Wisconsin Judge Pleads Not Guilty After Grand Jury Indictment, Claims ‘Judicial Immunity’ For Hiding Illegal From ICE A Wisconsin judge pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that she obstructed federal agents seeking to detain an illegal immigrant in her courtroom. Hannah Dugan during a forum at the Milwaukee Bar Association in Milwaukee in 2016.Mike De Sisti / USA Today Network file Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan […]

Democratic Senators Remove Trump-Targeting Provisions In Push To Pass Stablecoin Bill The US Senate could pass a key bipartisan stablecoin bill as soon as next week after removing language targeting President Donald Trump and his family’s sprawling crypto interests. As Jesse Coghlan reports below for CoinTelegraph, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said onstage at an event by Coinbase’s lobbying arm, Stand With Crypto, that […]

“Patience To See, Not To Guess” By Benjamin Picton, Rabobank Senior Macro Strategist Patience To See Tech names drove the NASDAQ and S&P500 to further gains yesterday, while the Dow Jones fell for a second-straight session. Semiconductors performed especially well as fund managers caught underweight high-beta US megacaps continued a buying spree that was sparked by a 90-day tariff reduction between the US and China announced […]

Trump Very Displeased With Tim Cook’s ‘Made-In-India’ iPhone Blitz, Wants Production In US  Apple is turbocharging its “friend-shoring” strategy by shifting more iPhone production from China to India—a move that could soon result in American consumers purchasing iPhones made in India. However, during President Trump’s Gulf tour, he expressed new concern over the supply chain shift (at least for the first time publicly), urging […]

Ukraine Will Never Recognize Occupied Territories As Russia, Zelensky Says From Turkey Update(1105ET): “We don’t yet know the official level of Russians, but from what we see, it looks phony,” Zelensky told reporters in Ankara. So despite the Ukrainian leader earlier declaring “I am here” upon landing in Turkey, he is not in fact at the Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul. This ‘I am here’ yet not actually ‘there’ charade generated […]

Is ‘Soft’ Survey Data About To Explode Higher? For all the terrified FUD being spread that ‘soft’ sentiment surveys are the real deal and ‘hard’ data is simply not reflecting the terrible Trump-tariff-driven economic chaos… yet… it appears the establishment economists may have to rethink their ideas as – just like in Q2 2023 – ‘soft’ survey data is starting to reverse higher as ‘hard’ data refuses to bend the knee to the […]

US Homebuilder Sentiment Slumps To Lowest Since 2023 Confidence among US homebuilders slumped in May to the lowest level since late 2023 as the NAHB sentiment index tumbled 6 points to 34 (well below the 40 expected)… Source: Bloomberg All three components that make up the index fell, with a measure of expected sales in the next six months sliding to an 18-month low.  A gauge of present sales dropped to the lowest since […]

UnitedHealth Group Slams “Deeply Irresponsible” WSJ Report As Shares Suffer Worst Weekly Crash Since 1998 Update (1032ET): UnitedHealth Group shares plunged in early U.S. cash trading after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening that the Department of Justice is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation into the company’s Medicare practices. UnitedHealth Group rejected WSJ’s claims, saying:  We have not been […]

Coinbase Hacked After Attackers Bribed Company’s Own Employees To Leak Customer Data Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hit by a $20 million extortion attempt after cybercriminals recruited “multiple contractors or employees working in support roles outside the United States to collect information from internal Coinbase systems to which they had access”, and to leak user data, the company said […]

US Factory Production Tumbled In April, But… Headline industrial production held steady in April, driven by utilities production, while manufacturing production declined 0.4% due to decreased production of vehicles and nondurable goods. Source: Bloomberg The 0.4% decrease in manufacturing production (followed an upwardly revised 0.4% gain a month earlier) was the first decline since October 2024 and worse than the expected […]

“A Modest Request”: The Supreme Court Hears Challenge To National Or Universal Injunctions Authored by Jonathan Turley, Today, the United States Supreme Court will hear three consolidated cases in Trump v. CASA on the growing use of national or universal injunctions. This is a matter submitted on the “shadow docket” and the underlying cases concern the controversy over “birthright citizenship.” However, the merits of […]

White House Has Presented Iran With Written Nuke Deal Proposal In Huge First Update(10:30ET): With President Trump and his envoy having arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the last leg of the president’s Gulf tour, new details of behind the scenes US-Iran negotiations have come to light on Thursday. In a huge first, the Trump White House has sent Iran a written proposal toward forging a new nuclear deal. White House […]

Is DOGE Starting To Work? ‘Deep TriState’ Jobless Claims Surged Last Week The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time was flat from the prior week at 229k (the same level it was at in Jan 2022)… Source: Bloomberg Headline continuing claims remains below the Maginot Line of 1.9 million Americans… Source: Bloomberg But, drilling down, the ‘Deep Tristate’ saw initial jobless claims spike last […]

US Producer Prices Plunge Most Since COVID Lockdowns Following the cooler than expected CPI, US Producer Prices plunged in April, down 0.5% MoM (vs +0.2% MoM exp) – the biggest drop since April 2020 (but we note that last month’s 0.4% MoM decline was revised up to unchanged). The headline print was dragged down to +2.4% YoY (the lowest since Sept 2024)… Source: Bloomberg Under the hood, Prices for final demand services moved […]

Walmart Delivers Solid Earnings, Warns Of Imminent Price Hikes Walmart reported better-than-expected first-quarter results for the period ending April 30 but cautioned that the trade war will raise prices on certain items as early as this month. The warning underscores that the mega retailer’s low-price model is threatened amid an ongoing value war with other U.S. retailers.  The nation’s largest retailer posted first-quarter […]

US Retail Sales Surprises To The Upside, But… If BofA’s omniscient analysts are right (and they have been serially on the correct side of this data series relative to consensus for months), then traders should brace for disappointment this morning for the retail sales data. But… For once, the BofA analysts were incorrect as headline retail sales rose 0.1% MoM (better than the 0.0% MoM exp, but this follows a sizable upward […]

Zelensky In Istanbul Responds To ‘Insult’ Of Putin Sending Junior Officials To Talks: “I Am Here” A team of Russian negotiators are in Istanbul on Thursday for the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in more than three years, with Russia’s Foreign Ministry officials saying that the delegation is “ready for serious work”. President Putin, who as expected is not there in person, tapped his aide and former culture minister […]

Futures Drop Ahead Of Data Deluge, Powell Speech US equity futures are lower as investors take profits on Thursday and tech stocks fell as investors worried about an economic slowdown after Steve Cohen warned the chance of a recession is 45% and today’s retail sales numbers are expected to be a miss. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are down 0.4%, rebounding from session lows after Walmart reported solid earnings; Nasdaq futures […]

Foot Locker Shares Erupt On Possible $2.4 Billion Dick’s Sporting Deal Foot Locker shares erupted in premarket trading Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Dick’s Sporting Goods has agreed to acquire the struggling sneaker retailer for $2.4 billion, offering $24 per share in cash or stock—a nearly 90% premium to Foot Locker’s pre-announcement price. Shareholders will have the option to receive either cash or 0.1168 […]

Germany Wind Power Firms Face Millions In Losses As Wind Speed Drops To 50-Year Low By ReMix News In many ways, Germany’s wind power revolution has been a success, with wind power serving as the country’s largest source of electricity. However, the current wind lull over the last three months has led to an extreme dip in energy production, which is costing firms millions in losses. The wind speed average has dropped below […]

Harvard Tops America’s Largest University Endowments (For Now) University endowments held more than $870 billion in assets last year, largely dominated by America’s elite institutions. While Harvard, Yale, and Stanford have amassed tens of billions in assets, the median endowment stands at $243 million across 658 institutions. Overall, endowment assets increased by 4% in 2024 driven by donations and investment returns. This […]

“Rogue” Devices Found Hidden In Chinese Solar Panels Could “Destroy The Grid” Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Undisclosed communication devices reportedly discovered in Chinese-manufactured solar panels and related equipment have sparked concerns among U.S. officials about the vulnerability of the nation’s power grid, according to a Reuters report.  These “rogue” devices, found over the past nine months, […]

UK Farmers Fear For Bioethanol Market Following US Trade Deal Via City AM, A recent trade deal between the UK and the US has led to the removal of tariffs on American bioethanol, which British farmers fear will undermine their domestic market. Concerns exist among beef farmers that the deal will result in increased American beef imports, leading to unfair competition and impacting their livelihoods. The trade agreement […]

A Third Of Americans Worry About Manipulated News Almost half of the people surveyed in the United States as part of a Statista Consumer Insights survey actively try to keep up to date with world events and politics.  However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, about a third of survey participants also fear that news in the so-called mainstream media is being manipulated.  Americans’ trust in the media is therefore […]

French Minister To Meet Crypto Firms After Kidnapping Attempt Authored by Adrian Zmudzinski via CoinTelegraph.com, The French interior minister reportedly plans to meet cryptocurrency professionals in the aftermath of a violent kidnapping attempt on the family of a crypto exchange executive in Paris. According to a May 14 France24 report, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has invited crypto professionals to meet him after a […]