Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Flowers bloom in war-torn Syria’s battered cities

People visit a cemetery in al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo
People visit a cemetery in al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

April 16, 2019

By Angus McDowall

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – A mantle of gold smothers Aleppo’s ruins, hiding the rubble and filling the craters with wild flowers that for a moment seem to transform a landscape scarred by war, destruction and death.

After an unusually wet winter, the warm days of spring have suddenly brought an abundance of color and life to a weary Syria, blooming in city and desert.

But they blanket a scene of war. The hummocks and dells are piles of debris, barricades, craters and trenches. The flowers grow where people once lived, fought, died.

Eight years of conflict have killed perhaps half a million people, destroyed whole towns and city districts and made half of all Syrians homeless.

In most parts of the country, the fighting is now over – at least for now. President Bashar al-Assad holds most of Syria, including the city of Aleppo, taken after months of bitter fighting in 2016.

However, Kurdish-led groups hold northeast Syria, and, in the northwest near Aleppo is the frontline with the last big rebel stronghold, where there has been bombardment in recent weeks. 

The war destroyed much of Aleppo’s beautiful Old City and many poor eastern districts, leaving neighborhoods of rubble and fallen stone.

In the remains of the Attariyeh section of the souk, where the stone roof collapsed, a young couple sat on a pile of stones courting in the warm evening air, the sun illuminating the yellow flowers and picking out the woman’s red headscarf.

The steep sides of the ancient citadel’s round hill in the center of the city are thick with blooms and families gather at sunset to stroll or sit.

“It’s God’s message to make everything beautiful after mankind destroyed everything,” said Majd Kanaa, 35, standing at the end of a souk alleyway where he was repairing his late father’s shop, ready to reopen.

BUTTERFLIES, SWALLOWS, FROGS, STORKS

Clouds of butterflies, russet, black and white, flutter from the undergrowth and bees hum round the flowers. Flocks of swallows flit from the sky to roost in the ruins.

At night, in the fields and olive groves just outside the city, a cacophonous croaking of frogs drowns out the noise of cars from a road lined with cypress and pine trees.

Along the road from the south, precariously held for years by the army with rebels on one side and Islamic State on the other, the fighting left a chain of fortifications.

The war has moved far from here and these are now mostly deserted. Grass and flowers grow thick between the oil drums, sandbags and stacked tires guarding the old gun emplacements and concrete boxes.

Yellow broom, purple thistles and fat red poppies spring from the desert floor and paint it a psychedelic swirl of color. In one place, a huge patch of ground seems to bleed with thousands of poppies springing from the softly undulating earth.

“In Syria we believe that poppies are the blood of the martyrs,” said Aleppo lawyer and historian Alaa al-Sayed, explaining that their Arabic name comes from a dead king. “There are so many martyrs,” he added.

In the hills beyond the poppies are the pretty pointed mud domes of traditional “beehive” villages and young shepherds watching flocks of sheep and goats.

When the strong west wind ruffles the ground in the late afternoon, it makes the grass shimmer. Flocks of small birds suddenly rise from the ground and bob in the air. Migrating storks beat their wings in the distance.

Little electricity means little light, and at night the heavens are lit by a sharp crescent moon and brilliant constellations of stars. A fox slinks across the desert road in the light of car headlights.

But from time to time they also illuminate the burnt-out wrecks by the roadside, the remains of battles past, while two heavy trucks bear tanks onwards to today’s front line.

(Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

0 0

Jury selection to resume in ex-Minneapolis cop’s trial

Jury selection is resuming in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911 to report a possible assault.

Mohamed Noor is charged with murder and manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Damond, a 40-year-old life coach, had approached Noor's squad car in the alley behind her home when she was shot.

A pool of 75 potential jurors filled out questionnaires Monday. Attorneys for both sides and the judge agreed to dismiss six people on Tuesday based on their written answers to questions such as their experiences with a person of Somali heritage. Direct questioning starts Wednesday.

Noor is Somali-American. Damond was white.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Community College board backs instructor over visa

A beloved chemistry teacher from India just took his first giant step toward staying in the United States.

Blue Mountain Community College chemistry instructor Chandra Kunapareddy got the answer he sought at the last of three special BMCC Board of Education meetings.

Community college board of education meetings aren't usually riveting, high-suspense affairs. However, the trio of standing-room-only special board meetings in the last week featured both angst and passion.

Kunapareddy, 36, faced the expiration in 2020 of his H-1B visa, a document that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require intellectual or technical expertise. The chemistry instructor grew up in a village in southern India, born into a caste of farm workers. None of his family except him has gone past middle school.

In 2017, when Kunapareddy started his job, the college officially notified him that the visa assistance was a one-time deal. On April 17 at the first meeting, the instructor asked for a change in course. He said he loved his job, his student evaluations were stellar and he hoped to raise his children here.

Would the college consider helping him renew the visa and start the green card process?

