Monday, May 08, 2017

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • What Macron's Victory Means for Embattled Europe, and for Merkel. (video) Emmanuel Macron’s decision to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy as he walked on stage to mark his victory in the French presidential election had pro-Europeans in rapture. “I had tears in my eyes,” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the longtime French-German politician who served as a European Union lawmaker for two decades, told broadcaster Europe1 about the moment he heard the EU anthem. “With that gesture, he anchored France to Europe.”
  • These Are the Elections to Care About After France. (video) Germany, Brazil and Mexico are all due to vote in next 18 months.
  • German Factory Orders Rise as Economic Boom Continues Undaunted. German factory orders expanded for a second month as Europe’s largest economy picked up speed. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, rose 1 percent in March, after expanding an upwardly revised 3.5 percent in February, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed on Monday. The typically volatile reading compares with a median estimate for a 0.7 percent gain in a Bloomberg survey. Orders were up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, when adjusted for working days.
  • Europe Stocks Hold Steady as Macron Beats Le Pen in French Vote. (vote) European stocks closed near the highest level since August 2015, ending the session little changed after centrist Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election, indicating investors had mostly priced in the outcome that polls had consistently predicted. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.1 percent at the close, while the Euro Stoxx 50 Index lost less than 0.5 percent. France’s CAC 40 Index fell 0.9 percent after rallying in the previous two sessions. Among industry groups, real estate and travel companies climbed the most, offsetting a drop in miners. The region’s stocks had already rallied since the first round of the presidential election on April 24, with the broader Stoxx 600 still up 9 percent this year.
  • OPEC Said to Have Discussed Deeper Cuts; No Consensus Reached. (video)
  • Fed's Mester Warns Against Falling Behind With Rate-Hike Pace. (video) Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the central bank should continue on its gradual path of raising interest rates to prevent the risk of overheating the U.S. economy. “It’s important for the FOMC to remain very vigilant against falling behind as we continue to make progress on our goals,” Mester said in the text of a speech Monday in Chicago, referring to the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee.
  • More Robots, Fewer Jobs. Are you about to be replaced by a robot? The question has broad implications for the U.S. economy, especially the manufacturing sector. Industries that robotize tend to increase output. But robots can have dire consequences for workers.
  • Coach(COH) Agrees to Buy Kate Spade for $2.4 Billion. (video) Coach Inc. investors think the luxury brand just found itself a bargain. The company’s shareholders applauded its $2.4 billion acquisition of Kate Spade & Co., sending Coach on one of its biggest rallies in months. Kate Spade, a rival maker of handbags and other accessories, will fetch $18.50 a share as part of the deal -- a price that’s well below where its stock traded earlier this year.
Wall Street Journal:

No comments: