CapitalistHQ

Monday, 30 October 2017

Here’s The Indictment Against Paul Manafort And His Associate, Rick Gates

9:14 AM 10/30/2017

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate, Rick Gates, have been indicted in a federal court on 12 counts, including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States, and making false and misleading statements.

Manafort turned himself in to the FBI field office in Washington on Monday morning.

Here is the indictment:

Manafort-gates Indictment Filed and Redacted by Chuck Ross on Scribd

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World stocks hit new high as Spain relief, tech rally boost European trading

FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians leave and enter the London Stock Exchange in London, Britain August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall/File Photo

October 30, 2017

By Helen Reid

LONDON (Reuters) – A strong rally in the technology sector helped drive global stocks to a record high on Monday, while a recovery in Spanish markets helped to lift European shares after an opinion poll smoothed investors’ concerns over Catalan secession.

MSCI’s world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS>, which tracks shares in 47 countries, rose 0.2 percent to its highest ever level. The index has surged 17.7 percent so far in 2017, and is on track for its best annual showing since 2013.

Euro zone stocks <.STOXXE> climbed 0.2 percent, holding near their highest level in 10 years. European stocks have rallied this year as a healthy economy dovetailed with convincing growth in corporate earnings and a reduction in political risk.

“There is an avalanche of things that are happening or going to happen, but markets are just shrugging it off. It’s like markets have been vaccinated against bad news thanks to the strength of the global business cycle,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, global head of economic research at Indosuez Wealth Management in Geneva.

Spanish stocks jumped 1.5 percent and government borrowing costs fell after a weekend survey suggested Catalan secessionists may lose their majority in regional elections scheduled for December.

Spain’s benchmark 10-year bond yield fell 2 basis points to 1.52 percent <ES10YT=TWEB>. Banks Caixabank <CABK.MC> and Sabadell <SABE.MC>, which moved their headquarters out of Catalonia due to the crisis, led gains on the IBEX <.IBEX>.

The broader market showed signs of relief, with euro zone banks <.SX7E> rising 0.7 percent, and Italian stocks – which have been sensitive to the Spanish crisis – up 0.4 percent.

Technology stocks also drove European trading, riding a wave of gains on the Nasdaq and in Asia after Apple <AAPL.O> said pre-orders for its new iPhone X were “off the charts”.

iPhone component suppliers AMS <AMS.S>, Dialog Semiconductor <DLGS.DE> and STMicro <.STM.MI> led gains.

Europe’s tech sector <.SX8P> has quietly boomed, and has outperformed the Nasdaq <.NDX> so far this year.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a slight pullback at the open after blistering tech-driven gains on Friday. Dow Jones Industrial and S&P 500 futures were down 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was set for a 0.1 percent dip. <1YMc1> <ESc1> <NQc1>

CENTRAL BANKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

In a week of policy meetings by three major central banks, gold <XAU=> edged down 0.1 percent on investor caution.

The Bank of England is widely expected to raise rates on Thursday, reversing its monetary easing following Britain’s June 2016 vote to leave the European Union, but investors feared that the decision could create more volatility than the well-received stimulus extension by the European Central Bank last week.

“This coming week will see whether the BoE has also managed to steer markets in the right direction,” said Societe Generale analysts in a note.

Sterling <GBP=> rose 0.3 percent against the dollar as traders bid the currency higher on the expected rate rise.

Other major currencies kept to tight ranges as markets also awaited interest rate decisions by the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The dollar <.DXY> fell 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies as investors focused on the impending appointment of the next Federal Reserve chair, with speculation rife that Fed governor Jerome Powell is the favored candidate.

An announcement is expected this week.

Relief over the situation in Spain helped the euro <EUR=> recover from a three-month low to trade up 0.3 percent at $1.1637. The ECB’s decision last week to extend bond purchases into September 2018 had sent the single currency sharply lower.

Oil markets firmed and energy stocks rose on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut due to expire next March would be extended.

Brent crude <LCOc1> held above $60 a barrel, near its highest since mid-2015, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures <CLc1> were near an eight-month high. Europe’s oil and gas stocks <.SXEP> rose 0.6 percent, among top gainers.

In other commodities, copper <CMCU3> traded up 0.5 percent.

A surge in tech stocks helped MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gain 0.4 percent overnight.

