIDENT IS DOING IS TRYING TO DEFEND AMERICAN WORKERS AND AMERICAN BUSINESSES AGAINST THAT ECONOMIC AGGRESSION OF CHINA. WHAT'S CHINA DOING? THEY'RE BASICALLY THROWING ANOTHER PUNCH AT US. I'M NOT SURE THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO GET THE CONFIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BEHIND CHINA. EVANS: HOW SHOULD THE PRESIDENT AND THE U.S. RESPOND? PETER, IF WE READ THIS AS THE US IS SIMPLY TRYING TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD AND NOW CHINA IS COMING FORWARD TO PUT ON MORE TARIFFS, WHAT SHOULD THE U.S. RESPONSE BE? NAVARRO: I DON'T THINK THIS IS GOING TO BE AN ACTION/RESPONSE, ACTION/RESPONSE. THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS SHOULD BE ABOUT. THAT JUST LEADS TO ESCALATION SPIRALS. WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT THE PRESIDENT IS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO A COURSE OF ACTION WHICH WILL LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA AND HE HAS THE FULL SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. HE WAS ELECTED, IN MANY WAYS, ON THE BASIS OF HAVING FAIR AND RECIPROCAL TRADE, PARTICULARLY WITH CHINA. SO, THE COURSE HERE IS GOING TO BE A COURSE OF RESOLUTENESS AND FIRMNESS IN TERMS OF RIGHTING THE WRONGS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED. AND AGAIN, I WANT TO SAY, JUST – LOOK, THEY STEAL OUR STUFF. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT. THEY FORCE THE TRANSFER OF OUR STUFF. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? ARE WE SUPPOSED TO NOT DEFEND OURSELVES AND THEN WHEN WE DEFEND OURSELVES, ARE WE SUPPOSED TO TAKE ANOTHER PUNCH FROM THEM? I MEAN, I THINK THE CHINESE SIDE NEEDS TO THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT HOW THEY RESPOND BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO STAND FOR THAT KIND OF RESPONSE. EVANS: BUT I WONDER, PETER, IT'S INTERESTING, WE'VE SEEN MULTIPLE EXAMPLES IN RECENT MONTHS OF AMERICAN COMPANIES NOT NECESSARILY STANDING UP TO CHINA AND, IN FACT, KIND OF BOWING DOWN TO THEIR WISHES. APPLE, FOR EXAMPLE, MOVING SOME OF ITS CLOUD OPERATIONS INTO CHINA. YOU KNOW, WHETHER IT WAS MERCEDES OR ANYBODY WHO'S – MARRIOTT WHEN THEY PUT TAIWAN AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY IN A DROP-DOWN LIST AND THEN HAD TO BACK OFF AND SAY, "HEY, WE'RE SORRY." DO YOU SEE CORPORATE AMERICA AS A PARTNER IN THIS EFFORT OR ARE THEY GETTING IN THE WAY? NAVARRO: THE PROBLEM IS – THE PROBLEM HISTORICALLY IS THAT PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS HAVE NOT HAD THE BACK OF CORPORATE AMERICA. THEY BASICALLY LET CORPORATE AMERICA GO TO CHINA, GET RIPPED OFF AND THAT HAS REBOUNDED BACK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS HERE. THIS PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, HAS THE BACK OF AMERICAN BUSINESSES AND WORKERS AND THAT'S GOING TO BE THE DIFFERENCE. SO, I THINK THE DYNAMIC GOING FORWARD IS GOING TO BE A LOT HEALTHIER AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE WHAT WE'RE GOING TO SEE BUT THE STATUS QUO CANNOT HOLD HERE. WE CAN NO LONGER HAVE COMPANIES, WHETHER IT BE APPLE OR ANYBODY ELSE, GO TO CHINA, SURRENDER THEIR TECHNOLOGY AND THEN HAVE CHINESE COMPETITORS COME BACK AND BEAT US IN THE MARKETPLACE UNFAIR AND NONRECIPROCALLY. THAT'S AN UNSUSTAINABLE EQUILIBRIUM FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. THAT'S WHY I SAY, I MEAN, IF YOU THINK ABOUT THE TRADE ISSUE, ULTIMATELY, I THINK IT'S REALLY A GOOD THING FOR THE MARKET THAT WE ARE DOING THESE KINDS OF TRADE ACTIONS BECAUSE WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO WITH THIS SITUATION IS TRY TO GET TO A PLACE WHERE WE HAVE FAIR AND RECIPROCAL TRADE, BALANCED TRADE ACROSS NATIONS AND EVERYBODY TRADES FREELY IN A WAY THAT TEXTBOOKS USED TO WRITE ABOUT BUT WHICH WE NEVER GET IN REALITY. I MEAN, THAT'S -- AND I TEACH THAT STUFF. I MEAN, LET'S REMEMBER IF ANYBODY KNOWS WHAT GOES WRONG WITH THOSE MODELS, IT'S THE GUY WHO KNOWS HOW TO TEACH THEM. EVANS: LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT AMAZON FOR JUST A SECOND BECAUSE WE SOMETIMES HEAR PEOPLE SAY THE U.S. SHOULD DEFEND ITS CORPORATE CHAMPIONS, IN MUCH THE WAY CHINA, FRANKLY, IS DOING. IT SHOULD SAY, "YOU KNOW WHAT, AMAZON AND FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE, THESE ARE COMPANIES THAT HAVE MADE INCREDIBLE INROADS AROUND THE WORLD, THEY NEED TO BE SUPPORTED," ET CETERA. YOU KNOW WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS THE PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO ATTACK AMAZON. THERE'S A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT WHETHER IT WILL BE FOUND GUILTY OF BEING A MONOPOLY, OF TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE POST OFFICE, OF NEEDING TO BE BROKEN UP AND HAVING TOO MUCH MARKET POWER. WHAT'S YOUR ASSESSMENT? IS AMAZON TOO BIG OR NOT? NAVARRO: WELL, I'LL LET THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE DEAL WITH THE ANTI-TRUST ISSUES AND STAY WAY OUT OF THEIR LANE, BUT I WOULD SAY TO YOU THAT PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP HAS HIT IT RIGHT ON THE NAIL – THE NAIL ON THE HEAD ABOUT AMAZON ON A COUPLE OF POINTS. I MEAN, FOR EXAMPLE, AMAZON DOESN'T PAY THE KINDS OF SALES TAX IT COULD. IT HAS NOW GOTTEN TO THE POINT WHERE IT COLLECTS SALES TAXES FROM ALL 45 OF THE STATES THAT LEVY THEM. BUT IN A LOT OF -- SOME OF THOSE STATES IT DOESN'T COLLECT THE LOCAL TAXES. AND THAT GIVES AN ADVANTAGE TO AMAZON OVER THE LOCAL RETAILERS. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, THERE'S OVER 800,000 INDEPENDENT VENDORS THAT ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT HALF OF THE $136 BILLION IN ANNUAL REVENUES TO AMAZON. AND AMAZON DOESN'T EVEN TRY TO COLLECT MUCH OF THOSE SALES TAXES AT ALL, AND THAT'S A HUGE DISADVANTAGE TO THE BRICKS AND MORTAR RETAIL STORES. AND DON'T FORGET, AMAZON EARNED A TON OF MONEY LAST YEAR AND THEY DIDN'T PAY ANYTHING IN TAXES. AND FINALLY, ON THE POST OFFICE ISSUE, THERE ARE SOME STUDIES THAT SHOW IF AMAZON PAID THE FULL FREIGHT ON EVERY PARCEL IT SHIPPED WITHOUT PAYING ITS SALES TAX PROPERLY, THAT WOULD BE ABOUT $1.50 PER PARCEL. SO, THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD RIGHT ABOUT AMAZON. AND AGAIN, THIS IS ABOUT FAIRNESS, RECIPROCITY, AND THAT'S WHAT THE PRESIDENT'S ALL ABOUT. EVANS: SO, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE MORE FOCUSED ON SAYING, AND LOOK, IF THE POST OFFICE RAISES PRICES FOR AMAZON, AMAZON MIGHT SAY THAT'S GREAT, WE'RE GONNA BUILD OUT OUR OWN NETWORK, WE DON'T NEED YOU. AND THAT COULD HURT THE U.S. TAX PAYER. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE MORE FOCUSED ON THE POST OFFICE ISSUE, AND MAKING IT MERCHANTS PAY SALES TAXES, A LOT OF WHICH ARE SMALL BUSINESSES, RATHER THAN BREAKING IT UP. NAVARRO: WELL, THE BIG ISSUE, I THINK, THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS HIT UPON IS THIS FAILURE TO PAY SALES TAX. I MEAN, LOOK, I LIVED IN CALIFORNIA FOR YEARS BEFORE I GOT TO WASHINGTON, D.C. AND THE SWAMP, AND I REMEMBER, YOU KNOW, ORDERING STUFF ON AMAZON, SITTING IN A COUNTY WHERE THE SALES TAX WAS UP TO ALMOST 10%, THINKING, "WOW, I CAN BUY ON AMAZON 10% OFF." IT'S LIKE THAT HAS SORT OF GONE AWAY NOW AS AMAZON HAS PRETENDED TO COLLECT ITS SALES TAX BUT REMEMBER, HALF OF – ALL THOSE INDEPENDENT VENDORS, IT'S NOT REALLY -- AMAZON IS NOT DOING ITS JOB. SO WE NEED TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THAT. THESE BRICKS AND MORTAR STORES ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE FABRIC OF THIS COUNTRY, AND THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO COMPETE UNFAIRLY AGAINST THE BIG BEHEMOTH OF AMAZON. EVANS: WELL LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT THE ECONOMY BEFORE WE LET YOU GO. AND SIMPLY AS YOU MENTIONED, THERE'S A LOT OF STRENGTH OUT THERE. BUT WE'RE SITTING HERE LOOKING AT NOT ONLY LOOKING AT THE SELLOFF IN STOCKS TODAY, PETER, BUT INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THE YIELD ON THE BENCHMARK, THE TEN-YEAR, YOU KNOW, TREASURY NOTE, IT'S FALLING. IT WAS ALMOST 3% AND NOW CLOSER TO 2.7%. FRANKLY, NO ONE AROUND HERE CAN REALLY EXPLAIN IT. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING ON? NAVARRO: YEAH, I WAS A LITTLE PUZZLED WHEN THE FED ANNOUNCED THREE RATE HIKES BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR BECAUSE WHEN I LOOK AT THE CHESS BOARD, I DON'T SEE ANY INFLATION TO SPEAK OF IN THE ECONOMY. AND A LOT OF REASON IS THINGS LIKE THE PRESIDENT'S TAX CUTS, WHICH ARE GOING TO STIMULATE A LOT OF INVESTMENT, PRODUCTIVITY, GROWTH, DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON WAGES, AND REMEMBER, THE SUPPLY SIDE EFFECTS OF DEREGULATION. I THINK IF YOU SEE THE YIELDS GO DOWN, THAT'S -- THAT HAS AS MUCH TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT THERE'S MODERATING INFLATIONARY PRESSURES DUE TO PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND SUPPLY SIDE FACTORS, NOT SLOWER GROWTH. EVANS: YEAH – BUT DOES THAT MEAN, PETER – WHICH IS GREAT. YOU'RE RIGHT AND THAT'S THE IDEAL OUTCOME. BUT FINAL QUESTION HERE, DOES THAT MEAN THAT THERE'S NO REASON TO KEEP HIKING INTEREST RATES? NAVARRO: WELL, THAT'S THE FEDERAL RESERVE JOB. ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS I WAS SURPRISED WHEN I SAW THAT ANNOUNCEMENT BASED ON MY READ OF THE INFLATION CHESSBOARD. I REMEMBER IN THE LATE 90s WHEN ALAN GREENSPAN WAS HURRYING TO RAISE INTEREST RATES AND WE HAD TREMENDOUS PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND LOW INFLATIONARY PRESSURES THEN. SO, AGAIN, YOU KNOW, BOTTOM LINE HERE IS THAT THE MARKET – EVANS: IS IT A MISTAKE? WAS IT A MISTAKE THEN? IS IT A MISTAKE NOW? NAVARRO: I WON'T SAY THAT. I'M NOT IN -- THAT'S THE FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMANS LANE. AND WE'VE GOT A GOOD – KEVIN HASSETT, THE COUNCIL ECONOMIC ADVISORS. EVANS: I THINK YOU'RE HINTING THAT IT'S -- HINTING AT A MISTAKE. NAVARRO: ALL I'M SAYING IS TO THE INVESTORS WATCHING CNBC HERE IS THAT THE ECONOMY LOOKS VERY, VERY STRONG ON ALL PARAMETERS AND DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE SIGNIFICANT INFRLATIONARY PRESSURES THAT WOULD DETRACT FROM THAT STRENGTH, SO IT'S ALL GOOD. EVANS: ALRIGHT PETER NAVARRO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. NAVARRO: MY PLEASURE. For more information contact: Jennifer Dauble CNBC t: 201.735.4721 m: 201.615.2787 e: [email protected] Emma Martin CNBC t: 201.735.4713 m: 551.275.6221 e: [email protected] About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 409 million homes worldwide, including more than 91 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/stocks-on-track-for-worst-start-to-april-since-the-great-depression.html

Stocks post worst start to April since the Great Depression

Stocks post worst start to April since the Great Depression Crowds gather outside the New York Stock Exchange during the Wall Street crash in 1929.Universal History Archive | Getty Images The stock market's start to the second quarter was its worst since the Great Depression. With closing down more than 2.2 percent Monday, the broad market index posted its worst start to April since 1929, according to S&P Global. The index also closed below its 200-day moving average – a key technical level – for the first time since June 2016, 442 straight days. Bespoke Investments Co-Founder Justin Walters, who also noted the historic nature of the close, said in an email that equity fears aren't likely to abate until earnings arrive. "Based on recent market action, the bears clearly have control right now," Walters wrote. "The path of least resistance is lower until something comes along to reverse that trend." The S&P 500 fell back into correction territory Monday as technology led the market lower, with names like Amazon and Netflix both down more than 5 percent. Intel fell about 8.5 percent after Bloomberg reported that Apple will no longer use its semiconductor chips as early as 2020. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.9 percent – or 458 points – as China's retaliatory tariffs against U.S. agricultural goods stoked fears of a global trade war. Dow stocks with large international markets (and thus exposed to global tariffs) such as Boeing and 3M led decliners. VIDEO1:3401:34News Update – Market CloseNews Briefing

7c8e49709ec2cbfe7e4a990b29322f9e

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/trump-wants-a-nafta-trade-deal-with-canada-and-mexico-within-two-weeks.html

Trump reportedly wants a NAFTA overhaul deal within two weeks

Trump reportedly wants a NAFTA overhaul deal within two weeks VIDEO0:3900:39Peso rises on Trump's push for NAFTA deal within 2 weeksClosing Bell President Donald Trump is pushing to announce a tentative new North American Free Trade Agreement within two weeks, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing three people familiar with the talks. The White House wants leaders from Canada and Mexico, the other two members of the trade deal, to announce the framework of an agreement at the Summit of the Americas in Peru, which starts April 13, Bloomberg reported. Negotiators would have to finish final details of the new plan later. The Trump administration would like to see changes, particularly in the automotive industry, but two weeks "is probably too optimistic," a White House official who declined to be named told CNBC. The official called that deadline "a marker that we'd like to see something done by." Representatives from the three countries have negotiated the workings of a revised agreement for months. Trump has repeatedly criticized the deal, arguing it hurts American workers by pushing jobs out of the country. He has threatened to pull the U.S. from the agreement if the three nations cannot improve it. VIDEO4:0104:01Trump threatens to end DACA and stop NAFTASquawk Box During a string of tweets about immigration policy Monday morning, Trump took another swipe at the trade deal, saying Mexico "is making a fortune" from it. Trump tweet The report comes amid a string of trade actions from the Trump administration. Last week, the White House said the U.S. reached a tentative major trade deal with South Korea, which Trump subsequently threatened to delay. This week, he is also expected to announce a list of Chinese imports the U.S. plans to target with tariffs. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Bloomberg report. Read the full Bloomberg story here. — CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this report VIDEO2:5602:56WH Trade Director: NAFTA negotiations separate from immigration policyClosing Bell

2fcb791542cd0af356d2350c97ca9b24

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/bitcoin-had-its-worst-start-to-the-year-ever-but-a-rebound-could-come.html

VIDEO1:1001:10Bitcoin is likely to rebound in the second quarter, says crypto expertFutures Now After bitcoin closed out the worst first quarter in its history, one cryptocurrency expert sees it rebounding from recent losses and possibly bouncing back to early year highs. "Q2 is always good for Bitcoin," Brian Kelly, founder of Brian Kelly Capital and a "Fast Money" contributor, told CNBC's "Futures Now" on Tuesday. "There will be a significant rally here if seasonality brings tail winds." The cryptocurrency usually performs well in the second quarter, according to historical data. Seasonal tail winds include an upcoming annual development cycle and a number of big conferences, such as Consensus in May, that usually inspire positive sentiment, said Kelly. Seasonality and a shift in sentiment should power bitcoin gains in the second quarter, said Kelly. The reasons for a bounce are twofold: first, the tax-selling season that pressured prices at the end of the first quarter is now winding down, and second, regulatory fears that also squeezed cryptocurrencies since the beginning of the year are beginning to fade. "We've gone to the extreme of the regulation which is South Korea thinking they're going to ban it, the U.S. talking about everything being a security, to walking it back," Kelly said. "You're seeing a shift again in that type of thing. I think most of that's behind us." Regulatory threats spiked in the first quarter. Countries including South Korea and China expressed a willingness to tighten regulations on cryptocurrencies, though fears over their severity have eased since January. A potential deal involving Japanese brokerage firm Monex and crypto exchange Coincheck is an example of this shift in sentiment, said Kelly. Monex could reportedly put in a majority stake bid for Coincheck as soon as this week, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. Even if countries were to swing the regulatory ax, it could turn out to benefit the crypto markets, according to Kelly. "I don't think regulation is a bad thing," he said. "It doesn't kill any other market as long as we do it correctly and we don't stifle innovation. Regulation might actually increase adoption." This second quarter has already started on better footing. Bitcoin has increased 8.1 percent since its March close and added about $400 on Tuesday alone. The cryptocurrency lost around 50 percent of its value over the first three months of this year, worse than the 39 percent decline seen in the first quarter of 2014. VIDEO5:3505:35Why bitcoin could be about to make a major comebackFutures Now Disclaimer

e1f79fbde23a9d1fbc8dd42e8b994d2f

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/chinese-ambassador-to-us-we-will-take-measures-to-fight-back-very-soon.html?dm_i=42XP,DNPN,2M7M5K,1FR77,1

China’s ambassador to the US explains why the country is striking back

China’s ambassador to the US explains why the country is striking back VIDEO6:4606:46China's US ambassador on the latest tariffs from the White HouseSquawk Box Asia China's ambassador to the United States explained why his country was striking back against U.S. trade measures, as Beijing slapped a new tariff hike on $50 billion worth of American goods. "We certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody, but people have to understand who started all this," said ambassador Cui Tiankai. Speaking ahead of the official announcement, he said China would resort to the World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism. "We'll, in accordance with Chinese laws, take measures to fight back," he said. Cui's comments come after President Donald Trump's White House unveiled a list Tuesday of Chinese imports the administration proposes to target as part of a crackdown on what the president deems unfair trade practices. Sectors covered by the White House's proposed tariffs include products used for robotics, information technology, communication technology and aerospace. On Wednesday morning, Beijing then hit back with additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products. The new charges are targeted at goods including soybeans, cars and whisky. The effective start date for the tariffs is set to be revealed at a later time. Officials in Washington and other countries accuse China of unfair trade practices, including a failure to protect intellectual property. An increasingly hot-button issue is Beijing's practice of requiring foreign companies to hand over technological know-how in exchange for access to its domestic market. Asked by CNBC about those allegations, the ambassador claimed the United States has failed to cite specific instances of when China has forced U.S. firms to hand over technology in order to do business in China. China has been broadly accused by companies from outside the country of forcing them to undertake "technology transfers" in order to operate there. Beijing also forces many foreign companies into joint ventures with Chinese partners before allowing them access to its market. Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai speaks at a reception celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) at the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C., the United States, on July 27, 2017.Ting Shen | Xinhua | Getty Images A White House official who declined to be named told CNBC that the government is discussing both preparations for potential Chinese retaliation and potential further action from the U.S. The White House feels that China has to be held to account, the official said, emphasizing that Tuesday's actions were "targeted with a clear message." The ambassador, however, questioned the efficacy of the U.S. trade approach. We have done the utmost to avoid this kind of situation, but if the other side makes the wrong choice, then we have no alternative but to fight back.Cui TiankaiChina ambassador to the United States "Such protectionism will not protect anybody. It will not protect American workers or American farmers. It will not protect American businesses or American consumers," Cui said. "It will hurt everybody including the U.S. economy itself." The Chinese diplomat said the two economies "are so closely interconnected" that "any unilateral measures will hurt the other side, but the end result would be that it would hurt itself." "We have done the utmost to avoid this kind of situation, but if the other side makes the wrong choice, then we have no alternative but to fight back," he added. But even beyond the economic effects to the two countries, Cui warned of a broader fallout from the trade disputes. "In today's global economy, almost everything is interconnected. So when people take some wrong measures, when people take some protectionist measure, it will hurt people's confidence in the overall prospects for the economy. It may hurt finance, it may hurt trade, it may hurt economic performance, it may hurt consumer confidence — everything," he said. Still, the ambassador left the door open for a deescalation between the world's two largest economies: "We are always ready to continue and intensify our dialogue and communication with the U.S. side on any possible economic or trade issues, but we need reciprocity. Our goodwill has to be met by the same degree of goodwill." —CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/pfizer-and-pg-are-in-talks-on-sale-of-consumer-business-though-far-apart-in-price-sources.html?dlbk

Pfizer in talks with P&G on sale of its consumer business, though they are far apart on price: Sources

Pfizer in talks with P&G on sale of its consumer business, though they are far apart on price: Sources VIDEO2:1002:10Pfizer in talks with P&G on consumer business saleSquawk on the Street Pfizer is in talks with Procter & Gamble on a sale of its consumer business, sources tell CNBC. The business includes Chapstick lip balm, Advil pain reliever and Centrum vitamins and has been for sale for months. Drug giants GlaxoSmithKline and Reckitt Benckiser Group as well as Johnson & Johnson have already looked at the business. P&G remains the one potential bidder, though the two sides are far apart on price, with P&G looking to pay $15 billion, while Pfizer was seeking $20 billion or more, the sources said. Pfizer is considering other options, including a joint venture with other drug makers. The pharmaceutical giant hopes to reach a decision by the end of the month. It announced a review of the business last year.

