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Mexican president promises not to seek re-election

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has signed an open letter promising to not seek re-election after his six-year term ends in 2024.

That move was prompted by opposition fears that a proposal to let voters oust the president midway through his term might actually end up letting him serve longer.

The president's supporters in Congress advanced legislation last week that would call a referendum halfway through presidential terms — an idea Lopez Obrador had campaigned on.

But critics suspect it could undermine Mexico's constitutional prohibition on re-election. Conservative opponents have long compared Lopez Obrador to Venezuela's late Hugo Chavez and other leaders of the Latin American left who made moves to extend their time in office.

Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that in 2024 he'll retire to his ranch.

Source: Fox News World

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Miami student charged after attempting wrestling move on high school principal, cops say

A Miami high school student was arrested Wednesday after allegedly attempting a popular wrestling move on his principal.

Gianny Sosa, a senior at Miami Southridge Senior High School, was in a hallway when he allegedly placed his arm around the neck of Principal Humberto Miret to allegedly attempt an “RKO” move caught on cellphone video. It was unclear what led to the alleged incident.

An “RKO” is performed by jumping into the air and grabbing the back of an opponent’s head and slamming their face into the mat. Miret was able to get Sosa into a chokehold and appears to punch him, WLPG-TV reported.

Sosa, 18, a recorded a video of himself and Miret after the incident.

"Oh, now that I'm recording you don't want to touch me? You don't want to hit me now?" Sosa said to Miret in the video. "It's crazy, ain't it? Now that the camera has your face, you don't want to hit me. Now that the superintendent might see this, you don't want to touch me."

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The teen is charged with battery on a school official and interference with an educational institution, according to the station. It was not immediately whether the student or Miret will face discipline by the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district.

Source: Fox News National

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Trump: Haven’t spoken to attorney general on releasing Mueller report

U.S. President Trump meets with China's Vice Premier Liu He at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with China's Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

February 22, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he has not spoken to Attorney General William Barr about releasing the report on the special counsel’s probe on possible Russian election interference.

Several news outlets have reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will complete the report on the probe, which has already led to criminal charges of some Trump political aides, and send it to Barr in the coming days. Democratic lawmakers are already pressing for the report to be publicly released in full. Trump, a Republican, and Russia deny any election meddling.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Jeff Mason; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: OANN

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American families of missing Uighurs speak out at DC event

Nearly two years after the Chinese government began to detain members of Muslim minority groups in western China, a growing number of family members abroad are refusing to remain silent.

On Sunday, about three dozen relatives of some of the 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and others being held without charge spoke out about the mass detentions at an event in Washington, D.C., hoping to raise awareness of what many are calling a human rights travesty but which Beijing defends as necessary to counter violent religious extremism.

"If you know someone who is missing, it is time to speak up," said Ferkat Jawdat, a Virginia-based software engineer. He's lost contact with his 52-year-old mother in Xinjiang, a Chinese region home to the predominantly Muslim Uighur (pronounced WEE-gur) and Kazakh ethnic minorities.

Xinjiang has been subject to a severe security crackdown in recent years that has made surveillance cameras and police checkpoints ubiquitous. The internment camps are a relatively recent phenomenon, but have expanded rapidly as a primary means of intimidation and social control.

For members of the Uighur diaspora, losing a family member into the sprawling system has become all too common.

Jawdat co-organized Sunday's gathering so that Uighurs in the U.S. could start collecting information on their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even children whose whereabouts are unknown. They plan to present the data to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the U.S. State Department.

Some of the attendees have confirmation that their loved ones are detained in Xinjiang. Others have simply lost contact — and fear the worst.

"We want to raise awareness about what can happen to American families — many of these people here are American citizens," said Jawdat, a U.S. citizen who helped organize the event, held in the basement of a public library.

Similar gatherings took place concurrently in eight other countries, including Turkey, France, Germany, Australia and Canada, he said.

Those in China with relatives abroad come under particular suspicion from the Chinese security forces, increasing the likelihood of them being interned.

Abduwaris Ablimit, a 34-year-old chef living in Boston, said his first impulse had not been to speak out, frightened of what the Chinese authorities might do in retaliation.

The last time he heard his parents' voices was on a recorded message through the Chinese messaging app WeChat.

"Please don't call me again, son," his mother said through sobs, Ablimit recalled. "Maybe one day we will see each other again."

She sent the message in July 2017. Since then, Ablimit has lived in fear that his parents and brother, well-known Uighur pop singer Zahirshah Ablimit, were sent to an internment camp.

His suspicions were confirmed in December, when Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that a police officer in Ablimit's Xinjiang hometown said he had been involved in detaining Ablimit's parents. A second officer told RFA that he had arrested Ablimit's brother.

Former camp detainees have told The Associated Press that after being confined in the camps, they were forced to renounce their faith and swear fealty to China's ruling Communist Party.

They said they were subject to political indoctrination and psychological torture, without legal recourse. They describe conditions in the camps as grim, with poor food, crowded cells and little medical assistance.

China says the camps are vocational training centers aimed at helping those vulnerable to extremism to be "cured" of such thoughts and gain job skills.

Apart from Turkey, whose people share cultural, religious and linguistic ties with Uighurs, the Muslim world has remained largely silent over the camps. Experts attribute that to their economic dependence on China, similarly authoritarian political systems and Beijing's claims that it is countering a shared terror threat.

In the face of such silence, relatives of internees are taking it upon themselves to speak out.

After more than a year of being unable to reach his parents, Ablimit started talking to the media and reaching out to the U.S. consulates in Beijing and Shanghai. According to text messages reviewed by the AP, Ablimit received threatening messages from someone who claimed to be a Chinese police officer. The person urged Ablimit to stay quiet about his family's case.

But Ablimit, who traveled to Washington for Sunday's meeting, wasn't swayed.

"I'm not afraid anymore," he said. "I just need to find the truth."

Source: Fox News National

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Oil extends losses into second session; Russia, OPEC output in focus

FILE PHOTO: An offshore oil rig is seen in the Caspian Sea near Baku
FILE PHOTO: An offshore oil rig is seen in the Caspian Sea near Baku, Azerbaijan, October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

April 16, 2019

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Oil prices edged down on Tuesday after a Russian minister said the nation and OPEC may boost crude output to fight for market share, checking a recent sharp rally driven by tighter global production.

Brent crude oil futures were at $71.08 a barrel at 0111 GMT, down 10 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close. Brent ended down 0.5 percent on Monday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.39 per barrel, down 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their previous settlement. WTI fell 0.8 percent on Monday.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said over the weekend that Russia and OPEC may decide to boost production to fight for market share with the United States, but this would push oil as low as $40 per barrel.

“There is a growing concern that Russia will not agree on extending production cuts and we could see them officially abandon it in the coming months,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst, OANDA.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, will meet in June to decide whether to continue withholding supply. That comes after they previously agreed to crimp output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1 for six months.

Losses were checked by tighter supplies from Iran and Venezuela amid signs the United States will further toughen sanctions on those two OPEC producers, and on the threat that renewed fighting could wipe out crude production in Libya.

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Source: OANN

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Vela’s second goal gives LAFC 2-2 draw at NYCFC

MLS: Los Angeles FC at New York City FC
Mar 17, 2019; New York, NY, USA; Los Angeles FC forward Carlos Vela (10) celebrates his goal against New York City FC during the first half at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

March 17, 2019

Carlos Vela scored his second goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 76th minute as visiting Los Angeles FC remained unbeaten by rallying for a 2-2 draw over winless New York City FC on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Vela helped LAFC improve to 2-0-1 by recording his fourth career two-goal game and scored on the penalty kick after NYCFC defender Ben Sweat took down Latif Blessing in the center of the box.

He scored his second goal of the season in the 42nd minute and then became the sixth player in the league to reach three goals.

Vela improved to 5-for-5 all-time on penalty kicks when he got NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson to move to his left. As Johnson moved, Vela hammered the shot into the wide-open right side of the net.

LAFC nearly won the game right before stoppage time expired but Adama Diomande’s left footed shot from the center of the box sailed just wide.

Alexandru Mitrita scored his first goal with NYCFC in the 39th minute and Alexander Ring scored his second goal of the season in the 62nd minute.

Despite controlling possession for 61 percent of the match, NYCFC settled for its third straight tie in a physical game that featured 31 fouls and eight yellow cards.

LAFC goalkeeper Tyler Miller made four saves while Johnson stopped two shots.

NYCFC took a 1-0 lead when Mitrita avoided a tackle, sped past defender Jordan Harvey, made an inside move on Walker Zimmerman and lifted a right-footed shot from the right side of the box past Miller.

Two minutes later, Mitrita had a shot go off the crossbar.

Moments after Mitrita missed his second goal, LAFC tied the game by capitalizing on a turnover by NYCFC defender Maxime Chanot near midfield. Blessing gained possession and found a streaking Vela, who eluded Mitrita and lifted a left-footed shot from the right side of the box into the net.

Ring made it 2-1 when he hammered a right-footed shot inside the near post.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Brazil ministry tells students to recite Bolsonaro slogan

Brazil's Ministry of Education is instructing students to sing the national anthem and read aloud a declaration that includes President Jair Bolsonaro's campaign slogan — and it says they should be filmed doing so.

The ministry sent instructions Monday night saying that students returning from summer vacation should recite a statement including Bolsonaro's slogan, "Brazil above everything, God above everyone."

It also asks school staff to send video images of the students to the Ministry of Education, outraging critics who say it's illegal to film children without parental permission.

Teachers, parents and opposition politicians have expressed outrage at the ministry's orders. The issue became the top trending topic on Brazilian Twitter on Tuesday morning.

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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