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Egypt court sentences Islamists to 5 years in prison

An Egyptian court has sentenced 36 people convicted of joining the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization to five years in prison.

The Alexandria criminal court on Tuesday also sentenced the defendants to five years of probation. They were arrested in Alexandria in 2017.

The sentences can be appealed.

The Brotherhood won a series of free elections following Egypt's 2011 uprising but was branded a terrorist group after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013. Since then, courts have held mass trials and sentenced hundreds of people to death.

Rights groups have repeatedly criticized such mass sentencings in Egypt and called on authorities to ensure fair trials.

Source: Fox News World

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Retiring late: As pensions underwhelm, more Japanese opt to prolong employment

Yasuhiro Furuse, a senior adviser of corporate sales headquarters of Orix Corp., unfolds his laptop at a meeting room in Tokyo
Yasuhiro Furuse, a senior adviser of corporate sales headquarters of Orix Corp., unfolds his laptop at a meeting room in Tokyo, Japan, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-hoon

April 10, 2019

By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) – Yasuhiro Furuse could have retired two years ago, but he wasn’t entirely happy with his pension income and had to put any such thoughts to bed.

It was just as well for Furuse’s employer Orix Corp, a financial services group, which would have struggled to find a replacement, with Japan’s jobless rate at 26-year lows.

This win-win arrangement, increasingly common in Japan, highlights a structural and policy challenge facing the world’s third-biggest economy.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is considering raising the retirement age to 70 or 75 from 65 now, to ease pension burdens as well as a labor crunch. But a more durable longer term solution, analysts say, is for Japan to relax its strict controls on foreign workers.

“I have no choice but to work,” said Furuse, 62, a senior adviser at Orix’s corporate business headquarters.

“I appreciate that I could keep working, which makes me better off than living on pension and savings. Besides, I want to do something to contribute to society.”

Japan’s population is among the oldest on the planet and has one of the longest lifespans, putting pressure on its pension system. The old-age dependency ratio — or the numbers of elderly against those of working age — is the highest in the OECD.

The situation is being compounded by Japan’s deep-seated reluctance to fully open its gates to foreign workers, leaving many companies to rely on the old guard to overcome severe labor shortages.

On top of that, a lengthy spell of monetary easing by the Bank of Japan to battle deflation and spur growth has led to near-zero bond yields and crippled savings.

INVESTING IN OLD AGE

The current law requires companies to allow employees to work until 65 if they wish. In practice, most companies, trying to keep a lid on labor costs, set a mandatory retirement age at 60, with an option of further five years’ work on reduced pay.

That is changing.

Orix has raised the mandatory retirement age for its employees to 65 from 60. Some other firms such as Taiyo Life Insurance and restaurant chain Skylark Holdings Co, now also allow staff to work until 65, or 70 if employees wish.

“We will raise the retirement age to 65 to … cope with a decline in the workforce,” Nippon Steel Corp said in a statement this month.

Mayumi Waki, a human resources manager at Orix, says the move was worth the extra spending. The older workers seem more motivated, the firm can benefit from their client relationships for longer and younger talent has more mentors available.

“We don’t consider raising the retirement age as a cost but a necessary investment,” Waki said.

To keep costs under control, Taiyo Life has changed the company’s pay review processes to be more focused on merit, and less on career length – another change in culture which is being increasingly adopted throughout Japan.

RETIREMENT AT 70?

Over 8 million Japanese workers are 65 or older, a staggering 12 percent of the entire workforce, government data shows. The old-age dependency ratio is over 50 percent, and is expected to rise to nearly 80 percent by 2050, the OECD says.

The average employee pension in Japan is about 150,000 yen ($1,350.01) a month, lower than government’s target of 60 percent of the pre-retirement income for salaried workers, which would be 220,000 yen on average.

Some economists expect the average pension-to-wage ratio to keep deteriorating and worries are growing that Japan’s ‘pay-as-you-go’ pension scheme may be unsustainable, with fewer workers paying into it and more elders drawing from it.

In a significant move, immigration-shy Japan is taking tentative steps to let in more foreign, blue-collar workers to ease the labor shortage.

Other labor reforms also kicked in this month to curb overtime and promote more flexibility, such as shorter days or working from home, with some analysts saying this could encourage more women and retirees to look for jobs.

Cutting back on Japan’s notorious long hours at work may also make longer careers easier to sustain, analysts say.

“The era of retirement at 70 will come sooner or later,” Taiyo Life’s chairman Katsuhide Tanaka said.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; additional reporting by Izumi Nakagawa; Editing by Marius Zaharia and Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Ocasio-Cortez de-listed from board of Justice Democrats after controversy

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., reportedly has been de-listed from the board of left-wing activist group Justice Democrats, following legal and ethical questions about her affiliation with the group.

