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Kazakhstan puts campaigner against Chinese camps under house arrest

Kazakh rights activist Serikzhan Bilash walks outside a courthouse in Almaty
Kazakh rights activist Serikzhan Bilash walks outside a courthouse in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mariya Gordeyeva

March 12, 2019

ALMATY (Reuters) – A Kazakh court has placed an activist who campaigned on behalf of ethnic Kazakhs in China under house arrest on the charge of calling for a “jihad” against the Chinese, state prosecutors said.

Serikzhan Bilash, a naturalized Kazakh citizen born in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, leads Atajurt, a group that has worked for the release of ethnic Kazakhs from “re-education” camps where activists say more than a million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held.

Police detained Bilash in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city, last weekend and brought him before a court in Astana, the Central Asian nation’s capital.

In a statement issued late on Monday, the Astana prosecutor’s office said Bilash is suspected of making the jihad comment at a public event last month. He has yet to make a plea.

Prosecutors said the court placed Bilash under house arrest for two months while they prepare for trial.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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Macron meets officials, eyes Notre Dame for legacy-building

French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting officials from the United Nations' cultural agency, where he is expected to set out ideas for the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.

He will meet with state delegates from UNESCO, which oversees global heritage issues, in the Elysee Palace Friday.

Macron's push for a speedy rebuild indicates he wants the fire-ravaged monument's reconstruction to be part of his legacy, and is seizing the moment to try to move on from the divisive yellow vest protests. His initial wish for it to be rebuilt in just five years was met with incredulity.

Macron had been due to deliver an uneasy speech Monday setting out long-awaited plans to quell anti-government protests that have marred his presidency, but it was postponed after the fire broke out.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump Fights to Fix Shipping Rates That Favor China

COMMENTARY

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Did you know that it costs significantly more to mail a package to Boise from Boston than it does from Beijing?

According to the U.S. Postal Service, it costs around $20 to mail a small parcel weighing 4.4 pounds from one U.S. state to another, yet mailing the same package from China only costs about $5. Millions of Americans who have purchased consumer goods online from Chinese sellers for a few bucks, shipping included, have likely noticed this disparity first-hand.

This shipping differential is the product of the U.S. government subsidizing Chinese shipments. The government estimates USPS delivers Chinese goods at a 40% to 70% discount, losing money on each package it delivers.

This unfair dynamic hurts U.S. small businesses, whose bottom lines are increasingly reliant on e-commerce, because it allows China to dump its often-counterfeit products in the U.S. market at an artificially low cost. And it sticks taxpayers with the tab because they are on the hook for bailing out the government-funded USPS. Yes, you read that right. Uncle Sam allows this to happen and is ultimately to blame. With a friend like this, who needs enemies?

The Universal Postal Union, a United Nations agency that sets postal rates among its 192-member countries, dictates USPS's artificially low rates. It bizarrely groups China – the world’s second-largest economy – with developing nations like Gabon and Fiji into its third tier of shipping rates, which are just a fraction of what the developed world must pay.

Successive U.S. presidents have turned a blind eye to this injustice. Until now. The Trump administration has made correcting this shipping status quo a priority. Last month, the federal Advisory Committee on International Postal and Delivery Services, a unit of the State Department, met to discuss its plan to reform UPU rules to allow the U.S. to self-declare rates for inbound delivery rather than follow UPU diktat. Self-declaration is already standard for larger packages that weigh more than 4.4 pounds.

Last October, President Trump announced the U.S. would begin to withdraw from the UPU entirely -- a process that takes one year to complete -- while simultaneously seeking to renegotiate UPU terms. In an effort to retain the U.S. as a member, UPU officials are meeting this month to consider the U.S.’s proposal.

Given that nearly half the world's mail goes through the U.S., the UPU would be wise to accept the administration’s offer. If it refuses to do so, Trump shouldn't let bureaucratic inertia at the State Department slow down his order to extricate the U.S. from this bad deal by this October.

Consider some examples of how this current shipping dynamic is hurting U.S. small businesses. Jayme Smaldone, a small New Jersey travel mug manufacturer, pays $6.30 to ship a mug domestically. His Chinese counterparts sell knock-offs of his product for $5.69, including free shipping all the way from China. Becca Peter, a Washington state designer packaging tape manufacturer, pays $3.50 for domestic shipping. Her Chinese competitors charge just $2 for their version of the product, shipping included.

Bigger businesses and franchises, such as the recently bankrupt Radio Shack and Toys R Us, are also negatively affected. Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, highlights how an electric voltage measurer cost $24.99 at Radio Shack versus $15.82 at Deal Extreme, a Chinese e-commerce company. At this price differential, many Americans would have purchased at Radio Shack given its reputation and return policy. Yet factor in shipping -- $5.95 at Radio Shack versus free at Deal Extreme – and all of a sudden American consumers are being asked to pay twice as much to purchase their product domestically. Herman argues this dynamic helped kill Radio Shack.