Board members listened as a string of faculty and students took the microphone to praise Kunapareddy as a personable, qualified instructor with the gift of making the sometimes dry subject of chemistry come alive.

More than one person got emotional as they spoke.

At the second meeting on April 18, board members wrestled with the pros and cons as they decided how to vote.

Jane Hill and Kim Puzey favored helping Kunapareddy, while Chair Chris Brown, Heidi Van Kirk and Anthony Turner worried about overturning the 2017 decision and fretted about an additional financial obligation during tight budget times. Bob Savage straddled the middle line.

The board considered four options ranging from not renewing at all to renewing and helping Kunapareddy navigate the green card process.

The price tag for BMCC is somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 and is the same for Kunapareddy. Puzey initially suggested that the faculty consider raising funds necessary to pay the college's portion, making any financial objection moot. He offered to throw in $1,000 of his own money.

Vice President of Administrative Services Tammy Parker, who researched the process, quickly quashed the notion as an employer must pay its half of the fees without outside funds according to law.

Mired in complexities, the board opted to push off the decision again until board member Don Rice returned from abroad.

At the third meeting, the boardroom again filled up, this time with members of the public joining in.

Former state veterinarian Andrew Clark stepped to the microphone. Clark, who said he had taken 13 terms of chemistry en route to his veterinary degree, called a good chemistry teacher "a treasure to be nurtured."

Van Kirk, who originally voted against assisting Kunapareddy, moved to start the green card process immediately and renew the visa.

She, Kunapareddy, Rice, Parker, Vice President of Instruction John Field and Science Department Chair Philip Schmitz had met the day before as a work group to discuss the way forward and Van Kirk had modified her position.

Hill seconded Van Kirk's motion.

Puzey verbalized his support. Though the school would enter uncharted territory, it is a path worth traveling, he said.

"I just want to keep this incredible person on our faculty," Puzey said.

The vote was six-to-one, with Brown voting no.

The whole thing could backfire for Kunapareddy. His position must be advertised again to make sure there are no American applicants more qualified to fill his job. If another applicant beats out Kunapareddy, he could be headed back to India.

That gives him pause as he realizes the selection committee determines his future, but he focused on the big step forward.

"I'm really thankful. Lots of gratitude," Kunapareddy said.

"I'm willing to pay it back with my teaching."

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Saudi king launches $23 billion entertainment projects in Riyadh: state TV

Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends Arab league and EU summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh
FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends a summit between Arab league and European Union member states, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

March 19, 2019

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has launched four entertainment projects in the capital Riyadh, together worth 86 billion riyals ($23 billion), state television reported on Tuesday.

The projects include a park, sports track and an art center.

The King also ordered that one of the capital’s main roads should be named after crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

(Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

0 0

Hillary Staffers Snipe Bernie Sanders for Private Jet Use

People in Democrat Hillary Clinton's circle are calling out how Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., frequently uses sleek private jets — including during his 2016 presidential campaign — despite his calls to curb greenhouse gases and with tight campaign budgets.

Sanders' 2016 campaign spokesman responded by calling Clinton's campaign staff "a—holes."

Politico spoke with members of Clinton's 2016 campaign, which faced a tough primary fight against Sanders before he conceded defeat and endorsed her for president.

"I'm not shocked that while thousands of volunteers braved the heat and cold to knock on doors until their fingers bled in a desperate effort to stop Donald Trump, his Royal Majesty King Bernie Sanders would only deign to leave his plush D.C. office or his brand new second home on the lake if he was flown around on a cushy private jet like a billionaire master of the universe," Zac Petkanas, who worked as the Clinton campaign's rapid response director, told Politico.

The private jet issue became apparent after Sanders endorsed Clinton. When he agreed to appear on the campaign trail with her, Sanders would reportedly demand the use of a private jet, typically a Gulfstream. Politico reported the travel setup cost the Clinton campaign at least $100,000.

Sanders has spent more than $342,000 on private jet flights in the two-plus years since the 2016 election, Politico noted.

"We would try to fight it as much as possible because of cost and availability of planes, but they would request [a jet] every time," a source told Politico of Sanders' campaign travel habits. "We would always try to push for commercial. . . . At the campaign, you're constantly trying to save like 25 cents."

In response to the private jet revelations, Michael Briggs — the spokesman for Sanders' 2016 campaign — had some choice words for Clinton's staff.

"You can see why she's one of the most disliked politicians in America," Briggs said. "She's not nice. Her people are not nice.

"[Sanders] busted his tail to fly all over the country to talk about why it made sense to elect Hillary Clinton and the thanks that [we] get is this kind of petty stupid sniping a couple years after the fact.

"It doesn't make me feel good to feel this way, but they're some of the biggest a—holes in American politics."

Sanders is running for president in the 2020 race and among his campaign issues is battling climate change, as he has been a strong supporter of passing legislation to create more environmentally friendly laws.

