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Fed looks to avoid crossed signals at policy meeting

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington
FILE PHOTO - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during his news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, U.S., December 19, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

March 17, 2019

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Ann Saphir

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Only two things will really matter when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell strides to the podium for his press conference on Wednesday after the end of the U.S. central bank’s latest two-day policy meeting: Dots and bonds.

That Powell and his colleagues will leave the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in a range of 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent and stick to their pledge of a “patient” approach to monetary policy is effectively a given.

The big reveal, though, will be whether policymakers will have sufficiently lowered their interest rate forecasts to more closely align their notorious “dot plot,” a diagram showing individual policymakers’ rate views for the next three years in little blue-shaded circles, with that pledge of patience.

And, just as importantly, what new details will they share on a plan to stop culling the Fed’s holdings of nearly $3.8 trillion in bonds?

“It’s going to be new information for the market to trade whether it’s the Fed’s intention or not,” said Ben Jeffery, a strategist at BMO Capital Markets.

Dissatisfaction with Powell’s remarks in December regarding the balance sheet threw markets for a spin and helped lead to the Fed’s pause on rates a month later. Since then, the Fed chief has explicitly said one of his aims is to avoid “needless market disruptions.”

Traders currently expect there will be no rate hikes this year, and are even building in bets for a rate cut in 2020. Any gap between that view and the Fed’s could send markets lower. So too could a sharp drop in policymakers’ rate-hike expectations, especially if coupled with a softer economic outlook.

(Graphic: Federal Open Market Committee target rate projections – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UCRTe1)

Wrong or confusing signals on either the rate forecasts or the Fed’s bond portfolio could upend the market calm the central bank in large part has engineered despite nosediving economic forecasts.

Making Powell’s task even harder: A jumble of economic data, including a sharp slowdown in jobs growth last month that was accompanied by rising wages.

Uncertainty on the outlook for the world economy and global trade as well as a sharp U.S. growth slowdown expected by a range of forecasters mean that markets are on a hair trigger for signals from the Fed.

FED’S GUIDANCE

In January, the Fed pivoted from hiking rates quarterly to pledging patience before making more moves. Powell has also said the central bank could stop shedding bonds this year.

The central bank’s last official policy statement https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20190130a.htm offered no hint about whether rates will rise or fall. The statement from the March 19-20 meeting is likely to do the same.

Asked if they would support rate hikes this year, Fed policymakers have been offering less information.

“Patience is basically saying we’re not going to give a lot of guidance to what we’re expecting down the road because there’s enough uncertainty that we just have to see how things evolve,” Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren told a National Association of Corporate Directors chapter on March 5.

But guidance is exactly what the Fed offers in its Summary of Economic Projections slated for release alongside the policy statement on Wednesday. That document could show the central bank expecting a rate hike if the economy delivers the strong 2019 growth most policymakers still forecast.

Some Fed officials voiced concern at the Jan. 29-30 policy meeting that the projections could send a misleading statement about what the central bank is doing, according to the records https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcminutes20190130.htm from that meeting. Powell warned on March 8 https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20190308a.htm against reading too much into the forecasts.

So far, the Fed’s on-guard and guarded communication has given markets new confidence. A gauge of swings expected in U.S. government bond prices over three months hit its lowest levels in 17 years. Stock markets have reacted as well, with the S&P 500 index up more than 12 percent this year.

With little sign of an inflation pickup, there would seem to be no urgency to raise U.S. borrowing costs, and investors have all but written off the possibility of a hike this year, especially with signs that slowing European and Chinese growth might weigh on the United States.

BALANCE SHEET

Meanwhile, the Fed faces pressure to elaborate on piecemeal statements that it will stop cutting bond holdings this year.

The Fed bulked up its books with bank reserves in order to buy trillions of bonds and further stimulate the economy once rates neared zero in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. To restore policy to normal, the Fed began shrinking its balance sheet in late 2017 by not replacing as many bonds when they mature.

Now, with the central bank ending that process, Fed policymakers face a number of questions. Some, for instance, have said they would not want the balance sheet policies, which might tighten financial conditions, to work at cross-purposes with the more cautious rate policy.

(Graphic: Federal Reserve bond holdings – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UD2oOr)

New York Fed President John Williams told Reuters earlier this month that “there is no clear answer” to exactly how large the balance sheet needs to be. Investors will be looking for answers as soon as this week. Powell is likely to be pressed on the subject at his press conference on Wednesday.

Cliff Corso, executive chairman at investment manager Insight North America LLC, said markets are looking for “confirmation and comfort” about their assumptions about the size and composition of the Fed’s assets. “Any deviations around that might create a little bit of volatility,” he said.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York and Ann Saphir in San Francisco; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

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Mom pleads with Notre Dame female students to stop wearing leggings, sparks backlash

A mother-of-four is facing backlash after penning a letter pleading with female students at the University of Notre Dame to opt out of wearing leggings “and consider choosing jeans instead.”

The mother, who was identified as Maryann White, penned the letter titled, “The legging problem,” which was published in The Observer, Notre Dame’s student newspaper. She started her letter by saying she had been considering writing it for some time after she attended Mass last Fall and saw four young women in front of her “all wearing very snug-fitting leggings and all wearing short-waisted tops.”

“Some of them truly looked as though the leggings had been painted on them,” White wrote.

The mother said her sons “know better than to ogle a woman’s body – certainly when I’m around (and hopefully, also when I’m not).”

“But you couldn’t help but see those blackly naked rear ends,” White said of the women wearing leggings during Mass. “I didn’t want to see them — but they were unavoidable. How much more difficult for young guys to ignore them.”

SPRING BREAKER EARNS KUDS FOR HELPING CLEAN UP MIAMI BEACH

She added, “we want to be seen as a person, not a body.”

“For the Catholic mothers who want to find a blanket to lovingly cover your nakedness and protect you — and to find scarves to tie over the eyes of their sons to protect them from you!” she wrote.

White concluded her letter saying leggings are “so naked, so form fitting, so exposing.”

“Could you think of the mothers of sons the next time you go shopping and consider choosing jeans instead?” she asked. “Let Notre Dame girls be the first to turn their backs(ides) on leggings.”

The letter appeared to have the opposite effect on students at the Indiana campus.

Irish 4 Reproductive Health, a campus nonprofit group, dubbed Tuesday “Leggings Pride Day” and called on people to take part and post pictures of themselves wearing their favorite pair of leggings. Many students posted pictures of their favorite leggings with the hashtag #LeggingsDayND.

“We wanted … to remind people that leggings are absolutely OK and you’re allowed to dress your body in whatever way you see fit,” Anne Jarrett, 21, a student at Notre Dame, who helped organize the demonstration, told Today Style.

3 ARRESTED IN TULANE DORM ROOM ARSON FIRE OF YAL-MEMBER STUDENTS

Conrad Palor, a sophomore at the university, penned a response to White’s letter that was published in The Observer.

“While White’s comments were likely intended to be innocuous, they contribute to and further the narrative that women need to dress in order to not distract their male peers, which only furthers the sexualization and subsequent subjugation of women’s bodies,” he wrote.

A fellow Notre Dame mother, Heather Piccone, penned a letter to The Observer pointing out that “if nakedness is wrong, then this woman’s sons better have been fully clothed at the beach at all times.”

“They better never have played a game of “shirts versus skins” pick-up basketball or football in the park,” she wrote.

Leggings as pants have sparked debates since coming into popularity. Some schools banned students from wearing the clothing item altogether.

Source: Fox News National

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A timeline of events in the Jayme Closs disappearance case

Notable events in the disappearance and discovery of Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who was held captive in a remote cabin for three months after her parents were killed in the family's home.

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Oct. 15, 2018 — James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs, 46, are found shot to death in their home in Barron, a town in western Wisconsin. Authorities issue an Amber Alert for 13-year-old Jayme Closs, and the search for her begins.

Oct. 16, 2018 — Investigators say they don't consider Jayme a suspect in her parents' deaths. Authorities also dismiss a tip placing Jayme's whereabouts in Miami as "not credible," and say they believe the girl is in danger.

Oct. 17, 2018 — Authorities announce that investigators believe Jayme was in her family's home when her parents were fatally shot.

Oct. 18, 2018 — About 100 people join a ground search for Jayme after Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald requests the help of volunteers. The search turns up nothing useful. The Wisconsin Department of Justice announces it is sending therapists, comfort dogs and school resource officers to help students at the school Jayme attended.

Oct. 23, 2018 — About 2,000 volunteers from as far as Minneapolis help with another ground search . Several items are found and taken for assessment.

Oct. 24, 2018 — The FBI offers a $25,000 reward for information leading to Jayme's location. The amount is later doubled to $50,000 by the Jennie-O Turkey Store, where James and Denise Closs worked.

Oct. 27, 2018 — Funerals are held for James and Denise Closs in Cameron, a village next to Barron.

Oct. 29, 2018 — Prosecutors announce they have charged a man with burglarizing the Closs home but say he's not a suspect in the case.

Dec. 12, 2018 — Hundreds of people attend a "tree of hope" lighting ceremony in honor of Jayme in Barron.

Jan. 10, 2019 — Jayme is found alive in Gordon, a town about an hour's drive north of Barron. She is skinny, disheveled and wearing shoes too big for her when she approaches a stranger and pleads for help. A man driving around the rural area is soon taken into custody.

Jan. 11, 2019 — Investigators say the suspect, 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson, is jailed on homicide and kidnapping charges.

Jan. 14, 2019 — Prosecutors formally charge Patterson with two counts of intentional homicide and one count each of kidnapping and armed burglary. A judge sets bail at $5 million cash. A criminal complaint says Patterson saw Jayme get on a school bus one day, decided he would take her and then kept her trapped in his remote cabin until she escaped.

Feb. 6, 2019 — A judge orders Patterson to stand trial after Patterson waives his right to a preliminary hearing.

March 27, 2019 — Patterson pleads guilty to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. Sentencing is set for May 24.

___

Check out AP's complete coverage of Jayme Closs' abduction and her parents' deaths.

Source: Fox News National

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Southern storms, apparent tornadoes cause damages; none hurt

Two apparent tornadoes touched down Saturday in central Arkansas, destroying shops as severe storms raking the South damaged some buildings and tore away roofs in northeast Mississippi.

There were no reports of any deaths or injuries from the widespread storms, which came nearly a week after a large tornado killed 23 people in Alabama amid an outbreak of Southern twisters.

An apparent tornado touched down Saturday afternoon near Carlisle, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Little Rock and the second storm was near the unincorporated community of Slovak, southeast of Carlisle, said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Goudsward.

Prairie County Sheriff Rick Hickman in Arkansas said several buildings were destroyed, power lines were brought down and at least one home was damaged.

"It was more than straight-line winds. One of the shops, it had debris strewn over two miles, (another) one of them was just twisted in a big twist with metal on top of automobiles that were in there," Hickman said.

Goudsward, based with the weather service in Little Rock, Arkansas, said teams would be sent to assess the damage and determine the strength of those storms.

In northeast Mississippi, strong winds tore away roofs and pulled down bricks from some buildings in the small community of Walnut, population about 3,000. Emergency Management Director Tom Lindsey, for the region's Tippah County, said the area that was hit was very rural.

Weather service meteorologist Marlene Mickelson in Memphis, Tennessee, said there were no reports of injuries from the storm in Walnut. But authorities said it was still too early to tell if the damage there was caused by a tornado or by straight-line winds.

A tornado watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area. The watches issued Saturday for Tennessee and Mississippi were in effect until 6 p.m. EST and for Arkansas and Louisiana until 4 p.m. EST.

The weather service's Storm Prediction Center also warned of the possibility of damaging winds and large hail and said via Twitter that cities at risk Saturday included Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky, among others. Forecasters said many of the affected areas were also at risk of flooding.

Source: Fox News National

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Madoff trustee can pursue lawsuits against Koch, banks, others

SIPA Trustee Picard speaks during a news conference in New York, announcing the return of $7.2 billion from the estate of Madoff insider Picower to settle civil claims for victims of Madoff's ponzi scheme
FILE PHOTO: Irving Picard speaks as Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (L) looks on during a news conference in New York, December 17, 2010. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

February 25, 2019

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. federal appeals court said the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s firm may pursue dozens of lawsuits to recoup funds from defendants including Koch Industries Inc, long controlled by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and major banks.

Monday’s decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned November 2016 dismissals by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan.

It gives the trustee Irving Picard a chance to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the $13.36 billion he has recouped for former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

The trustee has estimated that the customers lost $17.5 billion in Madoff’s fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008.

Picard had sued Koch, HSBC Holdings Plc, UBS AG and others in 88 lawsuits to recoup funds traceable to the imprisoned swindler, but which had been sent outside the United States.

The lawsuits targeted foreign entities that had received Madoff-linked money from other foreign transferees, including “feeder funds” that sent client money to Madoff.

Writing for a three-judge panel on Monday, Circuit Judge Richard Wesley said the later transfers qualified as domestic because the money originally came from Madoff’s firm.

He said comity, or the need to let other countries enforce their own laws, and the presumption that U.S. bankruptcy law did not reach foreign activity should not block the lawsuits.

“Congress wanted these claims resolved in the United States, rather than through piecemeal proceedings around the world,” Wesley wrote.