The Daily Caller reported that Ocasio-Cortez, along with chief of staff and former campaign chair Saikat Chakrabarti, have been removed from the board of the political action committee after previously holding “legal control over the entity" in late 2017 and early 2018.

OCASIO-CORTEZ, CHIEF OF STAFF ILLEGALLY MOVED $885G IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS 'OFF THE BOOKS,' FEC COMPLAINT ALLEGES 

The Daily Caller had reported earlier this month on Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti's role with the PAC, noting that the congresswoman never disclosed to the Federal Election Commission that they "controlled the PAC while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign." Former FEC officials said at the time this could represent violations of campaign finance law.

It was Justice Democrats that helped catapult Ocasio-Cortez from obscurity to an upset primary win over then-Rep. Joe Crowley to an election win in November. The group runs a recruitment program by which activists can nominate grassroots candidates for office to challenge incumbent Democrats, and Ocasio-Cortez gave her support to that push in a video in January. The group has also backed her on issues such as "Medicare-for-all" and the Green New Deal.

The Caller reports that Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti took control of Justice Democrats in December 2017, until Ocasio-Cortez was removed from the board in June 2018 -- though she was kept on as an “entity governor” until last week. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti were only officially removed from the board on March 15, according to documents obtained by the outlet, almost eight months after attorneys had said she was removed.

The development is the latest in the controversy surrounding the left-wing firebrand’s campaign. Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti were accused in an FEC complaint of violating campaign finance law by funneling nearly $1 million in contributions from PACs, including Justice Democrats, to private companies also controlled by Chakrabarti.

OCASIO-CORTEZ APPEARS IN VIDEO BACKING LIBERAL PUSH TO OUST INCUMBENT DEMOCRATS

Although large financial transfers from PACs to private LLCs are not necessarily improper, the complaint argues that the goal of the "extensive" scheme was seemingly to dodge detailed reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which are designed to track campaign expenditures.

The complaint was drafted by the conservative, Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) and alleged that the pair appeared to have "orchestrated an extensive off-the-books operation to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures in support of multiple candidates for federal office."

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Her office denied wrongdoing. “There is no violation,” Ocasio-Cortez told Fox News after the report was filed. Asked if the complaint shows she was connected to "dark money" during the campaign, Ocasio-Cortez replied, “No, no.”

Chakrabarti also defended the set-up on Twitter, saying, "We were doing something totally new, which meant a new setup. So, we were transparent about it from the start."

Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Florida judge holds deputy in contempt over inmate’s shoes

Officials say a dispute over a defendant's shoes led to a judge ordering a detention sergeant to be handcuffed and briefly charged with contempt of court.

The Miami Herald reports Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan called murder case defendant Richard Walker to testify Wednesday in his courtroom.

The sergeant told the judge Walker's shoes, which his lawyer had brought for the court appearance, weren't checked and approved by sheriff's officials.

Usan insisted that Walker testify. The sergeant resisted, citing security rules. The judge said the sergeant was in contempt and ordered another deputy to handcuff her.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony says the deputy was following procedure and that properly vetting an inmate's attire is not done in a courtroom.

The matter was resolved when Tony spoke to the chief judge.

Source: Fox News National

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Ocasio-Cortez called out for social media silence in wake of Sri Lanka terror attacks

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being slammed over her social media silence in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which left 359 people dead, and shared images purporting to show the seven bombers who blew themselves up at three churches and three hotels on Sunday. The government also confirmed that the attacks came from Islamic fundamentalists.

OCASIO-CORTEZ DECLARES VA ‘ISN’T BROKEN,’ ALREADY PROVIDES TOP-NOTCH CARE

Yet Ocasio-Cortez, who has previously been quick to comment on other terror attacks such as the Christchurch mosque shootings in March, hasn't yet said anything regarding the tragedy in Sri Lanka -- which took the lives of several American citizens.

Many have jumped on the congresswoman’s Twitter blackout on the subject.

“Twitter-obsessed @AOC posted 14 times about the terror attack on Muslims in New Zealand, but has posted nothing about the terror attack on Christians by Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka. Very odd,” DailyMail.com editor-at-large Piers Morgan tweeted.

“Fact: @AOC tweeted about the horrific tragedy in New Zealand 14 times. She tweeted about the attack on Christians in Sri Lanka zero times. Why?” seconded Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk.

CLERIC 'MASTERMIND' BEHIND SRI LANKA ATTACKS KNOWN FOR HATE-FILLED ONLINE SERMONS, POSSIBLE ISIS TIES

Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction differs starkly compared with the aftermath of the terror attack in New Zealand last month, where 50 Muslims were brutally gunned down by a white supremacist.

Following the attack in New Zeland, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted numerous times, seizing on the terror attack to criticize the Trump administration and propose tougher gun control measures in the U.S.

“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine.’ Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs. What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?” one of her tweets read.