Source: NewsMax America

0 0

Trump picks Air Force general for Pentagon’s No. 2 spot

President Donald Trump is nominating the Air Force general in charge of U.S. Strategic Command to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen. John Hyten now serves as commander of the U.S. nuclear forces and has the lead military role for space operations. His nomination was announced Tuesday by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hyten would succeed the retiring Air Force Gen. Paul Selva.

The vice chairman is the second-ranking military officer behind the chairman but does not command troops

Trump said last December that he was nominating Army Gen. Mark Milley to succeed Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Dunford's term ends Oct. 1.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

France points way for UK shake up of audit market

FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 18, 2019

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – Taking on the Big Four accounting firms will remain a lengthy and costly challenge for smaller rivals in Britain despite the regulatory leg-up unveiled on Thursday, but France has shown it can be done over a decade.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered that Britain’s top 350 listed companies must hire two auditors to loosen the grip of EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC that individually check the books of all but nine of those companies.

It forms a package of measures from the CMA aimed at improving audit quality and restoring trust after accounting failures at construction company Carillion and retailer BHS.

Though the changes are likely to take some time to make it into law, joint audits in France have enabled smaller rivals like Mazars to work alongside the Big Four and win the confidence of bigger clients.

They also feature in Sweden and Spain, but were ditched in Denmark due to the higher cost, with estimates ranging from about 20 percent to far higher.

“We know it works and we know it will work in Britain and will create a markedly different market that is much needed,” said David Herbinet, the London-based global head of audit at Mazars.

According to the International Accounting Bulletin (IAB), Deloitte earned $43.2 billion globally in audit and consultancy fees in 2018 – a fifth of the market – while PwC earned $41.9 billion, EY $35 billion, and KPMG $29 billion.

Smaller competitors BDO and Grant Thornton earned $9 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively.

Checking the books of big, international companies with subsidiaries across the world has long been the preserve of the Big Four given the need for a cross-border network of partners and big spending on IT.

Deloitte, for example, employed 286,000 staff in 2018 compared with 80,000 at BDO and 52,686 at Grant Thornton, according to IAB.

PwC has spent a billion dollars on cloud computing alone in recent years, dwarfing the IT spend of BDO or Grant Thornton.

BDO and Grant Thornton audited just nine of the 350 top listed companies in Britain, the rest checked by the Big Four, Britain’s accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, has said.

(GRAPHIC: Big Four graph – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DjNhCJ)

FRENCH WAY

KPMG questioned the capability and willingness of smaller auditors to break into the top end of the market.

Big Four officials say privately that smaller rivals benefit from the current situation by having more opportunities to cream off the more lucrative consultancy work, especially now the Big Four won’t sell advisory services to audit clients.

Smaller auditors have dismissed this view.

KPMG said that for BDO, Grant Thornton and others to audit big clients they will have to very quickly deliver multiple, large-scale, complex global audit work in a short time.

“Shareholders, audit committees and the regulator must have total confidence in the ability of these firms to complete this work before the market can move ahead with this recommendation,” KPMG said.

Deloitte’s UK managing partner for audit, Stephen Griggs, said joint audits were unproven in Britain and some countries had moved away from them due to big cost increases and little company and investor interest.

“In the only market where joint audits are used extensively, France, the vast majority of audit mandates in the CAC 40 are held by Big Four firms,” Griggs said.

Joint audits have been in place in France for about 50 years, but only changed the market after regulators ruled in 2011 that they must be “balanced”, meaning a Big Four firm cannot have the lion’s share and leave crumbs for a challenger.

The CMA said only 44 percent of the 120 top listed companies in France are audited by two Big Four firms, and challengers often have around 40 percent of the joint audit.

Companies and investors have already cast doubt on the ability of joint audits to improve audit quality and avoid another Carillion or BHS.

“We remain unconvinced of the value of joint audits, as there is little evidence that they actually lead to the better quality audits that investors want to see,” said Chris Cummings, chief executive of The Investment Association, which represents asset managers in Britain.

The CMA has said the biggest, most complex companies listed in the UK – estimated to number around 30 – would be exempt from the joint audit requirement.

Gervase MacGregor, head of risk and reputation at BDO, said market caps on the Big Four would diversify the market faster, a step the CMA considered but has not recommended.

“We will be gearing up and making this commitment,” MacGregor said, referring to preparing for joint audits.

He said that over time Big Four audit market share in Britain would stagnate, with BDO already getting job enquiries from Big Four partners who see better promotion prospects at one of the smaller firms in a reverse of the historical situation.

Mandatory joint audits will need legislation and it could take several years before a new law is in place, given parliament is clogged up with Brexit.

By then, BDO and other challengers will have taken on more partners to cope with joint audits and grown their IT investments, MacGregor said.

The CMA is clever in granting companies an exemption from joint audits if they hire a challenger as a sole auditor, MacGregor said. “We know we will be contacted by a lot of people who want us to take over as sole auditor,” he said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist