Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Taiwan cites US concerns over El Salvador-China relations

Taiwan's foreign minister says Washington should be concerned for strategic reasons that Taiwan is losing its diplomatic allies in Latin America to rival China.

Latin American nations have been switching relations from U.S. ally Taiwan to China, a top American strategic competitor, raising concerns in Washington about Chinese inroads in America's backyard.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Thursday seemed to imply that Washington could use its influence to help Taiwan hang on to its remaining Latin American allies.

Wu's comments came a day after El Salvador's president-elect said he has not decided whether to continue relations with China and accused Beijing of not being respectful to his country.

El Salvador switched ties from Taiwan to China in August, in a blow to the island's Latin American diplomacy.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Hong Kong Airlines expands board as it seeks fresh funds to survive

FILE PHOTO: A Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A330-343 descends before landing at Hong Kong Airport in Hong Kong
FILE PHOTO: A Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A330-343 descends before landing at Hong Kong Airport in Hong Kong, China, April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

April 16, 2019

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Former Hong Kong Airlines director Zhong Guosong has been appointed chairman as part of a board expansion aimed at turning around the struggling company, formerly controlled by heavily-indebted Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

The move hands effective power to Zhong and Chinese private equity Frontier Investment Partner who hold about 27 and 34 percent, respectively. HNA, which cut its stake two years ago, holds about 29 percent.

The two controlling shareholders have appointed a group of directors including Zhong, they said in a statement on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Julie Zhu; Writing by Jennifer Hughes; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

0 0

Nigeria court revokes bail for missing separatist leader

A Nigeria High Court has revoked bail for the leader of a separatist movement known as the Indigenous People of Biafra.

Justice Binta Nyako made the ruling Thursday, saying that Nnamdi Kanu had violated bail terms. She issued a warrant for his arrest.

Kanu, who faces five charges including treasonable felony, was granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds after spending 19 months in detention.

Nyako said the backers of Kanu's bail have withdrawn support because they do not know where he is. Kanu has been missing since September 2017 after his home was allegedly invaded by Nigerian army troops.

The separatist movement calls for the independence of Nigeria's former Eastern Region - which unsuccessfully fought for independence as Biafra in the 1967-1970 civil war.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Hyundai Motor names former Nissan executive Jose Munoz as COO

Jose Munoz, chief performance officer at Nissan Motor Limited, responds to a question on the new Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance venture capital fund during roundtable with journalists at the 2018 CES in Las Vegas
FILE PHOTO - Jose Munoz, chief performance officer at Nissan Motor Limited, responds to a question on the new Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance venture capital fund during roundtable with journalists at the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

April 18, 2019

(Reuters) – South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co on Thursday named former Nissan executive Jose Munoz as its global chief operating officer.

Munoz, who will take charge on May 1, has also been named president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Motor America.

Previously, Munoz, 53, was Nissan Motor Co’s chief performance officer and head of its China operations.

He joined Nissan in 2004 in Europe and led its expansion in North America after the global financial crisis. Since then, Nissan has raised its market share in the United States and posted record sales.

Munoz resigned from Nissan in January, further rattling the Japanese automaker’s management team amid the investigation into ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s alleged financial misconduct.

Widely considered as a close ally of Ghosn and a potential successor to lead the automaking partnership between Nissan and France’s Renault SA, Munoz had been a “person of interest” in Nissan’s widening internal investigation.

Munoz will be based in California and will report to Hyundai’s top leadership in Seoul.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

0 0

When it comes to disclosing sponsors, your Google Assistant may be mute

FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich
FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

April 1, 2019

By Paresh Dave

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – On stage at an investor conference last month, Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler identified a vexing challenge for the company’s most prized app: its virtual assistant.

Responding to user searches out loud through Google Assistant is not ideal for generating revenue, Schindler suggested.

When results are visible, not merely oral, “you have room for advertising, of course,” said Schindler, whose company grosses an estimated $70 billion annually through ads above search results.

The Alphabet Inc company declined to elaborate on Schindler’s remarks. But Google’s conundrum is one facing several big tech companies whose users increasingly seek help from voice-enabled speakers and gadgets: how to deliver greater convenience while still generating the ad revenue that traditionally has funded free searches.

The question is most acute for Google, which holds the world’s biggest search advertising business.

