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Aurora warehouse where 5 killed won't reopen until next week

Company officials say the suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse where five people were fatally shot won't reopen until next week, but that its doors will be open to support workers.

Spokeswoman Yolanda Kokayi said Monday that the Henry Pratt Co. facility in Aurora, Illinois, won't return to full production until Feb. 25.

But she says the warehouse doors will be open this week for any employees who want to spend time with colleagues. She says counselors will be available.

A Henry Pratt employee who was about to be fired opened fire at the warehouse Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers. The gunman died in a shootout with police.

Kokayi says the company will be reviewing security protocols and "assessing how we can enhance safety."

Mueller Water Products owns Henry Pratt.

Source: Fox News National

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Actor Burt Reynolds’ car, cowboy boots going up for auction

1979 Pontiac Trans Am which was the last Trans Am owned and driven by Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds stands next to a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am, which was the last Trans Am owned and driven by Reynolds, in this Julien's Auctions photo, released from Culver City, California, U.S., on April 11, 2019. Courtesy Julien's Auctions/Handout via REUTERS

April 12, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – One of Burt Reynolds’ favorite cars is going up for auction in June along with some of his cowboy boots, hats, sports jackets and other items from his estate, Julien’s Auctions said on Friday.

The two-day auction in Beverly Hills, authorized by the actor’s family, comes almost a year after the death at age 82 of the charming star who was one of Hollywood’s favorite actors.

The highlight of the auction is a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am car that Reynolds used on photo shoots and drove on the Bandit Run cross country rally, which re-enacts the journey at the center of his 1977 film “Smokey and the Bandit.”

The car, which Reynolds co-owned with his business partner Gene Kennedy, is expected to fetch up to $500,000 at auction, Julien’s said in a statement.

Two pairs of leather cowboy boots – one red and one yellow – are also offered for sale with estimates ranging from $800 to $2,000 a pair, along with two cowboy hats.

Reynolds started out as a football player at Florida State University (FSU) before injuries suffered in a car crash wrecked his hopes of a professional career.

But his attachment to FSU remained strong. The auction includes several custom or personalized FSU baseball, basketball and varsity jackets.

Other highlights include an oil on canvas painting of the actor’s favorite horse titled “Cartouche,” which carries an estimate of $20,000 – $30,000. Other art works, furniture and dozens of personal items are also being offered for sale.

The auction will take place in Beverly Hills on June 15 and 16, and will be preceded by a public exhibition of some of the items from June 10-14.

Reynolds, who was also known for the 1960s television series “Gunsmoke” and the movies “Deliverance” and “Boogie Nights,”” died of a heart attack in Florida in September 2018.

(The story was refiled to correct the name of the auction house in paragraphs one and four)

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: OANN

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Fugitive priest accused of abusing boy faces trial

A priest who was captured after fleeing the U.S. decades ago is facing a federal trial on charges that he sexually abused a New Mexico boy in the early 1990s at an Air Force base and veterans' cemetery.

Arthur Perrault, a one-time pastor in Albuquerque, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual abuse and others counts. His trial is set to begin Monday in Santa Fe with jury selection.

The church sent Perrault to New Mexico in the 1960s for treatment at a center for pedophile priests.

Federal authorities have said in court documents that he had as many as eight other victims. But the charges against him only involve an 11-year-old altar boy.

Perrault was returned to the United States in September after his arrest in Morocco.

His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: Fox News National

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Controversial Comic Book Starring Jesus to Debut in July

A controversial comic book starring Jesus Christ has found a new publisher and will roll out starting this summer.

The New York Times reported Second Coming partnered with AHOY Comics after DC Comics dropped it from its lineup. DC Comics received heavy pushback from the Christian community and decided to part ways with the comic in February.

Writer Mark Russell and artist Richard Pace are now working with AHOY to launch the new series. The first run will include at least six issues and will debut July 10.

