Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Draghi's German Problem May Fizzle as ECB Sticks to Its Plan. Mario Draghi’s German difficulty may be melting away with the change of seasons. The European Central Bank president had barely begun the New Year when a winter spike in consumer prices provoked resurgent calls in Europe’s biggest economy for a halt to his institution’s extraordinary stimulus. Now that spring is in the air, the surge has reversed with the biggest drop in Germany’s inflation rate since 2013, implying that one-off effects from energy have been masking underlying weakness -- just as Draghi and his colleagues had predicted.

• Oil Tops $50 as Kuwait Says OPEC in Talks for Meeting Consensus. (video) Futures in New York climbed as much as 1.1 percent. Kuwait and other countries support prolonging production cuts that are scheduled to expire in June, the Persian Gulf emirate’s Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq told state-run news agency KUNA. Prices rose yesterday after U.S. government data showed that gasoline inventories dropped more than expected, while refineries boosted the amount of crude they processed by the most in almost three years.

• Obamacare Stalwart Anthem(ANTM) Seen Likely to Retreat for 2018. (video) Anthem Inc. is likely to pull back from Obamacare’s individual insurance markets in a big way for next year, according to a report from analysts who said they met with the company, a move that could limit coverage options for consumers at a politically crucial time for the law. Anthem “is leaning toward exiting a high percentage of the 144 rating regions in which it currently participates,” Jefferies analysts David Windley and David Styblo said Thursday in a research note.

• U.S. college grads see slim-to-nothing wage gain since recession.

Wall Street Journal: 

• Trump’s Border Wall: A Tall Order. Outside of one sector, much of the border is already fenced, or has few crossings. 

• Fracking 2.0: Shale Drillers Pioneer New Ways to Profit in Era of Cheap Oil. Texas producer EOG has led the industry in finding ways to extract oil faster and less expensively from shale. If more can follow its lead and ramp up output even at lower prices, the sector could become a lasting force that challenges OPEC’s ability to control market prices.

Fox News:

• With ObamaCare overhaul sidelined, can Tom Price go it alone? (video)

CNBC: 

• These stores will survive the destruction of the American mall, Morgan Stanley's retail guru says.

• Jeff Bezos is now the second-richest person in the world. (video)

• Buy the dip in energy stocks because they are cheap and oil should stay above $50, Jefferies says.

Zero Hedge:

• An Angry Freedom Caucus Responds To Trump's 2018 Threat.

• CBO Warns Of Fiscal Catastrophe As A Result Of Exponential Debt Growth In The U.S. (graph)

• The Definitive Brexit "Wall Chart".

• Did The EPA Just Go Rogue Again.

• Dollar Tumbles On Report Trump Studying Ways To "Penalize Currency Manipulators". (graph)

• Trump Slams Freedom Caucus: "We Must Fight Them".

• Q4 GDP Revised Higher To 2.1% As Consumers Splurge On "Foreign Travel And Recreation Services". (graph)

• You Know It's A Global Debt Bubble When...

Business Insider:

• McDonald's(MCD) is making a huge change to its burgers that franchisees aren't going to be happy about.

• Environmental groups are suing over Trump's decision to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

telecompetitor:

• FirstNet Plans Finally Revealed, AT&T(T) to Spend $40B on National Public Safety Network, Create 10K Jobs.