Apple’s results on Thursday could offer the next big catalyst for tech stocks’ seemingly unstoppable rise.

For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets

(Additional reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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Despite Strong Economic Numbers, Trump’s Approval Rating Remains Low

10:54 PM 10/29/2017

President Donald Trump remains below 40 percent approval in a key poll despite strong economic growth.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday showed that 38 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance.

The poll results come after the Commerce Department released figures showing the U.S. economy growing at a higher rate than expected and continued record stock market performances. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders frequently points at economic indicators to prove the Trump presidency is a success.

“The stock market is up. Unemployment is down. Jobs are back. And ISIS is on the run. America is winning, and that’s what we like to talk about,” Sanders said during a June press briefing.

However, Americans still aren’t fans of the Trump presidency.

The NBC/WSJ poll found that 58 percent of Americans disapprove of his job performance. Among Republicans, 81 percent approve, while just 7 percent of Democrats are supportive of Trump’s performance in office, and 34 percent of independents approve.

“This is his worst showing of his young presidency so far,” Democratic pollster Fred Yang said. The same NBC/WSJ poll had Barack Obama at 51 percent approval during the fall of his first year in office.

The poll found that Americans generally support Trump’s handling of the economy and hurricanes in Florida and Texas.

However, a plurality disapproved of his handling of the role of commander-in-chief, the situation in North Korea, the mass shooting in Las Vegas, NFL protests, the hurricane in Puerto Rico, health care and the Iran nuclear agreement.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 23 and Oct. 26 and is of 900 adults. The margin of error is 3.3 percent.

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Sunday, 29 October 2017

Saudi Arabian Airlines resumes flying to Iraq after 27 years

A Saudia plane lands at Rafik al-Hariri airport in Beirut

FILE PHOTO: A Saudia, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, plane lands at Rafik al-Hariri airport in Beirut, Lebanon June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

October 30, 2017

DUBAI (Reuters) – State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines said it will start flying regularly to Iraq on Monday after a 27-year halt, state news agency SPA said.

The carrier’s director general, Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser, will accompany reporters and passengers on the first flight to depart from the Saudi city of Jeddah to Baghdad, SPA said late on Sunday.

There have been no flights between Saudi Arabia and Iraq since former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are both wooing Baghdad in an effort to halt the growing regional influence of arch-foe Iran.

In August the two countries said they planned to open the Arar land border crossing for trade for the first time since 1990.

That announcement followed a decision by the Saudi cabinet this month to set up a joint trade commission with Iraq.

Saudi Arabian budget airline Flynas was the first Saudi airline to fly to Iraq in more than 25 years.

(Reporting by Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Trump Loyalist Roger Stone Will Take His War With Twitter To Court

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

4:42 PM 10/29/2017

President Trump whisperer Roger Stone says he’ll march into court and sue Twitter after the platform booted him for taunting a couple of CNN anchors.

Keep in mind, lawsuits can be mind-bleeding trying endeavors.

Social media troll Charles Johnson, who was bounced off Twitter in 2015, planned to sue a man who had accused the infamous ginger of being a child molester on Twitter. For years now, he has been pursuing litigation against the now defunct Gawker for implying that he pooped on the floor in college (he’s still pursuing this lawsuit to the tune of $1.5 million).

But this is Roger Stone. And Stone has fans lurking in weird places.

“I have a friend, Roger Stone, I hope he’s okay,” former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts Sunday afternoon. “He’s a good friend.”

Roberts informed Richardson that Twitter had banned Stone this weekend.

Richard wore a tired, blank expression on the Twitter news — like who would care who was banned from Twitter?

Still, Stone cares. He doesn’t want to be silenced. And he’s planning to sue. He told TheWrap that he has obtained “one of the best” telecommunications lawyers in the country and plans to take legal action against Twitter for infringing on his first amendment rights.

“To be clear my criticism of Don Lemon had nothing to do with Mueller’s leaked indictments but rather than his nonsensical claim that the Clinton’s have been cleared in the Uranium One scandal,” Stone told The Mirror by text. “It’s funny people on twitter threaten to kill me, my wife , my children and even my dogs, but they are not banned.”

On Saturday night, Stone unleashed an expletive-laden rant against CNN’s Don Lemon (a “covsucker’) and Jake Tapper (“#Fakenewsasswipe”). The tirade blew in after news erupted that arrests in Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe were looming. Also in Stone’s tarantula’s web of anger were CNN’s Ana Navarro, a longtime Stone enemy, NYT‘s Charles Blow (“fake news piece of shit,”) WaPo‘s Carl Bernstein (roughly a senseless liar) and The Weekly Standard‘s Bill Kristol (whose a little bloated for Stone’s taste these days).

Here’s what Twitter had to say to Stone about his suspension.

Stone said Twitter had only banned him for three hours and 12 minutes.

But that deadline came and went and Stone’s account is still dead.

Or “suspended” as it says when you try to open his feed.

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Flood of Chinese capital seen shaking up aviation finance

People visit the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE) at Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, China April 10, 2017. Picture taken April 10, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song

October 29, 2017

By Anshuman Daga and Tim Hepher

HONG KONG/PARIS (Reuters) – A flood of low-cost Chinese funding is shaking up the global aircraft leasing market, with Chinese capital now accounting for 28 percent of the $261 billion deployed by leasing firms worldwide, a study suggested on Monday.

That is up from 5 percent nine years ago.

The influx of more than $70 billion to the leasing industry from Chinese banks and other investors over the past decade is helping airlines expand their fleets. But it is also curbing returns to be made by traditional players in a sector fast emerging as a significant new asset class.

“In the last cycle (2003-2008), lease rates went up significantly whereas in this cycle they haven’t. That’s partly because there are more people looking for the same deals,” said Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Flightglobal Ascend.

Record interest from China, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, will be evident in meetings of 1,500 financiers in Hong Kong at two major conferences this week.

For years, some experts have warned that record production by Airbus <AIR.PA> and Boeing <BA.N> and over-ordering by some airlines would burst a demand ‘bubble’ for jetliners.

But Morris sees a greater long-term threat from the supply side as new investors pour money into aviation. He predicts much of that capital is in the industry to stay, pressuring rivals.

In a study coinciding with the Airline Economics conference, Flightglobal Ascend said Chinese capital will account for over a third of the aircraft leasing industry within five years.

Many such investors are willing to accept lower returns and that is a warning sign for other players, Morris said.

“If this money is resetting the rules, you have to learn to play by the new rules or you lose the game.”

Some market veterans disagree, saying new money will retreat as quickly as it arrived when the market turns lower, making it hard for inexperienced players to redeploy unwanted jets.

So far signs are that the market is holding up, although there has been turbulence in the market for some long-haul jets.

Recent bankruptcies of Air Berlin and Monarch Airlines in Europe angered passengers but the aircraft were absorbed relatively quickly due to high demand, bankers say.

Another key test will be expected interest rate rises and a rollback in stimulus from central banks who have pumped money into the economy, a chunk of which found its way into aviation.

Historically, aircraft investors sought double-digit returns and many now have to settle for mid-to-high single figures, Morris told Reuters.

“Those figures may be acceptable in a low-interest-rate environment, but as interest rates start to increase can people start to increase their returns? That may not be possible”.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has raised rates twice this year and is widely expected to do so again in December.

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

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Ginsburg Vows To Stay On SCOTUS As Long As She Can

Politics

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at Georgetown Law in September 2017. (Screenshot/CSPAN)

3:04 PM 10/29/2017

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday that she has no plans to retire any time soon.

“My answer is as long as I can do the job full steam, I will do it,” Ginsburg, 84, told a friendly audience at an Equal Justice Works conference in Arlington, Va.

“I used to have an answer, it worked for a lot of years,” she added. “It was Justice Brandeis — when he was appointed he was the same age as I was, 60. And he stayed for 23 years, so I expect to stay at least as long. Well, now I’ve passed Brandeis, I’ve passed Frankfurter.”

Justice Louis Brandeis, the Court’s first Jewish justice, was appointed in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. He served until 1939. Justice Felix Frankfurter, another Jewish justice and leading conservative foil to his liberal Warren Court contemporaries, served from 1939 to 1962.

The chances of a Ginsburg retirement during the current administration are low. In a break with tradition that has little precedent in the modern era, Ginsburg disparaged then-Republican nominee Donald Trump in candid interviews with CNN and The New York Times. Though the justice later apologized for the remarks, she revived their general theme in September 2017, telling Charlie Rose of CBS News that sexism played a role in Trump’s victory.

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