So far, consumers generally get a brief answer from virtual assistants without the disturbance of ads. And tech companies have not shown how they would include the “Sponsored” or “Ad” disclaimers that regulators in the United States and elsewhere require with paid-for search results.

One Google Assistant feature already is close to violating disclosure rules, according to five advertising attorneys contacted by Reuters. Google contends it is in compliance.

The feature recommends plumbers and other local home service providers without disclosing that the results draw from a curated database mainly composed of companies that joined a Google marketing program.

“It’s not a completely clean recommendation,” said Michelle Cohen, an attorney with expertise in marketing rules at Ifrah Law in Washington, D.C. “If there’s a financial commitment, you’re supposed to disclose it.”

Conversing with assistants is routine for millions of people globally, whether on bedside alarm clocks, car audio systems or even high-end headphones. More than 1 billion such devices have Google Assistant, 100 million Amazon.com Inc’s Alexa and at least 1 billion Apple Inc’s Siri, according to the companies and estimates.

Regulators avoid stifling new technologies, said Richard Lawson, partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and former consumer protection director in Florida’s attorney general’s office. But he said, authorities will still ask, “How do you convey meaningful disclosures?”

At the conference, Schindler said ads on Google Assistant would be more “interesting” when responses are shown on a nearby screen, like a TV, smartphone, laptop or smart speaker with a display.

“Then we’re exactly in the world that we deeply understand,” Schindler said, with moneymaking options “very similar” to traditional search.

NEW SEARCH TECHNOLOGIES

The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates deceptive business practices in the United States, has long required search engines to inform users in a “noticeable and understandable” fashion when results are connected to financial relationships. That is why consumers see “Ad” or “Sponsored” labels next to the first few Google results on screens.

New search services that “talk” to consumers are not exempt from “the long-standing principle of making advertising distinguishable,” the FTC said in letters to Google and other companies in 2013.

Consumers often complain to the commission about potential violations, and it prods companies into changing practices by threatening fines if the issues persist.

The FTC has not received complaints about ads on Google Assistant, according to results from a Freedom of Information Act request. And the agency declined to comment on whether it is scrutinizing any virtual assistants, though last year it charged a small search engine for prospective college students that included paid results without warning.

GOOGLE’S CHALLENGE

Google users have come to expect results from any relevant source on the web, except when using specialized tools like Google News or Google Flights that have a narrowed set of sources.

In 2017, Google Assistant adopted a specialty tool, Local Services, which offers only vetted businesses when U.S. users search for domestic help such as plumbers and locksmiths.

Results come from a marketing program, known as Google Guarantee, in which members are licensed, insured and clear of legal issues, according to Google. It refunds consumers up to $2,000 if members botch a job.

Membership is free, but businesses need it to buy Local Services search ads from Google. And guaranteed businesses largely do buy those for queries like “plumber,” Reuters found.

Google gets paid when users contact providers through the ads, which are labeled “Sponsored” on Google.com.

But when Google Assistant responds to “plumber” queries with the same “Google Guaranteed” options, the assistant does not offer any disclaimer or further explanation.

Google said in a statement that the results are not labeled as ads “because Google isn’t paid for these results” when delivered on the Assistant rather than Google.com.

The advertising attorneys said users should be informed that Google Assistant results, even if not paid for, stem from a filtered database in which many businesses landed because they wanted to buy ads.

“Disclosing ‘many of the recommended providers may participate in our referral network’…would be relevant and appropriate,” said Cohen, the Washington, D.C., attorney.

In some cities, Google Assistant includes businesses vetted by partner search services HomeAdvisor and Porch. It does not mention that those services charge some businesses for customer leads.

Disclaimers vary in other types of searches, depending on how they are delivered. Google.com answers “flight to Los Angeles” with upcoming flights labeled as “Sponsored,” and users who click on the label would learn that Google “may be compensated” by some of its data sources.

But Google Assistant’s “Sponsored” label does not link to additional information. On smart speakers, the assistant reads only the lowest price without naming an airline.

It says nothing about sponsors.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell, Marla Dickerson and Julie Marquis)

Source: OANN

0 0

I Will Never Bow to the Mob – Ever.

FOX News host Tucker Carlson responded to audio Media Matters posted of "numerous misogynistic and perverted comments" he made in interviews 10 to 13 years ago. Carlson said he would never "bow down" to the liberal "mob" and denounced modern progressives as the "new Puritans" in the opening monologue on the Monday broadcast of his program. (Media Matters called the audio "unearthed," but the interviews have always been available on the internet.)

Carlson said the criticisms aren't sincere and liberals are just pretending to be shocked. He said, "The left’s main goal, in case you haven’t noticed, is controlling what you think. In order to do that, they have to control the information you receive."

TUCKER CARLSON: As anyone who’s ever been caught in its gears can tell you, the great American outrage machine is a remarkable thing. One minute you’re having dinner with your family, imagining that everything is fine. The next, your phone is exploding with calls from reporters. They read you snippets from a press release written by Democratic Party operatives. They demand to know how you could possibly have said something so awful and offensive. “Do you have a statement on how immoral you are?” It’s a bewildering moment, especially when the quotes in question are more than a decade old.
There’s really not much you can do to respond. It’s pointless to explain how the words were spoken in jest, or taken out of context, or in any case bear no resemblance to what you actually think, or would want for the country. None of that matters. Nobody cares. You know the role you’re required to play: You’re a sinner, begging the forgiveness of Twitter. So you issue a statement of deep contrition. You apologize profusely for your transgressions. You promise to be a better person going forward. With the guidance of your contrition consultants, you send money to whatever organization claims to represent the people you supposedly offended. Then you sit back and brace for a wave of stories about your apology, all of which are simply pretexts for attacking you again. In the end, you lose your job. Nobody defends you. Your neighbors avert their gaze as you pull into the driveway. You’re ruined.

Yet, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how despised and humiliated you may be, there’s one thing you can never do, one thing that’s absolutely not allowed: You can never acknowledge the comic absurdity of the whole thing. You can never laugh in the face of the mob. You must always pretend that the people yelling at you are somehow your moral superiors. You must assume that what they say they’re mad about is what they’re actually mad about. You must pretend that this is a debate about virtue, and not power; that your critics are arguing from principle and not partisanship. No matter what they take from you, you must continue to pretend that these things are true: You are bad. They are good. The system is on the level.

But what if we stopped pretending? What if we acknowledged what’s actually going on: one side is deadly serious. They believe that politics is war. They’re not interested in abstractions or principles, rules or traditions. They seek power. They plan to win it, whatever it takes. If that includes getting you fired, or silencing you, or threatening your family at home, or throwing you in prison, so be it. Their goal is power. If you’re in the way, they’ll crush you.

What’s interesting is how reliably the other side pretends that none of this is happening. Republicans in Washington do a fairly credible imitation of an opposition party. The still give speeches. They tweet quite a bit. They make concerned noises about how bad liberals are. But on the deepest level, it’s all a pose. In their minds, where it matters, Republican leaders are controlled by the left. They know exactly what they’re allowed to say and believe. They know that the rules are. They may understand that those rules were written by the very people who seek their destruction. They ruthlessly enforce them anyway. Republicans in Washington police their own with never-ending enthusiasm. Like trustees in a prison, they dutifully report back to the warden, hoping for perks. Nobody wants to be called names. Nobody wants to be Trump.

How many times have you seen it happen? Some conservative figure will say something stupid, or incomplete, or too far outside the bounds of received wisdom for the moral guardians of cable news. Twitter goes crazy. The mob demands a response. Very often, the first people calling for the destruction of that person are Republican leaders. You saw it with the Covington Catholic high school kids. You see it all the time. Kevin McCarthy spends half his life telling his Republican members not to criticize progressive orthodoxy. Paul Ryan did the same before him. A couple of years ago, the entire Democratic Party decided to deny the biological reality of sex differences, an idea that’s as insane as it is dangerous. Republican leaders decided not to criticize them for it. They might get upset.

This is a system built on deceit and enforced silence. Hypocrisy is its hallmark. Yet in Washington, it’s considered rude to ask questions about how it works. Why are the people who considered Bill Clinton a hero lecturing me about sexism? How can the party that demands racial quotas denounce other people as racist? After a while you begin to think that maybe their criticisms aren’t that sincere. Maybe their moral puffery is a costume. Maybe the whole conversation is an absurd joke. Maybe we’re falling for it.

You sometimes hear modern progressives described as the new puritans. That’s a slur on colonial Americans. Whatever their flaws, the puritans cared about the fate of the human soul and the moral regeneration of their society. Those aren’t topics that interest progressives. They’re too busy pushing late term abortion and cross dressing on fifth graders. These are the people who write our movies and sitcoms. They’re not shocked by naughty words. They just pretend to be when it’s useful.