She also wrote: “Daily reminder that we have a **Muslim Ban** in this country made out of the President’s hostility to Muslim people w/ little-to-no supporting evidence, and a Republican Party that tolerates it. There is so much work to do. Repealing the Ban is square 1.”

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Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Ethiopia mourns crash victims as plane's 'black box' found

Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as "an extra safety precaution" following the crash of one of its planes in which 157 people were killed, a spokesman said Monday, as Ethiopia marked a day of mourning and the plane's damaged "black box" of data was found.

Although it wasn't yet known what caused the crash of the new plane in clear weather outside Addis Ababa on Sunday, the airline decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8s until further notice, spokesman Asrat Begashaw said. Ethiopian Airlines had been using five of the planes and awaiting delivery of 25 more.

Some other airlines around the world were deciding to do the same. China's civilian aviation authority ordered all Chinese airlines to temporarily ground their Max 8s, and Caribbean carrier Cayman Airways said it was temporarily grounding the two it operates.

Red Cross workers slowly picked through the widely scattered debris near the blackened crash crater, looking for the remains of 157 lives. A shredded book. A battered passport. Business cards in multiple languages. Heavy machinery dug for larger pieces of the plane.

The plane's "black box" of flight data and cockpit voice recorder had been found, Ethiopian Airlines said. An airline official, however, told The Associated Press that the box was partially damaged and "we will see what we can retrieve from it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

Forensic experts from Israel had arrived to help with the investigation, said Ethiopian Airlines' spokesman Asrat. Ethiopian authorities lead the investigation into the crash, assisted by the U.S., Kenya and others.

"These kinds of things take time," Kenya's transport minister, James Macharia, told reporters.

People from 35 countries died in the Sunday morning crash six minutes after the plane took off from Ethiopia's capital en route to Nairobi. Ethiopian Airlines said the senior pilot issued a distress call and was told to return but all contact was lost shortly afterward. The plane plowed into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu.

"I heard this big noise," one local resident, Tsegaye Reta, told the AP on Monday. "The villagers said that it was a plane crash, and we rushed to the site. There was a huge smoke that we couldn't even see the plane. The parts of the plane were falling apart."

Kenya lost 32 people, more than any country. Relatives of 25 of the victims had been contacted, Macharia said, and taking care of their welfare was of utmost importance.

"Some of them, as you know, they are very distressed," he said. "They are in shock like we are. They are grieving."

Canada, Ethiopia, the U.S., China, Italy, France, Britain, Egypt, Germany, India and Slovakia all lost four or more citizens.

Leaders of the United Nations, the U.N. refugee agency and the World Food Program announced that colleagues had been on the plane. The U.N. migration agency estimated that 19 U.N.-affiliated employees were killed.

Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and some had been on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference set to begin Monday in Nairobi. The U.N. flag at the event flew at half-staff.

The crash was strikingly similar to that of a Lion Air jet of the same Boeing model in Indonesian seas last year, killing 189 people. The crash was likely to renew questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing's popular single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world's most common passenger jet.

Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known about Sunday's disaster.

The Ethiopian plane was delivered to the airline in November. The jet's last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours.

The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in African skies, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent's largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa.

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Meseret reported from Addis Ababa.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Source: Fox News World

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Pearl on Okeke injury: ‘We’re gonna miss him’

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Midwest Regional-Auburn vs North Carolina
Mar 29, 2019; Kansas City, MO, United States; Auburn Tigers forward Chuma Okeke (5) is treated after suffering an apparent injury against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half in the semifinals of the midwest regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

March 30, 2019

Auburn forward Chuma Okeke underwent an MRI on his knee Saturday morning at a Kansas City hospital, and while he didn’t disclose the results, coach Bruce Pearl all but acknowledged his star won’t be available Sunday in the Midwest Region final against Kentucky.

“We fear for the worst, and we hope for the best. We think it’s a pretty serious injury,” Pearl said on ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday, the morning after Okeke suffered the injury in Auburn’s Sweet 16 victory over North Carolina.

.”.. Almost night in and night out, in this month, Chuma Okeke’s been the best player on the floor. We’re gonna miss him a lot having to go up against Kentucky tomorrow.”

Okeke scored 20 points and 11 rebounds before suffering the knee injury with 8:08 left in the game, falling to the court while attempting a layup.

“It’s a bittersweet accomplishment because of Chuma getting hurt late in the game. Nobody works harder, nobody gives us more courage,” Pearl said after the win.

“When it gets tough and you got to go to a matchup, we got (No.) five and you don’t. That’s how we felt. In a game full of guys that — that have got a chance to play at the next level, I thought he was the best player, and that has happened a lot to us this year. So we’re disappointed he may be lost, but we are very, very grateful to be moving on and representing the SEC and Auburn in the Elite 8.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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