4ad81fcc68182abfc058661bb3e56d0d

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/shares-of-cryptocurrency-play-longfin-drop-more-than-20-percent-after-disclosing-sec-investigation.html

Shares of cryptocurrency play Longfin drop 30% after disclosing SEC investigation

Shares of cryptocurrency play Longfin drop 30% after disclosing SEC investigation A flag waves in front of the headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.Dennis Brack | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating trading activity in shares of Longfin, a tiny stock that surged astronomically in December after the firm announced a cryptocurrency-related acquisition, the company disclosed late Monday. Longfin shares, which go by the ticker symbol LFIN, plunged 30.89 percent to $9.89 a share. The stock is now down 82.43 percent for the year so far. The Division of Enforcement of the SEC informed Longfin on March 5 that the agency is investigating trading in the company's shares and requested documents related to its IPO and acquisition of Ziddu.com, according to a required 10-K filing. "We are in the process of responding to this document request and will cooperate with the SEC in connection with its investigation," Longfin said in the filing. Many law firms have also announced investigations into the trading activity, the document said. The tiny, little known stock had soared more than 1,000 percent in two days after the company announced in mid-December it was buying Ziddu, which says it's a microlending company using the same blockchain technology as bitcoin. Longfin agreed to buy the microlending company from a private Singapore firm called Meridian Enterprises, which a filing showed is 95-percent-owned by Longfin CEO Venkat Meenavalli. On Dec. 18, the day Longfin hit its record high of $142.82, Meenavalli said on CNBC's "Fast Money" that the several billion-dollar "market cap is not justified" and "is not a reality." The stock dropped sharply last week after a negative tweet from noted short-seller Andrew Left's Citron Research, and news that FTSE Russell was removing Longfin from its benchmark Russell indexes due to insufficient free-floating shares. "We are reapplying" for inclusion in the indexes, Meenavalli told CNBC in a phone interview last Tuesday. He said the stock's free float has increased above the minimum 5 percent as of March 11 due to the expiration of a lockup period on a consultant's stock holdings. As for Citron's negative view, "we are going to take legal action after we file the 10-K," Meenavalli said last week. "The company is a profitable company, making revenue." In Monday's 10-K filing, Longfin reported a net loss of nearly $26.4 million from its inception on Feb. 1, 2017, to Dec. 31, 2017. When contacted by CNBC, Longfin would not elaborate on the SEC investigation and said that free float as of March 31 was 7.11 percent. The SEC declined to comment. VIDEO11:3011:30Small-cap Longfin soars 2,000% after acquiring blockchain companyFast Money

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/trump-congress-dont-expect-big-legislation-in-2018.html

Trump keeps calling for major legislation, but Congress isn't listening – especially with midterms coming

Trump keeps calling for major legislation, but Congress isn't listening – especially with midterms coming President Donald Trump addresses a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.Kevin Lamarque | Reuters President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric on a slew of policy goals this week — but with the 2018 midterms fast approaching, his legislative hopes for this year are receding. In campaign-style rallies and on social media, Trump has called on Congress to pass a largely state-funded infrastructure spending bill, sweeping immigration reforms and a "phase two" of his tax overhaul law, among other proposals. The president's exhortations are falling on deaf ears in Congress, however. For one, lawmakers have been away on recess as Trump delivered his most recent calls to action. While they're out of town, many members of Congress are likely engrossed in preparations for their midterm election campaigns. Historically, that means controversial bills get pushed to the side, according to Mark Peterson, a professor of public policy at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs. And in such a polarizing climate, nearly every major bill is destined to become mired in controversy. VIDEO0:4400:44Pentagon 'has no legal authority' to fund Trump's wall, senators tell Defense Secretary MattisNews Videos In this political environment, "it's very hard to orchestrate the kind of bipartisan coalitions that one could imagine forming even in an election year," Peterson told CNBC. To force bills through the Senate, Trump called on Republicans to end the 60-vote cloture rule in order to bypass Democrats with simple 51-vote majorities. But the Republican conference, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been steadfast in opposing the change, which could end up backfiring on Republicans when they eventually become the minority party in the Senate. Trump has changed his political focus frequently, making it difficult for congressional Republicans to buckle down on any single goal. For instance, the White House has maintained that Trump will next try to usher in a national infrastructure overhaul following the success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in December. That tax overhaul is the GOP's signature legislative achievement of Trump's time in office so far. VIDEO4:2404:24We are preparing for the military to secure our border: TrumpPower Lunch But the president spent most of the weekend the past couple days tweeting about illegal immigration and his desire for a wall on America's southern border with Mexico. Congress may have little stomach for tackling that long-term policy goal after recent, divisive policy failures. TRUMP TWEET "There's nothing that is actively being negotiated, or there's nothing that has a chance of passage" on immigration, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which Trump tried to end to force bipartisan congressional action to codify it, was all but abandoned after a bevy of immigration reform packages failed in the Senate in February. The administration railed against the most moderate plan. A Trump-backed plan, which paired protections for young immigrants with new restrictions on legal immigration, secured fewer votes than any of the alternatives. Meanwhile, courts have stalled Trump's attempt to end DACA, so the program remains in place. While the nation debates reforming gun regulations in the wake of the February shooting massacre in Parkland, Florida, Trump confused lawmakers as well as his base when he suggested in a televised meeting that authorities should "take the guns first, go through due process second" when responding to calls about potentially dangerous people. His administration recently moved forward with an executive order effectively banning so-called bump stocks — modifications that allow rifles to fire continuously — in response to the October 2017 massacre in Las Vegas. But the White House's broader gun-reform proposals have been met with much less bipartisan enthusiasm. Congress has taken some action on guns. A provision to strengthen background checks when purchasing guns did make it into the latest omnibus spending bill, which Trump begrudgingly signed last month. But Trump threatened to veto the $1.3 trillion bill before signing it and soon after said he "will never sign a bill like this again." His main objection to the bill related to what he called insufficient border security funding. UCLA's Peterson said the spending bill may be the last major piece of legislation enacted in 2018, although "it depends on how one defines major." Deficit spending has become a political punching bag in Washington. But Trump's signature legislative achievement in 2017, his tax-cut bill, is projected to expand the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. President Donald Trump (L) shares a moment with Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) (4th L) as Vice President Mike Pence (2nd L), Rep. Don Young (R-AK) (3rd L) and Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) (R) look on during an event to celebrate Congress passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with Republican members of the House and Senate on the South Lawn of the White House December 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.Getty Images The awkward political strategy of attacking the deficit while pushing for policies that are likely to increase it could sink the fabled "phase two" of tax reform Trump has recently teased. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has also discussed a possible second round of tax cuts. The next wave of tax reform could include making individual tax cuts permanent or indexing capital gains for inflation, CNBC reported in March. Pursuing more tax cuts in 2018 could put pressure on Democrats, who lamented that only corporate cuts were made permanent in the December law. But it would also heighten concerns about deficit spending, potentially giving Democrats a new avenue to attack vulnerable Republicans in the midterms. Republicans could use the promise of additional tax cuts as largely a political play ahead of the midterms. The administration has hinted at other measures that could be put forward in 2018. In January, for example, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue released the USDA's legislative goals for a bill to replace the existing farm law, which is set to expire on Sept. 30. The goals include strengthening a safety net for farmers in times of economic slowdown and offering new forms of crop insurance. Both ideas are popular among farmers, who generally seek to mitigate the economic risks inherent to their industry. But House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, has waded into politically dangerous waters by discussing reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The welfare program has created legislative bottlenecks for past farm bills, and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have already signaled their opposition to SNAP reforms this time around. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX).Getty Images Conaway "certainly expects some pushback" on SNAP, said Rachel Millard, the House Agriculture Committee's communications director. She also noted that the committee majority is "not obtuse to the fact that there are elections that are going to happen" in November. "But at the end of the day, there are a lot of good things to take home here," Millard said. Some experts aren't convinced that the measure will move, not with midterms on the way. The upcoming elections exacerbate the whole process, said Jonathan Coppess, the University of Illinois' agriculture policy program director and former aide to the Senate Agriculture Committee. "They make it much more difficult" by truncating a process that is designed to be slow and deliberative, Coppess said. Midterms also inevitably "heighten the partisan atmosphere," he said. While the Senate version of the farm bill is currently in the drafting process, Axios reported Monday, citing sources, that the bill could be endangered. The most substantive change Trump has brought to Washington so far may not involve legislation at all. The Trump administration appointed nearly two dozen judges to lifetime posts in 2017, including a Supreme Court justice and 12 U.S. Court of Appeals judges. More nominations to district and circuit seats are coming down the pike in 2018. Even if the Trump administration's short-term legislative prospects look thin, it could be laying the foundation for long-term Republican political dominance through the judicial branch. — CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/controversial-crypto-stock-longfin-surges-then-halted-after-its-announced-ceo-to-appear-on-cnbcs-fast-money.html

CEO of controversial crypto company Longfin blames short sellers for stock plunge