The defendants had accused Picard of pursuing a “radical expansion of the reach of U.S. law.” Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

David Sheehan, a lawyer for Picard, said the decision protects victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and recognizes the “compelling” U.S. interest in letting domestic bankruptcy estates recover fraudulently transferred property.

Sheehan and Picard are partners at the law firm Baker & Hostetler.

Picard had sued Koch to recoup $21.53 million allegedly sent by Madoff to Fairfield Sentry, a British Virgin Islands-based feeder fund, and then to a Koch entity in Great Britain.

The trustee did not allege wrongdoing by Koch, a privately held industrial conglomerate based in Wichita, Kansas.

Charles and David Koch are each worth $51.9 billion, and tied as the world’s 10th-richest people, Forbes magazine said. David Koch stepped down from Koch Industries last year because of health issues.

Madoff, 80, is serving a 150-year prison term in a medium-security North Carolina prison.

The case is In re: Picard, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 17-2992.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Tom Brown and Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Bitcoin briefly hits $5,000 after 20 percent surge

A sticker of French startup Keplerk, indicating that clients can purchase bitcoins, is seen on a tobacco shop at Rueil-Malmaison
A sticker of French startup Keplerk, indicating that clients can purchase bitcoins, is seen on a tobacco shop at Rueil-Malmaison, France, January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

April 2, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Bitcoin briefly touched $5,000 on Tuesday, its highest level since late November, while other cryptocurrencies also surged.

On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin rose as much as 20 percent in Asian trading to briefly touch the $5,000 mark before settling at $4,730 by 0700 GMT, up 14 percent on the day; still its biggest one-day gain since April of last year.

Ethereum’s ether and Ripple’s XRP, two other large cryptocurrencies, also jumped higher.

It was not immediately clear what was behind the rally in virtual currency prices.

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Editing by Abhinav Ramnarayan)

Source: OANN

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Three UK Conservatives quit party in protest at ‘disastrous Brexit’

FILE PHOTO: Anti-Brexit protesters hold up a sign and a model prop boat outside Downing Street in London
FILE PHOTO: Anti-Brexit protesters hold up a sign and a model prop boat outside Downing Street in London, Britain, February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

February 20, 2019

By Elizabeth Piper, William James and Kylie MacLellan

LONDON (Reuters) – Three pro-EU lawmakers from Britain’s governing Conservatives quit over the “disastrous handling of Brexit” on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May’s attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union.

The lawmakers, long critical of May’s Brexit strategy to leave the EU which they believe is being driven by Conservative eurosceptics, said in a statement they would join a new group in parliament set up by seven former opposition Labour politicians.

The resignations put May in an even weaker position in parliament, where her Brexit deal was crushed by lawmakers last month when eurosceptics and EU supporters voted against an agreement that both sides say offers the worst of all worlds. [L5N20F2WY]

They could also undermine May’s negotiating position in Brussels, where she is going later on Wednesday for talks with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to try to secure an opening for further technical work on revising the agreement.

With only 37 days until Britain leaves the EU, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit are redrawing the political landscape. The resignations threaten a decades-old two-party system.

“The final straw for us has been this government’s disastrous handling of Brexit,” the three lawmakers, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, said in a statement.

“We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP,” they said, referring to a group of Conservative pro-Brexit lawmakers and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party which props up the government in parliament.

Earlier this week, seven former Labour lawmakers announced a new movement, the Independent Group, after quitting their party over increasing frustration with their leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit strategy and a row over anti-Semitism.

Another former Labour lawmaker joined their ranks late on Tuesday, and several politicians from both the main opposition party and Conservatives said they expected more to follow from both sides of parliament.

For May’s Brexit plan, the resignations are yet another blow to more than two years of talks to leave the EU, which have been punctuated by defeats in parliament, rows over policy and a confidence vote, which she ultimately won.

(Reporting by Kylie Maclellan, William James and Elizabeth Piper, writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Stephen Addison)

Source: OANN

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks on during an interview with Reuters at the British Ambassador's residence in Beijing
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks on during an interview with Reuters at the British Ambassador’s residence in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Pool

April 26, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday that he had a “very constructive meeting” with his counterpart in the opposition Labour Party before leaving for Beijing and that he was optimistic about finding common ground.

Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing, said talks with Labour aimed at finding a way forward on Brexit had not stalled.

“I’m optimistic that we will find common ground,” he said. “Both sides have got clear positions and both sides will have to compromise in order to reach an agreement.”

Hammond added that he absolutely did not favor a no deal exit from the European Union.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis

April 26, 2019

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.

The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.

Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.

The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.

Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.

“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.

“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”

Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.

One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.

The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.

Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.

The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.

A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.

(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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