Bloomberg
“Stocks Extend Gain on Growth Outlook; Dollar Drops: Markets Wrap.”
U.S. and European stocks advanced on Monday, tracking peers in Asia as optimism over the world’s largest economy helped investors put protectionist fears to one side. Treasuries were steady, the dollar fell, and the pound and euro rose.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq Composite Indexes opened higher after Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy coding site GitHub for $7.5 billion. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed as almost every industry group traded in the green, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index surged even as China warned it will withdraw from commitments it made on trade if President Donald Trump carries out a separate threat to impose tariffs on the Asian country. The dollar pulled back after completing a seventh week of gains. The 10-year Treasury yield held at about 2.9 percent.
“It’s nice to see that the market is finally ignoring every tweet or announcement on the trade front,” Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co., wrote in an email to clients. “The markets are finally beginning to realize that the announcements and tweets that are coming out of China, Canada, Mexico, Europe and President Trump are just part of the negotiating process in the ‘world of Trump’.”
Investors are in a broad risk-on mood after impressive U.S. jobs data on Friday, which provided an upbeat end to a week that was otherwise dominated by the threat of another euro-area crisis. Much of that concern seems to have dissipated after nationalist parties finally took power in Italy, ending months of deadlock, while the Socialist led-opposition in Spain ousted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with a no-confidence vote Friday.
Attention may yet turn back to trade, however. G-7 leaders meet in Quebec later this week, with the European Union and Canada threatening retaliatory measures unless Trump reverses course on new steel and aluminum levies.
Reuters
“California city fights poverty with guaranteed income.”
Starting in early 2019, Tubbs plans to provide the monthly stipend to a select group of residents as part of a privately funded 18-month experiment to assess how people use the money.
“And then, maybe, in two or three years, we can have a much more informed discussion about the social safety net, the income floor people deserve and the best way to do it because we’ll have more data and research,” Tubbs told Reuters.
The city has not yet decided how many people will receive income from the trial project, which is funded by The Economic Security Project, a philanthropic network co-chaired by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.
The idea of governments providing a universal basic income to their citizens has been gaining traction globally. The Finnish government is running a two-year trial to provide 2,000 unemployed people with monthly payments of approximately $660.
In Alaska, each resident has long received an annual dividend check from oil revenues from the Alaska Permanent Fund, which Tubbs said is a model for his approach. Last year, the payout in Alaska was $1,100.
The Economic Security Project is providing $1 million to fund the Stockton trial after approaching Tubbs to ask if his city would be interested in piloting a basic income program..
BBC News
“Guatemala volcano: Dozens die as Fuego volcano erupts.”
Guatemala’s most violent volcano eruption in more than a century has killed at least 25 people. The Fuego volcano, about 40km (25 miles) south-west of the capital Guatemala City, spewed rock, gas and ash into the sky on Sunday.
Fast-moving flows hit villages, killing people inside their homes. Hundreds were injured and many are missing. The country’s main airport is closed. President Jimmy Morales has declared three days of national mourning. In a statement issued late on Sunday, he spoke of the nation’s «deep pain» caused by the «irreparable losses» in human lives.
Settlements on the southern slopes of Fuego were buried in the volcanic ash, mud and rocks as the volcano erupted for 16 and a half hours on Sunday Pyroclastic flows, which are fast-moving mixtures of gas and volcanic matter, rushed down the mountainside and engulfed villages. Hundreds of police officers, soldiers and emergency workers have been sent to affected areas on the slopes of the volcano. They found charred bodies resting on steaming remnants of pyroclastic flow. Survivors covered in ash were carried away.
Sergio Cabañas, head of the country’s National Disaster Management Agency (Conred), said the town of El Rodeo had been «buried». Other towns affected include Alotenango and San Miguel los Lotes. Rescuers are still trying to reach a number of villages and the death toll is expected to rise. Temporary shelters have been set up for about 3,000 residents who have been evacuated.
Bloomberg
“Italy’s Populist Government Prepares to Face Parliament Vote.”
Three days after being sworn in, Italy’s new populist government is preparing for one final hurdle before it sets about trying to overhaul European Union rules and the established order: a confidence vote in both houses of parliament.
Parliamentary approval will be sought this week for the 18-member cabinet of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, a 53-year-old law professor with no political experience. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant League currently hold a majority in both houses, although in the 320-seat senate the two groups only have 14 votes more than the opposition.
Conte signaled his conviction that the votes will be no problem, saying in a Facebook post that he would hold a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit of Group of Seven nations in Canada on June 8-9.
While this first vote is likely to go smoothly as the parties have already agreed on the list of ministers and government program, some analysts predict difficult times ahead in future parliamentary ballots as the two parties spar over which of their expensive electoral promises to keep first.
On Sunday, Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio said a universal basic income for poorer Italians will be among the first measures he plans to put before the parliament. League’s leader Matteo Salvini, who has promised voters hefty tax cuts, said over the weekend that he plans to cut 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) worth of assistance to asylum seekers in order to recover funds to keep his electoral pledges.