CEO of controversial crypto company Longfin blames short sellers for stock plunge VIDEO11:3411:34Longfin CEO speaks out on SEC investigationFast Money The head of a small company that has attracted controversy over its ties to cryptocurrency said that he is not going to sell his shares while he is fighting $1.4 billion in bets against the stock. "I'm not going to sell [for] the next three years," Longfin CEO and Chairman Venkat Meenavalli said Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "I'm standing on [sic] my statement." Shares of Longfin (Ticker: LFIN) briefly fell more than 5 percent in extended trading Wednesday following Meenavalli's comments. The stock has fallen more than 90 percent from an all-time high hit in December, and volatility has picked up in the last two weeks following several negative headlines, including a tweet from noted short-seller Andrew Left's Citron Research. "I don't deserve a $5 billion valuation, a $10 billion valuation. Let the Street decide its valuation," the CEO also said. Longfin's market value was $865 million as of the close Wednesday. Short sellers look to profit on a decline in prices by borrowing and then selling shares in expectation they can buy them back cheaper later. About 14.6 percent of Longfin's shares available for trading are sold short, according to FactSet. "I'm going to write to SEC and FINRA because of the shorts," Meenavalli said, referring to two major U.S. financial regulators. "We got information, we have a special investigation. ... According to us there are 28 billion shares shorted of $1.4 billion dollars bet against me," he said. "The guys are going to destroy us. I'm fighting here." The company's investor relations representative later said Meenavalli meant to say "28 million." Ahead of the show, Longfin shares had closed nearly 17.4 percent higher at $11.61 a share. Trading was briefly halted for a volatility circuit-breaker in the afternoon following CNBC's announcement that Meenavalli was set to appear on "Fast Money" later that day. The stock is still down more than 30 percent this week. The company disclosed late Monday in an 10-K filing the SEC's Division of Enforcement is investigating trading in the Longfin's shares and has requested documents related to its IPO and acquisition of Ziddu.com, which says it's a microlending company using the same blockchain technology as bitcoin. The tiny, little known stock first caught Wall Street's attention in mid-December. Shares soared well over 1,000 percent in two days after Longfin announced it was buying Ziddu. A filing showed the microlending company was purchased from a private Singapore firm called Meridian Enterprises that is 95 percent owned by Longfin CEO Meenavalli. Shares at one point in December had a market value north of $3 billion. That "market cap is not justified" and "is not a reality," Meenavalli said the day it hit that valuation in December on CNBC's "Fast Money." Last week, shares dropped 75.7 percent after the Citron tweet and news that FTSE Russell was removing Longfin from its benchmark Russell indexes due to insufficient free-floating shares. Meenavalli told CNBC in a phone interview last week the company is "reapplying" for inclusion in the indexes and it would "take legal action" against Citron after filing its 10-K.

1d08bc7c707dbcb34087ac9b4ae277dc

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/gold-markets-fears-of-all-out-us-china-trade-war-ease.html

Gold prices fall as US-China trade tensions ease

Gold prices fall as US-China trade tensions ease AP Gold prices fell on Thursday after the United States and China signalled willingness to resolve a trade dispute through negotiations, reducing demand for bullion as a perceived safe place to park money. Spot gold was down 0.53 percent at $1,325.85 an ounce at 3:06 p.m. EST. U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled 0.9 percent lower at $1,328.50 an ounce. Investors moved back into equities, sending global stock markets higher, while the dollar strengthened, making gold more expensive for users of other currencies. "It's been a double whammy (for gold)," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at FOREX.com. "Stock markets have stabilized, at least for the time being, and that has reduced demand for safe havens." The slide in gold prices had also created a negative technical picture that encouraged further selling, Razaqzada said. Gold had surged to $1,348.06 on Wednesday after Beijing threatened to retaliate against proposed U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports worth around $50 billion with its own duties on U.S. products including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals. Both Washington and Beijing later said they were willing to negotiate a resolution. President Donald Trump's top economic adviser called the announcements by the two countries mere opening proposals and suggested the U.S. tariffs may never go into effect, while China's ambassador in Washington said Beijing's preference was to resolve the dispute through talks. Technical support for gold was now around $1,320 and the 100-day moving average at $1,311, said MKS trader Sam Laughlin. Gold prices reached an 18-month high of $1,366,07 in January but have since then been locked in a trading range between around $1,310 and $1,360. Investors were looking to U.S. jobs data on Friday to give new direction to prices. Strong employment and wage growth would encourage the Federal Reserve to raise U.S. interest rates more aggressively and push gold prices lower. Gold is sensitive to rising rates because they push up bond yields, reducing the attractiveness of non-yielding bullion, and tend to boost the dollar, in which gold is priced. Trading volumes were likely to be lower however with markets in mainland China, the world's largest gold consumer, closed on Thursday and Friday for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday. In other precious metals, spot silver was up 0.73 percent at $16.39 an ounce. Platinum was 0.44 percent lower at $907.99 an ounce after touching $901.50, its lowest since December. Palladium sunk 2.44 percent at $901.97 an ounce after hitting a new six-month low at $907.22.

a7b959022a5875a5b91159906cc4da87

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/the-energy-industry-will-likely-emerge-from-any-trade-war-with-china-unscathed.html

The energy industry will likely emerge from any trade war with China unscathed

The energy industry will likely emerge from any trade war with China unscathed The tanker Maria sails out of the Port of Corpus Christi after discharging crude oil at the Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.Eddie Seal | Bloomberg | Getty Images As the U.S. and China do battle over trade, there's one sector that has been largely left out of the tit-for-tat for now — and that's energy. The U.S. has plenty, and China wants more. China laid claim to 20 percent of U.S. oil exports last year and importantly, as the fastest growing importer of liquified natural gas in the world, it is a ready importer of U.S. LNG. In fact, if not for the boom in U.S. energy production over the last decade, the U.S. trade deficit would have been larger by as much as $400 billion or more. "The best way in my view to cut the trade deficit is to increase exports...whether it's LNG or cars or aluminum or whatever," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in a recent interview with CNBC.com. On a pure dollar basis, the deficit in petroleum and related products has shrunk to $46 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, just about a tenth of the peak deficit of $451.9 billion in the third quarter of 2008, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. While the figures don't break out the fluctuation in oil prices, they do underscore the fact that the U.S. oil and gas sectors have boomed — using new technologies to find and drill oil and gas at a pace that should someday make the U.S. not only the largest gas producer but the largest oil producer in the world. "If you look at the trade deficit, it's basically unchanged, but if you look underneath, there's been this dramatic decline in the petroleum trade deficit," said Zandi. "If the trade deficit in petroleum and products remained unchanged at their 2007 level, GDP would be 1.1 percent lower today." Service sector growth has also been substantial, but no goods producers compare to the gains made by energy in holding down the trade deficit. "It may be the single most important event of the last decade, not only on economic levels, but political levels," said Zandi of U.S. energy sector growth. "It's such an amazing story of the success of the market and technology. Here we thought 10 years ago we were going to be beholden to the rest of the world for oil and all the risks that poses and now we're in a very different place." The U.S. oil sector last week produced a record 10.5 million barrels a day, and exported an all-time high of 2.2 million barrels a day of crude, according to the Energy Information Administration. In 2008, monthly government data shows the U.S. produced at most 5.2 million barrels a day and would have exported very little under laws that then barred most exports. The U.S. has been exporting refined products — gasoline, jet fuel and diesel — for years. With changes in laws governing crude, the U.S. has been exporting more and more. The U.S. EIA predicts the U.S. will become a net energy exporter by 2022. "With the advent of shale, there's a whole new ball game going on in global energy. China last year imported 8.4 million barrels a day of oil. We were down to 7.8 and we're heading south from there. So that's a good thing," said Secretary Ross. "Our oil trade has been a huge source of our trade deficit. Not that you could blame anyone for it, but think about it. … If you multiply 8.4 million by $60, we had more than $480 million a day going out the door. Multiply that by 365, and you get a pretty big number," Ross said. Asked why energy isn't included in tariffs, Ross said energy is a topic that is discussed a great deal on the trade front. "We're discussing it all the time. You saw the number of LNG deals we got with China from that trade mission I led back in November. It's huge and immense," he said. China imported 26.1 million tons of LNG in 2016. The first ever long term contract between a Chinese state owned company and a U.S. LNG producer was signed by China National Petroleum Corporation this winter for 1.2 million tons per year from Cheniere's Sabine Pass export terminal. The Chinese tariffs did not include oil, natural gas, or gasoline or diesel fuel, but they did include petrochemicals and propane, which could cause pain for those producers if the tariffs are imposed. The U.S. exported 1.4 million barrels a day of propane and propylene last week. As for U.S. oil, China is also a ready customer for the burgeoning U.S. crude export business. It has also overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest oil importer. "China imported over 81 million barrels of crude oil from the USA in 2017 (about 220,000 barrels per day) which represented 20% of our crude oil exports. They are the second largest importer for USA crude oil, behind Canada which imported 323,000 barrels per day," wrote Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. The U.S. increased exports of crude starting in 2016, after a 40-year ban on most exports was lifted. Crude exports had been permitted to Canada, and Canada is the largest source of U.S. oil imports. "You'll probably see these exports continue at these very high levels because the difference in price between light sweet crude on the Gulf Coast compared to the rest of the world is encouraging record amounts of exports," said Lipow, in a phone interview. "From a political standpoint, every VLCC [super tanker] that carries 2 million barrels of crude oil lowers our trade deficit to China by over $120 million." Besides oil, the U.S. exported 1.2 million barrels a day of diesel and other distillates, and 966,000 barrels a day of gasoline last week. — CNBC's Steve Liesman contributed to this article.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/uneasiness-spreads-in-farm-economy-with-china-targeting-us-soybeans.html

Fear of 'disastrous situation' in farm economy as China targets huge US soybean business

