28Mar2018 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Looks To Rise Again At The Opening As Techs Are Set To Stage A Turnaround, Oil Prices Fall On Surprise U.S. Inventory Rise, US Dollar Index Trends Higher

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.08%, while the CAC 40 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.40% and 0.38% respectively.

Facebook to give users more control over personal information

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc is giving users more control over their privacy by making data management easier and redesigning the settings menu, the company said on Wednesday, in the wake of a scandal over a breach that exposed the personal information of millions and was allegedly used by a political consultancy.

Tech problems send world shares skidding again

LONDON (Reuters) – Stocks toppled again on Wednesday, as jitters about a U.S.-China trade war and regulatory crackdown on firms such as Facebook left investors facing their first quarterly fall in equity markets in two years.

Uber’s use of fewer safety sensors prompts questions after Arizona crash

TEMPE, Ariz./PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – When Uber decided in 2016 to retire its fleet of self-driving Ford Fusion cars in favor of Volvo sport utility vehicles, it also chose to scale back on one notable piece of technology: the safety sensors used to detect objects in the road.

On China trade clash, Wall Street embraces Trump’s poker face

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – To Wall Street money managers who make bets for a living, U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive stance against China on trade looks like a high-stakes poker hand – but they believe they can play it for all it’s worth.

U.S. opens probe into fatal Tesla crash, fire in California

(Reuters) – A fatal crash and vehicle fire of a Tesla Inc Model X near Mountain View, California, last week has prompted a federal field investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday, sparking a big selloff in Tesla stock.

Tencent president sells $55 million worth of company shares

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The president of Tencent Holdings , Asia’s most valuable listed company, has sold 1 million of his shares in the company at a premium of 5.4 percent to Wednesday’s closing market price, according to a regulatory filing.

NXP Semiconductors sells China JV stake as Qualcomm takeover awaits Beijing nod

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV , the target of a $44 billion takeover by Qualcomm Inc that is awaiting approval by Chinese anti-monopoly regulators, has sold its stake in a Chinese chip-design joint venture.

SoftBank Vision Fund, Saudi Arabia to create world’s biggest solar power firm

NEW YORK (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund will invest in creating the world’s biggest solar power project in Saudi Arabia, it said on Tuesday, stepping up its involvement in the kingdom and expanding beyond technology.

Exclusive: Mideast Uber rival Careem in early talks to raise new funds – sources

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Middle East ride-hailing app Careem is in early talks to raise as much as $500 million in new funds from investors, sources told Reuters.

Playboy Pulls Out, Deactivates Its Facebook Page

Playboy said Wednesday that it will deactivate its Facebook pages to protest the social media company’s exploitation of user data for commercial profit, according to CNBC.

But taking things a step further, Cooper Hefner, Playboy’s chief creative officer and son of the late Hugh Hefner, accused Facebook of being “sexually repressive” (we know) and said Facebook’s policy guidelines “continue contradicting our values.”

We are stepping away from Facebook pic.twitter.com/4yFIdk2eDE

— Cooper Hefner (@cooperhefner) March 28, 2018

In a statement on Wednesday, Playboy said: “The recent news about Facebook’s alleged mismanagement of users’ data has solidified our decision to suspend our activity on the platform at this time.”

“There are more than 25 million fans who engage with Playboy via our various Facebook pages, and we do not want to be complicit in exposing them to the reported practices. That is why we have announced that we will be leaving Facebook’s platform, deactivating the Playboy accounts that Playboy Enterprises manages directly.”

Goldman Slashes iPhone Sales Estimates Due To “Demand Deterioration”

Two months after the Nikkei reported that Apple will halve its production target for the iPhone X in the three-month period from January from over 40 million units to around 20 million, in light of slower-than-expected sales in the year-end holiday shopping season in key markets such as Europe, the U.S. and China, and after JPM similarly warned that production of Apple’s flagship phone would plunge of 50%, “even larger than the decline of the iPhone 8/8+” and noted that the “weakness will continue in 1H18 as high-end smartphones are clearly hitting a plateau this year”…

… this morning Goldman joined the Apple skeptics when the bank’s analyst Rod Hall wrote that demand expectations for March and June quarters are already weak but early Q1 demand indicates “even lower actual numbers than consensus is modeling” and as a result, he is trimming his replacement rate expectations in response to what has been weak replacement consumer behavior this cycle.

Below is the gist of the note:

We reduce our replacement rate assumption for FY’18 by ~2pp to 33% from 35% earlier due to weaker than expected demand for the iPhone X. We have cut our Chines …

NRA Responds To Accusations Of Funneling Foreign Funds To Trump Campaign

The National Rifle Association says it received foreign funds, however none of the money was used for election purposes, the gun lobby wrote in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).

“Our review of our records has found no foreign donations in connection with a United States election, either directly or through a conduit,” said John C. Frazer, the NRA’s secretary and general counsel, in March 19 letter that was made public by Wyden’s office.

Wyden had previously asked the NRA to comment on its fundraising efforts – noting that Alexander Torshin, a Russian lawmaker, ardent gun rights advocate and ally of Vladimir Putin, had attended the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in 2016.

U.S. authorities are probing whether the NRA funneled Russian funds into the 2016 presidential election – as the NRA spent over $50 million on the last election cycle, including $30.3 million which went towards support for then-candidate Donald Trump according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In federal elections, the NRA typically …

Facebook Changes Privacy Tools, Allowing Users To Delete Data

Responding to public and political outrage, on Wednesday morning Facebook announced a reorganization of the privacy settings that users and have long criticized as a seeming afterthought, and which will provide for better privacy data control and make it easier for users to find, download and delete data — changes that come as the company remains embroiled in a global scandal over its handling of user data which has sent its stock into a bear market in the past week.

The changes include a new “Privacy Shortcuts” menu with written explanations of each relevant option; an “Access Your Information” feature that lets users easily delete individual posts and “likes”; and what’s billed as a streamlined way for users to download all the data Facebook has on them. The new layout will also result in a redesigned menu on mobile devices will have all sections in one single place under settings tab; users will also be able to review what’s been shared and deleted. The company also proposes updates to terms of service and data policy.

“It’s time to make our privacy tools easier to find,” Facebook officials say in a blog post Wednesday detailing the changes, which are unlikely to satisfy critics who want major reforms in the way the social media giant handles the data of its more than 2 billion users.

However, the section that will attract the most interest is the following:

Tools to find, download and delete your Facebook data. It’s one thing to have a policy explaining what data we collect and use, but it’s even more useful when people see and manage their own information. Some people want to delete things they’ve shared in the past, while others are just curious about the information Facebook has. So we’re introducing Access Your Information – a secure way for people to access and manage their informat …

The Clock Is Ticking Faster at Tesla

Tesla will soon need money again. The trouble is, raising it suddenly looks a lot more challenging.

Tech’s Risk Bill Comes Due

High valuations haven’t fully reflected a new world of risks. The sector’s growing clout over everyday life raises the specter of what can go wrong.

Paint Giants Prepped for Merger Endgame

The sale of Akzo Nobel’s specialty-chemicals business for $12.6 billion will create a pure-play coatings company potentially attractive to U.S. paint giants Sherwin-Williams and PPG Industries.

Economic Report: 4th-quarter GDP raised to 2.9% from 2.5%

The economy is all right: The U.S. hammered out a 2.9% increase in gross domestic product in the fourth quarter, backed by the fastest consumer spending in three years.

When is the $502 million Mega Millions lottery drawing?

There hasn’t been a Mega Millions jackpot winner since January.

Bond Report: 10-year Treasury yield extends slide to February lows

Treasury yields continue to slide on Wednesday as global stocks fell, pushing investors into haven assets like government bonds