16May2018 Market Close: Wall Street Closes In The Green, DOW Up 63 Points, WTI Crude Moves Up To The Mid 71 Handle, Investors Cautious On North Korea’s ‘games’

Lachlan Murdoch to replace brother James as Fox CEO after Disney deal

(Reuters) – Twenty First Century Fox’s Chief Executive Officer James Murdoch will leave the company and be succeeded by brother Lachlan once the company sells off its TV and film assets to Walt Disney Co .

Wall St. back in black as Russell 2000 hits record

(Reuters) – Retail and technology stocks led Wall Street back to positive territory on Wednesday, and the small-cap Russell 2000 hit a new intra-day high, even as traders remained on edge about geopolitics and rising U.S. interest rates.

Square’s bitcoin move has caused internal disagreement: CEO Dorsey

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Square Inc’s decision to allow users of its mobile app to buy and sell bitcoin this year was a “pretty contentious move within the company” and remains a source of internal tension, the payment processor’s CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday.

Industrial production rises strongly; homebuilding tumbles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. industrial production increased solidly in April amid an acceleration in manufacturing and mining output, the latest indication that the economy was gathering momentum early in the second quarter.

Toys ‘R’ Us demise could spur merger boom in U.S. toy market

(Reuters) – The U.S. toy industry looks set for a flurry of mergers and acquisitions between smaller toy makers in the aftermath of the Toys ‘R’ Us bankruptcy, as they seek more scope and negotiating power with big box retailers Target and Walmart .

Amazon cuts Whole Foods prices for Prime members in new grocery showdown

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc and Whole Foods Market are making a surgical strike in the already brutal grocery price war.

Macy’s lifts forecast, says ‘every week was good’ in first quarter

(Reuters) – Macy’s Inc raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday and reported better-than-expected quarterly and same-store sales, helped by strong international tourism spending, a new loyalty program and a greater assortment of products offered in stores.

Canada ready to cover Kinder Morgan loss, sees outside interest

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is prepared to cover some losses Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd might suffer if a proposed oil pipeline expansion is delayed and thinks other investors are ready to step in if need be, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Wednesday.

Redstone family moves to cement control over CBS

(Reuters) – The Redstone family sought on Wednesday to amend CBS Corp’s bylaws to prevent its board of directors from issuing a special stock dividend that would eliminate much of its voting power, as a court room showdown between them loomed.

Inside Ecuador’s Multi-Million Dollar Operation To Spy On Julian Assange

Ecuador has spent at least $5 million over the last five years on a “secret intelligence budget” for the surveillance and protection of Julian Assange in its central London embassy, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

All visitors, embassy staff and even the British police are surveilled as part of the spy operation, which employs an international security company and undercover agents to monitor everyone who has stopped by to say hi to Assange – from Nigel Farage to Pamela Anderson, to journalist Cassandra Fairbanks, who visited Assange in March shortly before he was denied use of the internet and telephone (and now guests) as a result of controversial political comments over Twitter.

Documents show the intelligence programme, called “Operation Guest”, which later became known as “Operation Hotel” – coupled with parallel covert actions – ran up an average cost of at least $66,000 a month for security, intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence to “protect” one of the world’s most high-profile fugitives.

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Peter Navarro “Who Behaved Erratically And Unprofessionally”, To Be Excluded From China Talks

Back in late February, we noted something that few at the time noticed: Trump had just promoted “populist” trade-hawk Peter Navarro to the rank of assistant to the president. What happened shortly thereafter shook the administration, as first Gary Cohn resigned in very short order, and just days later Trump launched trade war against China and many other nations with which the US has had a trade deficit.

We went so far as to declare a victory for the populists over the globalists in the Trump inner circle.

Well, not even three months later, following some behind the scenes discussions between Trump and Beijing which have yet to be disclosed, it appears that the globalists are back in control as Trump’s main China trade adviser, author of “Death by China” and “Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World” and unrepentant trade hawk, Peter Navarro, has been excluded from talks tomorrow with China’s top economic envoy aimed at defusing a brewing trade war with the U.S., Bloomberg reported citing two administration officials.

As we reported this morning, Vice Premier Liu He, who is also Xi Jinping’s special envoy, will meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

So why is Navarro, arguably the architect of Trump’s entire China trade policy, being left out? According to Bloomberg’s sources, Navarro has “lately behaved errati …

Iran Looks To Bitcoin As Rial Tumbles

Authored by Michael Kern via SafeHaven.com,

Amid sanctions fears, Iranians have reportedly spent over $2.5 billion on cryptocurrencies to get their cash out of the country in a new form of digital capital flight.

The Iranian version aired on state-run media was buried at the bottom on a long discourse on cryptocurrencies, and downplayed as to its significance, but it comes as the Iranian rial plunges to new lows

Avenatti Slams “Asshole” Reporter, Says Other Lawyers “Jealous Of His Success”

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer and the world’s most interviewed person in the past 2 months, has had quite the week.

After leaking the financial records of President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen (along with two unrelated Michael Cohens he wrongly accused “possibly fraudulent” payments), people began digging into Avenatti’s past – only to discover a train-wreck of shady business dealings, unpaid taxes, a state-bar complaint, and dozens of lawsuits in the wake of a failed venture in the coffee industry.

And as various media outlets have begun to cover Avenatti – from his dodgy past to criticisms of his legal strategy behind the Stormy Daniels case, the balding bulldog attorney seems to have come a bit unglued.

In Emerging Turmoil, What Links Argentina and Turkey?

Who’s next? The fear of contagion is stalking emerging markets again, but Argentina and Turkey have put themselves in the firing line while others have distanced themselves from it.

Trump’s ZTE Deal Is No U.S. Win

The West’s main argument against Chinese trade practices has always been that it applies rules selectively and unfairly to achieve mercantilist aims. Now the U.S. is doing the same.

Can Super-Voting Stocks Survive the CBS Challenge?

The lawsuit against National Amusements is a last-ditch effort to block a merger with Viacom, but it’s is also a challenge to the idea of dual-class stock structures.

Thousands of apps are accessing your data on Facebook—how to disconnect them

Facebook suspended 200 apps that had access to large amounts of user data.

Capitol Report: Trump golf courses don’t see bump from White House arrival

Donald Trump taking office didn’t really do much to spur revenue at his golf courses, financial disclosures released Wednesday show.

Capitol Report: Baby boomers aren’t totally to blame for the weak wage growth numbers

One of the great mysteries in the U.S. today is why workers still aren’t earning more money despite the lowest unemployment rate in two decades. Normally companies would be handing out bigger raises when good help is hard to find.