Fear of 'disastrous situation' in farm economy as China targets huge US soybean business VIDEO2:4602:46Why China's tariff on US soybeans is a political, not economic, moveSquawk Box Asia Fears of an expanded trade war with China are spreading across the farm economy after Beijing announced it might slap a 25 percent tariff on American soybeans and other farm products. Affected agricultural products also include U.S. corn, beef, cotton, tobacco, sorghum and orange juice. However, China's Ministry of Commerce is targeting not only U.S. agriculture but other items such as automobiles on its wide-ranging list of more than 100 American products. The move by Beijing on Wednesday came a day after the Trump administration proposed duties on more than 1,300 imported products in China's machinery, electronics, aerospace and robotics sectors. "It's frustrating because agriculture has long been just a pawn in these trade wars," said Mark Kenney, who grows soybeans in central Iowa. "I'm concerned about it because China is a huge market for us." The U.S. exports about $14 billion worth of soybeans to China, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. China buys roughly half of the U.S. soybean exports, and roughly one in three rows of soybeans grown on the nation's farms goes to the world's second-largest economy, according to the American Soybean Association. Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to China represent almost $20 billion annually for American farmers. "They are hitting soybeans, wheat, corn and cotton — so all the agricultural products — and this is in addition to what they announced already on pork and sorghum," said Wendong Zhang, assistant professor of economics at Iowa State University. "So essentially if this becomes a reality two months later, this will be a disastrous situation for U.S. agriculture." China's planned tariffs on U.S. agriculture come as the nation's heartland already is struggling after years of low crop prices. Some farmers are considering exiting the business. In February, the USDA predicted net farm income in 2018 would fall to lowest level in nominal terms since 2006. The lion's share of the U.S. agribusiness trade to China involves soybeans, which are grown in many Midwestern farm states where President Donald Trump received strong support during the 2016 presidential election. Soybeans are harvested Princeton, Illinois.Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images "The Chinese are very clever here," Keith Bliss, a trader for the brokerage firm Cuttone & Co., said on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "They knew that they were going to hit right to the heart of Trump's base of support in the Midwest." "I'm sure the White House got dozens of calls from soybean farmers this morning when they saw that news cross the tape," he added. "And it's going to get both parties to the table. And that's precisely what the Chinese wanted to accomplish that." To be clear, some farmers support Trump's strategy to hold China accountable on trade issues due to national security concerns but also worry about unintended consequences and the long-term impact it might have on access to China, a lucrative market with a growing middle class that is demanding more food. At the same time, it creates a situation where global agriculture sellers such as the European Union and South America could take share away from the United States in key agricultural commodities sold to China. "Our corn farmers have worked for decades to support fair and open trade practices because we understand that trade is a two-way street," said Texas farmer Wesley Spurlock, chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. Experts point out that the White House has time to decide before the new round of tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese goods — or about $50 billion worth of products — goes into effect since there will be a 30-day comment period for business interests and other parties. Also, that will be followed by up to 180 days for the president to decide before taking the next step to formalize the duties against the Chinese. In early March, Trump unveiled a 25 percent duty on steel imports and 10 percent charge on aluminum imports, essentially targeting suppliers such as China. That ultimately led to China's Finance Ministry on Sunday to unveil retaliatory tariffs on up to 128 kinds of U.S. goods, including pork and fruit. One in 4 hogs in the U.S. is sold overseas, and the Chinese are the world's top consumers of pork. At about $1.1 billion, mainland China and Hong Kong together are the third-largest market for U.S. pork based on value. Last year, China was the second-largest volume market for the American pork industry after Mexico. "There is scope for negotiation going forward," said Dan Ikenson, director of trade policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "Maybe it's easier to negotiate if you have on the table your big guns as well. This will certainly encourage the auto industry and soy farmers and Boeing to hang out in Washington and speak to policymakers until this is resolved." Reaction to the China trade threat was swift in the futures markets with Chicago soybeans for May delivery falling as much as 5 percent during Wednesday's session to a two-month low before settling down just over 2 percent to $10.167 per bushel. Top soybean growing states include Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and the Dakotas. Other commodities targeted by China's threat Wednesday were also lower: Chicago corn for delivery in May fell more than 2 percent to $3.805 a bushel and New York cotton futures for May sank more than 3 percent to 79.55 cents per pound. "We expected a bumpy ride on the soybean side," South Dakota soybean farmer Kevin Scott told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Wednesday. "Traders love a lot of volatility, but for farmers, it gives us a lot of heartburn." Getty Images Scott said the soybean market declines earlier in the session translated into essentially a $1.7 billion decline in value for the U.S. soybean crop and for him personally a haircut potentially in the tens of thousands of dollars. Traders expect more volatility in the coming weeks — not only from soybeans but other agricultural commodities that China has targeted in the tit-for-tat trade action. They also note that China can get soybeans from Argentina and Brazil, two major growers and exporters, but still will likely need to rely on some American beans for the foreseeable future. "China can't cut out completely from their import program [for soybeans]," said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist at Zaner Group, a Chicago-based futures brokerage. "But even if they were to drop 10 percent of what we're sending to them — and favor South America as much as they can — it would still have a huge impact on our balance." Most of the soybeans shipped to China are used for soy protein to feed roughly 700 million pigs in the country or to make cooking oil. The Chinese also grow some of their own soybeans, mostly for human consumption, but that crop represents less than half the amount purchased from the U.S. The U.S. sold approximately 33 million tons of soybeans in 2017 to China, or just over one-third of the beans imported by the Asian country. By comparison, Brazil shipped more than 50 million tons of soybeans last year to China and represented nearly 55 percent of the total imports. Argentina has been struggling with a drought and is expected to have a smaller crop for export this season. China's announcement also concerns other agricultural commodities, particularly wheat, frozen beef and cotton. "It is unsettling to see American-produced beef listed as a target for retaliation," said Kent Bacus, director of international trade and market access for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "This is a battle between two governments, and the unfortunate casualties will be America's cattlemen and women and our consumers in China." Bacus added that the cattle association backs "trade enforcement, but endless retaliation is not a good path forward for either side." China took delivery just last year of the first shipments of American beef in 14 years. China had shut its market to American beef producers after a case of so-called mad cow disease was detected in the U.S. in late 2003. As for wheat, the industry is also worried about the impact of the escalating trade dispute. "This will definitely be a big hit to the U.S. wheat market," said Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers. "Putting a 25 percent tariff on all U.S. wheat going into China is going to significantly reduce our availability to that market." The U.S. wheat industry last year sold 61 million bushels of the commodity to China, or about $450 million worth of the product. China ranks as the fourth-largest buyer of American wheat and about 7 percent of total U.S. exports of the grain. Cotton growers, too, expressed concern about China's threat to impose a 25 percent tariff. China is the second-largest export market for U.S. cotton. "I cannot overstate the importance of China's market to U.S. cotton farmers and the importance of U.S. cotton in meeting the needs of China's textile industry," said Ron Craft, chairman of the National Cotton Council.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/chinas-1-point-2-trillion-weapon-that-could-be-used-in-a-us-trade-war.html

China's $1.2 trillion weapon that could be used in a trade war with the US

China's $1.2 trillion weapon that could be used in a trade war with the US Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.Getty Images As the United States and China inch closer to a full-fledged trade war, economists and investors worry about worst-case scenarios that could impact the global economy — and America. The war of words keeps getting harsher. China announced Wednesday that it may put tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation against the Trump administration's plan for imposing 25 percent duties on Chinese imports. Markets were sent spinning, falling by more than 1 percent and then rebounding later in the day, while everyone is now wondering what might come next. In response, President Donald Trump on Thursday said he has instructed the United States Trade Representative to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China. Market watchers are now bracing for another wide ride in the stock market on Friday. If this trade fight does escalate, then more tariffs could be slapped on more goods. But China could fire back in a far more significant way: selling a large chunk of the $1.17 trillion of U.S. treasury bonds it holds. Over the last several years, China has bought scores of treasury bonds partly because it has U.S. dollars it needs to spend. Just like any investor, China wants to put some of the greenbacks it's made off its exports to the United States into safe investments, and there's nothing safer than U.S. bonds. For the most part, China, which has owned around $1 trillion of U.S. bonds for several years, has held on to these assets, collecting billions in interest payments. It did reduce some of those assets in late 2016 and early 2017 to help offset an increase in the yuan, but it's already bought back much of what it sold. More from Global Investing Hot Spots:Tesla and China trade warReaching for yield in this bond sector may be risky If China did decide to sell off those bonds in a fit of rage aimed at President Donald Trump, then it could cause major havoc on international markets, said Jeff Mills, co-chief investment strategist at PNC Financial Services Group. "It's certainly something they could do," he said. The biggest impact would be on interest rates and bond prices, he says. If China floods the market with treasuries, and the supply of U.S. bonds spikes, then fixed income prices would fall and yields would rise. If yields climb then it would become more expensive for U.S. companies and consumers to borrow and that would cause the U.S. economy to slow down. VIDEO5:3505:35Why a US-China trade war makes America vulnerable: ExpertPower Lunch It will also become more expensive for the U.S. government to issue debt — they'll have to pay higher rates to borrowers — while the $15 trillion of treasuries held by itself and investors would fall in value. Equities would be sent crashing, too, as yields climb. "Higher interest rates would ripple through the entire economy," says Mills. "It would have a slowing effect." China holds about 20 percent of U.S. debt held by foreign countries, which is a lot, but it only accounts for about 5 percent of outstanding debt overall. Other holders include other countries – Japan owns about $1 trillion in treasuries – the U.S. government, corporations and investors. However, if China does decide to dump treasuries, it could make others panic and sell as well, says Vincent Reinhart chief economist and macro strategist at BNY Mellon. President Xi Jinping would have to be mighty angry to dump treasuries in droves, because a sell off would have a negative impact on its own financial affairs. "It's like holding a gun to your own head and saying I have a hostage," says Reinhart. If China were to sell its bond holdings, it would likely have to sell it at least some of the treasuries it purchased at a loss. If other countries sold, too, and prices plummet then it could lose billions. "It will inflict capital losses on itself," says Reinhart. The U.S. dollar would also fall, which would then make this trade-related provocation somewhat moot, adds Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. A lower greenback would make U.S. exports more attractive, which would then hurt China's own export market. "It would negate some of the impact," he says. "Rates might spike, but the dollar would fall and what's the net impact of that? It doesn't feel like it's a winning strategy." As well, it's not certain that selling treasuries would have much of an impact, says Mills. If other countries step into buy those treasuries, then interest rates could remain stable. As of right now, U.S. bonds are still seen as a safe asset that people and countries buy when the global economy goes awry. If that stays the case then there's no reason why demand wouldn't materialize. "It's not like demand for U.S. Treasurys has broadly fallen," said Mills. "I would think that if they did start to sell, there would be a fair bit of demand from other countries and U.S. companies, especially as rates slowly increase, which makes them more attractive holdings." China could take a more measured approach, said Reinhart, and not buy new bonds as old ones mature. With the United States also reducing its quantitative easing-related bond purchases, supply would then slowly rise and potentially push rates to more extreme levels. However, Zandi thinks China can show its displeasure in other ways. It could devalue its own currency, which would then make exports even more attractive and increase the trade deficit that Trump has railed against. That would certainly anger Trump, he said, and create turmoil in financial markets. "It would inflict some real pain," he added. They could also make it more difficult for U.S. workers to get visas or even take over offices based in the country. "You have operations here? Too bad; they're ours now," he said. "They can make life very difficult for someone trying to do business in China." The hope is that all of this will die down before any drastic measures are taken. Of course, no one can know for sure how these two global powerhouses will react going forward — we're in uncharted territory. Reinhart thinks the United States ultimately won't do anything to damage its own economy, while Mills said that China, with its massive manufacturing employment base, needs America more than American needs them. Zandi says that while we could see more back-and-forth arguing, responses will be proportional. In any case, all of this is troubling no matter what happens next. "This is not going to end in a place that's any better for anybody," he said. "Maybe everyone will save face, but no good will come out of this." — By Bryan Borzykowski, special to CNBC.com VIDEO2:0802:08China’s Treasury threat ‘negotiation’ tactic, says CNBC’s Rick SantelliHalftime Report

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/cramer-spotify-is-the-anti-ipo-in-the-league-of-netflix-and-amazon.html