The comic features Jesus living on Earth with a superhero named Sunstar. The cover of the first issue shows Jesus and Sunstar each holding a villain character armed with a handgun. Sunstar appears to be punching his villain in the face, while Jesus is holding a loaf of bread in the mouth of his.

"It's not as respectful as to what [Christians] actually do. It's not a satire of Christ so much as it is a satire on how his followers of the last 2,000 years have turned his message of forgiveness and empathy into one of power and domination, which is as un-Christlike as one can possibly imagine," Russell told the Times.

Pace said that of all the characters in the comic, Jesus comes out looking the best.

"No one has read the book other than the people who are working on it," he said. "I know full well that the only person coming out of it looking good is Jesus."

In a press release, AHOY Comics editor-in-chief Tom Peyer admitted Second Coming will not be for everyone.

"There are going to be people who don't want to read Second Coming, and that's fine. It's not for everyone," he said. "But I don't think it should be controversial to maintain that the rest of us have every right to enjoy it."

Source: NewsMax America

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North Carolina city takes down Confederate statue

A North Carolina city removed a Confederate statue Tuesday from the grounds of an old courthouse, a rare move in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.

Construction crews in Winston-Salem spent more than an hour attaching a harness and a cage-like metal frame to protect the statue of an anonymous soldier, then hoisted it from atop its pedestal with a large crane. A small group of onlookers clapped and cheered as the statue was taken down and placed on a flatbed truck.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said in a phone interview that he hoped work to remove the pedestal and base would be finished by the end of the day. Joines said the statue will eventually be moved to historic Salem Cemetery. Before that, it will be put into temporary storage while a site at the cemetery is prepared.

"We realize that there are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue, so what we've tried to do is devise a solution that recognizes both sides," he said, describing its eventual home in the cemetery as "a very dignified and appropriate location for the statue."

Wearing a jacket and hat with Confederate symbols, Howard Snow came to watch from across the street. He said the city was wasting money by taking the statue down and that the money could be put to better use.

Winston-Salem had more leeway than most North Carolina cities because the old courthouse property had passed into private hands. A 2015 North Carolina law all but prohibits the permanent removal of Confederate statues from public land.

In January, a judge denied a request by the United Daughters of The Confederacy to prevent the removal of the Winston-Salem statue. City officials had given the group until the end of that month to move the statue from the grounds of the building that now houses apartments, or the city would take action.

The approximately 30-foot (9-meter) high monument includes a granite statue atop a base and column and was dedicated in 1905. It depicts an anonymous soldier in a Confederate uniform resting his rifle stock against the ground.

North Carolina has been at the forefront of the debate over what to do with Confederate monuments as one of three southern states with the most statues, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. A state tally shows Confederate monuments are located at contemporary or historic courthouses in about half of the state's counties.

The United Daughters of The Confederacy unsuccessfully argued in court papers that the sale of the Winston-Salem courthouse left the public monuments in the hands of Forsyth County, so removal would violate the state law. But county officials have said they don't own the statue and the current owner of the property agreed the statue should be removed.

City officials have said it's impossible to preserve the monument or protect public safety at the downtown location. The statue has been vandalized several times in recent years, and critics and supporters have rallied around it.

Elsewhere, some statues had been relocated by North Carolina cities in the years before the 2015 law went into effect, but since then, local governments have been all but blocked from doing so under the law that allows relocation only in very narrow circumstances.

Two North Carolina Confederate statues have been torn down by protesters, including one at a historic Durham courthouse and another on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Critics argue many Confederate statues were built decades after the Civil War to promote white supremacy. Supporters counter that the monuments are simply memorials to ancestors who fought and died protecting their homes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said 115 Confederate statues have been taken down across the U.S., a sign that they are losing favor.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Brexit de-escalation? How Wednesday’s parliamentary debate will work

An anti-Brexit protester stands opposite the Houses of Parliament in London
An anti-Brexit protester stands opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

February 26, 2019

By William James

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday update parliament on her progress toward securing a Brexit deal, giving lawmakers the chance to challenge her approach and vote on alternatives.