USPS loses about $300 million per year on Chinese imports -- losing about $1 per small package it delivers. Given that China will deliver hundreds of millions of small packages this year, eliminating this postal subsidy would be enough to move USPS from the red into the black when it comes to Chinese imports.

Until this happens, USPS will be forced to continue raising domestic shipping rates in an attempt to recoup losses, as it has done in recent years. This means taxpayers and American shippers are effectively subsidizing Chinese merchants.

Reforming UPU rules has received broad support from across the political spectrum. It is a non-controversial way to level the playing field to help U.S. small businesses compete fairly against their Chinese competitors while also improving the trade deficit.

Whether UPU terms are reformed to allow the U.S. to self-declare its own rates, or whether the U.S. leaves the Swiss-based organization altogether, the days of something costing less to mail across the world than across the county line are numbered. Get ready to chalk up another victory for U.S. small businesses and taxpayers under President Trump. 

Alfredo Ortiz is the president and CEO of the Job Creators Network.

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Texas robber duct-tapes store clerk, sets bound customer on fire: police

Authorities in Texas on Thursday said they arrested the suspect wanted for a violent robbery earlier that included duct-taping a convenience store clerk and customer and then pouring lighter fluid on the customer and setting the bound person on fire.

The suspect, identified by police as 40-year-old Robert Thompson, was arrested on a warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault, KTRE reported.

The victim was transported to a hospital in Dallas for treatment, the report said. Her condition was not known. The incident, which took place at JJ's Fast Stop in Palestine, Texas, was captured on surveillance footage.

“The suspect … decided to pour lighter fluid on the cashier and the customer. Right before he left, he lit a match and lit them on fire," a police official said.

Source: Fox News National

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Britain starts search for next Bank of England governor

FILE PHOTO: Workers emerge from Bank underground station with the Bank of England and Royal Exchange building seen in the City of London financial district, London, Britain
FILE PHOTO: Workers emerge from Bank underground station with the Bank of England (L) and Royal Exchange building (R) in the City of London financial district, London, Britain, January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

April 24, 2019

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday it will start the process of replacing Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England.

“Finding a candidate with the right skills and experience to lead the Bank of England is vital for ensuring the continuing strength of our economy and for maintaining the UK’s position as a leading global financial center,” Hammond said in a statement.

Carney took up his role on July 1, 2013, and will step down on Jan. 31, 2020.

(Reporting By Huw Jones; editing by Simon Jessop)

Source: OANN

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Sen. Warren Proposes Abolishing Electoral College

The Electoral College should be abolished and instead the president chosen by a national vote, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said at a CNN town hall in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday evening.

Warren, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, said the Electoral College disenfranchises voters who live in a state dominated by one of the parties.

"Come a general election, presidential candidates don't come to places like Mississippi, she said. “They also don't come to places like California or Massachusetts, because we're not the battleground states."

The senator stressed that "My view is that every vote matters and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College."

Two times in the past 20 years a Republican won the presidential election while receiving less national votes than his Democratic challenger - in 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore and in 2016 Donald Trump bested Hillary Clinton, The Washington Times reported.

Trump’s victory has spurred momentum for a national popular vote, but the fact that the Electoral College is part of the Constitution makes such a radical change more problematic, according to Politico.

Instead, other alternatives are being pushed attempting to have the same change while officially keeping the Electoral College, such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

That idea has member states pledge their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. However, according to Politico, the deal only go into effect only if enough states sign on to pledge the 270 electoral votes necessary to win a presidential election. A combined total of 181 Electoral Votes have committed to the pact with the addition of Colorado last week.

Related Stories:

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Proposed UN resolution demands immediate cease-fire in Libya

A proposed U.N. resolution demands that all parties in Libya immediately de-escalate the fighting and commit to a cease-fire.

The British-drafted resolution, circulated to Security Council members and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, also calls on all parties to immediately re-commit to attending a U.N.-facilitated political dialogue "and work toward a comprehensive political solution to the crisis in Libya."

The draft resolution expresses "grave concern" at military activity near Tripoli, which began after Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter's self-styled Libyan National Army — aligned with a rival government in the east — launched its offensive on April 3. The internationally supported U.N.-backed government, which is weaker, is based in Tripoli.

It says the offensive "threatens the stability of Libya" and prospects for the national dialogue and a political solution in Libya, and has had a "serious humanitarian impact."

The Security Council is divided over Hifter's offensive.

Hifter is supported by Russia, France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates who see him as the best hope of stabilizing the troubled country and combatting extremists.

A proposed press statement soon after the offensive began that urged the Libyan National Army to halt the offensive was blocked by Russia, one of the permanent council members. Such statements require approval by all 15 council members.

The proposal stresses the need for the parties to engage with U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame "with the aim of achieving a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political solution to bring security, political and economic sustainability, and national unity to Libya."

Source: Fox News World

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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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