VIDEO1:0501:05Spotify, the 'anti-IPO' joins the ranks of Netflix and AmazonMad Money with Jim Cramer Spotify Technology's no-frills direct listing on Tuesday had little bearing on the music streaming service's explosive growth potential, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday. "What Netflix is to video, Spotify is to audio," the "Mad Money" host said. "And Spotify believes that the streaming market is still in its infancy." Spotify's direct listing differed from a standard initial public offering in that the company only sold existing shares instead of issuing new ones and had minimal contact with investment banks, which typically underwrite IPOs. As co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek said in an online post the night before the listing, "what's ... important to me is that tomorrow does NOT become the most important day for Spotify." "He wasn't desperately trying to raise capital, he was trying to do right by his employees," Cramer said. "In every respect that matters, this was the anti-IPO." The largest music streaming service in the world, Spotify has 159 million monthly active users, 71 million of whom are paid subscribers — nearly double Apple's 40 million paid subscribers. Users can listen to Spotify's millions of songs for free, but with occasional advertisements, or pay $9.99 a month for unlimited, ad-free streaming. Spotify's user numbers have also been growing rapidly: in 2017, monthly users increased by 29 percent versus 2016, and the number of premium subscribers rose by 46 percent. Cramer's excitement about Spotify ties back to its disruptive business model. Before Spotify was created, online piracy had all but eroded the recorded music business, which had been in decline for 15 years. "After Spotify's subscription-based business model started gaining traction, the industry started growing again, and that's not a coincidence," the "Mad Money" host said. "People who aren't going to shell out $10 for an album on iTunes will gladly pay $10 a month for access to tens of millions of songs." Spotify has now captured approximately 42 percent of global market share. Even so, Cramer sees a huge potential growth runway — 3.6 billion people worldwide have internet access. "The essence of this story is that Spotify's going to keep expanding in the markets where it's already operating while also moving aggressively into new regions," Cramer said. "They are gradually taking over the world, people, and if even Apple can't catch up to them, it's hard to imagine anyone else getting in their way." As for the numbers, Spotify is growing its revenue and its margins, inching closer to profitability. Its free cash flow is positive and its balance sheet is tight, with $1.5 billion in cash and no debt. "Beyond the stellar numbers, what really intrigues me is the fact that Spotify is one of the few services that people don't mind paying for — in fact, they tend not to even think about paying for it, just like Netflix or Amazon Prime or Sirius XM or Apple Storage," Cramer said. "That's a great position to be in." And even though shares of Spotify seemed to have a rocky first day of trading, Cramer wasn't bothered by the declines, noting that it was the kind of stock that gets cheaper as it sinks. A $143.99 stock as of Thursday's closing bell, Spotify trades at 4.2 times this year's revenue estimates, much cheaper than Netflix, which has a similar growth forecast and trades at 8.1 times sales. "Here's the bottom line: Spotify belongs to an elite club of companies where you don't even think about paying the bill every month, its growth is phenomenal and I bet growth-oriented money managers would be willing to pay a lot more for its stock," the "Mad Money" host said. "I think you can pick at it here, then buy a lot more into additional weakness." VIDEO10:5410:54Cramer talks Spotify, the 'anti-IPO' joining the ranks of Netflix and AmazonMad Money with Jim Cramer Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - VineQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? [email protected]

b7bd25aac7ab33e9d1c408388f327ef3

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/gold-markets-focus-on-trade-after-trump-proposes-more-tariffs-on-china.html

Gold rises as dollar, equities fall on trade fears, US data

Gold rises as dollar, equities fall on trade fears, US data Getty Images Gold prices rose on Friday, as Wall Street stocks tumbled and the dollar fell as rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese officials fed worries about a possible trade war, and after U.S. jobs data came in weaker than expected. Spot gold was up 0.62 percent at $1,336.8 an ounce by 3:24 p.m. EST. In early trade, it fell to a session low of $1,321.16, the lowest since March 21. U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled up 0.62 percent at $1,336.8. U.S. stocks fell, with the Dow down more than 450 points, after Trump on Thursday threatened to slap $100 billion more in tariffs on Chinese imports, and Beijing pledged a "fierce counter strike." Falling stock prices dragged the dollar against the yen and the euro. Also pressuring the U.S. currency was data showing the U.S. economy in March created the fewest jobs in six months, which might prompt the Federal Reserve to go more slowly on plans to raise interest rates. Gold has fluctuated as investors rated prospects of a U.S.-China trade war. "We are moving back to a risk-off scenario today, but still stuck in a trading range between $1,300 and $1,360," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "The market is paying very much attention to the dollar and bond market in terms of what the Fed is going to do." "The payrolls report has provided a small boost to gold, but overall it's had quite a dismal week," Saxo Bank's head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen said. Silver was up 0.14 percent at $16.37 an ounce, and on track to close up 0.2 percent for the week. Platinum was up 0.57 percent at $915.20 an ounce. Palladium fell for the 11th straight session and was down 0.43 percent at $901.40 an ounce, after falling to $895.47, the lowest since August 2017. It was on track to end the week down 5.3 percent. "Last year's uptrend has reversed and palladium prices are down more than 20 percent from their January high," Julius Baer said in a note. "We see them better aligned with a softer global car market and shift our view to neutral."

5935d4cf1b85420798b687422f8d472a

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/major-disconnect-between-tesla-shares-and-bonds-signals-problems.html

A major disconnect between Tesla shares and bonds is signaling problems for the stock, says market watcher

A major disconnect between Tesla shares and bonds is signaling problems for the stock, says market watcher VIDEO1:3001:30In the ‘disconnect’ between Tesla’s shares and bonds, only one can be correct, strategist saysTrading Nation Following Tesla's tanking junk bond late last week, one macro strategist is pointing to the detachment between the company's stock price and bond performance as a warning sign. Larry McDonald, editor and founder of the Bear Traps Report, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" that a "disconnect" between the stock's massive market capitalization and the company's withering bond price is concerning. Here are his reasons why. • There is a clear disconnect between Tesla's sizable $45 billion market cap and the company's bonds, yielding around 7 percent after Moody's downgraded the credit rating late last week. • Even as the stock has seen a bit of a rebound since hitting a year-to-date low of $244.59 per share earlier this week, its debt has not made the same rebound; this is a serious disconnect, and it's likely that the stock is "wrong" and the bonds are "correct." • The central concern for the market is Tesla's immense cash burn; Tesla last quarter reported negative free cash flow of $276.7 million, and negative $1.4 billion the previous quarter. • It is plausible Tesla could turn to convertible bonds to raise fresh capital. Such a move could pose a risk for equity shareholders. Bottom line: The disconnect between Tesla shares and the company's corporate bonds could be signaling trouble ahead. Disclaimer

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/student-loan-debt-is-more-likely-if-you-live-in-one-of-these-states.html

The median student loan payment in Washington, D.C. is $242. Find out what yours is

The median student loan payment in Washington, D.C. is $242. Find out what yours is Pamela Joe McFarlane | Getty Images College grads from New Hampshire are probably carrying student loan debt. In 2015, 64 percent of undergraduate students hailing from the Granite State had federal student loans. From California? You're more likely to be debt-free. Just 1 in 5 students from the Golden State had federal student loans that year. A new tool from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., lets people dig into student loan information on a state — and even county — level. You can check the median student loan debt of residents in Albany County, Wyoming ($19,542), for example, or the share of student loan debt in collections in Ada Country, Idaho (3 percent). Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. has swelled to more than $1.3 trillion. But researchers haven't put much time into understanding the geographic distribution of this burden, said Caroline Ratcliffe, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, and a researcher on the map project. Until now. The Midwest and the Northeast are the regions most heavily saturated in student debt, according to The Urban Institute's calculations, with the worst states being New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maine. Meanwhile, residents in New Mexico, Wyoming and California carry the least education debt. Unsurprisingly, students from states where college is more expensive tend to borrow more. The findings also assessed factors that make someone more likely to be burdened by education debt. "The people who struggle the most to pay back student loan debt tend to be people with lower amounts of student loans who haven't completed their degree," Ratcliffe said. "So now they have the debt but no degree." More from College Game Plan:College applicants are increasingly stressed over paying the tab The top 10 private colleges with generous financial aid packages Want more college aid? Here's how to get it The map also highlights racial disparities, Ratcliffe said. "Over 90 percent of white people in Washington, D.C. have at least a bachelors' degree, and it's only 40 percent of non-whites," she said. "You see a higher share of people with student loan debt in predominately non-white areas than white areas." VIDEO1:1001:10Deciphering your financial aid offerYour Money, Your Future These are the states whose residents have the highest median monthly student loan payments: Median monthly student loan payment: $242 Median monthly student loan payment: $197 Median monthly student loan payment: $196 Median monthly student loan payment: $189 Median monthly student loan payment: $188

d9396b6efe0461969871586d72ba517c

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/trump-on-amazon-the-playing-field-has-to-be-level-for-everybody.html

Trump on Amazon: 'The playing field has to be level for everybody'

Trump on Amazon: 'The playing field has to be level for everybody' VIDEO1:2301:23Trump slams Amazon after Washington Post reports he's unhappy with North KoreaNews Videos President Donald Trump lashed out against Amazon for the sixth time in a week, during an Air Force One trip on Thursday back from an event in West Virginia. "They are not on an even playing field," Trump told reporters, contending other retailers are at a disadvantage to the e-commerce giant. "The playing field has to be level for everybody," he said. The president took a moment to criticize The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Trump repeated his false claim from earlier on Thursday that it acts as a "lobbying effort" for the e-commerce company. @realDonaldTrump tweet He then switched gears, mentioning how "the Post Office is not doing well with Amazon." He noted that the Supreme Court is expected to decide later this year on whether all Amazon transactions will be subject to state sales tax. "We'll see what happens," the president said. Trump has been an extremely vocal critic of Amazon in recent weeks, claiming that the company is taking advantage of its deal with the U.S. Postal Service to hurt brick-and-mortar retailers. Some observers have argued the partnership between USPS and Amazon has been positive for the delivery service. Amazon shares edged down in extended trading.

f5c6710135fb3c08d50d808af549fe68

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/trumps-latest-tariff-threat-is-a-ridiculous-attempt-at-intimidation-chinese-state-media.html

Trump's latest tariff threat is a 'ridiculous' attempt at intimidation: Chinese state media

Trump's latest tariff threat is a 'ridiculous' attempt at intimidation: Chinese state media Chinese state media on Friday slammed Donald Trump's threat of more trade action against China as "ridiculous" after the U.S President called for an additional $100 billion of tariffs, escalating an already high-stakes trade dispute between the two nations. "This latest intimidation reflects the deep arrogance of some American elites in their attitude towards China," the state-run Global Times said in an editorial. Trump said on Thursday he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China, upping the ante in an already high-stakes trade confrontation between the world's two biggest economies. In making the call for extra tariffs, Trump wanted to vent his anger with a "bomb-like" statement, the newspaper said, adding that whether the tariffs are actually put into effect and what the consequences will be "are secondary to him." Washington on Tuesday proposed $50 billion in duties on Chinese goods aimed at forcing Beijing to address what the United States says is deeply entrenched theft of U.S. intellectual property and forced technology transfer from U.S. companies. China hit back within hours with its own threatened tariffs on U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals. The widely read Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect Chinese government policy. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping leave after an opera performance at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, November 8, 2017.Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Financial markets have been unnerved for days by the trade fight and Trump's management of it, with the president's latest salvo sending U.S. stock futures tumbling and pushing up the safe-haven yen. Earlier on Friday, the People's Daily described the U.S. trade action against China as akin to "climbing a tree to catch fish." Washington's attempts at reducing its trade deficit by engaging in a trade war were compounding its mistakes, it added. "History and reality have repeatedly proved that economic globalisation has provided a strong impetus for the development of international trade and economics," the newspaper said, adding that the United States was "one of the biggest beneficiaries" of this. Instead of asking China to reduce its exports to address the trade imbalance, the United States should increase its own exports, the editorial said, adding that Washington was already restricting its exports to China, especially of high-tech products. In Moscow on Thursday, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also accused the United States of picking the "wrong target" with its tariffs against China. "The United States thought that it would be cheaper to engage in protectionism and it was a miscalculation," he said, according to comments posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website. "China and the United States are both big countries in the world and should respect each other and treat each other as equals," he added.

cc751411a3088495137eb9b06df6bba8

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/05/us-plans-to-sanction-russian-oligarchs-this-week-sources.html

US plans to sanction Russian oligarchs this week: Sources

US plans to sanction Russian oligarchs this week: Sources The United States plans to sanction Russian oligarchs this week under a law targeting Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in what could be the most aggressive move so far against Russia's business elite. The action, which could affect people close to President Vladimir Putin, reflects Washington's desire to hold Russia to account for allegedly interfering in the election — which Moscow denies — even as U.S. President Donald Trump holds out hope for good relations with Putin. Trump has faced fierce criticism for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling and other actions, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probing whether his campaign colluded with the Russians, an allegation the president denies. The sanctions, which two sources said would be announced as early as Thursday, would follow the March 15 U.S. decision to sanction 19 people and five entities, including Russian intelligence services, for cyber attacks stretching back at least two years. Vladimir PutinAlexander Zemlianichenko | POOL | Reuters While the steps were the most significant taken against Moscow since Trump took office in January 2017, his decision at the time not to target oligarchs and government officials close to Putin drew criticism from U.S. lawmakers in both parties. This week's actions will include sanctions against Russian oligarchs, including some with ties to Putin as well as to the Russian government, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the deliberations. Four sources said the sanctions would be imposed under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, also known as CAATSA, which was passed by Republicans and Democrats seeking to punish Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. U.S.-Russian ties have worsened with allegations, which Moscow denies, that Russia was responsible for a March 4 nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain. On March 26, the United States and several European states announced plans to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response. The White House and Treasury declined comment on whether they planned to impose sanctions this week. When asked about the issue, a senior U.S. official said: "The administration is committed to implementing the CAATSA law as we have said many times. We published an oligarch designation recently and the secretary of the Treasury said further action would be taken. But at this time we dont have anything specific to announce." Complying with the law, the Trump administration on Jan. 30 published a list of the heads of Russian state-owned companies and "oligarchs," including such prominent figures as Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, and Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Rosneft.

138d8c188852e2d77c2c5e849e26c35b

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/bet-founder-trump-economy-brings-black-workers-back-into-labor-force.html

BET founder: Trump's economy is bringing black workers back into the labor force

BET founder: Trump's economy is bringing black workers back into the labor force VIDEO1:2301:23BET founder: Trump's economy is bringing black workers back into the labor forceSquawk Box The growing U.S. economy and improving business environment is bringing black workers back into the labor force, BET founder Robert Johnson told CNBC on Friday. Johnson, the nation's first black billionaire, spoke before Friday's jobs report, which showed nonfarm payrolls rose 103,000 in March, falling well short of the 193,000 gain economist were expecting. In January, the Labor Department reported the unemployment rate among black workers was at its lowest since at least the early 1970s, when the government began tracking the data. The unemployment rate for black Americans spiked in January and then fell in February. The rate was unchanged in March at 6.9 percent. "When you look at that [January report], you have to say something is going right," said Johnson, a Democrat and founder and chairman of The RLJ Cos. "You have to take encouragement from what's happening in the labor force and the job market," Johnson told "Squawk Box." "When you look at African-American unemployment, ... you've never had African-American unemployment this low and the spread between African-Americans and whites narrowing." Johnson said that means the jobs market is "soliciting employees who have been out of the labor force, some of it based on discrimination, some of it based on changes in education, access and technology changes." Additionally, the business environment in the U.S. is also good, Johnson said. "I believe if you take into account the Trump tax cut, you take into account the drop in unemployment, ... and you take into account that interest rates are fairly stable" the economy is going to grow, he said. "I believe the economy is on a strong growth path," he added. President Donald Trump has touted the black unemployment rate both on Twitter and his State of the Union address in January. Critics say Trump can't take full credit because black unemployment had been on the decline before Trump took office. Johnson has said he has known Trump for years. Johnson met with the then president-elect in 2016 and said he believes the president wants to work with African-Americans and all Americans to boost the economy. Johnson also spoke again about a job offer he received from Trump. He said he didn't take the unspecified position because he didn't want a government job and not because of the president's policies. VIDEO13:0513:05BET founder Robert Johnson on the Trump economySquawk Box

ab2b15e4647b18ae37985b2857f2463a

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/ecb-benoit-coeure-says-a-trade-war-would-have-damaging-consequences.html?__source=fincont&par=fincont

ECB's Benoit Coeure says a trade war would have 'damaging' consequences for the global economy

ECB's Benoit Coeure says a trade war would have 'damaging' consequences for the global economy VIDEO0:5900:59ECB’s Coeure: Trade war has potential for ‘damaging’ effects globallyStreet Signs Europe A key policymaker at the European Central Bank (ECB) believes a trade war would have "damaging" consequences for the whole world, including the U.S. Benoit Coeure, an executive board member at the euro zone's central bank, warned that the current rhetoric on trade could escalate and provoke severe shocks in the global economy. "If this would move into a full-fledged trade war, this has a potential to have quite damaging consequences for growth and jobs, globally, including in the U.S.," he said. Speaking to CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on the sidelines of the European House Ambrosetti Forum in Italy Friday, he said he wasn't sure that the world was in a trade war just yet. "As much as possible, if we could avoid the bellicose semantics and come back to a reasonable discussion that would help for economic confidence," he said. The French economist admitted that the current exchange of words and policy decisions between the U.S. and its trade partners are already having a negative impact on the global economy. "We've obviously seen stock prices going down, some risk premia going up, so some tightening of financial conditions globally, starting with the U.S. But it all depends on how the situation will evolve and that's certainly what we don't want to see — a general tightening of financial conditions," he said. Coeure added that the current trade tensions are the "biggest" concern that the ECB has at the moment. Benoit Coeure, executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB).Alex Kraus | Bloomberg | Getty Images Coeure's comments come as concerns rise over a trade war between the U.S. and China with both economic superpowers threatening to target each other's key exports with import tariffs. Earlier at the European House Ambrosetti Forum, Coeure warned that changes in global tariffs would mean the baseline economic forecast for the U.S. would fall 2.5 percent. According to ECB staff simulations, world trade in goods could contract by up to 3 percent just in the first year after the change in tariffs and global growth by up to 1 percent. "An economy imposing a tariff which is retaliated by other countries would clearly be worse off. Its living standards would fall and jobs would be lost," Coeure said in a speech. "The effects on other economies would primarily depend on their size, trade openness and how much they trade with the tariff-imposing country," he added. The French economist also said that higher tariffs could have implications for monetary policy and equity markets. "The first is the effects higher tariffs would have on growth and inflation in the near to medium term … The second main implication is the possible impact on long-run potential output growth, and how that may influence the conduct of monetary policy," Coeure said. VIDEO2:5902:59Coeure: Monetary accommodation remains needed, trade war or notStreet Signs Europe

f02e9317a8942abccff8d19d03c4e99d

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/facebook-is-able-to-remove-zuckerbergs-messages-from-others-inboxes.html

Facebook is able to remove Mark Zuckerberg's messages from other users' inboxes — something the rest of us can't do

Facebook is able to remove Mark Zuckerberg's messages from other users' inboxes — something the rest of us can't do Getty Images Facebook messages that Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives sent to other users on the social network were recently found to be deleted from those user's inboxes, TechCrunch reported Friday. Three unnamed sources speaking to TechCrunch said that messages they had previously received from Zuckerberg were no longer in their inboxes, though the messages they sent to Zuckerberg remained. Facebook doesn't allow users to delete messages from a recipients inbox, which suggests that Zuckerberg has special treatment on the social network. The company told TechCrunch that the ability to retract Zuckerberg's messages was instituted for legal compliance after Sony Pictures' emails were hacked in 2014. Facebook confirmed to CNBC that it will roll out a feature that's similar to the one Mark Zuckerberg used to all users. "We have discussed this feature several times," a Facebook spokesperson said. "And people using our secret message feature in the encrypted version of Messenger have the ability to set a timer — and have their messages automatically deleted. We will now be making a broader delete message feature available. This may take some time. And until this feature is ready, we will no longer be deleting any executives' messages. We should have done this sooner — and we're sorry that we did not." CNBC recently explained how to download all of your private data from Facebook, and that data include old chat messages that you might have exchanged with other users on Facebook. It typically appears as a two-way conversation with messages from both parties. In this instance, TechCrunch said that Zuckerberg's messages don't appear at all, even in the downloaded logs. Zuckerberg has previously had access to features that weren't available to some users. Until last year, other users on Facebook weren't able to block him, for example. He was also scrutinized for comments he made while at Harvard, when he messaged a friend that users who trusted him with their data were "dumb f****." But Facebook's treatment of user data has seen a fresh wave of criticism as millions of consumers have been told they can assume some personal data has been scraped from their profiles. Read the full TechCrunch story here. — Anita Balakrishnan contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/kevin-oleary-sheds-a-tear-and-opens-up-about-his-rise-to-millions.html

Mr. Wonderful might seem tough, but beyond his harsh exterior, Kevin O'Leary is a self-made mogul who earned every bit of his success through dedication and hard work. O'Leary was only seven years old when his father died, leaving his mother alone with two children and a very uncertain future. Things got back on track when his mother remarried a man named George, who eventually became O'Leary's stepfather and changed the course of his life forever. George worked for a division of the United Nations, which shuttled the family all over the world. They lived in Cambodia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Japan, France, Switzerland; every two years it was a different country. O'Leary says, "Looking back at all the unique cultures that I've been steeped in, you understand everybody's challenges in the world, not just your own." O'Leary's stepdad was also the one who spoke up when he tried out the hippie lifestyle after college. George advised, "You're going to starve to death. You should go back to school right now." O'Leary listened, and after graduation started his first company Soft Key, which eventually turned into The Learning Company, which he sold for $4.2 billion. Today, O'Leary is proud to be an entrepreneur and to help other entrepreneurs so that they can create jobs. He says, "There's nothing nobler in America than doing that." And while O'Leary is proud of his career, he still gets teary-eyed at the thought of what his father would think of it. O'Leary says that if he could go back in time and speak to his father, he would express his gratitude for all the lessons that got him to where he is today. O'Leary thinks his father would be proud of what he achieved and is grateful to relive that journey over and over again with the companies he is funding. Shark Tank airs weeknights starting at 7P ET.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/low-black-unemployment-doesnt-show-the-whole-picture-morial.html

Low black unemployment doesn’t show the whole picture: Urban League CEO Marc Morial