May wants to negotiate changes to the departure deal she agreed with the EU last year and has promised to bring it back for approval in parliament by March 12 at the latest.

She looks to have postponed a moment of reckoning in the deeply divided legislature by promising lawmakers they will be given the chance next month to block a no-deal Brexit and delay Britain’s exit day if her agreement is rejected.

Wednesday’s debate will not involve a vote on whether to approve or reject a Brexit deal.

WHAT WILL THEY DEBATE?

Lawmakers will debate a simple government statement which reads: “This House notes the Prime Minister’s statement on EU exit of 26 February, 2019; and further notes that discussions between the UK and the EU are ongoing.”

CAN LAWMAKERS PROPOSE CHANGES TO THE WORDING?

Yes. They are known as amendments and, if approved by a vote, could exert political pressure on May to change the course of Brexit. However, the government is not legally bound to follow any changes approved following the debate.

Parliament Speaker John Bercow chooses which amendments are selected for debate.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?

May’s move to de-escalate a showdown in parliament over fears that her strategy could result in Britain leaving the EU without a deal means that a plan for parliament to seize back control of the process is not expected to be voted upon.

However, voting on other alternatives will still take place and a number of amendments could be put to a vote. The final wording of amendments has not been published yet.

WILL THERE BE VOTES?

Speaker Bercow will decide whether to select any of the amendments for a vote at the start of the debate, due around 1300 GMT.

Lawmakers will vote on each of the selected amendments one by one, before voting to give final approval to the wording of the motion itself. Voting is due to begin at 1900 GMT. Each vote takes around 15 minutes and the result is read out in parliament.

WHAT AMENDMENTS ARE EXPECTED?

1. A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by the Labour Party’s Yvette Cooper, will propose a plan that would give parliament the legal power to force May to seek an extension to the negotiating period.

However, it is expected to be withdrawn before a vote provided ministers confirm the timetable May set out on Tuesday.

2. The opposition Labour Party will put down an amendment setting out their own vision for Brexit and demanding the government adopt its negotiating position. Among other things, Labour is calling for a permanent UK-EU customs union.

3. A Conservative lawmaker will put forward a plan seeking to ensure that safeguards on the rights of EU citizens, which have already been agreed with Brussels as part of the withdrawal deal, would apply even if the government was not able to ratify the exit deal.

4. The Scottish National Party are also expected to table an amendment. They have previously called for the government to delay Britain’s EU exit date.

(Reporting by William James; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Alabama police chief ‘disgusted’ by arrest video

The Latest on a videotaped arrest by Alabama police (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

An Alabama police chief says he's "disgusted" by a video recording showing an officer threatening and cursing a woman during a traffic stop that turned violent.

Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson commented Wednesday during a news conference in which he released police bodycam video of the arrest of 22-year-old Jhasmynn Sheppard.

Sheppard was suspected of leaving the scene of an accident on Friday. The video shows that an officer began trying to handcuff her less than 10 seconds after requesting her driver's license. Another officer arrived moments later.

The video shows an officer cursing the woman, threatening to kick out her teeth and saying he could have shot her.

The chief says his officer violated department training throughout the encounter. He says both officers are now on desk duty during disciplinary procedures.

___

5:55 a.m.

An Alabama police department is investigating a video of an arrest that shows two Tuscaloosa police officers punching and using a baton to hit a woman during a traffic stop.

News outlets report 22-year-old Jhasmynn Sheppard is charged with disarming a police officer, assault and resisting arrest. One officer's account of the Friday arrest is detailed in court documents filed Tuesday.

The officer says Sheppard was pulled over after leaving the scene of a wreck. He says she was making "furtive" movements and incoherent statements and then resisted arrest.

He says Sheppard was taken to the ground and took his baton. He says another officer arrived and assisted him. He says he suffered minor injuries. Sheppard denies taking the weapon.

Authorities didn't immediately release the officers' identities.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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)

Source: OANN

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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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