It’s been very useful lately. The left’s main goal, in case you haven’t noticed, is controlling what you think. In order to do that, they have to control the information you receive. Google and Facebook and Twitter are on board. They’re happy to ban unapproved thoughts without apology. They often do. So do the other cable channels, and virtually every major news outlet in this country. On of the only places left in America where an independent view is allowed is right here, the primetime shows on this network. A total of three hours, in a sea of television programming. It’s not much, relatively speaking. For the left, it’s unacceptable. They demand total conformity. Since the day we went on the air, they’ve been working hard to kill this show. We haven’t said much about it in public. It seemed too self-referential. The point of this show has never been us. But now it’s obvious to everyone. There’s no pretending it’s not happening. Going forward we’ll be covering their efforts to make us be quiet. For now, just two points. First, Fox is behind us, as they have been since the first day. Toughness is a rare quality in a TV network, and we’re grateful for that. Second, we’ve always apologized when we’re wrong, and we will continue to. That’s what decent people do. But we will never bow to the mob. Ever. No matter what.

Tammy Bruce reacts with Tucker Carlson:

0 0

American extradited to Australia charged with gruesome bound and gag murder

Australian police charged a man for the murder of a Thai national, whose body was found bound and gagged on the side of a road in Sydney, Australia, according to ABC News.

Alex Dion, 38, was extradited from the United States to Australia under the supervision of armed guards and charged with the 2018 murder of Wachira "Mario" Phetmang upon arrival.

ABC News says a truck driver found Phetmang's body bound, wrapped in plastic and covered in a mattress protector last June. The gruesome autopsy showed he was on the receiving end of more than 20 wounds to his head, which produced multiple skull fractures.

AT LEAST 2 WOUNDED IN SHOOTING AT AUSTRALIA NIGHTCLUB

An arrest warrant was issued for Dion in September while he was already in police custody for a separate domestic violence charge in San Diego.

Phetmang, 33, was last seen alive on May 25 at a petrol station in the Sydney suburb of South Hurstville. He was a former cafe and spa worker who had been living in Australia for over the last ten years, reported ABC News.

According to the search warrant, Dion called police after they held a news conference asking the public for help on the case and tried to blame an associate for Phetmang's killing, while admitting he had Phetmang's credit cards and cellphones with him in San Diego.

Dion, a U.S. citizen is believed to have left Australia on May 27, just over a week before the body was found and identified.

AUSTRALIA OPPOSES DEATH PENALTY AS ASSANGE SUPPORTERS MARCH

He told police that he had met Phetmang at the gas station to buy meth but that he left when their associate showed up. Police say that story doesn't match up with the surveillance footage in the area.

Dion was refused bail and will appear in court on Monday.

Source: Fox News World

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren suggested that doctors and nurses don’t treat African American women the same way they do white women.

Warren appeared on Wednesday together with a number of other 2020 Democratic candidates at the She The People Forum in Houston, discussing issues concerning women of color.

WARREN’S $1.25T EDUCATION PLAN ‘SWEEPING’ GIVEAWAY TO THE WEALTHY AT EXPENSE OF THE POOR, WAPO EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS

The Massachusetts senator announced on stage a plan to decrease the childbirth mortality rate among black women while identifying a systematic problem with how they are treated.

“And there is a specific problem, as you rightly identified, for women of color who are three, four times more likely to die in childbirth,” Warren said.

“And here’s the thing, even after we do the adjustments for income, for education, this is true across the board. This is true for well-educated African American women, for wealthy African American women, and the best studies that I’m seeing put it down to just one thing, prejudice,” she added.

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

— Elizabeth Warren

CHARLIE KIRK: WARREN AND OTHER DEMS OFFER FREE MONEY – BUT DON’T TELL YOU PRICE WILL BE YOUR FREEDOM

Warren went on to get into details of her plan, noting that hospitals will be given bonuses if they manage to reduce the childbirth mortality rate among black women in an effort to give financial incentives for those doctors and nurses to provide better care.

“And if they don’t, then they’re going to have money taken away from them,” Warren added.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I want to see the hospitals see it as their responsibility to address this problem head-on and make it a first priority. The best way to do that is to use the money to make it happen because we gotta have change, and we gotta have change now.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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

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

Title

Artist