Low black unemployment doesn’t show the whole picture: Urban League CEO Marc Morial VIDEO3:5903:59Trade war fears give me concern for markets and stability: CEOPower Lunch The latest black unemployment rate, though near its historic low, does not paint a complete picture of African-Americans' economic situation, said Marc Morial, president and chief executive officer at the National Urban League. "The black unemployment rate is still twice as high as the white unemployment rate," Morial said Friday on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "Let's look at this in context, not look at one number and say, 'Ok, good. Let's celebrate,'" he said. Friday's March jobs report showed a black unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, the same level as in February. The March white unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, and the overall unemployment rate remains at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. Morial, who served as mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002, said the black homeownership rate and wealth gap between white and black Americans "are as bad as they've been in 40 years." In 2017's fourth quarter, the black homeownership rate was 42.1 percent, compared with 72.7 percent among whites, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "So you can't look at the unemployment rate and say that's a picture of the economy in black America," Morial said. The black unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 percent in December 2017, the lowest it's been since 1972, before increasing the following month. The white unemployment rate in the same month was 3.7 percent. While President Donald Trump has taken credit for the low black unemployment rate, Morial pointed out that under former President Barack Obama, the black unemployment rate fell from 16 percent to 8 percent. Ron Christie, founder and president at Christie Strategies, told "Power Lunch" he sees the falling black unemployment rate as a good sign. "[It is] progress that has been moving for years in the right direction," said Christie, who served as a special assistant under President George W. Bush. BET founder Robert Johnson, the nation's first black billionaire, agreed "something is going right." "When you look at African-American unemployment, ... you've never had African-American unemployment this low and the spread between African-Americans and whites narrowing," Johnson said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Johnson said he has known Trump for years and once received a job offer from him. The U.S. Department of Labor began reporting black unemployment rates in 1972. In that time, the rate of black unemployment had never fallen below 7 percent. "I'm not displeased that the unemployment rate is down to where it is," Morial said. "But what I'm saying is, it is still twice as high as the white rate."

a47763a4a6ebbb470ef45a9b9471b88c

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/nonfarm-payrolls-march-2018.html?utm_source=akdart

Nonfarm payrolls increase by 103,000 in March, vs 193,000 jobs expected

Nonfarm payrolls increase by 103,000 in March, vs 193,000 jobs expected VIDEO1:4601:46US economy adds 103,000 jobs in MarchSquawk Box Nonfarm payrolls rose 103,000 in March while the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, falling well short of Wall Street expectations during a month where weather caused havoc on the jobs market, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday.Economists had been expecting a payrolls gain of 193,000 and the unemployment rate to decline one-tenth of a point to 4 percent. The monthly reading was a huge slip from the 326,000 reported in February. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons — the underemployed — fell two-tenths of a point to 8 percent, its lowest reading in 11 years. "If one were to only focus on this single month, the March employment report is on the disappointing side," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. "Broader context is appropriate, however. The job market is widely regarded to be close to full employment. So, hiring gains should be slowing at this point in the expansion." In addition to the payrolls news, the closely watched average hourly earnings figure rose 0.3 percent, against estimates of 0.2 percent. The number equates to a healthy but not worrisome 2.7 percent rate on an annualized basis. The average work week was unchanged at 34.5 hours. Stock market reaction to the report was muted, with major indexes lower largely on renewed worries over a U.S. trade war with China. "Wage growth continues to inch higher but not enough to worry markets at this point," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. "As we move closer and closer towards full employment expectations are that headline employment should slow. This number reflects a continued reversion to the mean." Professional and business services led with 33,000 new jobs while manufacturing and health care added 22,000 new jobs apiece. Mining rose 9,000 while construction lost 15,000 positions and retail fell 4,000. In addition to the weak March growth, January's total was revised down from 239,000 to 176,000, though February got a boost from 313,000 to 326,000. The wide swings in monthly numbers "is a good illustration of the inherent volatility in the nonfarm payroll data," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics. "The March gain was the worst in six months. The February gain was the best in 2½ years." Job creation skewed heavily to part time, which rose by 310,000 while full-time positions fell by 311,000, according to the household survey. The March government number differed strongly from an ADP/Moody's Analytics reading earlier this week that showed private payrolls up by 241,000. The BLS report indicated that all but 1,000 of the new jobs came from the private sector. "Weather disruptions played a key role in the weak reading," said Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. "One million jobs were disrupted because of weather in March. Translating that to payrolls means a lot of people weren't counted." Weather distortions are common for March, which saw just 78,000 jobs added in 2015 and 73,000 in 2017. March 2009 also was the worst month for job losses during the Great Recession with a plunge of 802,000. Labor force participation slipped to 62.9 percent as those considered not in the labor force jumped by 323,000 to 95.3 million.The report comes amid a series of mixed signals for the economy.Data earlier this week showed factory orders on the rise though spending is slowing. Consumer sentiment is at a 14-year high, but worries are percolating over a brewing trade war between the U.S. and China. Federal Reserve policymakers watch the jobs number closely. The central bank is widely expected to hike its benchmark interest rate in June and at least once more before the end of the year. The Fed is keeping an especially close eye on wages for signs of inflation. Get the market reaction here.

9924513159592e6e904cfa5cabf775da

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/sec-freezes-27-million-from-stock-sales-involving-ceo-of-crypto-company-longfin-and-three-others.html

SEC takes aim at controversial crypto company Longfin, freezes $27 million in proceeds from insider stock sales

SEC takes aim at controversial crypto company Longfin, freezes $27 million in proceeds from insider stock sales The Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington.Jim Bourg | Reuters The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an emergency freeze of $27 million in trading profits involving the CEO of cryptocurrency company Longfin and three other people, the agency said in a statement Friday. Longfin's stock was halted on the Nasdaq as of 10:01 a.m. ET on the SEC alert after jumping more than 47 percent. Shares had been halted numerous times throughout the week for volatility. The stock was worth more than $3 billion at one point in December after the company announced a cryptocurrency-related acquisition. "We acted quickly to prevent more than $27 million in alleged illicit trading profits from being transferred out of the country," Robert Cohen, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Cyber Unit said in the statement. "Preventing defendants from transferring this money offshore will ensure that these funds remain available as the case continues." The SEC claims Longfin CEO and Chairman Venkat Meenavalli had the company issue unregistered shares to the three people so they could sell them, which they did. The financial watchdog does allow people to own a certain amount of unregistered shares without having to go through what one lawyer calls a "very long" registration process. But those shares are restricted and cannot be sold during certain time periods. "You're not allowed to do that; you can't transfer to your friends. This is playing fast and loose," according to Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "If you don't follow those rules you've broken the law and all the proceeds of it are illegal." The SEC alleged that Longfin affiliates Amro Izzelden "Andy" Altahawi, Dorababu Penumarthi, and Suresh Tammineedi sold large blocks of their restricted Longfin shares illegally to the public shortly after the company acquired the cryptocurrency business and began trading on the Nasdaq, according to the complaint. "Essentially they played a shell game here, and sold shares that they weren't allowed to sell," according to Henning. The small company has attracted controversy over its ties to cryptocurrency, and its CEO said this week that he is not going to sell his shares while he is fighting $1.4 billion in bets against the stock by short-sellers. "I'm not going to sell [for] the next three years," Meenavalli said Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money" as he was rigorously questioned about stock sales and inconsistencies about his business. On Monday, Longfin disclosed that the SEC was investigating trading in the company's shares and requested documents related to its IPO and acquisition of Ziddu.com, according to a 10-K filing. The stock has fallen more than 90 percent from its all-time high of $142.82. Volatility has picked up in the last two weeks following several negative headlines, including a tweet from noted short-seller Andrew Left's Citron Research. CORRECTION: An earlier version misstated the stock's all-time high. It is $142.82. — CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

949074dcd12d12022f309c1dbb11114a

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/soros-fund-reportedly-preparing-to-trade-cryptocurrencies.html

Soros fund reportedly preparing to trade cryptocurrencies

Soros fund reportedly preparing to trade cryptocurrencies VIDEO0:5000:50Soros fund reportedly preparing to trade cryptocurrenciesNews Videos The head of macro investing at billionaire George Soros' family office is planning to trade cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg said Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Soros Fund Management's Adam Fisher received internal approval to trade digital assets in the last few months but has not taken action yet, the report said, citing sources. The firm declined to comment to CNBC. The news comes as bitcoin has fallen roughly 50 percent for the year so far and is trading at about a third of its record high above $19,000 hit in mid-December. George Soros said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January that cryptocurrency is a "typical bubble." However, he said the underlying blockchain technology could be put to "positive use." Regulatory filings for the fourth quarter of 2017 showed Soros' family office became the third-largest shareholder of Overstock.com, a home goods e-commerce company that has drawn Wall Street's interest for its plans to develop a digital asset trading platform. Read the full Bloomberg story here. — CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

e2450c98ec9237d0f5b0cc7f3c95eace

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/ecris-lakshman-achuthan-turns-sour-on-us-economy-growth.html

Former self-proclaimed 'super bull' sours on economic growth, sees 'good old fashioned slowdown' in the works

Former self-proclaimed 'super bull' sours on economic growth, sees 'good old fashioned slowdown' in the works VIDEO1:2201:22An unemployment rate trend may signal a broader economic slowdownTrading Nation One of Wall Street's veteran economic forecasters is toning down his economic growth forecast. The Economic Cycle Research Institute's Lakshman Achuthan told CNBC his leading indicators are pointing to a slowdown that's picking up momentum — highlighting one particular trend in the latest unemployment rate chart that supports his case. "What really caught our eye, is that unemployment rate — where it's just flat-lined since October," the firm's chief operations officer said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." He contended it doesn't fit within the narrative of the United States' strong growth story. His thoughts came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was in the process of closing in correction territory — around 10 percent off its all-time high. He believes Wall Street is finally starting to realize the economy is not as strong anymore. Achuthan isn't the only one. Guggenheim's head of investing sees a tough road ahead for the market and economy, with a sharp recession and a 40 percent decline in stocks looming. Scott Minerd, who warned clients in a recent note that the market is on a "collision course with disaster," told CNBC on Friday he expects the worst of the damage to start in late 2019 and into 2020. Along with the decline in equities, a rise in corporate bond defaults is likely as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates and companies struggle to pay off record debt levels. "When we look at what may be the backdrop for all the jitters that are going on, we would point to a good old fashioned slowdown in the economy that is coming onto people's radar just around now," Achuthan said. But don't mistake Achuthan for being permanently bearish. He was a self-proclaimed "super bull" following the 2016 presidential election, as recession chatter was heating up. "Last fall, the same leading indicators that anticipated the synchronized global growth that we all enjoyed last year in 2017, they turned over," he added. He isn't calling for the economy to tank anytime soon. But with every passing month without a pickup in growth, Achuthan warns the economy will be less equipped to deal with a negative shock such as a potential trade war. So, he's urging stock market investors to be vigilant. Achuthan recommended retail investors should consider buying the 10-Year Treasuries the next time yields reach 3 percent, as leverage against downturn risks. --CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this article. VIDEO3:5003:50Former self-proclaimed ‘super bull’ sours on economic growthTrading Nation Disclaimer